Thankful

This past week we celebrated Thanksgiving....twice.

The first celebration was on the actual Thanksgiving Day, but since we live in Kenya, celebrating an American holiday isn't all it's cracked up to be. For one, the kids had school that day. And two we didn't eat any turkey. But our table was full of family and for that I am thankful.

We are so blessed to have my (Joyellen's) brother and family live only 45 minutes away from us. They were already coming to school to pick up their oldest child the next day, so we had a fun family dinner and they spent the night.

We had a lovely feast of Indian food - Butter Chicken, Palak Paneer (A spinach and cheese dish), Curried Lentils, Naan Bread, Coconut Rice, etc. YUM!

(the thankful poster the kids and I made)

(the family feast!)

(Yum!)

(The cousins playing after dinner)

We did eventually have our turkey - on Saturday - once the students left and life settled down. We had a full thanksgiving feast with our small group. We have enjoyed this fun group of people for two years now - we meet weekly for prayer and praise. This year we started doing kid's praise songs with our families once a month and it is a highlight for me - doing all the motions, etc!

Anyway, our small group divided up all the meal items and we had a great feast! We borrowed a "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" DVD (from 2006) and it was great to hang out and relax!

(our small group)

(the kids' table)

(the feast)

(the grown up table!)

The same day that school let out..and the students left...and we had our dinner...was also the beginning of our Africa Inland Mission Spiritual Life Conference. It is held here at RVA, so it is a quick turn-around for us to gear up for the conference after a busy school term. But we really enjoyed it! The speaker, Pastor John Talley, was excellent. He spoke about the sovereignty of God, which is a huge topic, but was very thought-provoking and challenging.

The kids had an amazing kids' program. A team from California came and brought t-shirts, crafts, snacks, music, etc. The kids had a blast and we enjoyed the final night of conference where they sang a few of the songs they learned during the weekend. We felt so blessed to have this wonderful team that really invested in....and loved on....our kids!

 So.....family, friends, feasts, conference, great kids' programs, vacation.....we have a lot to be thankful for!!!!