The long lovely day

Friday the 13th was a good, good day. Duh, because 13 is my lucky number!

In the morning, our neighbor, Ahm rode with us because sometimes he likes to go fishing with Bua. He's really quiet and I don't think I've ever heard one word of English come out of his mouth. But as we were driving, a dragonfly flew in and couldn't get out. Ahm tried to put it out the window, but the seat belt was in the way, so he handed it to me and I put it out my side. Precious moment.

I got to work early and helped Olay out with saa-paper hole-punching for awhile. When I walked in she handed me a gift wrapped in green paper and tied with a pink ribbon. I said thank you and set it aside to open later.

To take a break from hole-punching, I went outside and watched Bua and Ahm try to spear fish with a cool cross-bow contraption. Ahm shot one right through the face, and when he pulled it out, Bua smiled and sang "Happy birthday to Jen!"

All morning Ahmpaa was busy in the kitchen making the food she knows Mer and I love so much, lettuce wraps! Once the Aussies and Pam showed up, we all sat in a big circle and munched. After lunch, Bua, Prawit and Ahm came in and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" as the cake was brought out. Meredith and I blew out the candles together, and then I cut it into 16 little pieces to share with everyone.

After cake people expressed happy birthday sentiments--they wished us luck in our future as well as health and happiness. I opened Olay's gift and was delighted to find a beautiful set of wooden tableware.

The rest of the day was spent punching more holes and talking with our Australian friends. After they left, I hung out with the Thais until John picked me up to teach at his place.

The birthday gang.

Bua trying to sing the fish to him.

The kids knew it was my birthday, so the older ones came in and were whispering to each other and then they all yelled, "Happy birthday to you!!" and Paul gave me a WWJD bracelet.
They were very involved today and were excited to learn--especially when I taught them "Hello, how are you?" and "I am fine, thank you." It's so cute when they say thank you, because it's more like theek yew. 


At the end of the night they wanted to ride back to the church with me, so we all hopped in the back of the truck and jammed out to Flo Rida. At the church, the Friday prayer group was still kickin, so I listened until they were finished and then my parents and Ahm and I rode to the hospital to visit Ahm's grandmother. By this point it was about 9pm, and I was exhausted. On the way home I kind of fell asleep on Ahm--ish. I wasn't actually touching him but I was definitely on his side of the bench. I think it freaked him out a little, because when we pulled into the driveway he was out of there like a rocket. It was pretty funny.

Best birthday I've ever had, and it wasn't even my birthday.