Happy Thanksgiving

Can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged.  A whole lot has happened - and still is happening - since my last blog.

However, because today happens to be Thanksgiving, I am dedicating my first blog in nearly 3 months to a few things I'm thankful for.  

*  I am thankful that after being away for the past two Thanksgivings and Christmases, I am in the US and will spend this entire Holiday season with family.  

*  I am thankful that I will NOT have Malaria this Christmas (in fact, this may be the longest I've been Malaria free in over a year)!  I've had really bad Malaria the past two years on Christmas.  Believe me, being over 7,000 miles away from family around Christmas is hard enough, especially when the phone network is barely able to hold a phone call and internet is too slow for Skype.  Add in a bad case of Malaria and you start to hate Christmas.  

*  I am VERY thankful to not have spent any time in a Kenyan jail this year!  There were a few points when everything happened in August that I thought there was no way around that.  I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am for a random contact in Nairobi that was able to keep me out of jail, not having to pay a single bribe and get out of the country.  

*  I am thankful for my wonderful family at In Step in Kenya!  I have spend the past year living life with them and it's been wonderful.  I cannot wait to be back with them as soon as possible!

*  I am extremely thankful for the support of friends and family during this time.  I have been SO blessed by so many people after being kicked out of Kenya.  From a great couple allowing me to move into their home to tons of encouragement, to people offering me short term work, I feel like the most blessed guy in the world right now.  

*  I am thankful for Christmas decorations.  We've been slowly putting them up over the last week or two.  Last week we put up the tree and I am realizing that with the exception of one year, I have not had a Christmas tree in the home I'm living at in 11 years.  

There is so much more that I have to be thankful for this year, but this is just a brief spotlight.  What are you thankful for?