I turned twenty-two on the twenty-second this year, making it my golden birthday. Now let me just tell you that I feel as bright as sunshine and as shiny as a brick of gold after the day I had. My wonderful, amazing girls made sure I had the most splendid birthday away from home this year! I cannot truly begin to describe to you the magic that is this group of girls, because I would end up writing a novel (be on the lookout for that post race book though!) and a blog is just simply not the right place to publish that! However, I can give you a short run down on my spectacular day and share that even when things felt like a normal day, there were bigger things at work.
The day began at 5:00 am for us as we were beginning our first true day of ministry at BAIS just down the street from where we are staying. I had woken up a bit earlier (maybe out of excitement, maybe due to jet lag…we may never know) and just enjoyed the simple fact that I was waking up in this beautiful country with new friends to match. Speaking of these friends, all my girls were so sweet and as soon as they saw me I was greeted with a ‘Happy Birthday’ that matched their personality perfectly.
When we arrived at BAIS for the day I found that I would be working in Kimberly’s art class and working on the drama sets for the school’s upcoming play, Dorothy in Wonderland. The show will be in April so if you happen to be in the neighborhood (or country!) you should pop on in! We ended up needing the whole week to paint the sets because we were painting over a scene from the previous year’s play, I’ll be posting another blog with an update to the sets soon!
After school we stayed late to help in the optional English classes for the children and the moms. I went to the class for the moms and met Avon from Taiwan, Ira from Indonesia, and Nam from Thailand. ‘Happy Birthday’ was sung to me in Taiwanese, Indonesian, Italian (Nam’s husband is Italian and she wanted to practice!), and English in a span of ten minutes. You can imagine a massive smile stretched across my face and that my cheeks were burning from it! The women were so incredibly fun and personable that I felt like I was hanging out with old friends. Over the course of the hour we had some conversation and played a few games, including word Jenga.
The school day had officially come to a close and we headed back to our housing complex for the day. We took some ‘first day of school’ photos using the good ole’ timer camera and a tripod to memorialize the day forever, and to share with you all as well!
Alyssa, Caley, AJ, and I walked up to the corner store and picked up some ice cream to celebrate with that night and then Alyssa, Caley, and I ventured off in search of facials, pedicures, and massages. Funnily enough there are two salons next door to one another in the shopping center near our house and both had been closed for the day! We ended up going on a wonderful walk through the different shopping centers, getting to know our new home a little better, and experiencing a Monday in Kota Baru before heading back home for the day. The spa day would just have to wait for another day!
When we got home I realized how pooped I really was and took some time to relax on the couch and do a little writing. Before I knew it though Alyssa had birthday related tunes on the speaker, the N’Ashville chefs were cooking up a spaghetti storm in the kitchen, and the dance party had ensued as Rachel released balloons in the living room. These girls know how to throw a birthday bash and we were living it up in our own little world.
Dinner was served, the noodles were perfect (they let me throw it against the wall to see if it stuck, my favorite part of spaghetti!), and my friends were wonderfully sweet to me. AJ got home from her football game shortly after and to my surprise lights were being switched off, cake with candles was brought in front of me, and I was wishing for…well I can’t tell YOU that, it wouldn’t come true anymore!
I was sung to once again and given notes with the sweetest messages written on them, along with green tea candies and wasabi peas. My parents sent a card in secret with AJ (I had gotten one from my cat at lunch too, her cursive is really coming along nicely!) and tucked inside the card was a “golden ring, for a golden birthday, for a golden girl”. Admittedly my eyes misted up a bit from the shower of love, but the birthday wasn’t over yet. Alyssa proposed that we take a note from her family’s birthday tradition, by having each person say the most incredibly uplifting and fulfilling words of affirmation to me. My smile was tripling in size by the minute and I was overflowing with joy and love.
We sat around our table and talked for a while longer before calling it a night. We had all been up since five am and the “jet lag wall” was still very much a real thing we were experiencing each day. To end my day I journaled and worked on this blog some; my eyes had grown heavy though and the allure of my pillow won over the calming effect of writing. I quietly, to myself, thanked my family, friends, and God for life and a wonderful day that made me feel like I belonged and was at home.
Birthday blessings,
Candace Cox
P.S.
We’re technically staying in Kota Baru, as you may have read in my last post, but I’m a sucker for alliteration and so here we are with a slightly inaccurate blog title. Oh no!
