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  • Writer's pictureSydne Narum

Half Way

Hello Everyone,

These past couple of months have been an amazing journey. There have been many highs and lows over the months and I would like to share a few of them with you in this update. For the first time in my lifetime, I was away from friends and family during the holiday season. It was challenging being away for the main holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. Looking back, I noticed how many family traditions I was unable to be a part of. It provided a reality check on how I have taken advantage of these opportunities in the past. This leads into an important lesson I have learned over the past 6 months of being away; never take things for granted and enjoy every minute of family time because you never know when life will throw you a curveball. Those everyday routines that you become so familiar with may one day be what you are missing the most.


I have always loved being out in nature so this holiday season I went on a lot of hikes around Edinburgh.
It's a Cow!! I have always loved being out in nature so this holiday season I went on a lot of hikes around Edinburgh.

This year, Thanksgiving was an interesting time. For the first time in my life I was tasked with the challenge to try and cook Thanksgiving dinner. Not your typical family Thanksgiving dinner rather a Thanksgiving feast for 35 people. The key word within this story is tried because not everything turned out as expected. The meal had its challenges and setbacks but everyone that I cooked for was very appreciative of the meal and said they enjoyed it. For the dinner I made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cheesy hashbrowns, caramelized carrots, and corn casserole. For dessert there was of course pumpkin pie and apple crisp. With having no prior experience cooking a full Thanksgiving meal before I never thought it would be as challenging as it was. Especially in another country because I had to find substitutes. This is because, surprisingly, some items that are commonly found in the United States can’t be found anywhere in the United Kingdom. The end result of my cooking experience was okay. After spending at least 9 hours in the kitchen that day I have a newfound respect for my Grandma and Mom for all the cooking and preparing they do every year.


Staff surprised me by decorating the dining room in red white and blue for Thanksgiving.

American Pumpkin Pie & Corn Bread

I want to transition to the holiday of Christmas now. Christmas was a very festive time around the house. I spent a day with another volunteer decorating the whole dinning room. Throughout the day, some of the residents helped decorate the tree while other residents helped hang lights and decorations all over the dinning room. This was really a fun day and I think the residents really enjoyed it too. On Christmas day I had the honor of leading the entire shift; meaning that I was in charge the whole day. Of course it was a very busy day. In the morning all the staff gathered around the office as we read the Christmas story from the bible (Luke 2: 1-20). After the bible study all the staff went around to each resident and gave them their Christmas present. The look that some of the residents had on their faces when staff gave them a present was precious. It was so precious and genuine because many of the residents thought that they weren't going to get anything on Christmas morning. After staff had handed out all the gifts the whole house was invited to go downstairs to enter in a pool competition. Residents came down to play pool in hopes to win a gift certificate. Some of the staff there were hanging out with the residents down in the pool room while other staff were hard at work cooking the Christmas meal. There was so much planning that day and food prep was truly amazing. It was the most amount of food I had seen the kitchen make; the kitchen staff truly outdid themselves. For lunch we had a four course meal. After lunch residents were able to play board games or go downstairs and watch Christmas movies. The shift went very smoothly and I was very appreciative to have an amazing staff team on with me to guide me if I had any questions. God truly is good. If I wasn't shift leading on Christmas day I wouldn't have been as busy during the day which would have probably resulted in me missing my family and my family traditions even more.


Getting ready for Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Pudding

I am extremely thankful for the last couple of months. Bethany has been amazing to me and making me feel as home and as loved as possible. I am currently half way through my year of service and can not wait until to see what the second half has in store for me.

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