Turkey Day in Turkey

This Thanksgiving was one we will never forget! We were able to celebrate 3 times! On Thanksgiving day we were invited over to a party with Americans. Ryan and I were walking in the grocery store and I knew I heard a man speaking English to his son. I ended up asking him and he is American. Him and his family have lived here for 9 years. He is so nice and his wife called and invited us over for Thanksgiving. There was a big group of people there to celebrate. There were 3 different families that have lived here for a number of years, Teachers that are living here while teaching English, people that were visiting Turkey and then US! Everyone was so nice and we ended up making a lot of new friends. We played such a fun game and ate tons and tons of food! Then on Sunday we had a Thanksgiving dinner with our Branch! It was kind of sad because all of the members were sick and couldn't come. It ended up being the Abney's, Huseyin with his wife and Ryan and me. We had enough food to feed an army!! Sister Abney made the most delicious food and yummy pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin! I made Apple crisp, pumpkin chocolate chip bread and sugar cookies. All of this food for 6 people! The 3rd Thanksgiving we celebrated (also on Sunday) was with Ryan's American teammates. Andre got us a Turkey and stuffing from the Army base and it tasted so delicious! We had the dinner at David Holston's apartment and his sweet mom cooked up a storm! Again I took desserts and those boys SCARFED them up. We played skip-bo and a fun game that I learned from the American group on Thanksgiving day. It was a great few days and we will always remember when we had Turkey in Turkey!

Sunday Thanksgiving with the Abneys, Huseyin and Harije.

Waiting for Huseyin to pick us up on Sunday.

This is our Sunday routine.

At the American dinner they made these adorable name tags and had one for every person!

Ryan playing the game with Todd and Gwen's cute boys

A few of the men at the dinner. Such nice people

The girls! We loved laughing about funny things that have happened to each of us here in Turkey.

Thanksgiving Day!

Sadly I didn't have my camera at the teammate dinner. I will try to get some pictures from someone else that was there.

There are so many things that I am grateful for. Being happily married to my best friend, all of my family, all of my friends, the Gospel, my health, yummy food and the list can go on and on. But the one thing I felt really grateful for this year is the opportunity that Ryan and I have to live here in Turkey. It has been hard at times because there are days that I feel homesick (like when my whole family was in Mexico for Thanksgiving) but overall I have learned so much and have really grown as a person. I have met so many amazing people and have learned how truly blessed we are. I am loving this little adventure I am on with Ryan and I will remember this Thanksgiving in Turkey forever.