I bet I had a better Thanksgiving than you did

As much as I hate to admit that I was feeling a bit homesick before our Thanksgiving here, I will. I really wanted to spend some much needed time with my mom and I REALLY wanted to bake numerous pies. Mom, don't feel as though you are not needed, you are! But my Thanksgiving here really was wonderful. Pastor & Kim Williams invited a large group of us over. In this group there was me(of course), Stephanie, Mike, Tatiana, Maria, Kelly, Jorge, and about 6 other people I can't exactly remember the names of(no offense if you're one of those people). First of all, I understand that Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, but us folks here in Thailand like to mix things up a bit. This could be because the majority of those in attendance were off work on Friday, but I'll continue with the "we're so original" train of thought. 

I was thankfully able to head out of school early on Friday. It was Sports Day(which I may or may not write about at a later date), therefore no classes were going on. I got home at 12:45, laid down for 45 minutes or so, got all dazzled up(hey, it's Thanksgiving), and headed over to Kim's. The night before I had stayed there rather late(sorry Kim) baking my pumpkin swirl cheesecake, so today I was all for helping Kim. Turns out, I spent a large majority of my time whisking. They didn't have any whipped cream for the pumpkin pies, so I whisked heavy whipping cream and sugar together to make some the old fashion way. See, this usually works in the States because we have A/C and a colder atmosphere. If I haven't mentioned it before, it's just a smidgen warm here in the Thai Land, so it proved to be a challenge. I love challenges, and was rather creative if I may say so. I went to the neighbor's house and asked for some ice cubes, put them in a large bowl, and set the smaller bowl with the whipping cream in that. How clever am I? While I won't say it was as thick as say Cool Whip, it was pretty darn tasty! Way to go me, Arielle, and her 2 friends! 

Once the food was set out, we dug in! There was turkey, some sort of veggie meat, mashed potatoes, Kim's macaroni & cheese(scrumptious), a delectable chilled corn salad(also by Kim), a carrot souffle, and salad. My oh my the party that was going on in my mouth! It was so nice to have homey food. I do enjoy the Thai food here, but it was a welcome change. I will not hesitate to let you know that I went back for seconds. After the dinner, we had an apple pie(thanks Kelly), 2 pumpkin pies, a pumpkin swirl cheesecake(by your one & only), and ice cream! You know that feeling your tummy has after what only a Thanksgiving meal can give you? Yeah, we had that - multiplied by a gagillion. We were quite content. After helping clean up, us ladies went for a power walk - hahahaha in some hope of walking off what we'd just consumed. Honestly, we more or less waddled most of the way, but it was the thought that counts. Once we waddled ourselves back to the middle of the compound, we enjoyed tossing a football around(a favorite American past time on Thanksgiving, why abandon it in Thailand?). Once twilight hit and the mosquitos found a Thanksgiving buffet themselves, we headed inside for a worship. What a wonderful way to end a wonderful day :) My family here in Thailand was so kind to have all of us college folk over to consume a ghastly amount of food. Thank you Pastor & Kim! You are truly a gift from God being the family that He knew that I needed here. 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yourselves. I'm sure that it was pretty great, but I bet mine was better! Just kidding, of course. I hope God blessed each one of you and helped you realize the things that you are truly thankful for. I know I did. Now that it's already December 5 the Holiday Season has officially begun! If you haven't already, you better get on the decorating bandwagon! Mother, I am talking to YOU! haha - love you Momma. Happy Holidays to everyone. I'm praying for all of you each day. Please pray for my former boss. Her name is Amanda Moore & she is suffering from cardiomyopathy. She has a baby girl that is just now 2 months old. She is slowly making progress and the doctor did say that she is no longer "in the woods". She will make it, and so we are praying for a full and swift recovery so she can return to being the mother and wife she needs to be. Thank you for your prayers - they are powerful.