Judy penned this poem years ago, reflecting on her own time living in another country. As she began to build a friendship with a refugee in Spokane this year, she began to see the universal themes of displacement and longing reflected in its verses.

In Ukraine, Christmas is often family-centered time, filled with rich traditions and customs. Many Ukrainians start celebrating Christmas on December 24th. They usually have Christmas Eve dinner, which includes twelve dishes symbolizing the twelve apostles.

In this role I got to work on many different aspects of communications work such as campaigning, social media, interviewing, writing, content gathering and relationship building.

Every Thanksgiving presents us with the opportunity to pause and reflect on the blessings we enjoy and the opportunity to invite our refugee neighbors to do the same!