This World Is Not My Home

Some days, three months seems like forever, and other days, three months
seems like it's gonna pass by so fast! Well, Friday was one of those
days that three months felt like forever away. I went to the market in
the afternoon, and visited a friend, but for some reason wanted to be
alone. After the market, I got home to my 14 year old brother crying.
My brother's name is Koustoge, and a few years back his dad had been
married to three women, but after he became a Christian and realized
that it was wrong, he only kept his first wife, who is the lady I live
with now. But Koustoge is from the second wife, and isn't treated the
same as all the other kids. He works more, and gets less. He told me
that he never goes hungry, so that is good, but he also feels like a
stranger in this family. A couple weeks ago, Monique hit him because
the water for my shower wasn't warm yet, and he told me later that his
heart hurts him every time he gets hit, and that he doesn't want to live
here anymore. Friday night he was also crying because he got hit. The
older sister hit him because he didn't get water from the well fast
enough...or something like that. I was angry that she would do that,
but no one else seemed to care. They went on eating and talking, as of
nothing happened. I was so angry, so I went off by myself and watched a
small bush fire that was burning nearby. Three kids from my family and
the mom all came over to see if I was ok...why can't you do this for
your own children? I am a stranger and you treat me more like family
than Koustoge! He has been living there for over 10 years, can't you
just love him like he's your son! Well, after my tears, praying, and
frustration, I went back to the compound to Monique crying. Her brother
had just died a few minutes earlier in another village. She had just
come back from a funeral of one of our neighbors who died during child
birth, and she's gone to two or three for her family. They see so much
pain here, why would they care about the child who was just beaten, he's
still alive isn't he? Well, I was overwhelmed and tired, so after my
shower under heaven I went to bed.

Sabbath brought it's own challenges. One of the ladies at a Sabbath
school branch that just started a few months ago said that she didn't
want people coming to her house anymore to tell these stories. The
white people weren't helping her with food and money, and local people
were giving her a hard time about it, so she just wanted it to stop.
Well, some people went and talked to her, and straightened things out a
bit, but it was a little discouraging. Later in the afternoon one of
the SMs here finally broke down because her family isn't feeding her
good, and she's always hungry, and they lie about why they don't have
food for her when she pays them some good money. She's been working
hard trying to help them keep Sabbath, and this was just the last little
thing that broke her. Some of this stuff really isn't a big deal, but
when you struggle with language, you work hard all day, and have to eat
weird food all the time, the smallest things can get to you. It was at
lunch that I realized that Satan was working to discourage us. So often
I just look at things and think that it's just life, so we should go
with the flow. But it's not just life, it's a battle over souls.
Through most of the weekend I wanted to be home with my family. I
longed for the day that I arrive at the airport and finally get to hug
them and see them in person. But I realized that I should be longing
for heaven in the same way. This world is not my home, I'm just passing
through, so I better not get too comfortable, because that's just where
the devil wants me. He wants me to be comfortable where I am, so that I
don't long for where I could be. The Great Controversy is real, and it
doesn't always come out in demon possession, or witchcraft, but in
subtle things that discourage us, or things that keep us from looking to
God. In those times, it's important to remember that this world isn't
our home, but before we can all go home, we have to tell everyone about
how amazing God is.

It's Simple

Today Gary flew into Bendele with the biggest plane that has come to
this part of Tchad! It was amazing! Everyone was so excited, all the
kids coming around, parents coming to the airstrip to see this amazing
piece of metal! I now know that I've been here for quite a while,
because even I was jumping up and down from all the joy inside my soul.
My friend Freddy is a very educated man, and has traveled and studied
in Cameroon, but this was still the biggest plane that he has seen! This
plane could seat 14 people!!! I know this sounds kinda pathetic to all
you reading this, but it was amazing! I felt as though this was the
biggest plane that I had ever seen.

Life here is so simple, that even the little things like a small plane
bring such joy and excitement. Here we cook over a fire or charcoal,
get water with a bucket from a well, and rest under the stars every
night. We laugh at all the little things, dance when we're happy, and
take life as we go. I see the sun rise and set everyday, and I see kids
running around pushing tires or pot lids with a stick, playing soccer,
or just having fun in the sand. They don't need the newest toy from
walmart when they can make a toy from leaves and a stick...they're
happy. We have so much here. The smallest gift of time is so special
and treasured, and visiting someone is a big deal. To pass time the
people play drums, talk, laugh, eat, and...talk. Their lives are still
very hard; women work in the fields in the morning, and that evening are
giving birth to their 13th child. People still look like they're 90
when they're only 50, and people die of sickness and poverty all the
time, but despite all the hardships that they face, they are still
content with life.

