My Birthday week... Amazing!

My birthday was like no other I've had before. Although the Tro Tro caused my pretty birthday cake a few dents, it was still a nice celebration. I'm not gonna lie though, my little birthday girl spoiled self was so irritated at first that my cake wasn't perfect but then I was like Laura check yourself! "Does it really matter?" Then I was fine. About 25 people from the village came over and countless number of children. They prayed for me and my 24 years on this earth and then they all sang me Happy Birthday. We didn't have any plates so you know, I just cut the cake and placed it in my hands to theirs. It was fine :) Everyone was really happy that I decided to celebrate my birthday with them and Fo Dela 's uncle even gave me 5 Ghana Cedi's which is basically 5 dollars, which for most people here is a days salary. So I was really happy that I decided to celebrate my birthday with my village "family". Then there was 3 boys from California that came through our village that night to climb the mountain and spend the night so they joined in the celebration. Two of them were studying in Ghana for the year and one was studying in London and had just came to visit them for a couple weeks. They invited me to join them play a dice game and so we just sat and played the game and talked. So that was my "BIG" bday celebration in Ghana.

The next day I woke up at dawn to run my 3 miles. So far i'm sticking to my goal of doing it every other day. After running and eating breakfast we went to the church to help lay cement. Everyone thinks it's so funny but so great to see me joining in the work. I was carrying sand and rock and water on my head from point A to point B. I'm actually getting pretty good at not spilling anything and I can almost balance the big bucket using no hands. The men shoveling the sand and rocks into my bucket kept trying to put just a little in the bucket and I kept telling them "do you think I'm weak? Put the same amount as the other woman have." They just laughed. Fo Dela kept saying "are you okay?" I was like "I'm fine, my dad had me doing this manual labor stuff my whole life" (lol) Although I complained the majority of the time but thanks dad for preparing me for life in the village.

So Friday was the last day of school for everyone in the village, so the high school threw this community event in the evening. I would say half the H.S. students are above 18, and the reason is because in Ghana you have to pay to go to High School and most families can't afford to send their children so they go when they are adults and can pay on their own way. Anyways, so the H.S. students walked from the begging of our village to the end and back to the Primary School's campus (probably a mile and a half total) singing Christmas songs and playing the drums. Everyone from the village came and met at the campus and their was dancing and singing and drumming the first half. Then for the second half some students read bible verses and then their was a few people from the village (mostly teachers) that gave speeches. Oh, don't worry I was informed about 10 minutes before, that I would be giving the closing speech to the community (200-300 people) on the importance of education. Not only do I fear public speaking more than ANYTHING!! But to make the situation even more horrifying was the fact I had 10 minutes to prepare a speech in my head. I was thinking how am I gonna get out of this one. Finally I realized that I wasn't so that I might as well take a deep breath, pray, and go make a fool of myself. I don't really remember what I said, I just kinda went up to the microphone and opened my mouth and then after a few minutes when no words came out anymore, I said "that's all". It was definitely the most horrifying public speaking I've ever had to do, but maybe it will help me get over my fear.

Then Saturday morning after our 3 mile run, Fo Dela had me go to his farm to help him harvest. I told him on the way there that I know God does everything with a purpose and I'm really happy that he made me a city woman and not a farm woman. He was laughing so hard. When we got to the farm he was like "come on city woman". I don't really know how much help I was to him, I just followed him around the corn field holding the bucket as he picked all the corn. Farming... definitely not my thing.

Okay so that was pretty much my birthday week. Now that it's Christmas week I'm preparing for that. Instead of buying everyone individual gifts, I'm getting some bread and eggs today, and on Christmas morning I'm going to cook French toast for like 20 people. They liked it a lot last time Sarah and I made it, and it's simple enough so that's my plan. Wish me luck getting the eggs all home in one piece (I'm carrying them in my back pack, riding bike from the town to the village.)

Well, Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope you all enjoy the holiday with the ones you love. Even though I will be absent from my family this year, I feel so blessed to be celebrating it with people who I adore and love so much. Be safe and much love and peace to everyone. Love ya!