The very first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated because a group of believers moved to a new land, encountered great hardship, but endured and even began to prosper with the help of new friends.  They thanked God that day for all that He had done to bless their lives in the new land, but they also thanked their new friends for the help and love that had been shown during these hard early years.  

How fitting that our family celebrated this Thanksgiving by doing exactly the same thing.  We invited our entire church family to eat with us.  We were able to publicly offer our thanks to God for giving us a wonderful home in our new land and helping us overcome multiple obstacles.  We then turned our thanks to our dear friends, who give of themselves over and over to make our life here in the new land such a joy!  It truly was a very special time of thanksgiving.

Special thanks go to our parents (Jim and Carolyn Hart, Ed and Liz Reeves) who sent multiple packages from America to allow us to treat our Russian friends to a truly traditional AMERICAN Thanksgiving meal.  Thanks also to groups from Arkansas, Florida and Georgia who hand delivered special ingredients for the meal.  We couldn't have done it without all these dear people!  

For most of our friends, it was their very first time to taste these American dishes.  What did we eat?  Well... turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, fruit salad, broccoli and cauliflower salad, strawberry Jello salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce and of course American iced tea.  What about dessert?  Well, would you believe... pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cheese cake, red velvet cake (to celebrate Lori's birthday which was on Thanksgiving this year!), Italian Cream cake, apple bread, sweet potato bread, banana nut bread, and Hawaiian bread.  It may have taken three days to cook it all, but it was well worth the effort!