Birthday Eve

I love birthdays. I've had fantastic birthdays over the years, thanks to my mother, friends, or roommates. I've celebrated on at least 4 different continents and have super memories of each- the 4th grade limo ride, the Yemeni hefla, the surprise Senegalese movie, the kidnapping and trip to Lambert's, last year's surprise party with 30+ people crammed into my bedroom. Such good times.

This year, I'll spend my birthday on a bus, traveling to Kiev. I'm heading home this week to be at my sister's graduation (I'm not moving home this week- just visiting). I was kind of bummed about spending the day traveling and figured that I probably wouldn't be able to celebrate at all with my Ukrainian friends. Why, you may ask? Well, in general, Ukrainians have a superstition about celebrating birthdays before the actual day. I think I heard that it shortens your life or something. The point is that they usually don't.

Today, the youth from our church had a picnic (yesterday was Victory Day- sort of like Memorial or Veterans' Day- so most people had today off). I'm not at all outdoorsy, so trekking out into the woods was kind of a sign of how much I love my Ukrainians. I had a good time hanging out, visiting, watching the athletic ones play soccer. Near the end, though, we were about to eat, and I started to notice little subgroups forming. They were looking sneaky and suspicious, but I didn't give it much thought until Vova had the crowd gather round. I thought we were going to pray over the food, but Vova actually gave a little birthday speech, gave me a card from the group, and a bunch of the girls sang a song that they wrote for my birthday! It was so sweet and unexpected. I also got a bag of some of my favorite snack-y foods. It was super. I love my friends.

On the trek to the woods. It was a pretty good hike out there.

This dog followed us for a couple of miles and then hung out at the picnic with us. We named it Rex...only to discover that it's actually a Roxy.

Girls playing volleyball.

In the distance: boys playing soccer.

Where I spent most of my time...

My birthday postcard.

The message. Trust me- it's presh.

The words to my song.

Yes! Bag o' treats.