A very special birthday

I confess that I rather thought my birthday this year would go quite unnoticed.  My co-worker knew my birth date, but she had left the day before to begin her home visit in Australia.  Other than that... well... I'm new to the staff, so...  Anyway, I was proven very wrong.  Again.  

This is what I found when I went into the kitchen for breakfast.  Jill and Linda had left lots of little goodies behind for me to enjoy on my birthday (and beyond)!  

A peek inside the bag

Two sister workers on the Colombian staff were staying in the same home as I, and two other sister workers were going to meet up with us somewhere at lunch time to grab a quick bite before Ema & Salina from Colombia had to head to the airport.  Closing in on lunch time, Eli called me and said that they had decided to just bring lunch so we wouldn't have to go out to eat.  Fine.  I set the table for the five of us.  Before our lunch arrived, LeRoy showed up at our door.  Great.  I added another place setting.  When Eli and Melba arrived, Jenny D, the lady of the home where they had been staying, was also with them.  Wonderful.  I added another place setting.  When things got more or less ready, I discovered that we were waiting on Robbin, another brother on our staff.  No problem.  I added another place setting, lamenting the fact that it was a bit too late to add another leaf to the table.  After a lovely lunch, they brought out the cake and ice cream.  Wow!  I guess a few other people got let in on the "secret".  It was a very special way to spend the day.

After everyone left, I enjoyed a somewhat lazy afternoon with the house all to myself and then got ready to head to the midweek Bible study in the Díaz home.  We had a very helpful study, and then a group of us stayed for supper - leftovers from my birthday lunch.  Then we only had a couple of hours left to wait before we needed to head to the airport.  Melba was returning to Cuba, and I was anticipating the arrival of two very special guests - my grandma Rodgers and aunt Rhonda.  

Before heading to the airport

Back row: Henry Arias, LeRoy Lerwick, Jenny Díaz, Eli Reque

Front row: Me, Melba C

 The best birthday present of all!!!!!!

(Though they didn't actually make it through customs until after midnight!)

One thing they brought in their bags full of things for me was an envelope stuffed with birthday mail. What fun!!!  

Looks like the beginning of another wonderful year of life!  Thanks to all, near and far, who helped me celebrate.  :-)