Every time I hear Happy Birthday I always think of Frosty the Snowman…you know when they put the old silk hat on his head and he comes to life and he says “HAP-PY BIRTH-DAY!” This has nothing to do with my blog, there is nothing frosty about this heat box of a country.
So from the beginning of the race I knew that my birthday was going to be in Cambodia and I had a feeling that it was going to be very low scale. I was thinking…Cambodia…I will probably be in the middle of nowhere, there will be no cake or anything birthday like, I will be eating weird food and will probably be celebrating in dirt. Well, I was right.
My birthday was just a normal day, no balloons or presents or traditional birthday song or candles. I was blessed with three ice cream cones from my team though. If I ever turn down ice cream you know that something is seriously wrong with me or I am suffering from the most common illness on the race…diarrhea. Diarrhea is like saying you have a cough and is not a taboo subject. You even talk about how many times you go during the day, and in some cases hour. This also has nothing to do with my blog.
This is the school we go to everyday, it is made of wood=sweat box!
So on my birthday, I woke up in a new joy of the Lord. I felt like a bird soaring through the sky and I had so much clarity on how to defeat the things I was wrestling with. God gave me so many answers, but I just have to do the terrifying part and act on what he has said. Life is about making decisions, taking what you are given and what is told to you and responding to it. Sometimes it is scary, like right now God is trying to take me to a new level in my faith and it feels like he is asking me to jump off the walls of the Grand Canyon.
So on my birthday, I was literally force fed crappy candy from little dirty fingered preschoolers, had a paper trumpet that was covered in slobber shoved in my mouth, had children climbing all over me and pulling my limbs off for what felt like hours…if I was a Barbie you would have to snap me back together. I stinkin love these kids, they are sooo cute!
This bombardment happened before the camera came out, they do the same thing when I am standing, but I usually have two of them in my arms
I have been asking God to increase my faith and he has been pointing out the miracles that are overlooked everyday. These kids pulling us like we are silly putty and giving us their candy is a miracle! I cannot speak Khmer, they cannot speak English, but I love them and they love to be loved! God has broken down language barriers through this wonderful L word with people of all ages. I cannot imagine being a little kid and being so excited everyday that people who cannot speak my language are coming to teach me and play with me…but these kids seriously chase after our tuk-tuk as we come into the property.
this is a tuk-tuk for those of you who are wondering…it is broken and being fixed in this photo
It is a miracle that they even respect us! Most of these little ones walk to the school alone…they are in preschool; child protective services would be all up in their business if this happened at home…These little whipper snappers absolutely LOVE being picked up and hugged. Who knows how often they get that. There is one little girl who literally fights off all the other kids from being close to me. She just comes up into my arms and wraps her arms around me and lays her head on my shoulder. These are all miracles, their smiles, their laughter, the fact that we get to come to this village and hug them. God works miracles in every little thing and we are so blind to them.
Wake up world and see the miracles happening today!
My favorite miracle is the little snots singing God is so good on the top of their lungs…even while they are playing they are singing it. Most of these kids come from Buddhist backgrounds, the cool part is that they know what they are singing and they all shout for God!
