A birthday adventure from above...

God’s so good! He paved the way for the most amazing birthday adventure ever by providing the perfect car for us. It may have taken a while, but was worth the wait. Nissan Patrol – diesel, 8 cylinder, 4.1 L, seats for 7 (with seatbelts too – car seats are back in action again!) and A/C (that actually works!)…a true off-road, safari machine…so after dialing in a few things on it, off we went. Our inaugural safari journey was Friday, September 1, a birthday excursion for Shay…3 years old now! A short distance from where we live, we turned off the main road onto a dirt road and off we went. 50 km (30 miles) and 1 ½ hours later we saw it…Shay’s perfect birthday gift, one which Dad & Mom had been praying & hoping for…a giraffe…no more than 40 ft. off the road…beautiful, in its natural environment, pausing for a moment, as if to say ‘here I am Shay, God’s gift to you on your birthday.’ (Since the day we decided to move to Tanzania Shay has talked about going to Africa to see the giraffes, the kids and the stars…well, she had seen the kids, she has seen the stars, and now she has seen her giraffe!) Over the next couple hours the gift expanded to include buffalo, wart hogs, vervet monkeys (over 15 in the trees above us), more giraffe and one hippo! We even stumbled across a destination lodge (Hatari – named after a John Wayne movie that was filmed in this area back in the 60’s) where we were invited to join them for an exquisite lunch, as enjoyable to the taste buds as it was to the eyes. What a gift from our Father in Heaven to His kids down here!

Oh yeah...and what would a birthday be without cake & candles?!! If you ask Shay, it just wouldn't be a birthday. Birthdays and cake (with candles of course)...they go together like peas and carrots! Asante sana (thank you very much) to the most amazing Grandparents a kid could ask for...your shipments of cake mix, frosting, candles, cards and presents were the 'pot of gold' at the end of her Birthday Safari.