I gave my family glow in the dark stars for Christmas, and the other
night we all put them up in their house. All of the kids were there
putting their hands in my face trying to get a star to put up on the
wall. The mom was even in there pushing her kids out of the way or
taking the stars from them so that she could help put up the stars.
Something so small, but yet so amazing! That's how I think it is with
God. He gives us the little things in life that show us how amazing He
really is. He doesn't want us to be filled with the things of this
world that distract us, but He wants us to be filled with Him, and to be
content with the little things of this world that He has created for us!

This life really is too short, and filled with so much stuff...but I
serve a God who reaches to us in our clutter, and simply gives.

The Season For Tears

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under
heaven...a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, a time
to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Ecc. 3:1,2,4

Today saw a lot of tears. I wish that I could poetically tell you
about life, but I'm finding out that there's a lot of things that just
aren't beautiful or poetic about this life. Today was one of those
un-poetic days for us here in Tchad. This morning Dr. James Appel's 6
month old son Adam died from malaria. It was so unexpected, because he
was doing better when he first went on quinine, but on his second round
of quinine, it was too much for his little body and he seized and died.
This whole day felt as though everything here should stop. I would look
at people carrying on with life and just want them to stop and see what
happened, and cry with us. But death happens here all the time, it's a
part of life, so why should everyone stop for this? But everyone around
us did stop and feel the pain that the day had brought. I just saw a
happy boy eating yesterday, and today I saw Sarah holding his lifeless
little body. They canceled church here, and all the people came and sat
in a circle chanting all morning, while people went in and saw the baby
and James and trying to comfort him. We had a lunch and prepared the
English part of the funeral, which consisted of verses and songs that
James and Sarah wanted to have, and than Jonathan had a little talk
prepared. Gary and Wendy flew in from a different part of Tchad,
because a few years ago they went through the same thing when they lost
their son Caleb to malaria, so they came to share in the pain of this
loss. During the service they sat right in front of me, holding this
little bundle that had brought them so much joy, and now their hearts
were filled with pain. She held him and stroked his face as though he
was still alive, and as she looked on his little face hers was filled
with tears. While James held Sarah, Gary and Wendy were right there to
comfort and mourn with them. The Tchadians continued with chanting
until they placed him in his little blue casket and put him in the
ground. Part of me felt a bit of anger at the people, why couldn't they
just let us sing our songs that we actually understood, and let us feel
how we know how to feel, instead of chanting and such. The service
ended with the sun setting, such a beautiful ending to such a broken
day. A day so numbing, and so long, but so short. The longer I try
living on this earth the more I see that life is so short, and that sin
is so real, but God is so powerful! He tell is in Isaiah 25:8 that "He
will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from all faces; the rebuke of His people he will take away from all the
earth; for the Lord has spoken." I ask that you guys keep James and
Sarah in your prayers, and the work that God has here for them. I know
some of you reading this might ask why he would even bring his babies
here to Tchad, but God has called each of us, and for some, following
God comes with great sacrifice and loss, but the reward is even greater
than any loss we experience here on this earth. I pray that we are all
able to follow Christ, no matter what the cost.

