Birthday Weekend

This is me, on my birthday. I often become introspective around the time of my birthday and this year was no exception. I had a really horrible week, to be completely honest. I found solace in the "mundane" chores, especially hanging out the laundry and sinking my hands into various batches of dough. I don't really want to go into a lot of detail on a public blog but suffice it to say that it feels like the monster has gotten a little weaker, I've gained some new insights, been overwhelmed with encouragement, and received amazing gifts, some from my fellow human beings and some from my Creator. In fact, before I woke up on my birthday, I had a lovely dream in which I woke up on my birthday and it was raining and I was so happy. The layers of dirt were gone from the leaves and everything was fresh and green again. Even though I was disappointed to really wake up and find it had only been a dream, I was blessed with the reminder that God knows the things that really make me happy. Even though things don't always go the way I would like, He knows my heart and understands why I'm sad when I'm sad, why I'm happy when I'm happy. And I continue to hold on to the hope that someday, everything will be made right.

So, back to my birthday, I woke up to the sound of my guys singing "Happy Birthday" and was immediately handed a cup of hot coffee and 3 sweetly wrapped packages, each containing a darling necklace. I spent the morning watching Riley's preschool having sports day, on the lovely grounds of the American Club. I could have kicked myself for not taking the camera... so you can't see what it was like. Just imagine between 20 and 30 cute kids, doing potato relays, throwing balls, etc. What made me happiest was to spend the morning surrounded by pots and pots of flowers. I absolutely love flowers and greenery and the few trees I see from my apartment windows just don't cut it. We hung out afterwards and he played on the playground and I enjoyed connecting with other moms. We grabbed lunch there before taking a rickshaw as close to the "downtown" shops as we could, so I could pick up a few things that I can't find on our side of town. Then we grabbed a CNG, to Riley's delight, and buzzed home. I was so impressed to see a handful of disabled men, selling popcorn and pot holders at various intersections, instead of just begging. And the sweetest young girls who didn't ask for a thing, just looked and smiled and wanted to shake hands. In the evening, we met my in-laws at one of my favorite restaurants for dinner and then had ice cream cake at their place later.

We had a laid back day yesterday. Austin took the boys with him and picked up a couple of shelves.


Here he is, after setting up the biggest shelf in his studio. It makes a huge difference when you have a place to put things! Again I am impressed with the things he does with "stuff". We had some friends over in the evening for pot pies and mint chocolate brownies. The mood was dampened a bit by our neighbors who complained twice about the noise the kids were making. It's to the point where they can't run at all without us fearing a call or knock at the door. Somebody help me out here - do kids here not run and play? If you live in a city of 14 million and share an apartment building with between 50 and 100 (just guessing), wouldn't you expect to put up with a bit of noise? Please forgive us, but we really are trying! The kids handled it pretty well and, in the end, had a lego building contest which was quite impressive. Here is Riley, putting the finishing touches on his.


And now we are enjoying a quiet Saturday. The leftover pot pie is in the oven and we are about to devour it.