Happy Birthday to me : ) ....and the rest of Hopeland!!

Wow, almost a month again since my last message...I really am bad at this! A big thankyou to everyone who's sent me birthday wishes on Facebook or email - I have read them all and just don't have time to reply, but I am very thankful to have such lovely friends who take the time to write! Today has been an interesting birthday - the morning was quite stressful as it's also Jackie's and Ryan from DTS's birthday too, so I had to finish icing their cakes and deliver their presents (I am as disorganised as ever and didn't finish baking the cakes til 11 last night...) and it was all a rush to do that in between breakfast and cooking - the only way i could ensure my favourite food on my birthday was to stay on the base, so I asked to be on the rota for chapati-making this morning. So now i'm exhausted...but I got my chapati and beans!!!

Lots has happened in the last few weeks - one of the girls moved into Mary's house, so Mary's pretty much doing ministry 24-7 now, and another volunteer has showed up to help - a guy called Godfrey who did his DTS in 2006 and knows Mary well through his mum. They've been going to the bars in the evenings and have found 3 new girls to begin working with, so it's all go.
Our Year for God co-ordinator, Caroline, has come to visit this week, and it's great to have her around - I didn't realise how great it feels to have someone here for the sole purpose of visiting me and Katy! It's all a bit hectic though with all the birthdays - we babysat for April so she could have dinner with Masiu on Sunday, then it was Msaki's yesterday and the 3 of us (Jackie, Ryan and me) today, so there have been cakes galore...i'm so glad not to have to make any cakes tonight! Katy made mine yesterday and we're also making chips tonight...if i ever get back from town! talking of which, i should go now...

more news to come, it's been such a busy time that i haven't had time to update this page, and now there's a backlog of news. such is life...

hope y'all are well : )