This is Tchad

So I got to go into my first surgery!! There was a lady who was rushed
into the bloc because she had a molar pregnancy and was bleeding out
into her abdomen. You could tell that she had lost a lot of blood
already and was super weak, so we helped her onto the table and they
started giving her the drugs she needed that they had. For some reason
when I heard that she was bleeding out, I just thought that it was
though her vagina and not into her abdomen, so here I am watching them
cut her open, and as they cut through one of the deeper layers of skin,
blood just started gushing out! I started to freak out thinking that I
was going to watch this lady die on the table right in front of me.
There was so much blood coming out of her that the table couldn't hold
anymore of it, and it fell onto the floor in big puddles. It took them
a while to stop the bleeding and get everything that they needed to get
out, but the surgery was so cool, but scary, and it was so amazing that
God helped the doctors know what to do. It's crazy all the stuff that
happens in hospitals; all the death, life, sickness, and health. I
simply can't wait for Jesus to come. Other than that I got to watch a
few more procedures that weren't as adrenalin rushing, and I stayed with
a women for 3 hours while she was in labor, only to find out that an
hour and a half after I left she gave birth! I was a little upset at
myself for leaving, but hopefully I'll be able to see one soon. This
has nothing to do with anything hospitalish, but I ate salad for the
first time at my house! I was so excited! I'm not gonna talk about how
much oil was on there, but the fact that I got fresh salad was amazing!
All you people in America need to be super thankful that you have good
fresh stuff all the time, whenever you want it, because there are little
Asians in Africa right now that don't have it! So back to hospitalish
things, there's also a little boy who's 3 in pediatrics who got burned.
All of his back and butt, his stomach, arms, and part of his chest and
face. His older brother got burned too, and it's so hard seeing them in
pain. Yesterday I helped clean him off, and we had to peel some gauze
off of his back, and he was in so much pain he was just shaking and
crying while his dad held him, and the Tylenol that he's on isn't enough
for the pain. Another baby came in yesterday who had a really high
fever and had stopped eating, drinking, and talking 3 days earlier. He
had a bad case of malaria, and the nurses were doing what they could,
but it was too late. The dad's hand was on the baby's heart when he
died, and the parent's kept asking if he was just tired and sleeping.
It was so sad! I hate it when little kids die and they didn't have to.
If only his parents had brought him in a little earlier. But there
are kids here who are getting better, and are leaving for home again, so
that's some good news.

Some other news is that I have officially had malaria! Last week I
wasn't feeling very good, and I got tested but it was negative, so I
went back to my hut and went straight to bed. It felt like all of my
joints were burning, and all my skin was sensitive to touch, so every
time I moved it hurt all over. I had a fever, and didn't sleep good all
night. I woke up at 8pm feeling like I needed to pee a bit, so I tried
getting up so I could go. I stood up but almost fell cause I was so
weak, and as I went to put a skirt on I just started to pee. I tried to
stop and was running out of my hut at the same time, but it just kept
coming and I peed all over myself. I can't believe that I'm 20 and I
peep myself! The joys of Tchad! This actually happens to lots of
people here, so as weird as it sounds to you, pooping and peeing
yourself is a little more normal sounding here in Tchad. One of the SMs
had amoebas and pooped himself in the middle of the night while he was
sleeping, and when it woke him up he had to walk a ways in the cold
night to wash himself. While he was showering it happened again, and he
had no control over it. Another girl got stung by a scorpion and while
she was at the hospital getting the meds she peed herself...see, this is
pretty normal here. One SM here gave me malerone though, so I didn't
have to take quinine for the malaria. That just means that the next day
I was fine and was at work without nasty effects, and I went to Mondou 2
days later too. It's the 2nd biggest city in Tchad, and it was so
overwhelming. There were cars and motos everywhere, and they even had
paved roads! The biggest building in the city is this bank for all
banks, or something like that. It's 5 or 6 stories high, and it would
even be considered nice in the states. I don't know why they have it
though. There are never people in it, and that money could have been
used to better the people, but whatever, it looks nice. The shops there
have everything! There were things there that still had shine to them,
and we found cheese and chocolate. It did almost cost $6, but hey, we
found it. We found a place where we could get ice cream, and we had
sandwiches and smoothies...it was amazing! We were all sick over the
weekend because of our amazing finds, but hey, it was totally worth it!
In the part of the market where you could buy veggies, I saw carrots
and potatoes, and really nice looking peppers. It was so overwhelming,
it made my so tired! You know in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" they
have those kids who are beggars, but they all work for one man? Well,
it was the same type of thing in Mondou. Kids would be at every corner
all carrying the same silver bowl begging for money. They weren't very
smart though cause 5 kids would walk past at the same time, all with the
same type of bowl begging for money, and they all had nicer clothes than
the kids in the village where I live. I don't know if I'm gonna be able
to handle going back to the states if I'm overwhelmed by this city. The
fact that there were watermelons for sale overwhelmed me...isn't that
sad?!?!

