A Very Happy 3rd Birthday

Daddy and the birthday boy getting the pinata ready for the party

Miguel and his Mama

Z and Damaris take a break from the party to read a story

Z opening the gift from Eloisa (she`s our Spanish teacher!)

Z wearing the awesome sweater Oscar gave him

Eating pizza in the living room

Miguel loves to hit the pinata!  :)

Z and his cake

     Z`s birthday was last month, when Dave was in the States at our DTS graduation.  For the actual day, Z and I took the bus into Antigua and ate lunch at Pollo Compero.  Then we went to the market and bought the green tricycle that he loves so much with the birthday money sent to him by his Great Grandma in Washington.  (Thanks Grandma T!)  It was a nice day, but we promised him another party once Daddy was back in Guatemala with us. 

     As promised, last week we had moved into out new house, and so started thinking about the party we wanted to have.  We invited pretty much everyone we knew, which really isn`t that many people... but it was going to be a full house.

  But as we got closer to today, all our "white friends" couldn`t come.  We ended up with a party completely in Spanish.  AND IT WAS AWESOME.

    Dave had bought a cake, a pinata, and enough fruit and chips to feed an army (classic Dave).  I spent a stressful 8minutes on the phone with Dominos Pizza and got three pizzas delivered to our front door.  Z had been running around all day talking about his pinata, and about how he and his buddy Damaris were going to take turns hitting it.  He was so excited for her to come over... I think he`s missed having other kids around like we did when we were on our DTS.

     Oscar showed up first and we got to hang out and chat for a while before the rest of the guest arrived.  He was our first Guatemalan friend, who we met at the market where he works.  He`s been such a huge encouragement to us, both in being willing to have long conversations with us, not seeming to mind our broken Spanish, and in being genuinely happy to see us when we come to the market, and not trying to rip us off because we`re white.  He`s so great.

    Then the rest of the guests arrived, including Luis and Ana, and their family, and our Spanish teacher Eloisa and her husband.  It was so much fun to just get to hang out with her outside of class, and of course make lots of jokes about, "yeah, I don`t want to talk, I might say it wrong and my teacher`s listening."  Haha!

     We ate pizza, we all got a turn to hit the pinata, we had a birthday cake and Z even blew out the candles by himself.  I played Lego with Damaris, Z, and Oscar... and we just enjoyed being with our friends.  It was that moment where you go from just being part of someone`s life when you go to them- to having them come into your home and be part of a special day in your life.

    And we did it all in Spanish.

   This past week we finished our first week of language school (with Eloisa), and I thought it went great.  The lessons are fun and challenging without being frustrating.  We get a lot of chances to practice what we`ve learned in the mornings when we go to the market or for walks in the community.  I love this language and I can`t wait to be fluent.  But of course, with a language barrier, it creates a feeling of isolation. 

   Tonight was huge for me.  I saw the way our life will be when we are fluent in this language, and also the way our life IS right now!  We have great friends.  We can`t completely understand everything they say (haha), but we know that they want to be part of our lives, and we want to be part of theirs.  It`s such an amazing feeling, and makes going into another week of language study so much easier.

    After everyone headed out we got the house tidied up, but the birthday boy to bed, and I sat down to write this blog post.  I honestly feel so happy right now.  I don`t feel alone anymore.  I have lots of friends, who all came into my home and celebrated my precious baby boy`s birthday with me. 

     What a very happy 3rd birthday party.