Zapo Verde Soy Yo!

Well, Thursday, November 16, was my 27th birthday!!!! It was a day of mixed emotions and sentiments, but when the day was done I was nothing but perfectly content with the day the Lord gifted me! It started off a little sad. Yes, sadly, since I'm a girl, I must admit there were even some tears that morning for missing my family and wanting to be able to receive phone calls with folks singing to me and not just have to make the calls myself and coax a happy birthday out of them. But then, a miracle happened. I was pouring out these feelings to the Lord on my couch, and lo and behold MY PHONE RANG IN MY APPARTMENT. Now, I get zero signal in my appartment; normally there isn't even enough signal to notify me that I have voice mail let alone receive an incoming call! But it rang, and when I answered I heard the sweet voice of my step-mom, Kathy, singing Happy Birthday to me! And she was with my grandmother too, so I got to talk to both of them.

So, that kicked off the joyous rest of the day. I had just finished telling the Lord that all I wanted was to be able to recieve the calls of people singing to me, when my phone rang and Jesus told me Happy Birthday through my step-mom. Talk about a gift! And it just got better from there...more phone calls to friends and family, especially those in Guad who don't even have email, and then I had time to make myself really beautiful for the special dinner being made for me that night before heading off to Faith's for some mentor time. Then around 4:45 I headed to Arrayanes to the home of Sandy and Mili. Their mom, Flavia, was the one making the dinner. She made posole, and let me tell you, she makes it GOOD! Posole is a traditional Mexican dish that is kind of like a tomatoe based broth with meat (usually chicken) and hominy (a type of corn), and it is pronounced "po-so-lay". She invited all her sisters and their families, all of which are some of my favorite people here in Mexico. We had some great fellowship and great food, and it was wonderfully fun and special. The Mexican customs for birthdays are very different. Folks arrive at the party and hand the birthday person their gift and give them a hug. I've reached an age where my natural approach is not to expect gifts, which is just fine by me, so I actually felt funny receiving gifts. But every single gift was sweet and exactly what I actually have been wanting or needing! And they had no clue...another birthday gift from the Lord!

One special gift of note came from Flavia. Aside from doing all the prep work and making the big dinner and serving everyone (since normally that is something I would do at my own party), she also gave me a necklace. It's a rose on a gold chain. She came out of the house at one point and actually put it on me and looked me in the eye and said, "May you be here in Mexico for many years to come and may you have even more years of life and life blessed!" It was really special. She has always made me feel like part of the family in a way, and this was just another manifestation of that.

The next day, Friday, I had Mili and Sandy spend the night. Since it is not the Mexican custom to open presents at the party, I opened them with the girls on Friday night in my appartment. Then afterward, I nuked a microwave brownie mix (add water and nuke for 45 secons...way to go Duncan Hines! Very tasty!), put a tealight candle in the middle and the girls sang me both the Mexican birthday song (Las Manyanitas) and the US birthday song only according to how it sounds to them: "Happy Birthday to You" sounds like "Zapo Verde Eres Tu", which means "You are a green frog". HAH! Here are links to the videos I took of them singing these songs: "Las Manyanitas" and "Zapo Verde Eres Tu". Anyway, I'm posting a couple of pics here of the festivities, but I have put together an album on my PhotoSite. The link is to the right (Online Photo Album). Thanks to all of you who helped make the day special with MySpace comments, phone calls/messages, and emails. You guys rock! Enjoy the pics!!

Flavia serving the posole

The rose necklace Flavia gave me

Eating dinner in the front yard

Some of the family/party-goers: L-R: Erika (Flavia's sister) holding Coco, Brenda (Coco's mom), Aide, Donya Emilia (Flavia's mom), Josefina (Flavia's sister)

L-R: Pola (Flavia's sister), Me, Favi

Me and Mili at the party

Sandy and Me. She was all hugs that night..even more than usual!

The birthday "cake" and special beverages (DP is extremely hard to find here in Mexico) from the sleepover on Friday.