Marc's Birthday

Last Thursday we celebrated Marc's birthday. I imagine that ten years ago Marc would not have guessed that he would be spending his 31st birthday in Africa. He probably also did not imagine that he would be married (for almost 7 years!) or that he would be the proud daddy of two great kids. :) I am so thankful for Marc. He is my best friend, a great husband, and a superb dad. I am always glad to have a day once a year to remember this and to celebrate him!

Marc had taken the afternoon off from clinic and we decided it would be fun to take the kids to the pool for the first time. There is an above ground cement pool here that is about 4 ft deep and maybe 20 ft. wide. We woke the kids up early from their nap with the exciting news that we were heading to the pool! Eli had not even seen the pool yet and was thinking back to the last time we went to a pool at the Great Wolf Lodge and said, "But mommy the pool is too far away!" He couldn't believe that we were going to walk to it from our house. The water was a little chilly (but certainly refreshing), and we had a great afternoon.

Marc and I are both really starting to miss eating out. We would usually eat out every weekend back at home and are beginning to have cravings for certain things. Good pizza has been high on the list of things we miss. We bought three, 2 pound blocks of mozzarella (along with two much larger blocks of cheddar) when we arrived in the capital and I have been rationing our cheese supply ever since to stretch the full five months here. Marc had been asking for the past two weeks when we could next eat pizza. He was so excited when I told him we were having pizza for his birthday. It is amazing how much appreciation you have for something as simple as pizza when the supply is limited. :)

After dinner we had a few friends over for some brownies and ice cream. There are some missionary kids that sell ice cream here and we bought some for the festivities. It was nice to have that cold and creamy treat for the first time since we have been here. We have a recipe for some mango ice cream (that uses canned evaporated milk) that is supposed to be delicious and we plan on trying that out once we get into the peak of mango season. :)

While we were celebrating Marc's life here in Africa, we have some dear friends, the Browns, who are celebrating the life of their dad, Mark, in a different way back in Illinois. Please pray for our friends this week as their dad is getting closer to finishing his life race and going home to be with Jesus. Mark is a special man to many and we are thankful for the ways he has influenced our walk with Christ. We will miss him dearly! You can follow his caring bridge site HERE.