This Thanksgiving we have MUCH to be grateful for!!

Being away from home on a mission has given us the unique opportunity of serving others on holidays when we have usually been with our family.  This is the first Thanksgiving we have ever spent away from all our children and grandchildren.  

This year, as has been done in previous years here at Martin's Cove, we missionaries went into Casper and helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless and downtrodden at the Hope Center run by the Salvation Army.  What a blessing that was!  It gave us a chance to show love and compassion to many whose lives are full of physical, mental, and emotional challenges for a variety of reasons.  Not only were we able to serve them a tasty and nutritious meal, we could also sit and visit with them and just listen to them for awhile.  It was an honor and a privilege to be there.

 Here's the serving crew just before they opened the doors.

We had the special little task of slicing the butter into serving size patties, and . . .

. . . we also got to be in charge of the drinks.  

Amazingly, the most popular choice by far was orange juice!

Then today we celebrated our own Thanksgiving at the Homestead with about 30 people including our 6 missionary couples and about 18 others - local ranchers and friends of Jeff and Trinity Seely, one of the ranchers here at Martin's Cove.  What a delight it was to get to know them and share an amazing meal.  They brought along 9 children, and their chatter and laughter was something we missionaries all enjoyed because it reminded us of our families.

Even though we are away from those most dear to us, we feel greatly blessed, and we are thankful to a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us and our families while we are gone.  We love Him and are honored to be able to serve Him at this time and in this unique way.

Jeff sliced up a delicious turkey Trinity baked.

Here are both of our master chefs at work.

The sisters got really creative with the food.  

Look at this work of art:  a turkey made from fruit!

And here's another one made of vegetables!

Wyatt Seely wasn't shy - he was first in line!

Thank you to many years of previous missionaries for all the lovely table decorations.

We had to bring in two extra tables to hold all the food.

Poor Boss - the ranch dog! 

Everyone he loved was on the other side of the open window eating a delicious meal. 

He could see it and smell it, but couldn't have any.

The Seely boys sat with the Martins and Hutchinsons

The Bushmans got to sit at the "teen table."

Jeff Seely, the Thomases, the Cherrys, and the Moenches sat together.  

Right after taking this picture I sat down to eat and spilled my entire glass of water right on Sister Cherry's lap!  

Well . . . somebody had to spill something!

Trinity Seely, the Gates family and the Barcus family

This lovely and tasty cherry pie was made by Elder Cherry!  

Look how cute he decorated the crust!

After dinner the men retired to their couches for football and naps, 

and the sisters played a mean game of Mexican Train dominoes.