Thanksgiving Day Plans

November 21, 2008

Dear family and Friends,

It is almost Thanksgiving Day so in America people may be getting some Thanksgiving cards in the mail. Someone came towards me this morning with a pile of mail. Mail is that which comes through the post office and not the computer. Our Airmail arrives at the Bongolo Hospital about once a month. The U.S. will no longer accept boat mail for Gabon and several other African nations. Well, anyway, I got some mail today. I said immediately, “Oh, my Birthday cards have arrived”. Sure enough! There were four Birthday cards for me. Now my Birthday was August 16^th, over three months ago. These cards were mailed AIRMAIL in August! They just got to me today, November 21^st. Thanks Hamlet, Maple Plain, Irene and the C&MA! If you mail your Christmas card now, I should be able to get it by about mid March! We get Christmas mail for MONTHS! Now, I’m not asking you to send me a card. I’m just giving you the facts! Please do send one if they have a Christmas letter in the. It’s best to send E-Cards as they arrive instantly!

Before Christmas though is Thanksgiving Day! Each Thanksgiving here on the Mission field we get together for a meal. We chose a day that will allow us the most relaxation. Normally it is Friday so this year we'll be celebrating on Friday instead of Thursday. Thursday will be a regular work day.

We will eat at the home of one of our surgeons. He and his wife have two children, 6 y.o. Luke and 4 y.o. Sara. There is another family with 15 month old Rebecca. In addition there is one couple who's kids are grown and in the States and there are five single women right now. We'll have three visitors too, a doctor and his two teenage daughters.

We ladies got together to make sure that we'll be preparing all the necessary foods. We can't get turkey in town except for turkey wings. We have decided to have both roasted chicken and turkey wings. I will put turkey wings in the crock pot to take it off the bones. I will then make dressing and put the turkey on top and heat them up in the oven. We will have mashed potatoes (either real or from Mousline, a French made instant potatoes that is tasty), sweet potatoes, veggies, salads, etc and of course desserts. I plan to make a peach pie.

We will meet for lunch at 1 pm. After lunch our hostess says she has some "trivia games" for us. They also have a Wii and we'll play some Wii this year. Everyone brings games and favorites include Dominoes, Mexican Golf, Smarter than a Fifth Grader, etc. Some will watch a football game that will be prerecorded off of Satellite TV.

After an afternoon of games and football, we'll eat leftovers for supper. It is one of two days in the year that we spend together as a station, eating two meals together. This has been my typical Thanksgiving Day for over thirty years now.

I give thanks to the Lord for all He IS to me and for all He does for me. Praise His name!

1 Chronicles 29:11-13 (KJV)

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!