We took a break from writing last week, as we were busy celebrating with family over the Thanksgiving holiday. We have so much to be thankful for this year. It is almost overwhelming to think about. While in Chad, we worried about holding onto traditions like Thanksgiving. When no one around you is celebrating the holiday, how do you keep it special. One of the ideas we came up with was a Thanksgiving book in which we write out all the things we are thankful for from the past year. We thought we would share with you just some of the things we were able to write in our book this year.
• Surviving and thriving in a tough place like Chad
• Getting past a major language milestone—comfort in communicating and the ability to have deeper conversations.
• Translating stories from our favorite book
• A warm reception to the ice machine idea
• Our first big Eid (Chadian holiday)
• Packages from home
• A kind and patient translator for our doctor visit
• A safe evacuation with Megan’s Dad from a war zone
• Text messaging, emails, and prayers during the crisis
• Everyone from our team got out safely
• Grace’s birth
• Grace is a good sleeper
• Grace is a good traveler
• A new and exciting opportunity to go to the islands
• The chance to meet some of our new team members
• A road trip that allowed us to see so many friends and family members
• Wonderful times with both sets of grandparents on the East and West Coast
• A return visit to Chad
• Seeing our Chadian friends and teammates, introducing them to Grace and being able to say goodbye
• Being with family for the holidays
• Watching Grace grow
We also want to thank all of you who have been with us through all of the ups and downs of this past year. So many of you follow along with us and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It is another thing for which we are so thankful.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had an absolutely wonderful time in New Jersey. The food was good, but the company was better. The stars of the show were Grace and her cousling Justin. Everyone had a wonderful time and travel was blessedly uneventful. (Photos: Grace & Justin get ready to dine; Tom and Grace read a book)
PRAYERS REQUESTED
We are starting to take a good hard look at the things we need to get done before going to the Island. Pray that we can get all our ducks in a row and figure out the things we need to get/give/sell/do/remember/not-worry about. Grace has had some rough days with teething. Pray for her, especially sleeping at night.
