Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great Thanksgiving!  We chose to celebrate with our friends Carl and Carol (also known to Ben as Uncle Carl and Aunt Carol).  We went through 20 months of training with them even before moving here to Ukarumpa.  They are definitely the closest thing we have to family here in PNG.  We are so blessed to have them!

 

Carl and Carol have a beautiful house with a great view!  We live in what is known as the Translator’s Lodge section….super safe, but not very home-like. 

 

Caleb and I made two “turkeys” (ok…they are really chickens)….but we all called them turkeys….it was my ONE rule)- one roasted and one deep-fried!  Both had a Cajun-spice rub.  YUM!  I also made my mom’s famous green bean casserole (I had to buy the fried onions for it 3 months in advance).  I also made an apple pie!  But, we had SO much food.  So much of what we would have in the States.  Carl even managed to find an old Cowboys vs Seahawks (he is from Seattle) football game that we could watch after dinner!

 

We invited one other couple: Andy, Melody and their two kids Hannah and Luke.  We went through training with them in Orlando for two weeks.  They are great friends!  Jessie, my wantok came.  She is an AMAZING cook!  We invited her because we like her company but the girl can cook!!!!!  We also invited Judy, Jeanne, Lynn (whose husband is in Port Moresby) and Valerie.  It was so nice to be with such a great group of people.  Like I said, I feel beyond fortunate and blessed to have what feel like family here in PNG.  These ladies all do not have this.  It was so good to gather around the table and just have a good ol’ Thanksgiving dinner!

 

There are a couple of things that would have made this holiday a little better:

 

-          We all could have been off of work (not a holiday here in PNG)

-          We all could be off of work tomorrow!

-          We could have spent it with our family back home

 

One thing you should know….there are no turkeys here in PNG.  So, after a good cry about that one, I went to work to come up with a plan for how to make our chickens LOOK like turkeys….hey….it’s the little things, people!

 

I am going to post pictures in the next couple of posts (since I can only e-mail up to 7MB at a time).

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We love and miss you all so much!