Early Thanksgiving

So for 3 years now, I have been looking forward to cooking a turkey. 3 years! While in Gatlinburg, all of us American Zhongguoren decided to have our own Thanksgiving. I was quite excited and willing to make the turkey.

Last night, I got the bird all ready to go. It was after midnight when I put Sally (the turkey) in the oven to cook. I decided I would just go to bed, set my alarm, and get up to take turkey out. I set it for 2:30am.

About 4:30am, Daniel came over to go hunting with Justin. I just happened to hear them moving and then it hit me. Turkey...oven...Crap. (Semi-strong language, but that is what I was thinking.) I rushed in and turn the oven off. It looked decent, but I could tell the texture was not going to be awesome. I went back to bed with tears.

This morning after some banana pancakes, we headed to CrossPoint for church. I was excited to learn that there were going to be several baptisms. As I watched people being dunked and with pure joy o their faces, I could not help but cry again. This time with tears of happiness. Every time I see a baptism, I just think back to the day when I made the decision to do so. That was a defining moment in my life of what it meant to be happy. These people were experiencing that today. I really just wanting to dance and shout with joy, but my little Church of Christ heart only smiled and clapped (which still felt rebellious). What a terrific turnaround of my dreary morning!

The turkey results are still unknown, but I am looking forward to sitting down tonight with my friends. A couple of these people have been friends since college/early PTS days. Some I met and bonded with in China. Some I have known only for a short time, but have grown to love quickly We all are followers of Christ and know the happiness of being the son/daughter of a king. We will sit in a warm house (yet another good thing that happened this weekend!), with enough food to overfill our stomachs, and talk, laugh, and make yet more good memories. Not everybody gets to do this, and for this experience I am truly grateful.

Happy Early Thanksgiving from the Stockell house! :)