Well, that's been a quick read of my life over the last couple of weeks.
Lots more has happened, like I went dancing at some river for a
baptism, and the dad of my local family came home and I got to meet him.
I wish I had time to tell you everything that happens to me, but I
only have time for the important things like wetting yourself and such.
I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas, and that this year you
are reminded of the real reason why we celebrate the birth of Christ.
This year I pray that you are able to share the gifts that God has given
you, and that you are able to tell others about His love for them!
Merry almost Christmas, and I happy New Year!

What are we celebrating?

Yesterday was a celebration...I'm just not sure what they were
celebrating. There was a horse race, and I'm pretty sure everyone in
Tchad was there. Some of the horses and men riding were drunk, so of
course I thought it would be a bit entertaining . I could hear the
beating of drums as I walked closer, and there was a cloud of dust that
covered the people. I was surprised at how fast some of the horses were
running...even some of the drunk ones! The horses had these mettle
plates on their foreheads that the riders would hit with an ax...it was
kinda weird, but hey, I'm in Tchad. Anyways, the horses would run
around this lap place, and the people could stand on the outside of the
circle or on the inside...but to get to the inside people had to run
through the horses and try not to get hit. It wouldn't be so bad if the
dust wasn't so thick that you could barely see 10ft in front of you. At
first I was not about to go, but after a while I realized that the party
was happenin on the inner part of the circle. I finally got brave
enough and ran to the inner circle...wow, that kinda sounds exotic or
something. I watched from the side for a while, and Lenden (one of the
SM's here from Cali!!) even rode a few laps on a friend's horse. I
could tell he had fun because when he got off the horse there was dirt
all across his teeth! Hahahaha! After he finished we decided to check
out the dancing and drumming. It was packed! It was bad enough that
all you could smell was alcohol and dust...but than you add in some bad
body odor and hundreds of dancing drunk people...so basically I had an
awesome time! No, I'm just kidding, I was only in there for 5 minutes
and than I needed room to breathe. We walked to a different part of the
circle where you could watch the horses from another point. It was hard
to see because of all the dust, and a girl who was probably 2 or 3 ran
across the road. She didn't make it all the way, but the first horseman
saw her and stopped the horse, but that sent him flying and the horse
spooked and ran off. Unfortunately, the next 3 riders didn't see her,
and she got trampled. A man ran out and grabbed her, bu it might have
been too late. I wanted to go and check, but if we went to help and she
died while we were helping, the people would get angry as us and say it
was our fault...so we walked away. (They could have killed us if she
died while we helped her). We walked to a different part and ran back
to the outer part of the circle where Tammy and Brichelle were. I
thought that all the fun and excitement was finished at that point, but
I was completely wrong! I went to a part where I could see the horses
again, and there was a drunk man standing beside me holding his horse.
The fact that he was drunk didn't really make this an awesome situation,
but anyways, I was standing there watching the horses, and he started to
sing and dance, but whatever, that's what everyone was doing, drunk or
not. Then he reached over and groped my chest and grabbed my waist
trying to dance with me. I wanted to slap him or something, but then
thought that would be stupid to make a drunk man with a horse angry...no
one would have helped me. Whenever people are being attacked, it's
pretty rare that someone will step in to help, especially for a woman.
So I pushed him away and walked back to the white people crowd. He came
again and grabbed my arm trying to get me on his horse, but Cory told
him off. Wow, I'm super safe here in Tchad! We decided to leave after
that, but as we walked away all I heard shouting, drumming, horses
running...basically craziness. I was walking in a cloud of dust...but
even in that mess the sun was so beautiful. As I was walking away I
felt as though I was walking towards peace. That's how it is with God.
We need to have the mess of this world behind us, and the peace of the
Son in front.

