So very much to be thankful for! :)

Kayla and I successfully pulled off Thanksgiving in Malawi! Some of you may have already seen the pictures we posted on Facebook – it was a blast. J We were waiting a little anxiously for a package from Chris, Kayla’s boyfriend, which had a box of Stove Top Stuffing and French Fried Onions for us to use on our green bean casserole. We went to the Post Office on Wednesday, but when we arrived we couldn’t get any of the mail because the yearly fee for the PO Box had not been paid. Fortunately, when we returned to the school and told Pastor Nihaka what happened he realized he had forgotten to pay it and said that we could go back that afternoon and he would take care of it. We ate lunch, went down to Shoprite to by some other things, then went back to the Post Office – and the package was there!! J We were both very excited to have our ‘traditional’ stuffing & onions to use for the meal.

It was odd to still have school on Thursday, but Kayla and I both came back to the house at break time, around 10am, and started preparing the food for the day. Neither Kayla or I know how to roast a chicken (and turkey is a little expensive here), so we asked Dorothy to do that for us and they both turned out great! Along with the chicken, we had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (which are white here in Malawi, but still delicious!), corn (we bought a can instead of using the maize here because we wanted it to be more like home), green bean casserole with fresh from the market green beans, stuffing and gravy.

We invited Pastor Nihaka and his wife to join us for our meal and they seemed to really enjoy it. During the meal, the Pastor said, “Now we are in America!” J We also made some Apple Crisp for dessert, which I think they liked a lot. Since we did a lunch meal, the pastor and his wife had to get back to work, but it was so much fun to be able to cook for them and share some of our traditions with them.

As I got online to Skype with my family on Thanksgiving, I thought it was funny that we had already prepared, eaten and cleaned up from our meal before most of my family was even up! What a difference 7 hours makes. J It was bittersweet to see my family all together and getting ready for their Thanksgiving – I was very glad to see them, but it also made me a little homesick.