Saturday, April 3, 2010

A Birthday to Remember!

We had some donations through "Causes" on Facebook for my Birthday, totaling $60.00!  Wow and thank you so much!  This is where a person can designate a cause for someone to donate to, in lieu of giving a traditional birthday gift. Of course my cause was Jireh Ministries Foundation.

So what was so exciting this year on my birthday? It was telling the kids that they will receive "birthday presents" on my birthday!  There were things that we had on the list to purchase whenever our budget might allow it.  So, some real needs were met, and we had an extra nice party too.

So for about $11.00 usd we had goat, plain spaghetti, home made chapatis, deviled eggs, with cabbage salad!  The kids said it was like a Christmas or Easter dinner, a real feast for all 14 of us here!

The gifts were an allowance of the equivalent of $2.50 / 5,000 schillings each to purchase sandals for the boys and some necessities like knickers, bras and petticoats that the girls shopped for and picked out their most needed items.  They all were extremely excited about this gift!  Some of us take the basics for granted but everything is a blessing here, Praise God!

So that totals $31.00 for food and clothes which leaves us with a balance of $29.00 to go towards some of our other needs, like, school fees, rent, food, utilities, etc. Thank you so much for the birthday gifts!

We played games, danced, played drums, and had birthday cake too!

Priscilla came up with this game of sorts, where you pick a small wadded piece of paper from a bowl and after you unravel it, you have to do whatever the message tells you.  Well, little nine year old Joseph decided to keep cashing in on his ticket.  It said; "Hug Jjaja", so every so often he would come over, take it out of his pocket and show me what it said, and  then give me a big hug and a big smile!  It really shows all of us how important a hug can be!

So much of the day was spent in preparation for this party.  Just in case you might think it is a waste of time and energy, it was not.  It shows the kids thinking of others more than themselves, not focusing on their own problems or difficulties and being optimistic and happy about life.  There were children decorating as I was not allowed to go in the living room until party time and even then had to be escorted.  They walked to town to buy their birthday gifts, made birthday cards, iced the cake, made chapatis, fried the goat and cooked the  dinner.  Kids were hiding things and covering their papers as I would walk by, just a busy excitement in the air.  My job was making deviled eggs & spaghetti, and preparing the icing for the cake.

We closed in prayer and a few songs about 11:30PM.  What a long and productive day!  To be the guest of honor was a real blessing in itself but I also realized, we met another milestone! Praise God!
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