Birthday Bonanza

This week has been a barrage of birthdays.  First, we celebrated our night guard’s birthday.  You can read about that on Kari’s blog.http://realhousewifeofuganda.blogspot.com/2012/12/ugandan-birthday-celebration.html

The following day we were discussing with Tom, our day guard, about how much fun we had with Morris at his celebration.  This brought up the casual question from Kari, “Tom, when is your birthday?”  Tom replied “I think it is today, at least that is what my phone it telling me.”  He handed Kari his phone and the calendar popped up saying “Day of birth, 1993.”  Tom told us the thought he was turning 19 years today.  As the look of shock and amazement left our face we snapped back to our senses and told him happy birthday.  We asked if he had any plans for the evening and he told us he was supposed to organize something, but he failed to do so.  We were shocked, our kids and even I start reminding people weeks before our birthday.  Birthdays are a big deal to us and we always have some sort of special celebration. It was hard to imagine it being Tom’s birthday and he had not said a word.  We finished lunch and  started planning for the evening celebration for Tom, and Kari started baking a cake.  We already had some Advent plans in place for the kids, so we decided to invite Tom to join us. We had a picnic under the Christmas Cross and watched Polar Express.  You know Tom is special to our lives because the kids were excited to share their “Papa Sausage”, summer sausage sent over from the States, with Tom. We had sausage, cheese, crackers, salami, olives, pickles and fruit salad. Tom seemed to really enjoy himself!  The kids colored him birthday cards and Kari and I were able to present him with a certificate for computer classes.

Tom approached me a few weeks ago and told me “the world was heading the way of computers and he thought he better learn what they were about.”  We were able to find a place in town that offers basic computer classes.  We gave Tom a couple notebooks, pens and a folder to keep all his things in for his upcoming computer class. We all enjoyed a fun filled evening of food, fun and fellowship.  The smile on his face said it all, but he kept telling us over and over again thank you for the evening.   I have been amazed at the perspective that God is making me aware of in living here in Uganda.  The people here are amazing and they are truly blessing our lives.