Colombia, October, 2011 Day 7

Today, October 29, 2011 is my 46th birthday and I am so happy to be spending it with these sweet children that I love so much.

My main job today was to help our videographer from Sugarcreek Baptist Church, Dave Grumme, who is here this week shooting video for several upcoming OHI promotional pieces. We had a full schedule of videos planned throughout the day but as often happens here in Colombia things change quickly. First, I was asked to speak at a worship service being conducted at San Miguel Emergency Center across the street from where we are staying. San Miguel is one of the places where the children come for triage when they are first brought in off the street by the police. I was excited to speak there but was worried about the time because I only had Dave Grumme for this one day and we had a lot of work to get done. The thing I didn’t know was that my sweet Goddaughter Heidy had alerted San Miguel that today was my birthday and so they were secretly planning a party for me after the worship service. Anyhow, I spoke (without a translator… it was short 🙂 ) and sang some songs for the kids. They were so sweet and applauded like crazy. Dave and I kept trying to leave so we could get our work done and they kept delaying us and we kept looking at each other like, “what is the deal.” Suddenly the girls burst in with a big banner telling me happy birthday and a cake that Heidy and another girl decorated beautifully for me. They sang to me in English and Spanish and we all had cake and then it was time to go.

Dave and I were both worried because our plans were really getting demolished. But God! The rest of the day went so smooth and so anointed that we kept looking at each other and saying, “Wow, God is giving us favor.” We got so much done and made every appointment on time and got Dave to the airport only 15 minutes late tonight. He shot some wonderful video and some interviews and at one point he was so excited he said to me, “We need to make a movie.” I just love that the story of these precious children will be getting out to the world. We had lunch at a place that specializes in meat from an animal in southern Colombia that is like a large rabbit. It was amazing. Then for the second time in a week I got to go up to the mountain top at Monserate but this time with Dave so he could shoot video and photos and Heidy and some of the girls from Casa De Egreso and Oscar from Fundacion por un Mundo Nuevo. We had a wonderful time and then headed down the mountain to dinner and dropped Dave at the airport. It was a wonderful, wonderful birthday.