Thursday was my 53rd birthday.  I didn’t think anyone here knew, but thanks to Facebook, they did.  The morning started at the Language booth and a steady stream of visitors. About mid morning, a friend (who also taught Emily and Sarah at the International School) turned up with a chocolate cake and candles!  That was a fun surprise.

Later, some of the ladies from our mission group here and the 3 lovely young ladies from the Discovery Team took me out to lunch. We went to the restaurant by the sea that has the dolphins. We had a nice lunch and enjoyed some of the chocolate cake from earlier.  (Karen, who organized the lunch is trying to keep the candles from blowing out.)

After lunch, I asked to be dropped off at the bank where we took out our mortgage. A bank officer checked on the balance of our mortgage and then I called our rental agents and asked them to come down with a check.  A few minutes later, I was able to pay off the mortgage and walked away with a receipt.  We OWN our house in the Solomons.  Anyone for a Dave Ramsey shout?  (We aren’t debt free because we DO have a mortgage in Dallas….) What a sweet way to celebrate my birthday.

We bought the house in 1999 – 6 months before we were evacuated and left the country for a year.  We continued to make the mortgage payments through that year we were in the USA, wondering if we would see the house again. The house is full of happy memories and a few headaches of termites and months went we didn’t have a renter.  So it is with great joy and thankfulness to God for his provision.  We look forward to living in the house again and in the meantime are grateful for great renters.

By mid afternoon Kit, one of the Discovery gals, and I headed back to the dorm where we are staying, while others stayed at the booth.  Our dear friends, Patson and Judy, were heading down to the Festival to see the panpipe group group from their home village and we went along as well.

One of the features of the Festival Village is a custom style house from each of the Solomon Islands provinces.  Patson, Judy and their kids are standing in front of the house from their province of Makira  along with a custom style canoe.

 

 

 

 

 

As always it’s fun to see the cultural groups.  This man is from the Solomon Islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these beauties are from Fiji.

After being at the show for a couple of hours, a friend picked me up and we went up to their house for another birthday celebration.  I woke up thinking no one would know it was my birthday, but in the end, felt loved and celebrated!