So… Nepal was easily one of my favorite months–tied with Ukraine, of course.
But it was also the country I would be celebrating my birthday in!! The fun thing about a World Race birthday, is that you literally have NO idea what that is going to look like. You could be spending it on the coast of Ireland, in the capitol of Ukraine, or ALL DAY on an African bus (it totally happened to two of our racers).
Luckily, I was able to spend my birthday at home in our village with the best family EVER!!
So I decided to document my special day with photos!! =)
Rise and shine! The alarm went off every morning at 6:45am… then 6:50am… 6:55… until we finally got out of our sleeping bags at 7:00am!
7:00am – Miss Lydia Shaw up bright and early for our morning Coffee! And of course, there's Tiger being precious.
8:00am- Just sitting with my sweet baby, Cali, waiting to start the day with bible school for the children.
9:00am – Starting off bible school with our rendition of David and Goliath. Can you tell who Josh is??
9:30am- Finishing off bible school with a good old-fashioned game of Duck, Duck, Goose!
10:00am – Just getting a team picture before heading to church! (We had services on Saturdays, instead of Sundays because Saturday was the governments day off for worship)
10:30 am – Just a glimpse of worship and prayer in the Nepali church. That drum that the lady in the blue sweater was playing was native to Nepal. Our translator, Jyoti, was great at playing it!
10:45 am – Adam sharing a word of encragement to the congregation.
11:30 am – Closing out the service in prayer.
12:00 pm – Lunch time! Ramen noodles on the menu! This family knows how to make some KILLER ramen noodles!
12:30pm – Just heading into town to pick up our new, tailormade, Nepali outfits! Cali was the best companion ever!
12:30pm – There's nothing quite like walking to town and passing some precious water buffalos on the way. They were everywhere and they were super sweet!
12:45- We've made it into town! This is a typical view of the town square where all the shops and vendors were. We tended to draw a crowd from time to time.
1:00pm- Just hangin out with my boy, Tiger.
1:30pm Me, Lydia, and Cassie modeling our newest addition to our limited wardrobe! Traditional Nepali outfits!
—–Disclaimer, my camera died. And we had no electricity. So I borrowed Adam's camera to finish off the evening festivities at around 7:00pm—
7:00pm – As I was leading our evening prayer for a group of villagers, our family set up this surprise while my eyes were closed! When I opened my eyes… TA-DA!! Birthday food!!! And everyone who was there was in on the surprise!!!
7:00pm – It was an interesting surprise to say the least. I opened my eyes during the prayer, which means I never finished the prayer… but then I had to finish the prayer… while everyone was clapping and laughing. Awkward. But awesome.
7:00pm – Me blowing out the candles of my birthday dessert!! What a great surprise!! All the sweets that you can see in this picture are traditional Nepali desserts for special festival occasions. Homemade by some of the women in the village!
7:30pm – Just a pretty sweet shot of some of the men that arrived at my birthday party 🙂
7:30pm – All of my village friends were there to clebrate with me! It was wonderful! They sang "Happy Birthday" to me in English, AND in Nepali!
7:45pm – Me and my birthday gifts! A headband from Momma, a purple scrunchie from Auntie, and a letter from Jyoti, our translator! Sweetest gifts ever!
8:00pm – Just taking part in our evening ritual of watching "How I Met Your Mother" before going to bed.
9:00pm – After a long day, its time for bed! Going to bed is quite the process when you have to roll yourself into a few fleece blankets, zip yourself into the bag, and make sure you have a scarf around your neck to keep in the heat!
And then tomorrow began a new day at 6:55am, bright and early for tea time!
It's easy to say that Nepal holds a special place in my heart, and I could not have asked for a better family or country to share my birthday with 🙂
