Dear Friend,

As I reflect on Thanksgiving this week, I am eager, of course, to enjoy some favorite family recipes. But I’m actually looking forward even more to a favorite family tradition.

Each Thanksgiving, before we are “allowed” to eat, we always go around the table and share two things: what is something we are grateful for from the last year, and what is something we are looking forward to in the coming year? I hope none of my family members read this until after Thanksgiving, because I just might spoil my sharing.

I am so grateful for the chance for my wife, Lynn, and me to travel internationally again this year. Wearing masks in airports and planes wasn’t fun, but we had the chance to get out again, and it was well worth it. Our time with our partners from Kenya, Bolivia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, S. Sudan and Uganda was especially dear. I am grateful for their dedication, their skills (talents), their energy, and their wonderful smiles.

I am also grateful for our staff in the US and around the world. Despite the challenges of Covid, the benefits of Zoom have helped us communicate more than once each week all over the world. The talent and dedication of our staff is second to none.

And I am grateful for our board members, who often put in so many hours of effective support behind the scenes. I’ve been a part of five non-profit boards now, and I’ve never seen any board as hard-working as our boards worldwide.

I also had the chance to visit with many of our Five Talents supporters and friends in the US. You all make all the amazing impacts possible, so many lives transformed. So, I am very grateful for you.