My morning started with waking up late and rushing to church (this is a fairly routine situation). Church goes from 9am to around 11am. One of the passages of Scripture we looked at was Ephesians 2 v 10 - that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
It was a great reminder to have on my birthday! That God has prepared good works for me, and I am asked to be faithful to walk in them, knowing He has perfectly prepared me for them.
Then came opening some presents! The post here is sometimes "flexible" so I haven't received everything yet. The one that made me laugh out loud was from Rachel, who posted it early as she is on a mission trip currently, and there was a warning or two about when to open it. Here is proof lovely lady!
Some after church baking.
Full confession: I really wanted to go for a run. I got into my running gear and decided to take a twenty minute nap before my run. Yep, my twenty minute nap turned into a ninety minute one and no run.
But running gear became baking gear.
During the day I was able to skype with my family a couple of times which was really fun! And I'm so thankful for the many, many birthday wishes I received on Facebook or via email.
I went to the Yormans for dinner where we had "Irish food". Fun fact: I introduced the Yormans to shepherd's pie over a year ago, back when I had an oven that didn't work. So it wasn't shepherd's pie but "deconstructed shepherd's pie". This has now become a regular meal and tradition, complete with green onions boiled in milk through the mashed potato. So so good.
And dessert included pizcookie (I'm unsure of the spelling) - basically you pull a cookie out of the oven and put ice cream on top. So good.
And friends gathered at the Yormans for dessert. Unfortunately a couple of friends couldn't be there because their car was broken into! But here are some pictures of our time.
One of the things we do in Josiah Venture from time to time is give someone the "gift of words". We take time to say what we appreciate or admire about another person. The Yormans gave time for this on Sunday night.
At one point Casey commented that it was fun to watch me squirm as people said nice things about me. My response was that it's probably the least British thing that has ever happened.
But words are definitely my love language so it meant so much to me to have so many lovely people in one room and to say things. I am so incredibly thankful for the people who I get to do life with here and serve alongside.
This is what Benaiah wanted to give me for my birthday... Well, this is what I unwrapped from Benaiah. Three of the toothbrushes were for other people in the room...
... I got the blue one!
The night ended the way so many nights at the Yormans do - Casey, Kristin and I sitting around some food and tea and chatting.
It was an excellent birthday, my second in this beautiful country, and I'm so thankful for another year of God's grace. I'm excited about what this next year will hold and to walk in the good works God has prepared for me.
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