giving thanks

Thankful for a doctor (who lives a seven-hour drive away from us) who invited us to drive up and see him on Thanksgiving Day so that he could help me figure out how to treat a leg infection that wasn't improving...and thankful for God's healing as my leg continues to improve!

Thankful for the vehicle that carried us up here, for the beautiful (never dull!) drive, the competent driver, and the three happy cuties in the back seat:

Thankful for an absolutely gorgeous place to "vacation" while getting well--Mbingo, Cameroon:

Thankful for two Thanksgiving celebrations with mostly-new friends:

Thankful to live in a country that knows such natural bounty, where there are various types of fruit in season throughout the entire year (that blue speck in the tree is John, hitting down guavas to those waiting expectantly under the tree):

Thankful that the sleek forest cobra that slithered by near the outdoor lunch with the missionary doctors today met his demise shortly after he was sighted. Everyone else was snapping pictures with their smart phones as several doctors valiantly went after him and chopped his head off with a shovel (the RIGHT hing to do with this type of snake!)...I was meanwhile trying to keep my children from venturing too close until the decapitation was complete!

Yesterday, Adam and I were recounting what we have done for Thanksgiving for the last 10-11 years. I realized that I haven't spent two consecutive Thanksgivings in the same place over all those years, and only one of them with my Molitor family. But ever since 2004, when I first moved away from home, I have spent every single Thanksgiving with missionary friends and other believers somewhere in the world! God has given us more "family" then we ever imagined we'd have! Thankful for the body of Christ--the family of God--and for Jesus who makes us all one.