Oh so very blessed

I woke up at 7 this morning to little voices shouting “Happy Birthday Auntie Ashley!” through my window. And it only got better. Saying I’m blessed doesn’t even cut it. I can’t find the words to even begin describing the joy this place brings me. My heart is more than full…it’s overflowing.

The guests visiting from America took me out to lunch at the best juice bar EVER. I received over 40 letters and hundreds of birthday wishes throughout the day. I was sang to, hugged, kissed, and loved on ALL DAY LONG. Auntie Marie baked me a cake and fixed my favorite meal for dinner- pizza and french fries. There were balloons all over the guesthouse! I road in a poda full of boys who sang Happy Birthday to me at the top of their lungs for the whole city to hear. 

At the end of the day I went to one of the girls’ rooms for bedtime prayers.As soon as I walked in the belted out Happy Birthday and we danced. During bedtime prayers the auntie in that room told the girls to pray for me. I sat there as 12 girls, big and small, thanked God for my life. My eyes welled up with tears. This day was more than wonderful and there was nothing left to do but cry, tears of pure joy.

Sometimes most of my tears are from sadness. Not from being homesick but from what my eyes have been opened to this last month. Orphan care, poverty, and illness, is hard…it’s everywhere. These beautiful children who represent TRS, who I get to spend every single day with- they’ve been through it all. They know this hurt and this pain because they’ve experienced it. And yet they are filled with an inspiring joy living inside their hearts. They make me want to become more like them.

I will NEVER EVER forget my 19^th birthday. It was absolutely incredible. And I can only thank the incredible people who have welcomed me into their lives over the past month and a half. I am oh so very blessed <3