Happy Thanksgiving!  We've had a wonderful time with our friends around the table.  The food was extraordinary, the fellowship uplifting, and the pies to die for.  We went upstairs for a thanksgiving service in the library after stuffing ourselves with turkey and dressing and all the trimmings.  We focused on our Lord and all He has done for us this past year and beyond.  We talked about His mercy and the many ways it impacts our daily lives.  We sang a number of wonderful hymns and enjoyed a variety of special music, including a flute quartet.  And then it was back downstairs to feast on four kinds of pies.  Yum!

  

One of the high points of the day was a pint size pumpkin named Miracle.  She was her mother's eighth child and had a twin brother.  The mother died in childbirth.  The family could not keep her, so a fifteen year old pregnant sister and her father took she and her brother by boat across to Nigeria to an orphanage.  Sadly, part way across the river the father and the brother drowned.  She was saved by her older sister and brought back to her village.  Her family still didn't know what to do with her.  When our friends learned of her plight, they took her into their hearts and home.  She has the biggest eyes and the biggest smile.  She is a delightful child.  They promptly named her Miracle because her life is one big miracle.  

 We will eat breakfast together in the morning (including waffles) and then our friends will travel back home to Bafia.  They are missionary refugees from the village of Sabga, up in the mountains above Bamenda.  Everybody is busy learning French and asking God how He wants to use them now.  After they leave we will pull out the Christmas decorations and officially begin the Christmas season.  We have three trees to put up this year.  Fun!