40th Birthday Surprise

What do you get a person who doesn't like receiving gifts?  Who doesn't feel like he needs anything?  Who is an exceptionally socially intelligent person except when it comes to receiving a gift and then he suddenly becomes the most awkward person in the room?

Because of the man in my life, it's a question I'm quite familiar with.

This is my dilemma at least three times a year: Father's Day, Eli's Birthday, and Christmas.  I must say I do fairly well for myself because I've learned the things that make him happy despite his constant reassurances that he doesn't want or need anything.  But still, getting a gift for Eli is never an easy job.  Celebrating him in general is not easy - not because there isn't reason or willingness by everyone else around him, but because he avoids it at all costs.

Which is a bummer because I'm someone that loves an excuse to celebrate, especially birthdays!

The irony isn't lost on either of us that Eli married someone who loves loves loves birthdays and who refuses to let a birthday go by unnoticed.  I'm bragging a bit when I say that I've taught Eli to appreciate birthdays in a way he never did before - he's definitely seen the light since being married to me - yet I can't change his personality and the way it impacts his perspective on his own birthday in particular.  Eli is happy to celebrate anyone else's birthday, but celebrating his own is a bit trickier.

Which brings me back to the big question: what to get a guy like that for his birthday?  Even more so, what to get a guy like that on his 40th birthday???

I wanted to do something really special, something really memorable, something really appreciated.  I racked my brain and came up short.  All the puny ideas I had just wouldn't suffice.  Not for this year.  Not for the big 4-0.

And then it hit me.  An idea to eclipse all other ideas.  A crazy idea that was so crazy it might not actually be possible.

But it didn't hurt to try.

I called Eli's cousin and asked if he'd consider the idea of coming to Kenya to surprise Eli for his birthday this year.  I knew it could only be for a weekend (because of both their work schedules) which is why it was crazy.  Fly halfway around the world for a weekend?  I was fully prepared to hear that the idea was ludicrous and totally untenable.  And I would have agreed.

But it didn't hurt to try.

You see, Eli's cousin is his best friend.  Eli and Josh came out of the womb like brothers and have remained that way for the last 40 years.  So the idea of getting Josh to come over to Kenya for the first time just to spend a weekend with Eli was totally worth the ask.  Because Eli would be totally shocked (since Josh doesn't enjoy traveling much, making the birthday surprise even more complete) and because Eli would be indescribably happy to snag any time with Josh that he could get.

So I tried.  I asked Josh to consider the crazy idea.

He considered it.

And then he said YES!

I cried.  I literally cried tears of joy because I knew how utterly amazing this weekend was going to be and that it would be the best 40th birthday gift I could ever give my husband and it was actually going to be possible!

We made the arrangements, Josh and Jamie (his wife) and I, and we kept it secret for months.  Then, finally, on Eli's birthday last month, Josh called to say Happy Birthday and to reveal the Big Surprise.

To say that Eli was surprised would be an understatement.  To say that he was happy would also be an understatement.  He was overwhelmingly speechless.  And it made me so happy to make him so happy!

Josh came last weekend and we spent 72 glorious hours in Nairobi with him.  

Eli was glowing for days.  I can't remember the last time I've seen him so happy.  His cup was definitely overflowing and I was so thankful to the Lord for making this possible and for blessing the time together.  It couldn't have gone any better.

Eli and Josh stayed up all night (to help Josh stay on Minnesota time) and played games and laughed and talked, then slept in till noon, and then we had the rest of the day to hang out all together.  The boys were ecstatic to see Uncle Josh too and loved showing him a slice of Kenya (and loved playing games!).

We stayed in Nairobi the whole time since 72 hours wasn't enough to head up to Chogoria and back, but it was a grand time and we squeezed in some wonderful things like going to Nairobi National Park and hiking in Karura Forest.  We even went out to eat, which we basically never do in Nairobi but special occasions call for special treats!

Another special part of the weekend, which I couldn't have foreseen, was that Eli and Josh got to watch the Vikings game together live.  The Vikings played the Bills at 9pm Kenya Time, and Eli brought our projector just for the occasion and it was very much like old times to have the Horn cousins watching the Vikings together.  And apparently it was the best game of the season, a game that everyone was talking about, a game with a completely unlooked for outcome (that made Vikings fans very happy), so it felt like an extra dose of birthday magic to top things off.

