Laura's 28th Birthday

Surely, this has been my most memorable birthday ever. My only request this year was that we didn't have a big party. It all began the evening of January 25th, when I recieved the call from my teammate Amanda, that it was time for her to have her baby. I had just finished putting Noah to bed and got my second wind, preparing myself to be awake for the majority of the night. Susan and I took a taxi to the Rosses house, where Susan stayed with Kayla and Bella, and I got to accompany Amanda and Jeremy to the birth center. As much as I would like to share the details from that point - it's really their story, so I better not, but I will say little Janna was born at 1:30 on my birthday, in the quiet, peaceful environment of a big bath tub! It was the most beautiful birth I have ever had the opportunity to witness! The whole process was clearly ordered by our Creator. By 5am, I was walking in the door of our apartment, Amanda and Jeremy dropped me off on their way home to introduce Janna to her big sisters!

Michael let me sleep in and I woke to the smell of waffles and Noah came to wake me with a sweet, "Happy Birthday, Mommy." I went back to sleep after Noah went to school, the rest of the afternoon was lovely and restful. We had a little family celebration with Noah; I took him to the park while Michael made our favorite Marble Cake cookies as my birthday cake this year - it was perfect! The only candles we happened to have were tealights, so it worked great for the cookies. Truly, I was just delighted by the simplicity and the love I could feel packed into those cookies. Susan came over and put Noah to bed while Michael and I went out for Thai food at one of the few such restaurants in Lima. There, Michael gave me tickets for the following night to see a highly acclaimed folkloric dance performance at "Las Brisas de Titicaca" - a show I've been wanting to see for a while, and one that would be difficult to see after the baby comes because it goes so late at night. We returned home and just before bedtime, Michael showed me a very special 30-min video that he had compiled of all of our friends here in Lima, wishing me a happy birthday!! He had traveled all over the city getting in touch with people to put this together - it was so encouraging, and a special memoir to bring home with us to remind us of all of our dear friends here! (Some of you may remember when he did a similar thing for me in college) Then he somehow got me to check my hotmail e-mail account and I saw all the dozens and dozens of birthday wishes that he had reminded people to send my way - wow!

I felt so cared for and loved! Thank you to you all who participated in making this such a special birthday for me!!!!!

The following evening, Elita came to put Noah to bed and spent the night, so that we could go to the show at Las Brisas. It was so beautiful! The live music was fabulous - we did get to dance, very gently. (c: What a special treat just before the baby is born.

Just today, Amanda, Sara, Susan, and I got to go out for brunch. It was sortof a belated birthday brunch/celebrate Amanda and Janna getting-out-of-the-house brunch. It was fun to be with just the girls. Lori would be there too, but they are back in the States right now.