I spent December 27th in the kitchen, preparing an American Christmas feast made up of mostly of precious canned yams, boxed stuffing, marshmallows and cranberries I had brought back from the U.S. I laid the feast of about 20 dishes before a group of our kids who had already graduated, but were still living in the area and had no family to celebrate with and no one to receive presents from. All of their stories are sad. For example, Romeo, who actually has a sister in Sao Paulo, was told was too crowded with him around during the holidays. Even though he is now 20 years old, it still hurts to be rejected. He takes the two-hour bus ride every holiday to be with us.

I tried to make the meal very special—candles, Christmas music, the special dishes in the center of the table, waiting to be enjoyed. As the young men gathered around the table, and looked at the spread, one couldn't help expressing what everyone else there was thinking, "where's the rice and beans?" Oh well. Maybe next year I will save the imported stuff for Phil and me and fix them a Brazilian feast. Actually, they were appreciative of my attempt at cultural exchange—but not excited about having sweet (cranberry sauce and yams) with salty, (mashed potatoes, ham and turkey).

After dinner they spontaneously spent time sharing what they were most thankful for in their lives and what their goals were for the future. One, Josue, who wants to be a pastor, asked that we spend some time in prayer. We did get around to opening the presents we bought. Two churches had sent us some checks that helped us to buy a polo type shirt and a Frisbee for each kid. Nayana, the one girl who joined us, got a travel cosmetic kit as she just completed flight attendant school…