~8th day of Christmas~

On Sarah's birthday we had QUITE the INTERESTING day!  (But in the end, it turned out really nicely!)
~At 7:30 that morning our guards told us that by 10 that morning the city would shut off our water and it would be off for 24 hours!!! So we spent the morning scrubbing buckets and filling them with water, filling up pots and pans, washing everything possible, taking showers, etc.....AND OUR WATER NEVER WENT OFF!! =}
~So, in the midst of getting ready for our "NO WATER Situation"...I decided to make a quick birthday breakfast, instead of cooking. You need to know that our family isn't the typical American family who eats cereal 5 out of 7 mornings a week.  =)
Ever since I had gestational diabetes with my last 3 babies and learned that it's harder on your body to have sweets in the mornings after you Fasted all night, we rarely eat cereal for breakfast.  So, I knew that having Cornflakes, fresh strawberries and bananas, and strawberry yogurt for breakfast would be a SPECIAL breakfast for our birthday girl Sarah and our other kids.  =D  (Note: I purposely took this pic for you to see how our milk comes here. Our milk comes in bags.    In the right hand corner of this pic...the little white pitcher is holding the bag of milk.  =)  ~

~Little Mary wearing her Christmas hat...was thrilled with her breakfast. =) ~

~Sarah (and Noah) ready to open her birthday gifts.  We just got her a few simple gifts and hope to get her something bigger when we get back home to the USA.~

~Her new Christmas hat that says, "Sara" in Spanish on it.~

 ~One of Sarah's gifts was this Hello Kitty alarm clock that sings.  A few minutes after she opened it, Phillip found Elijah upstairs sitting thoughtfully! (I'm sure you know by now that that is NOT the usual Elijah! =)
All of the sudden Elijah said, "I'm SO SAD that Hello Kitty does not have a mouth! Later he was still concerned and told me,  "PLEASE don't ever cut off my mouth like Hello Kitty's Mother did hers." =(
We tried our best to assure him that her mother DID NOT cut off her mouth, but he's still convinced she did and so SAD about it. =) ~

~Just shortly before the party was to start. I opened my kitchen window to get some cooler air, (for I was baking and it is summer here right now) then I ran upstairs to do something.  While I was upstairs for a few....my Kitchen Christmas tree blew over.   So, with ALLLL I had to do to get ready for her party at 4....I had to redecorate my tree.
~SOMEONE (we think it must have been our neighbor boy, Noah's friend) opened up our living room window right beside our big Christmas tree AND IT BLEW OVER and Kimberly and I had to redecorate it too!!!! HELP!  ={

 ~Sarah chose My Little Pony for her party.  We scattered Sarah's ponies and pink and purple boxes of Nerds down the center of the table.~

~Phillip and Sarah went to Simon Bolivar's estate/garden, probably 30 mins. away...to take her Birthday pics....only THE BATTERY WENT OUT ON OUR CAMERA before they got done.  HELP! 
Thankfully, God helped them get some nice pictures, as you may have seen in my Day 6 Christmas post.  
 They got home a few minutes after our first 2 guests arrived.
~Mary was "lying down for a nap", when someone discovered that she wasn't sleeping...she had found one of the kids' story tapes and was DESTROYING IT
~Sarah requested 2 fresh strawberry pies...and I made them, but the crusts SLID down into the pies.  They don't sell Crisco here, so I use butter for my crusts.  Anytime I try to "rescue my crusts" from SLIDING down in, (using tin pie plates filled with beans or rice, etc.) that crust just SLIDES down anyway.  =(
I was able to rescue them, but they weren't as pretty as I was hoping for. =(
~Pastor Jimmy and Sis. Farly, and their daughters, and 2 sisters that are our neighbors joined us for Sarah's Skyline Chili birthday meal.~

~Noah and Elijah ready to eat at a little table beside our Big one.~

~Enjoying being together.~

~Ready to sing Happy Birthday to Sarah and serve her pie.~

~Sarah's Strawberry pie which we served with ice cream.~

~Gerraldine, Sarah, and Gaby.~

~Elijah took this picture of Pastor Jimmy, Sis. Farly, and Phillip and I playing Scrabble... in Spanish...of course.  I don't know why, but we had never played this with them in all the years we have been here.  We had a fun time.  Pastor Jimmy won.  =)

Jesus gave Sarah a really nice birthday.  Thank you for all of your nice comments and birthday wishes!