Happy Birthday to Me

So, I am now officially 20...I'm so old! It was definitely the best
birthday I have ever had...in Tchad. I was able to talk with Alyssa
Fitting on Thursday, as like a before birthday gift, and than on my
birthday I got to talk with my family, what a blessing! Friday night
(my birthday eve) all of the missionaries from Bendele ate around a camp
fire, sang, and than slept on top of these super huge containers! It
got pretty cold during the night, but it was a lot of fun. Then Tammy
and Brichelle came up to my hut and surprised me with a piece of pumpkin
pie, a candle, and a birthday song, and then they took me to church.
After church it was pretty chill, we ate left overs from Thanksgiving,
and vegan ice cream...which was pretty amazing actually! Than, I was
chillin at the hospital and all the people down at the hospital had
planned a surprise birthday party for me! We all went back down to
Bendele and ate dough boys and chili, sang songs again, and played
games. They played mafia for hours! It was so funny watching and
listening to them play, and learn how to play! I was talking with
Matthew about farting and what we missed about home, but that was fun
too! Then we slept out on part of the run way, and looked at stars
through a telescope. I had so such fun! The only thing that kinda
wasn't fun was the fact that we slept out on the run way. It got SO
cold! I know I'm in Africa and all, but it got down to the 50s, and
most of the people had a hard time sleeping! After we all woke up at
around 5am, we watched Mulan, and than departed to our different areas!
It was really nice though that they all planned it for me, and took the
time to make the day special for me! I have been so blessed, and I
really want to praise God for another year of life that I have to learn
how to love Him more and share His love with others! I hope that
everyone has an amazing and blessed week! Continue praising God for
each new day of life that He blesses you with!

happy thanksgiving!

The evangelistic meetings in Lai finished last week Friday, and there were 5 people who stood up to be baptized!  Praise the Lord!  I know some of you were praying that the people would be quiet while he spoke, and it happened.  Slowly over the days the people who were making the most noise left.  In the end we were left with 70-80 people, and they were listening.  Even though there were only 5 people that stood up to be baptized, there is a seed that was planted in the peoples' hearts and God will continue working.  The hardest topic for the people to understand was the Sabbath.  I guess that in their culture and language the 7th day is Sunday, and the calenders were messed up for the uneducated people some years back, so the calender shows that Sunday is the 7th day, and they have never read these verses before...well, many of them can't read, but they have never heard this before.  But I do know that many were listening, and that God will continue to work in their hearts.  Thank you so much for your prayers in that, and continue to pray as Matthew will be doing Bible studies down there once a week or so, so continue learning with the people down there.

I have been learning a lot while going to and from these meetings, and one thing I learned is that God is ALWAYS protecting us, and we are not indestructible!  The moto rides there and back have been teaching me a lot!  On the way back one night, I was riding behind a man named Piere, and he was really a bad driving!  We hit every bump in the road, and I still have bruises on my butt from that ride.  But once we hit the sand I was sure that we were going to fall, and he still persisted on going pretty fast even though we were weaving all over the road.  On another night, Matthew and I were traveling back home when I truck was coming towards us with it's brights on.  We couldn't see a thing, and I was getting all upset at how rude they could be and that we couldn't see a thing!  Well, we ended up stopping cause we couldn't see, and right when the truck had passed us, there was a HUGE hole a ft in front of the moto!  It was the size of the moto and it dropped down this 10ft little cliff thing.  I know it wasn't super big, but we could've gotten hurt, and we were alone on this big road!  God protects us in the little things, and the big, so continue to praise Him for the life that we have been blessed with today.

I have a lot to praise Him for, like the fact that there is an American family here that has taken Matthew and me in, and we spend a lot of time with them on Sabbath afternoons.  Well, last night they made us pizza!!!  It was the best thing that I have ever eaten!!!  Everything was local, and man, it tasted amazing!!!  So now I'm pretty excited to see what we all bring for our Thanksgiving meal!  Wow, it's almost Thanksgiving, and almost my birthday!  I'm gonna be 20 in Tchad!  I can't say that I'm super excited about that, cause I would kinda rather be 20 in America, but I guess I'll just have to get ice cream when I get back to celebrate! 

Speaking of celebrations....two Sabbaths ago I was in Lai again, and we got back home kinda late.  I was really tired and couldn't wait to go to sleep!  Well, driving through the village, we passed some houses that were singing and dancing and playing drums (ok, so the people in the houses), and I told Matthew that I thought it would be cool to go to one of those sometime.  They were celebrating something with the Evangelical church...or something like that.  Anyways, so we passed 2 or 3 houses like that, and it was kind of exciting to see for a second.  Well, we finally made the turn towards my hut, and I could feel the excitement of being able to sleep and finally get some rest!  Well, we pulled into my compound and that's when I saw it; over 50 people BY MY HUT playing drums, singing (it's really chanting, but that's how they sing here), and dancing.  I kinda laughed because when I said I wanted to go to one sometime, I didn't mean that night when I was super tired, but oh well, they can't do this all night right?  WRONG!  My brother came up and greeted me, and then told me that they were going to be doing this all night!  Ok, so some of the dances and drum beats were pretty cool, but not cool enough to do all night long!  I tried a couple of the dances in the background where I couldn't be seen, but then headed to bed.  All of the beats basically sound the same, so it put me to sleep after a while, and they did finally take a sleep break at 3am...but then they started it up again at 5am.  The church was packed with dancing Tchadians that Sunday, and then after hours of that, they all returned to the houses to dance again!  It finally ended Sunday evening.  That experience made me grateful that I am SDA and that we don't dance for 2 days straight!!! hahaha

