Happy Thanksgiving from Narok

Today has been a nice day. After bathing this morning, I used Ellen’s hair dryer to dry my hair. It was really nice – my hair is mostly soft and straight, although I had a bit of trouble remembering how to use it.

We cooked mashed potatoes and green bean casserole to take for dinner. In the middle of it, the electricity went out, which meant no oven. In the course of the day, the electricity came on and off 6 times, and on the seventh, it went and hasn’t come back yet.

We had dinner with several other American missionaries and it was the next best thing to being home for Thanksgiving. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, salad (with real green stuff!), deviled eggs (passed on those), pineapple, cranberry dressing, apple pie, pumpkin pie and a tart. Just about everything you could possible want. The only thing from there that I could have made in the village would have been mashed potatoes. It was amazing. It was amazing too that everything managed to be cooked with the power going on and off all day.

After dinner, we sang some worship songs, which was very sweet, and prayed. After pie, we watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation until the power went out again, probably about 2/3 of the way through it.

I talked to Dave for just a few minutes and to my mom, dad and brother for a few minutes each. Scott said that he’s sore and that when his company was given a chance to make donations to charities, he picked 2 that work specifically in Kenya and one that works in East Africa. I was very proud to hear that!

Today was a good reminder for me to stop and think about what I’m thankful for. The last few weeks/months have been busy and draining and it’s easy to be frustrated and/or ungrateful. I’m thankful for s wonderful husband and a great family. I’m thankful that I have food to eat in the village (3 times a day!) and a warm, dry place to sleep. I have friends in the community that love me very much. I’m grateful for fruit when I get it. One the way here to Narok, you pass through pineapple country and I bought 3 pineapples for 50 shillings (about 70 cents) – can you believe it!? I’ll try to buy 3 more on my way home. I’m thankful that I serve a good God, who takes care of me.

But I still don’t feel very thankful. I see it’s something to work on and pray for in the coming days.