All that to say, it was a birthday for the books!  I'm sure we'll always recall this as "that one time when Josh flew to Kenya for the weekend" and we will always laugh and smile and be happy about it.  It was truly a blessed time and all of our tanks were full by the end.  And Eli couldn't believe that I'd made this whole thing possible and he kept saying thank you, and I knew God had helped me find the perfect gift for my "doesn't like to get gifts" man!

Halloween at Home

Halloween isn't a thing in Kenya, but the boys still love some of the traditions we have in the States and they especially love the excuse to dress up in costumes. So we do a small version of Halloween here in Chogoria, just with our family and just in the house.  Nothing to draw attention.

Firstly, we carve pumpkins.  They fall apart and/or mold within 48 hours max because of the warm weather, but it's a tradition the boys beg for anyway, so we do it.

This year we also made cinnamon sugar donuts, which is more of a Fall thing than a Halloween thing, but it was a perfect way to add some excitement to the day.  I doubled the recipe this time so we could try freezing some for later.  The fresh donuts were positively scrumptious!

And finally, costumes!  Caleb really wanted to be a skeleton, so Eli used masking tape to put bones on his dark clothes and I printed off a paper mask and added elastic string to it.  Voila!  Homemade skeleton costume complete.

Originally, Kai wanted to be a scorpion, the animal.  We were struggling to think of how to make a homemade scorpion costume with the little homemade materials we have on hand, but he (thankfully) changed his mind and decided he wanted to be Scorpion, the Spider-Man villain.  That was much easier to work with.  So he put on whatever green clothes he had and we made a tail out of toilet paper tubes colored green and covered with clear plastic tape along with a green balloon hanging off the end.  We couldn't do a stinger on the balloon without popping it, so the stinger failed to make an appearance.  But oh well.  With the goggles on (thank you, Wild Kratts toys!) Kai looked pretty good.

Upon hearing that Kai had changed his mind to Scorpion, Asa also changed his mind to be Spider-Man.  And thank goodness.  Because Asa originally wanted to be Ghidorah.  I didn't even know what or who that was, and when I found out I immediately tried to convince our son to be anything but Ghidorah for Halloween.  When I told him that would be a really hard costume to create, he said, "It's okay.  I can only have one head instead of three."  Yeah, because that makes it so much easier.  Yeesh!  Thankfully, by some miracle, Asa realized it would be super cool to be Spider-Man if Kai was going to be Scorpion, because then they could pretend to fight each other.  Whew!  We have a Spider-Man costume in the closet that still fits him.  Easiest costume ever.

And then we turned on the Ghostbuster theme song and Monster Mash on repeat while the boys trick-or-treated in the house.  We did this in 2020 when we were the only Americans in Chogoria and there was no one else around to appreciate this American tradition, and the boys loved it.  So we repeated it and these kids didn't blink an eye as if this was the funniest sort of trick-or-treating experience ever.  They were truly so happy and so grateful for the assortment of candy we were able to cobble together.  A visitor did bring us some American candy recently, which we saved for this occasion, but otherwise I just ran into the store in town and hoped for anything Halloween worthy.  What I found was enough, and the boys were elated and thought this was how all Halloweens should go.  I will say that growing up outside of America has really helped these kids have a great appreciation for the small things, and I am so thankful for that!

An Extended Birthday Celebration

 Our Kai Guy is 9!

This kid is a quintessential middle child.  He's easygoing overall, he's independent, he self-entertains extremely well, and he doesn't demand our attention like, ahem, some other children in this family.  So sometimes he gets lost in the middle.  Because of that, and because his closest friends were all gone during his actual birthday, we wanted to make sure Kai felt extra seen and extra loved for this birthday.

So we spread out the celebration into three separate chunks and let the birthday bliss last for awhile.

First, I took Kai for our first ever Mother/Son Sleepover.  He was as giddy as I've ever seen him and it was such a life-giving experience.  We went to Anabas, a nearby restaurant that we occasionally go to for supper but which also has river cottages for overnight stays.  Anabas is in the middle of nowhere - you would never expect to find a place like this in our area - but it's an absolute gem.  It sits along the Mutonga River and has a lovely little trail that follows the river and ends at a fabulous waterfall.  It was the perfect place to hang out with my birthday boy.

