Turkey Day and Tree Hunting

I missed the previous two Thanksgivings, so spending last Thursday with my family was extra special.  In addition to my immediate family and Beppe (grandma), we also were joined by the Cho family.  Joe, Kelly and their 6-year-old daughter Ohana drove in from Ohio to spend the day with us.

Between my 16-month-old niece shrieking with joy as we chased her around the house and showing off her animal sounds, Diego the dog trying to convince everyone to play fetch with him, and Ohana challenging us to virtually every game in the house, there was never a dull moment.  Oh, and we ate a lot.  But that goes without saying on Thanksgiving.  Overall, I absolutely love Thanksgiving when it's spent with family hanging out at home without anywhere to go or any agenda for the day.

Too big

The next morning I did cave into the US consumerism culture and participated in some Black Friday shopping in the morning.  But the highlight for the day was definitely driving out to a Christmas Tree farm to do some tree hunting.  Both my siblings have reverted back to real trees even though my parents continue re-using the same 18-year-old tree.

It was cold.  As in snowflakes-falling and wind-whipping-around-trees cold.  But we braved the elements to find that perfect tree.  My brother-in-law showed off his mad jumping skill by trying to jump over a few trees (unsuccessfully), and eventually everyone found that perfect tree.  For me, it was the first time in...18 years? to go tree hunting.  Fun times.

Too small

Just right!

The tree I tried to import to Ecuador...just kidding!

Congrats Rachel and James!

One of my reasons for spending an extra week in the US after the Partners Worldwide conference and training (besides being home for Thanksgiving) was to attend my friend Rachel's wedding.  The two of us go all the way back to high school, and we had weekly coffee dates during the last two years of college.  While we've barely been able to see each other in the past two years due to the distance, it was fun to share in her and James' special day on Saturday.

College friends

High school friends

Eat Drink DANCE - we even learned contra dancing :)

Receiving Training

Most of the time when I write about training, it's something that I'm teaching or that I'm helping to organize.  But in order to be effective at teaching, it is important to first learn.  And that's exactly what about 15 other Partners Worldwide country representatives and volunteers did this past week.  

Over the course of five days, we spent time studying in-depth the materials from Partners Worldwide's small and medium business training curriculum.  After learning more about everything from Business as Mission to balance sheets to customer service to SMART goals, I believe more than ever in the value of practical business training.  As I return to Ecuador, I look forward to supporting our local training teams as they improve their materials and teach courses that have a lasting impact in the lives of Ecuadorian businesspeople.

Part of our train-the-trainer group