It's Thanksgiving Time!

Thanksgiving is this Thursday and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family at my grandparent's house in Talent, Oregon. The recent tradition has been for my brother Eric and I to drive from Idaho to Talent on Wednesday and spend the weekend with my mom's parents. Sometimes other family members will join us, but this year will be especially memorable. Not only is it my first Thanksgiving with my grandparents in three years, my younger brother and sister will also be there for the whole weekend and my parents will be able to join us for a couple of days in between scheduled work. Also, I have many things to be thankful for. Here are just a few:

*All of the people I've been able to reconnect with while on furlough (and people who have let me sleep on their floor or in their spare room while I've traveled)
*Great training time in Colorado
*Wonderful co-workers (Denhams, Thomases, Carpenters, Molly, Liz, Drew and Johnny)
*Supportive friends and family
*Being able to buy my plane ticket to Rwanda for the 7th of Dec.
*EFM Board meetings in Canby, Oregon, accompanied by very good food
*A brother who's willing to take on the responsibility of my house and all the details of selling it now that he's moving to Oregon
*Fun games with my sister, although she should know that it's only polite to let your older sister who you haven't seen in a long time win
*Watching movies with Donald who always asked, "So what did you think of that movie? Did you enjoy it?"
*Eric's cooking
*Skype, e-mail and Facebook which allow me to stay connected to folks in Rwanda as well as those here in the states
*The warm weather that I'll find in Rwanda
*Friends who live in Minnesota giving me a reason to stop there on my way back to Rwanda in December
*Stopping in at the Yearly Meeting office just in time to be invited to their monthly staff lunch