My bday was awesome!

I've had such a fabulous birthday- a real celebration through and through. First, John got up with Sam so I got to read my Bible and pray and have a slowish start to the day. Then I got lots of wonderful bday emails- I don't know how people are so good at remembering birthdays, I aspire to be a good bday wisher, but I'm not always the best rememberer.

We're moving to a guestroom for the next four nights and then to the apartment of a colleague while she's in Pointe Noire for three weeks, and then we'll see from there. Anyway, we went food shopping since we'll be cooking finally and also because we decided to make a Thai curry for my bday party.

Sam took two long naps today and was pretty fun (and sometimes grumpy). Here are some fun Sam moments from today
1) having already eaten two of the three bananas we'd brought with us for our two hour outing out of the house, Sam spotted the third. He was excited and considered the banana for a split second- then he took John's hand and put the banana in it- of course, that's the most efficient way of getting the banana open :-)
2) I bought Sam a shaker toy- with bells inside a straw frame. He had loads of fun shaking that all around.
3) He giggled and giggled with me in the car- just because I was being silly and he was in a silly mood.

Okay, so then a load of people came over for dinner and it was so cool because we've only been here for a month but I like all of these people so much. It was fun to celebrate with them. One awesome girl made my bday cake and we played catchphrase which is one of our favorites. Also- people brought the most thoughtful and wonderful gifts- I think it was the first time I've had a party with presents (other than from family) since I turned 19. I feel genuinely celebrated and really blessed. These are the same people who have each welcomed us in so many other ways. One woman got us mosquito nets before we got here because she'd heard we'd asked about them. Several have invited us over to their homes. They've all prayed with us and are encouraging us during this time of waiting to find a house/apt to rent. I'm so glad that there is this English-speaking community because it will probably take a bit of time for us to make deeper friends in French and cross-culturally.

Such a good day! (We haven't unpacked our bags yet- just living out of a bag- so I couldn't find my bday shirt- I'll have to take a picture when I do find it). Here's one from last

I've had a hard time getting videos to upload- that may never happen here, so I've been taking a bunch of videos to burn on a cd and send to my folks. Maybe some of those videos will get uploaded eventually, but my emphasis on video taking has kept me from taking pics. Here are the only three I've taken this week :-)

One day we were walking to town and we came across this tree... And right next to it was this one. We thought it was funny how they were opposite.
This is Bienvenue (which also means welcome in French). He's a 17-year old student who eats dinner with the family we're staying with and lives next door. He's also one of Sam's favorite people in Brazzaville. On Saturday, we went over to friends and left Sam with Bienvenue to babysit for a few hours. I think it went pretty well- we just put bug spray all over him, put on a disposable diaper (they last longer without a change) and gave Bienvenue strict instructions not to let Sam eat or drink anything that we didn't pack for him. It was Sam's first time with a one-night babysitter like this and it was definitely fun to eat dinner with our friends without constantly watching Sam (and his destructive ways).