A Birthday in Macedonia

    It is evening once again, the kids are in bed and I am on the terrace taking in the wheat and hay fields beyond the yard and the beautiful blue mountain skyline and listening to the traditional Macedonian music that drifts across the field from a neighboring town. There are so many thoughts going through my head that sometimes it is hard to track them down. But for now I'm going to share about the celebrations of this past week.
    July 1st was my 23rd birthday. The day began typically with Filip's wake up babble turning into wining sobs at around 6:30 AM I was greeted by the morning "kaka" gift and after cleaning him up got him settled with a bottle of milk. A little later on I was presented with an adorable card that Susannah helped Marta make.

On the card Marta had dictated, "We love you very much", instructions for things she wants to do with me when her mommy is at the doctor, affirmation that she likes to play games with me everyday, and the best, "I know my baby should not blow cigarettes".  A popular game she likes to play is that she is the mommy and she is going to have a baby. Usually when we play this game Marta is a bit of a non-compliant patient and informed me that both she and her baby were blowing cigarettes which of course prompted a long lecture about the dangers of blowing cigarettes from the impersonating doctor. She clearly was listening well because she repeated the lecture to a friend who smokes later on as well as writing it on my birthday card! 

Oh the things little ones say!

       

Thank you Marta!

    Susannah was so sweet to make my birthday special. She had a few gifts for me a bracelet and a beautifully silver embroidered piece of traditional Macedonian artwork.

   

Photo credits got to Marta

Susannah also put together a fun dinner outing. We invited her neighbor Mary who has been so kind to take me out with her on several occasions, she is a speech therapist who had lived in the US for 16 years. We also invited Rochelle a friend of Susannah's who has children the same age as Marta and Filip who visit frequently, Rochelle is from the US and teaches ESL here in Macedonia.

 We went to a traditional Macedonian restaurant in Kapan An a 15th century inn originally used for traders and caravans located in the old bazaar of Skopje. The food was wonderful but sadly I can barely remember the names of any of it. There was shopska salad (which is basically tomatoes, cucumbers, and Macedonian cheese) Ivar (a pepper puree spread) and several different cheese spreads with delicious bread and meats topped off with some Macedonian wine. I was beginning to wonder if turning 23 also entailed gaining 23 pounds!

       

    After we finished at Kapan An we walked across the stone bridge to the modern part of the city and had dessert at a lovely cafe right on the center square. Again I cannot remember the name of the dessert but it was essentially chocolate lava cake, and it was amazing.

 

  This cafe is also known for its little Macedonian proverbs for each guest at each table (basically the fortune cookie with out the cookie part). We all picked one out and had fun reading over them and laughing. Some of them were truer for the individual than others. I sometimes wonder if the writers of these proverbs or fortunes look up statistics on what type of sayings are applicable to the most people. Anyhow, mine happened to be quite applicable. It said, "trust and you will understand". That morning I was reflecting on my past year and upcoming year and wrote this prayer in my journal,  "God I trust you with this next year, in fact I am dependent on you to lead me step by step through this next year. Let me step joyfully into the uncertainty of this season......" So that is the plan, trust Him, know Him, dance joyfully through life with Him and watch where the steps take me! 

             

And I get to be with these precious ones all day? I am one lucky girl :-)