Happy Birthday, Jason!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Jason is now officially FIVE years old! Ever since Brendan’s birthday in October, he has been counting down to his birthday. With such a build up we were afraid to disappoint. But he seems happy and quite content with his celebrations with no talk of having to wait a whole year until his next birthday. Yesterday, nine of his little friends from the MEF community came for a birthday party. Gideon, Lazarus, Lumono and others have all been waiting just as long as Jason has for his birthday, knowing they could come inside and play and eat cake. It was a little rowdy with all of them and me being the only adult but we managed.

After singing "Happy Birthday" the kids sing "How old are you now?" to the same tune. Jason has to yell out "FIVE!" each time they ask.

Today I brought two cakes to feed all sixty children in Lower Nursery, Middle Nursery and Upper Nursery. The kids in Jason’s class sang to him and he blew out the candles. He was very proud of himself!



Then tonight Jason requested a Mexican Fiesta with his adult friends. Carmen, Adrian, Doug and Lynn, came over to celebrate with us. Once again, we sang and he blew out the candles on his FOURTH cake.



After the kids went to bed, the adults watched the DVD I bought of my debut on national television. There was a lot of laughter at the corny camera angles and we were also a bit dizzy at times from the zoom going in and out, but we all agreed that the Almond Squares did indeed look delicious!

Thursday, April 17, 2008
A few weeks ago, when we attended the missionary fellowship, I met a Canadian woman and her family who have been missionaries here for the last six years. Brenda and I had a good time talking and she told me that she and her boys have been praying for the last few months for a North American boy to come into their lives that they could be friends with. And then we showed up! Brenda and Jerry have three boys, Jared, Sam and Josh. Jared is older and African at heart. But the other two, who are best friends to each other, would love a friend from North America, especially after spending the last eight months on furlough in Canada and feeling the difference. So today we had a playdate at their house and all the boys had a great time playing together. It was easy to talk with Brenda and all of a sudden nearly three hours had passed and it was time to go home. We are all thrilled at this budding friendship. Now we just have to get our husbands together so that we all can be friends. Brenda is so wise and gentle and loves Africa. I am eager to learn from her!

Friday, April 18, 2008
When we were in Lusaka last week, we got a CD player for our car. We used to just listen to one station, which wasn’t so bad, especially when they were playing Abba’s greatest hits. But now we can play the two Cds we have here (over and over again). The boys love these two Cds (God Rocks!) and the songs stay in my head long after I drop them off at school and switch to listening to the BBC. I feel like my whole world has opened up now that I listen to the BBC fifteen minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. It is a small thing but I feel a big difference. This morning, as I was flicking off cockroaches from the boxed milk I wanted to put in my cart, Shoprite was playing Michael Card (Christian musician) over the speakers. Another time I did my grocery shopping to the song “Majesty.” So weird.

I think living here just might improve my vocabulary. Words like obstruct, whereby, hence, indeed, condolences and bereavement are used regularly. Instead of saying “pass,” we use the word “overtake.” Jason says this one a lot, as in “I am so fast no one will be able to overtake me!” The kids always say, “No, my mother refuses!” Brendan always refers to Peter as his “father.” I love how one teacher asked all the kids to “minimize their movements” during an assembly. I would have just told them to “sit still.” A man said to me, “Let me endeavor to explain . . .” Every Sunday, when we are about half an hour into the service and the church is still quite empty, someone will pray and ask God to “hasten the steps” of those that are still coming. And when is the last time you said the word “calamity” without adding “Jane” after it? Two South African phrases that we have adopted into our vocabulary are “shame” and “is it?” And then there is my favorite phrase that I hear from Zambians who say “r” and “l” interchangeably: No ploblem.