It is a challenge working out how to celebrate your birthday when you are living aboard. Here I am serving in Cambodia and as the day of my birthday ticked over it was not your typical style of celebration.
First how many people get blessed with a birthday message from their housemates, who used whiteboard markers, to greet you on the living room tiles?
So I had planned for a while to do something special in the evening, in a effort to make sure that I don’t let the day go under the radar but also didn’t make it too big, attention grabbing or extravagant. My solution to this was to bake some specalaas koek (a much favoured slice of my friends here) and order a whole heap of Indian food. In my family the tradition is that the birthday person can have whatever they want for dinner and well I love Indian food! So, because I couldn’t share dinner with my family I did the next best thing and shared it with my Bible Study group – my family over here. It was a treat for everyone, a delicious one at that.
My friends here were sweet enough to not get carried away and sing happy birthday. Honestly I think the best way to celebrate is with a group of awesome people, having good food and lots of laughs. But a little Bloom cupcake/birthday cake can make it even better :)
Ok, so maybe it wasn't your typical birthday. I may not have unwrap any presents and missed people I love that extra bit more, but that all comes in the package of being away from it all. What it does is it keeps you humble and forces you to focus on the little blessings as they become the big significance of the day. I'm just so thankful that I am developing a network of friends here that I could share this special day with.