From the moment we got in the car, my Kai Guy was filling me up.  He grabbed my hand and held it the entire drive (which is less than 15 minutes, but that is a long time for a boy to hold hands with his mama!).  When we arrived and got to our room, he was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.  He thought it was so cool that there was a closet ("I'm gonna put my clothes in there!") and a hot water bottle for the bed ("We'll be so cozy tonight!") and a lovely view of the tea fields across the river ("Isn't this so beautiful?") and that we could have supper delivered to the room (insert a smile the size of the savannah).  Never mind that there were spiders and cockroaches in the room (this is still Kenya, after all), or that there was no toilet seat or toilet lid and Kai accidentally dropped his socks in the open toilet, or that it took 1 hour and 45 minutes for our supper to be cooked and delivered.  This kid's positivity could not be contained and he totally filled my cup!

We took a walk down the trail before the sun set.  Well, I walked and Kai practically flew.  It's not a long trail but it's beautiful and peaceful and offers an outlet for energetic kids.  Several sections of rapids provide a loud backdrop, but flowing water is still serene at a high volume.  We really appreciate this place.

Once the sun set, we retreated to the room and waited for supper by playing Azul.  Kai's main love language is playing games, and he had never played this game before.  He loved it and we played twice before getting a movie set up on my laptop.  It was such a fun evening!

In the morning we wandered down to the restaurant for breakfast and were the only people there.  We talked and relaxed and just connected.  The Mother/Son Sleepover was such a fabulous time with this middle son of mine!

Kai's actual birthday was low-key, but we started the day by calling Grandma and Grandpa Horn early in the morning while they were still awake in Minnesota.  They had found a way to get a very special present over here for Kai and we video chatted with them while he opened it.

Let me just say that this Lord of the Rings Risk game has been a huge hit ever since!

I found this shirt on Amazon and could not resist.  "Easily distracted by dragons and books" describes Kai perfectly!

We finished the day with a call to Grandma and Grandpa Clark, pizza for supper, and a movie night.  He chose Robin Hood (the classic Disney animated version).  Our kids adore that movie and my favorite part is listening to them laugh hysterically during the comical fight scene after the archery tournament!

A couple days later we finally finished the birthday celebrations by baking a cake and inviting the expats over for a campfire.  Kai wanted a "Jurassic World" cake and specifically wanted Legos on the cake too.  He wanted way more Legos than this.  I had to cut him off so there'd still be room for some frosting on the cake!  But I think it turned out fine.

This reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex is chasing them in the jeep and Ian Malcolm is in the back with an up-close and personal view of the dinosaur.  And yes, I know that's from Jurassic Park, not Jurassic World, but I don't care.  And yes, Eli and I totally watched Jurassic Park after this because I was having serious nostalgia after decorating this cake!

Our campfires are always fun affairs.  On rare occasions we'll have a fire by ourselves, but usually we invite people over.  I'm so thankful for our fire pit and the social gatherings it has created.  It has become an important tradition for the Horn family, so it felt appropriate that Kai would request a campfire for his birthday.  He wanted to wait until one of his closest friends was back in Chogoria.  She was out of the country for a bit, and his other bff is still in America right now - I tell ya, the life of a TCK is full of comings and goings -  but when that family returned we got a campfire going.  A good time was had by all.

Kai is an incredible kid.  He's a little brainiac who skipped two grades and started 5th grade as an 8-year old this year (which is possible as a homeschooler).  His favorite subject is math, but he flies through any and all schoolwork I put in front of him.  He asks big questions and thinks deep thoughts.  He mostly plays with kids older than himself and keeps up really well.  Kai loves to play board games, especially strategy games, and he is daily distracted by books.  I am currently trying to strategize how to keep his nose out of a book when it's not time to be reading, which is tricky since I am always encouraging my kids to read!  Kai also loves building with Legos and K'Nex and will spend hours concocting creations and imaginary worlds.  He is insanely curious about everything, which sometimes gets him in trouble, but his curiosity has led to amazing discoveries and impactful conversations.

Kai is my least affectionate child, but still has moments (like last night at bedtime) when he literally grasps for affection: "Mama, will you snuggle with me?  Sometimes I just feel like I need extra snuggles."  He pulls at our heartstrings and we are thankful for the immeasurable blessing of this precious son.  Kai loves the Lord and we pray continually that he will live in the strength of the Lord, as his full name suggests, and never cease to follow Him.

Happy Birthday, Hezekiah!