A Kenyan Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my third Thanksgiving away from home. :( I love Thanksgiving and really miss being with family and friends today.

Today, George and I were invited to attend a Thanksgiving celebration put on by Pip and Beth, friends of George's sister, Suzy. Beth is American and Pip is British. I wasn't sure what to expect since I haven't seen turkey anywhere and Suzy was asked to bring fish.

I was excited when I was asked to bring dessert. I made pumpkin pie from scratch in Sudan and kept the recipe. Two days ago I went to the market and bought a pumpkin. Last night I boiled it. Since Suzy has an oven at her house, I went there this morning and baked all day. I had a blast. Baking is so fun when you don't have to use a charcoal oven and it's not 120 degrees outside! Sarah, an American exchange student staying with George's family, joined me. I had so much pumpkin puree, I made two pies and pumpkin bread, also from a recipe I used in Sudan. Sarah made two more pies using squash. We still had ingredients left over so we made chocolate cookies from yet another recipe we used in Sudan. It was a baking extravaganza!



Pip and Beth live close to Suzy. In fact, only a cement wall separates them. So, whenever we finished an item, we went to the wall and passed it over!

By 6:15, we finished baking and headed over to the party. There were about 35 people there, a few Americans and the rest were Kenyan. There was a ton of food: fish, veggie burgers patties, rice, rolls, potatoes, salad and more. It was delicious. And then came dessert. All the desserts were a hit! It was a successful night.

We had a great time hanging out, laughing and eating good food. For a Thanksgiving away from the US, it was a wonderful evening. I have so much to thank the Lord for: a new niece, supportive friends and family back home, a kind new family here, a great soon to be husband and most of all my Heavenly Father who is more gracious to me than I could ever deserve.