Happy birthday to me!

Well what a day. Today was a day I will never forget. My 30th birthday, spent doing what I love - loving on orphans. We had another full day at the orphanage, and even though we girls had our "plan", God had His own plan, and of course, we had a great day.
When we left on Monday, we challenged the girls to continue the work we had started. The freshly painted walls were filthy and so we started cleaning them. Crystal put one of the older girls in charge and said "When we come back on Wednesday, we want to see what else you've done." When we pulled up in front of the orphanage, the first thing we saw was orphans cleaning the outside of the orphanage! They had soapy water and designated rinsers and dryers. It was awesome! We got so excited and started cheering them on, which made them excited and work harder. It was so cool to see "Okay, maybe we are making a little bit of a difference".
After that, we had such a girlie day with the girls (and even some of the boys *cough* Aaron *cough*). It started with painting their finger nails/toe nails, which is interesting to do when you have antsy little girls who don't understand "sit and let them dry" even with a translator. "Sit still? Wait? What?!" So needless to say that took a little longer than we thought because we had to re-do some girls over and over again. Our final "girl" did a great job though. Aaron's toenails are a nice shade of burnt orange.  After that, and a little more loving on the girls and playing "hair salon" (Tashina was a trooper until they brought out scissors), we had a lunch time "debriefing", where we enjoy some lunch and talking about things that happened that morning.
After lunch we busted out the colored thread to make bracelets with the girls. That was a hit! On my wrists I currently have 4 bracelets in additions to the ones I wear all the time, and oddly enough they're all the same 3 colors (blue, yellow and white). I guess the girls could tell I'm from Michigan. Even the little boys got in to this one (Aaron and his orange toes were back to work at this point). During this time, I had the sweetest present ever - 15 little Haitian girls sang me happy birthday in creole and then again in English. Best. Thing. Ever.
The end of our day was pretty great too - a dance party. It started with my dad (*sigh so embarrassing - yes, there is a video of it) and pretty soon all of us were dragged into the circle to copy the little dance leader. Not to toot my own horn, but when I was done she said to me "Good job!" All those years of dance paid off mom!
Tonight, we're having a quiet night, enjoying the electricity. It's been a good day, and a great birthday. Thank You God.
Mom, dad's "dance skills" are a hit with the girls. They even started copying his "leg move"! He's doing well with the clothes he picked. No "Uncle Jack" down here. Thanks so much for the birthday message this morning. If I wouldn't have been scared for my life on a tap-tap, I would have teared up. We both love you and miss you and can't wait to talk to you once we land in Atlanta on Saturday. Glad to hear Jay is taking care of you with the snow.

Jenna