Birthday surprises

This year's birthday, my 45th by the way, included more surprises than any previous year. First of all, I was a little surprised that Jesus would have me back in Cambodia at this time. Secondly, I was more than a little surprised anyone outside of the U.S. would take notice. Thirdly, I was totally got by the generosity of people whom I know have nothing materially to give. I know they have nothing because all they have comes thru me.

I was terribly excited to celebrate my birthday by surprising my sibs & the housemoms with little gifts. I told Wee the lead housemom at the girls' house of my plan to bring gifts that afternoon so she could be prepared for the happy chaos that was certain to follow my arrival. I made sure to tell her it was to be a surprise & made sure she understood perfectly what "surprise" means & entails (eg don't tell the children). As trustworthy & true as Wee has proved to be, she blew it....sorta'.

Wee not only told my sibs at the girls' house, but she told the other housemoms as well. I was greeted with an adorably pathetic rendition of The Birthday Song (Happy Birthday is not as international as Americans imagine) & thoughtful gifts. Lovely colored pencil drawings, beautiful oragami flowers & hearts & homemade cards with precious blessings written inside were from the children. The housemoms gave me homemade birthday blessing cards & even pinched from their meager salaries to buy me gifts! In a culture where people stop crying by the time they're 3 or 4 years old, it was hard for the children to understand "happy tears." They finally chalked it up to Bong Bkey's strangely tender heart. Hahahahahaha!

Wee did not tell the children that I was bringing gifts tho', so the surprise was not totally lost. Altho' all the small treats were thoroughly appreciated & enjoyed, the best far & away was the lovely brown dolls my dear friend Diana Hester purchased for me to give the little girls (An impossible feat in Cambodia & a nearly impossible feat even in the States!). EVERYONE-littles, middles, olders, girls, boys, housemoms-were utterly amazed to see brown-skinned dolls for the first time in their lives. On TV, on billboards & in ads as well as in real life little girls are seen playing with geisha-white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed dolls. (Thanks a million times a million, Di!!!)

Several days later I received a goodie box from my husband Dave. I knew it was coming, but was surprised to discover it contained WONDERFUL birthday cards & gifts from loving friends. I was on the way back from the post office, anxious to get to the house to open it up, when the moto I was riding started having brake trouble. We pulled into a service station....well, it's kind of a service station, but the description & explanation is a whole 'nother entry. Aaaaanyway, we stopped for repair. I was too excited to wait any longer, so opened the box there. As usual, a small crowd gathered. Hahahahaha! Again, Dara my friend the moto driver had to try to explain happy tears & ended up telling them I have a strange heart. Hahahaha!

The final surprise was just the other evening & it was the biggest, bestest birthday surprise EH-ver. Because the boys are moving to a new place, only the big boys were home at the boys' house that night. They'd worked very, very hard that day to make the move, so I treated them to Lucky Burgers for supper (Well, also because their housemom had taken all the food & the stove to the new place. Hahaha!). After enjoying the HUGE treat of fast food, a few ran off with Dara saying they were going to get dessert. I was in a panic & more than half angry because they were not supposed to leave the house & they were certainly not to disobey me when I told them they couldn't go. So, there I sat with a housemom who speaks no english & a few brothers who refused to tell me what was really going on trying to figure out how I could explain the situation to Ruth.

Dara & the boys returned with a birthday cake & all the trimmings for a real birthday party. They had this planned for days & pitched in their money to make it happen. After a few more happy tears & lots of hugs & kisses I blew out the candles making a wish. Then, it snowed! The boys pulled out cans of refreshingly chilly faux snow & covered me & the entire scene with it. Next came the sparkler-waving & another precious, pathetic shot at The Birthday Song. (God, bless them for trying...loudly & without any shame whatsoever!) We ate & drank & danced & hugged & kissed the night away.

One housemom, a new lady from the countryside named Narette, stayed the night with the big boys. She got to experience her first birthday party. She wasn't sure what was going on when the boys started the party (aka "make happy, happy") , but eventually joined in when the time came to dot my face with frosting & feed me cake. No, I have no idea what that's about other than whoever gets a cake gets to wear one portion & gets fed another portion as a sign of "big love" & everyone's happy about it. Hahahahaha! I did ask, but I got the standard answer: "In Cambodia, like that."

What a great birthday this has been! Whoda' guessed in Cambodia like that? That in itself is a surprise.