Life here really is good though.  I am alive, I have a bit of a cold, but it's my own fault that I'm not better.  I got my first package this week...actually first 5 packages this week!  One of them contained oreos...I would like the emphasize that fact that it contained and no longer does, so I still have a bit of a cold! lol  But God is teaching me a lot through the Bible, Great Controversy, the locals, the missionaries, and through nature.  I praise the Lord that when I arrived it was the rainy season!  Everything was green and beautiful...it's not now, but it was then.  Everything is browning nicely now, and the people are burning their fields (I'm not sure why they are, but they are), and things are getting hot during the day.  But on the good side, there is salad materials for the next few months!!! I'm super excited about that!  Oh, and talking about fresh stuff, remember how I said that I ate a grasshopper the other day?  Well, I guess that with the dry season comes the grasshopper/locust season.  The other night, my mom (local mom whose name is Monique) reached into her fanny pack and pulled out a handful of live grasshoppers, and her son reached in his pant pocket and did the same.  They all had their wings and back legs torn off, but they were still squirming.  They just thew em in a pot and ate em like that...it's been a regular thing this week and every time I get a little less disgusted...I still feel bad for them though.

So part of this blog I wrote last week, and didn't have enough battery to send it, so here's the rest.  Today is Thanksgiving for me, and night time for everyone who will read this on Thanksgiving day!  We've been doing this survivor thing here with all the SM's, and the loser of last week's challenge had to come at 8 this morning to cook pancakes for everyone's breakfast...my team lost so I was here at 8.  After breakfast we all started cooking for our BIG thanksgiving meal.  I made sweet potato fries in this super awesome batter, and made a ketchup type dipping sauce (not even close to ketchup, but it got the job done), and lime aid (since limes are in season now).  There were at least 6 pumpkin pies (since pumpkins are in season now), and there were mashed potatoes (which the potatoes had to be imported from a big city since we don't have normal potatoes here), and stuffing (which everything had to be made from scratch), and we killed our own 3 chickens this afternoon (which are abundant at all times...and when I say we, I really mean other people, cause I actually didn't help in the unnecessary slaughter of these poop animals), and salads, and man there was so much food!!! We were having a blast preparing everything, and dancing to music, and singing and....ok right now none of of can sing, because there's this cold going around Tchad that everyone's getting and we are all losing our voices.  I can't believe that we're in Tchad and we have colds...some tropical disease would be a much better story, but oh well...next time.  Anyways, the point of that super long sentence about food was to say that we had some amazing food!!!!  One of the guys gained 4lbs!!  We all sat on the ground around these grass fence things that were cut to make tables for us, and we bought some material from the market to decorate...it basically looked like America...except in Tchad!  There were 30 white people...30 of us!  It was super weird, but super fun...we even had some locals come and join us.  There is so much that I have been blessed with and I want to share some of those things with those of you who actually read this far!  I am thankful for family and friends in the states that send packages...and prayers, and families that have taken me in here.  I am thankful for food, even when it has rocks in it, because there really are a lot of kids in Africa starving right now.  I am thankful I haven't gotten malaria yet (and I hope I never do), oh, and did I mention that I am thankful for packages with things from the states (hahahaha)...it helps keep me going sometimes knowing that people are thinking of me...but prayers are much more needed!  I am so glad that God has given us His word to keep us going.  It's there to strengthen us, encourage us, rebuke us, and love us...which is what God is there for too.  I hope that all of you beautiful people in America, or Canada or wherever remember all the things that God has blessed you with, and continue to praise Him.  Happy thanksgiving USA!!!!