What did we do to celebrate Thanksgiving? Before I answer that, let me note what we did not do. We did not drive 13 hours from South Carolina to Illinois to visit with my family. We did not drive 3 hours from SC to NC to visit Mart's family. We did not eat our Thanksgiving meal at Noon on Thursday. We did not watch the Detroit Lions or the Dallas Cowboys play football after we ate. We did not fall asleep on the couch watching the game because we ate too much. We did not have so many left overs we didn't know what to do. Nor did we have to make up a bunch of turkey based recipes the past 5 days.
However, despite what we did not do, we had a pretty "normal" Thanksgiving. That is if you define "normal" as getting up at 4 am on Friday to drive out to the bush to have Thanksgiving dinner with 20 other missionaries. That is if you define normal as driving 4 hours on tarmack (paved roads) and another hour on dirt roads to get to where the feast was to be held. Or it was normal if during the final two hours of driving the only other people you see are the Maasai people walking with their herds wearing there traditional red wrap around their bodies. It was normal if the guesthouse you stayed at had only solar electricity, rainwater collected water supply, or a constant wood burning stove to provide hot water. It was normal if the turkey that you ate was raised at the guest house and slaughtered the day before the meal. And tt was also normal that everyone that helped prepare the meals pulled out their "stores" of ingredients from the U.S. to help make the meal taste like Thanksgiving at home.
So, given the "slight" differences in Thanksgiving in Kenya and the US, we truly enjoyed our Thanksgiving "weekend". We feasted on turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing, stuffing, homemade rolls, canned cranberry sauce, sweet potatoe casserole, and washed it down with good old fashioned Southern sweet iced tea. We finished the bonaza off with apple pie, cherry pie, pecan tarts, mango pie (ok, so we threw in a Kenyan twist to the meal), and chocolate chip cake. And of course, we talked and shared stories and laughed and enjoyed being with family and friends.
And although we missed our families and friends in the States, we were able to focus once again on the many ways that we can thank our God for His provision, care and love. That of course, the most common thing between Thanksgiving in Kenya and Thanksgiving at home.
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