Birthday

I had a delightful birthday weekend, and since I am so impressively bad at thank-you notes, consider this post a long and public thank-you note to all involved.

Friday, the day before my actual birthday, was Sports Day. It's kind of like a K-8 field day with races and water balloon tosses and long jumps and cheers. Keep in mind that it's summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, plenty warm! All kids are assigned to a team, and there are students from every grade on each team. I was on the Red Team, and my surprisingly confident 7th grade boys decided they wanted to write letters on their chests in red paint that would spell our inspiring team motto: Red is Hot. But they had a little trouble with the spacial reasoning involved- when they turned around for me to take their picture, they couldn't understand why it now said "toH si deR." Classic.

Sports Day came at a good time. It had been a hard week: increasing unrest, two members of parliament murdered, plus the academics were more intense as the semester finally got rolling. I had 3 kids lose it on Thursday at separate times- just burst into tears in the middle of class. The background stress level was too high; there was no emotional room to deal with, say, forgetting slope-intercept form in the middle of an Algebra test, or even misplacing one's protractor. So it was a blessing to have Sports Day the next day- no academics, fun time with friends, beautiful weather, and sunburns like only the equatorial sun can deal out. I was a timer on the track, which was a new experience for me, but it was fun to have the little second-graders run into my arms as they crossed the finish line.

There were tons of Rosslyn community members around to see their kids compete, and several brought me birthday presents- chocolate chip cookie bars with real chocolate chips from the States, a hand-stamped post-it-note holder, a purple beaded bracelet from Kazuri. The parents here are so nice to me! It took me a while, after teaching in the States, to not panic every time I saw a parent walking towards me. But now I'm grateful for their company and sense of humor. Many of these parents are missionaries, and so that probably contributes to their general relationalness and kindness, but I have never been treated so well by the families of my students. I sat with some of my favorite moms, complimenting them on their sons' good sportsmanship- all went out and ran the last lap of a long race with another teammate who was struggling. The cheering when he crossed the finish line was deafening. I was proud of those little toH si deR-ers. =)

Friday night I went out for one of the best things about life in Nairobi- Indian food. Dave and Carrie Matlak, classmates of mine from Wheaton who live 2 houses down and have 4 little boys, took me out for dinner. It was the first meal we've had together that didn't involve all 3 of us fully focused on feeding the boys; it was amazing just how much conversation we got in without them there. The food was great, of course, and I enjoyed spending that time together.

Saturday was full of skype conversations, e-cards, e-flowers, and heaps of email from friends near and far. Even my New Mexican/Norwegian "uncle" of few words wrote me an email! During the day, three dozen more roses appeared on my doorstep, as did cards, books, and gift certificates. One staff family had me over for a pancake breakfast, and even the lady at the fruit market gave me a birthday mango. What an outpouring of love!

The day finished with an incredible Thai meal with some of the other singles, plus an ice cream sundae split between 5 girls. One was allergic to milk, so I got her share. ;) Maybe that particular allergy isn't such a bad quality in a friend...

Sunday brought time at church, a movie in the afternoon, and an evening visit with Travis, Lydia, and Meshach. They are safe, praise God, and baby Meshach is smiley and long-limbed. We told stories, and it was good for us to process together- them away from the immediacy of violence surrounding them, me getting a more "front lines" perspective on what all this is doing to Kenya. But we finished with stories of hope: God is a redeemer; His will is lasting peace and justice. We may not see how exactly that will come, but we continue to pray with confidence that He can weave good even in these circumstances and that He will accomplish His purposes.

So what a terrific weekend- time with kids, time with parents, love from friends in Kenya and beyond, heaps of great food, and a delightful mix of silly and serious conversation. My longtime friend Beth even dedicated a semi-meaningful-but-mostly-tongue-in-cheek song to me on her blog. What could top that? So thanks again, my friends- this may even rival the "find the essence of Jessie Gac" scavenger hunt birthday. Impressive.