Birthday Party

Our older kids with Cori (note the drawn-on eyebrows)

Our daughter was very excited. She had been invited to Cori’s birthday party! 3pm on Sunday afternoon. We got a present. I tried to prepare our daughter for the fact that we didn’t know what this birthday party would be like-- it might be quick, it might be long, we might eat a lot, we might eat very little. I told her that there wouldn’t necessarily be any games or party favors. We had to keep our minds open and be prepared for whatever.

Now I knew better than to go to the party at 3pm! We are on the islands after all. So at 3:40pm I woke our daughter from a nap and we started to get ready.  I was going to bring our 3 year old son because even if he wasn’t expected we knew he’d be welcome (this is the islands!). So a little before 4pm we walked over one block to Cori’s house. An hour late seemed reasonable to me-- we were the first ones there. We entered through the back and I saw a big pile of chicken wings waiting to be grilled. We were escorted to the empty living room. It had been cleared of most furniture and a DJ table and a speaker that was taller than our son were in the corner.

First ones there

I called Tom to let him know-- “We’re going to be here awhile.” The chicken meant they were going to feed us, the DJ meant there was supposed to be a dance party and no people meant the party hadn’t started yet.

A couple moments after our arrival the DJ started the music. If I wanted to speak to the kids I had to literally touch my lips to their ear for them to hear me. I was hoping this would be a chance to meet some of the women of the family, but the music was so loud that no one could actually have a conversation. So we just exchanged smiles as I tried to figure out how they were all related.

Being forced to dance

Our kids ran around with the birthday girl for a long time before a few more guests arrived. Then began the mandatory dance party. Cori’s mother gave me her two month old baby and started videotaping (this documentation would continue for hours). But in order to have something to tape, the children were scolded and commanded to DANCE!!

Eventually enough kids came that they were all having fun without being forced. At some point I was silently handed a bottle full of warm milk and so I obediently sat down and started feeding the baby (I never did learn the baby’s name).

Not being forced to dance

Around 5:45pm, they brought out snacks! When I saw that they weren’t serving the chicken, I called Tom again. We were having multiple courses--”We’re going to be here awhile.” Thankfully things went a little quicker after that. After cleaning up after snacks, the kids danced for just a little longer before the dinner food was served (chicken, fried bananas and cassava). After a big plate of snacks my kids weren’t that hungry but there was plenty of party-crashing kids lingering at the door and asking for unfinished plates of food.

With the food they also gave all the kids extra-tall cans of soda. There were probably 20 kids by this point and the median age was around 4.5 years old-- lots of soda didn’t seem like a good idea. And sure enough, one by one the kids started spilling soda. A mop was brought out to push the soda around on the floor. After a little while, our daughter and the other kids were having fun “skating” on the soda-slicked floor.

Finally the cake!

Finally a small table was brought out for the cake. The DJ was a little overeager and began playing a rocking birthday song as soon as the table was out. He had to replay it three times before the cake was actually out.

We walked home in the dark sometime after 7pm-- my ears ringing from the 3 straight hours of loud music. The kids were tired but excited to tell Daddy all about the birthday adventure.

Now we can look forward to watching the 3 hours of footage sometime when we visit. That’s an island birthday party for you.


PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re happy to be integrating into the community and to get invited to birthday parties like this.  We continue to make new friends and meet new people almost everyday.  Our youngest got his first tooth!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We have a visitor coming through this week.  Pray for his safe travels and good visit.  The whole family has cold/allergy symptoms-- runny nose, sneezing. Pray for a quick recovery-- especially for our youngest who is teething too. This week we will be talking with different local organizations to make arrangements for our future English classes. Pray that these meetings would go well and that we would choose the right times and places to have classes. Please pray for our future teammates as they try to gather teams around them to send, encourage and support them.