Birthday Girl

I celebrated a birthday last weekend, which was full of ups and downs, mostly because Eli was on-call the entire weekend and I was left to fend for myself with three little boys.  But I stretched out the celebration and there were many highlights, the first of which was a Girls Brownie/Movie night on Friday night.  Several other missionary women joined me in eating Ghirardelli brownies and watching The Hundred-Foot Journey, which I'd never heard of but which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I brought a single box of Ghirardelli brownies to Kenya, and it was the perfect time to use it!

The next morning I was blessed with an unprompted birthday song from my boys.  Eli had attempted to lead them in singing Happy Birthday to me at breakfast, which mostly failed, but apparently they liked the idea and just wanted to do it of their own accord.  So mid-morning they found me and Asa in my room and started singing out of nowhere.  It was priceless.  I was somehow able to convince them to sing it again so I could record it:

The next highlight was listening to Asa's giggles while tickling him.  This boy is super ticklish and his giggles are infectious!

The rest of the day went downhill from there.  I won't bother to explain the meltdowns and temper tantrums that ensued and how completely tapped I was by the end of the day, but somehow we survived the weekend of Eli being on-call, and then Monday came.  Eli was given a comp day for working the entire weekend, and we found someone to watch all three boys while we slipped away to have lunch at a brand-new restaurant just outside of town.  It's called the Fair Hills and it was amazing.

We ate outside in one of the gazebos surrounding the fish pond and enjoyed the magnificent view of the hills in this part of the country.  It was such a treat!  The Fair Hills is so nice that we can scarcely believe it's right here in Bomet, a town of insignificant stature.  We're not exactly sure how it will stay afloat since few people in this area can afford to frequent such a place, but we were thankful for the chance to check it out and enjoy a Birthday Lunch with just the two of us.

The food was so-so, but it was such a treat to eat out anywhere and have the food made for us.  We do so much cooking at Tenwek that we marveled in the fact that someone else prepared and served us food, even if the ketchup bottle was filled some kind of sweet 'n sour sauce and the salt 'n pepper shakers were filled with salt 'n salt.  The food was relatively cheap and not too bad.  We couldn't ask for anything more.

So my first birthday in Kenya ended on a high note, and I'm looking forward to the year ahead!