Saving Grace

Happy Thanksgiving!! No, the Chinese do not celebrate Thanksgiving. But the Americans in China do. I was really concerned about how ours was going to turn out considering all the trouble we have had this week:

1. My blow dryer is broken (I've been using the hotels' for the past four months; I pulled mine out Sunday morning and it wouldn't turn on)
2. The washer's spin dry cycle leaves our clothes dripping wet and the dryer barely works (I ran it three or four times and the clothes are still not dry)
3. The turkeys on sale are frozen (like always) and wouldn't be thawed on time... and may be too big for our little oven anyway
4. I still only have a few cooking and no baking utensils: my kitchen includes two plates, two cereal bowls, one frying pan, one weird wooden spatula that I just purchased, measuring spoons, and one liquid measuring cup (and no microwave)
5. Ingredients for a Thanksgiving feast are hard to find (if they are sold here at all)
6. Our oven doesn't work

Yep, I think that last one was the kicker. I was prepared to make an ad-hoc Thanksgiving dinner with store-bought rolls, instant mashed potatoes and gravy, and chicken thighs. Luckily, I received an e-mail from a friend in our ward, Lori, who invited us to her Thanksgiving! I ended up preparing sweet potato pie and apple pie, then taking it to her place to use her pie dish and oven. She did the rest. What a HUGE blessing!! We had a complete Thanksgiving feast from the turkey to the homemade rolls to the pumpkin pie. It was simply AMAZING! This year I am grateful for her for being so gracious and saving our holiday. I hope you had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as we did!