42 Years

This past week was my 42nd birthday.  I'm so thankful for my birthday.  The more I have faced chronic illness, the more thankful I have become for LIFE.  My Ugandan friends often remind me to praise God for the "gift of life" and that praise has only become louder as I see the clay vessel of my body become more cracked these past few years.  Every year of life that God chooses to give me on this earth is worth celebrating!

This year, Eric took me out to supper on Monday night, then on Thursday, he bought me fresh roses...wow...what a gift here in Mbale.  (They have fresh cut flowers in Kampala, but only occasionally here in Mbale!)  Then we had dinner with just our family and each of the kids gave me a sweet note.  I was absolutely overwhelmed with God's grace to me.  I see so many failures in my life but God has shown me so much love!

Talitha gave me her kitty for my birthday.  Haha...she was so excited to bless me!  (although the thought has occurred to me that she might be thinking that mama won't give the kitty away if she got it as a birthday gift...haha!)

Here's just a sampling of all the sweet notes that I got!

I love seeing scripture written out in the handwriting of my kids!

 

Katelyn's caricature of our family is hilariously accurate...

 And of course, Benaiah's card is a picture of people dying by lightning strikes and an erupting volcano.  haha!