Thankfulness

Update on Grace: This morning I was finally able to get Grace's arm x-rayed. The good news is that it is not broken. It seems my suspicions may be correct. I believe that one of the nannies probably picked Grace up by her arm--whether to lift her out of her crib, or over a puddle or down some stairs--and pulled the ligaments around her elbow. The swelling was down some this morning and she was beginning to use that arm. Hopefully it will be all better real soon. You can believe this topic was covered (again!) at staff meeting.

Look at how chubby! It's a pleasure to hug her now that she is all soft and squishy!

 Maggie is doing so, so well!! She is over 7.5 kilos now (@ 16 pounds) and eating everything. She crawls and plays and talks. The other day in the nursery she crawled to me and then took my hands to walk the last couple steps. That kind of effort would have been out her reach one month ago. It is such a victory to see her so healthy and happy.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Yes, I know if is well past Thanksgiving and everyone is looking forward to Christmas, but I want to reflect on my Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday of the year and I didn't get to write about it yet!

After rushing home from Lusaka the Tuesday before Thanksgiving I quickly unpacked the goodies (including pecans and dried cranberries from a specialty store!) and got to work in the kitchen. Then came two of the happiest days of my life as I cooked, and chopped, and stirred, and baked and mixed.

Poor Jasmine came down with malaria on Thursday. She still managed to make a cornucopia out of bread dough and an apple crumble pie. I'm so thankful for her creativity!

Even though it was just Tom, the kids, one guest and me we still cooked a ton of food. We had a 9 pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, pickled beets, cranberry cornbread muffins, and bread rolls. This was followed by 4 desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple crumble pie and cheesecake--all topped off with whipped cream. Delish!.

Troy made the pumpkin pie. Aside from the pecan, it was probably my favorite. I'm so thankful for how much Troy has grown up these last few months.

I was especially thankful we have a gas stove as the electricity must have gone off 20 times--each time for only about 5-10 minutes, but it could have been a disaster for a roasting turkey.

Did all of you have a good Thanksgiving or is it already a distant memory as you press forward toward Christmas?

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