Thanksgiving Blessings

     There's so much to catch up on from the past two weeks!  I'll probably post a few over the next few days, but I'll start with Thanksgiving!  We always miss being with family on Thanksgiving.  God blessed us this year with a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, however.  We had the Robertson family, Nettie, Renata, and Melly over to celebrate with us.  Anneka made placecards and herself decided where each person would sit.

     Here's a picture that includes Melly and me at the far end.  It's so nice having so much room in our apartment!

     Over the past weeks, our family has added a leaf to this "Thanksgiving tree" each day. (Leif and the girls helped me collect sticks outside to make it.) On one side of the leaf is a Bible verse about thankfulness and on the other side we've written something we're thankful for.  Then on Thanksgiving Day, every person read their verse as we sat around the table, and then shared something that they were personally thankful for.  It was encouraging to hear, and fun to see our tree filled with leaves.

     The girls also made these little hats leading up to Thanksgiving.  Here, Ella's was already missing several feathers.

     Anneka wrote different things she's thankful for on her feathers.  She came up with them all on her own.  She wrote "love, joy, Jesus, wisdom, and family and friends".

The girls loved having friends to play with!

     The kids "helped" Nettie make monkey bread, which was a HUGE help to us, as Leif and I were getting the last minute things ready (gravy made, turkey carved, etc) for the dinner.  This year we found BOTH a turkey AND celery... the first time for this to ever happen!

Here, Ella was helping Nettie to test the monkey bread to see if it was done.

     After dinner, we wrote on feathers ways that God has worked in and around us this past year and stuffed this turkey that Nettie brought with the feathers.  To name a few were Ike's healthy birth, people coming to Christ, friends and family visiting, and encouraging trips to the States.  We have so much to be thankful for!
   
     This morning, as I was pulling Anneka on a sled in the dark and subzero temperatures on the way to school, we shared, back-and-forth, things that we're thankful to God for.  It's so good to focus on Him and to see His many blessings all around us.

Thank you to all who prayed for our Thanksgiving away from our families back home!