The Birthday Boy

Well, our little boy is officially a toddler. We had a great celebration in our village with our host family, graced with the presence of some international guests (a few of our colleagues) and lots of local guests... the number closely approximating the total guests at our wedding! (I knew I needed to make another cake when I saw the bucket loads of chicken wings our host mother brought home from the market that morning).

 

Abe's B day cake was a success, with a bit of "Charlie Brown" personality. The stove top oven was slightly space limited, so I had no room to write on the cake, which is a good thing, since the writing would have melted away in minutes. The frosting had to be stretched to feed the throng, so there you have it. Not exactly the Martha Burke masterpieces that graced our table growing up (mom had a hamburger shaped cake that was a birthday favorite for years) but definitely a special memory. Every guest got a piece with even a quarter cake left over.

 

Abe's Asian cousins were in the middle of the action.

 

We weren't quite sure what to do when we got to the "blowing out the candles" part of the tradition, and leaned Abe over the cake so we could blow out his candles for him, only to gasp in horror as he stuck his hand right over the flame! Oops! He survived without any burns and I'm sure one day we'll laugh about it. :)

 

We have LOTS more pictures of the week. So stay tuned! Thanks for praying for us too. There were some challenges (which are not so bloggable), but also some really quality times, for which we are thankful.