Two Thanksgivings

We got to have not one but two different Thanksgiving feasts in the last week!  Kelli and Jenna planned out a menu and figured out what we would need for an American-style Thanksgiving, and our trips to Lilongwe to extend our visas last week were timed perfectly to get all the supplies we couldn't get in Salima.  But, all the other Americans trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in Malawi had bought up all the turkeys in Lilongwe already, so we decided to wait on the American meal and on Turkey-day we ate a traditional South African meal cooked by Johan, Gerhard, and Patrick.

Lots of peeling and chopping.  Allie loves cole slaw.

Building a fire for the poike (not really sure how you spell that...).

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Delicious.

This weekend the search for a turkey continued and when we saw the one Gerhard found in the village we decided to pass and stick to chicken...  Don't worry though, we still had a feast.  Chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, corn and apple and peach pie!

Kelli and Jenna were the Thanksgiving masterminds.

We also did a little light farming before our Thanksgiving feast.

I'm now an expert at homemade stuffing...I don't think I had actually ever made it before.

Our three little chickens.

Bean lunch anyone?

Gerhard built us an oven (and then pretended to be a tree?).

The whole feast!

Our whole Zehandi/Passport family!

Yesterday, I kept catching myself thinking "this is my life right now."  Particularly as I was dragging a bundle of elephant grass through the village and across a soccer game to the lake (that's just what happened when we went down to the village for ministry...).  How crazy is that?!  For two more weeks my life is this team and this place and then traveling to Dar Es Salaam to Amsterdam to Atlanta.  I have so so much to be thankful for: family and friends back home who love me and support me, great health on our team, a surprisingly cool day today, a beautiful view of Lake Malawi, a roof that doesn't blow away in the wind storms, and probably the best set of 13 girls you could ever ask to spend 4 months with.  So clearly we couldn't celebrate all of that with just one Thanksgiving meal.