Discovering New Traditions for which to be Thankful

Being the eldest of five children, I have grown to love that my family has lots of traditions. We would enjoy spending the holidays together whenever possible, loudly sharing and laughing over a big meal (even when the meal was at a local buffet!). And when the traveling distance did not permit me to be with my nuclear family, I have been blessed to be taken in by loving surrogate families, first in graduate school, and then at our home church, Dover Baptist. 

Frankly, leaving our loving family and friends was the hardest part about coming to Papua New Guinea. But by God’s grace and mercy, He is giving us a new family here. First, our POC family, with whom we spent 12 weeks bonding and learning about life here in PNG. Now, our Ukarumpa family, with whom we live and work and spend time studying God’s Word. And slowly, our Papua New Guinean family, with whom we are developing relationships and sharing the love of Jesus. 

Yes, it will be a very different Thanksgiving and Christmas season for us, but because we have brothers and sisters in Christ wherever we are on the globe, it will be filled with loving family. I will miss my family’s traditions, but I hope to make some great new ones here. And we plan to have Thanksgiving dinners with our community Bible study group and POC family, so there will still be plenty of loud sharing and laughing over a big meal. May God bless you and all your loved ones this Thanksgiving!... Kathy