thanksgiving

Please forgive my tardy wishes for your happiness on Thanksgiving. Like many American fish out of United States waters, we are celebrating today. There is a mini-turkey roasting in my mini-oven, the side dishes are prepped, and our guests will soon be arriving.

For both Alex and I, Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday. We miss our dear families and treasured friends with whom we have always celebrated and homesickness rises if we let silence fall. Fortunately, in this household, silence almost never does.

We are thankful today for the Lord Jesus, for our precious daughters, for our new community and friends. I think we feel these things particularly as we have had a difficult week. A week ago, after six days of high temperatures, our little Harriet woke up in the night with a temperature of 106 F (41 C), shaking all over her chubby little self. We called 999, the English 911. (Though I have recently learned that 911 does connect to the ambulance service, as many English think this is the number due to American television shows.) In about 12 minutes two medics arrived and gave Harriet and I a lift to the hospital in an ambulance. During the night we learned that she has pneumonia in her lungs. Talk about thankful. If her temperature hadn’t risen so alarmingly, we would never have been brought to the hospital or been offered a chest x-ray. As it is, after a week of antibiotics, Harriet is on her way to being well again. She is sitting on the floor at my feet, playing with puzzle pieces, wearing their basket on her head.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!