Feliz Cumple!

"Feliz feliz cumple años..." Sunday morning upon entering the kitchen for breakfast, I had at least four or five people singing this to me.  All of the children who were up and about, plus Julie and Victor, broke into song first with a Mexico "Happy Birthday" followed by the US "Happy Birthday."  The day was a typical Sunday, and on the way home from church we stopped for BK Whoppers (my first experience of fast food since my arrival) and ice cream.  After lunch Victor pulled into Walmart and told me to get out so we could get my cake.  Apparently Krista and I chose well, because all the kids said I did a good job choosing.  It was funny watching all of their eyes on me as we walked back to the van with the cake; every child was eager to see if I got something good, but really, is there any cake that isn't good? (Aside from the pastel de queso which I tried last summer that is...)
After we got home, I went up to my room to call my parents.  Unfortunately nobody was on Skype, and it was a good half hour or so before I got to call anyone.  To my surprise and complete joy, Overhaul called me!  Overhaul is the youth group that I left behind, and that I miss immensely.  I got to talk with a few of the adult leaders, and before the notorious Skype static, that seems to interrupt all of my calls, could ruin the conversation, Austin made the youth group participate in our traditional "Birthday Dance."  I got to see a lot of familiar faces laughing and dancing to the uncoordinated gibberish.  It was a really nice chance to see faces that I left behind nearly two months ago, and I loved getting to talk with the adult leaders about some of my experiences here.
Later in the evening we all went down to the house and I was led to a chair (if Julie weren't right there, I would've been a bit hesitant considering the kids' pleasure in tying my up.)  The candles were lit, and both birthday songs were sung again.  After blowing out the candles I had the choice of "biting the cake" myself or receiving help from the kids.  To "bite the cake" means that the birthday person sticks their face into the corner of the cake.  I decided to do it myself, and I was warned not to do it too hard so that everyone could still get decent sized slice.  To my surprise, I got pushed into the cake as I was going to bite it.  I ended up with frosting up to my nose before even getting a real bite of cake.  We all enjoyed the rich cake, and afterwards Vero gave me a beautiful pin of the Mexican flag.  Alejandro handed me a folded piece of paper as a card, and when I read it I couldn't help but smile.  He thanked me for teaching them "inglish" and had some other sweet words as well.  What was even cooler was that the card was on the back of an old spelling list.  The spelling list was from when I first started helping in the school.  I recognized the words and hand writing immediately as Caleb's list that we fought through until he could spell each one and know what it meant.  On Monday Mireya gave me a gift as well.  It consisted of a lovely ring and bracelet combo along with one of the sweetest cards!
The rest of the week was pretty calm and laid back.  I've come down with a cold, so I've been in my room a lot more than usual.  Leo and Angie were gone this week, which made the house seem very quiet, especially when Martita left Thursday for a crusade with Adrian and Vero.  Overall, it was a good week, and I look forward to seeing what God holds for me this week.
A heads up for those who may be interested, I will have a blog post going on the Fishers of Men blog towards the end of next week or the beginning of the following week.  I have yet to decide if this will be the same post for my blog or not, so I would suggest checking it out.
If you don't already read the blog for Fishers of Men, it provides a nice look at the mission of this ministry.  Julie Zaragoza writes the majority of the posts, and she gives updates of the EMMCs as well as life here on the ranch.  Another blog, if you'd like yet another look at life here on the ranch, is Inks, Impressions, and Ivory. This blog is written by Krista, and like me, she posts on a weekly basis.  Although she only has about a month left here, I would encourage anyone who reads my posts to check out what another American girl has to say about her own experiences at Refuge Ranch.