So usually I try to pretend like my birthday is not a big
deal. However, on the inside, I secretly want everyone to be revolving their
every thought and action around me. It’s ridiculous. Forget I mentioned it.
I woke up on a Ukrainian train on my 23rd
birthday around 5:30am. My first thought is, “Okay, how long should I wait to
start announcing my day of birth?� I glance across to the other top bunker, who
happens to be a lovely Ukrainian woman named Olga, and decide she probably
definitely doesn’t care about this news. As the morning begins, the 8 of us ladies
(our squad leader Jenny is with us for the week) are busy trying to figure out
which stop in the middle of nowhere is the correct stop. Finally we are able to
lug each of our 70ish pounds of junk off the train while successfully fighting
the gravitational pull to collapse to the ground. The whole time I’m thinking,
“Uh hello, did you guys not catch the 47 times I casually mentioned my upcoming
birthday yesterday? Don’t you have something you want to say to me??� The morning continues without celebration
as we meet up with our contact and start getting settled in. Finally at 8:32am
I burst out to Sydney, “HEY-SYDNEY-GUESS-WHAT-I’M-23-TODAY.� Hey, at least I
made it a few hours.
Hugs and “Happy Birthdays� ensue and I am slightly
embarrassed yet satisfied to have the day acknowledge. Whew. The rest of the
day was awesome. We were able to relax a little and our contact James did a
little orientation for us about Ukraine and our ministry this month. We went to
dinner at a pizza place that was recommended to us (no I did not choose this so
don’t get on to me about trying new things, but YES this is my favorite food!).
Afterwards, my teammates brought out two mini ice cream cakes with candles and
sang happy birthday. Delicious. Then we had our feedback/family time and the
girls blessed me by sharing qualities and strengths they see in me, and they
just really spent some time encouraging and speaking life to me. How awesome is
that? I love my team.
Birthday dinner!
Birthday dessert… some kind of ice cream cake and soda in a bowl. World race style.
The day was topped off with one of my very favorite activities–
cards! Specifically Nertz and Spoons. And I didn’t even have to force anyone to
play. In fact, it was their idea. It’s like they know me already. So yes, this
day was a little tough being away from the people that I love. But I have had
so much peace about being here, that it was pretty easy to embrace the day and
my surroundings. If day one is any indication of the rest of the year, I think
the 23rd year of my life is going to be pretty fabulous.
Much love to you all.
