A very merry not-unbirthday to me!!

This past weekend was interesting. It was my birthday on December 2nd. Now, if you know me at all you know how much I love my birthday. This is the first time I’ve ever been away from my family at birthday time. This is also the first time I’ve ever had no snow. It’s hot and sunny out. How can it possibly be my birthday?? Alas, the calendar says it’s true. My birthday has come and gone. The big 2-1. How did I spend my weekend you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked…
Saturday I was supposed to go with Kong for a walk up the mountain behind my home.

Unfortunately on Friday evening he told me that he had to cancel because he had to take his father to the hospital the next morning. His dad has been sick for many years now. They are a very poor family and don’t have much money to pay for doctor bills.

So I ended up spending the better part of the day alone in my bedroom, with the exception of the hour and a ½ I went to watch my boys play football (soccer). We tied, 3-3.

On Friday my evening students told me to be ready for a birthday party at 5:30 on Saturday.

So, 5:30 rolled around and I went down stairs only to find out that I had to wait in my bedroom for another 40 minutes.

So I danced alone in my bedroom. =)

Finally someone came to get me. I went down stairs and there were most of my students with a cake and fruit and presents!! They sang happy birthday to me and gave me some presents. They also silly stringed me after I blew out the candles. We spent the next couple hours eating cake, throwing cake at each other, taking pictures and just hanging out. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoy my students.

When the party was finished Rachha pulled me aside to explain why Kong didn’t show up to the party.

His father had died earlier that morning.

My heart stopped. I held back tears.

My poor Kong and his family! My heart was broken for them. I love Kong so much! He is a very special young boy. I have met his father, along with most of his brothers and sisters. There are 8 of them in total.

Sunday morning I woke up and didn’t even realize it was my birthday until after I had showered. That has never happened to me before. I was preaching that morning at another church. It went over really well. The translating went smoothly. Then we had a medical clinic.

After church Jonah, Tongpang, Rachha, Vothanak and myself went over to Kong’s home to pay our respects.

At 3 we had church at SLM. During the service Jonah had three announcements to make. The last one being that it was my birthday, and he then continued to produce a cake for everyone there to eat! At 5:30 we headed over to Pun Leu’s birthday party. It was nice. There was good food, good people, and Karaoke! I did not sing. Surprise, surprise…

Monday morning we went to the funeral. I never thought I’d be able to say that I know what burnt flesh smells like. Basically we all drove slowly down the street following the coffin. We went to the Pagoda where Mr. Lee was cremated. It was a sad sight to see his Kong’s mother and little brother’s and sisters crying their eyes out.

That was my birthday weekend. It was the strangest birthday I’ve ever had.

Plus, I was homesick. =(