We all have "Firsts" that we can remember. Losing your first tooth. Getting your first bicycle and finally learning how to ride it for the first time. Maybe your first day of school. Your first boyfriend or girlfriend or your first kiss. Your first job. Your first car. Your first child being born.
The older you get the less often you get to experience "Firsts." If you're not careful life becomes a typical routine that loses it's excitement.
Living in Kenya allows our family to experience "Firsts" all over again. Eat repulsive foods for the first and sometimes last time. Helping a young guy build a 10'x10' mud hut for his first home. Visiting slum central for the first time and joining a family of 5 living in a 10'x10' dilapidated mud shack for tea. Watching kids put on shoes for the first time or own a toothbrush for the first time or be able to sleep in a bed and not on the cold insect infested floor for the first time.
Many "Firsts" are experiences rooted in our memories that we carry with us until we are old and grey. (not that I have reached such a place of honor yet) At any given time we are able to look back on those memories with joy or tears, but we soon realize they were apart of shaping who we are.
That may seem like a dramatic build up to Tekoa's 6th birthday, but it was truly a first time experience for him. It was the first time he had his birthday in the United States. That alone was something exciting for him. It was the first time he went out to a restaurant with a group of his friends. It was the first time he had an eat pizza, then brownies and ice-cream, then watch a movie and have a sleep over birthday party. It was a very exciting day for him.
Just after breakfast Tekoa and Eliza getting ready to open presents.
The lasso became an immediate favorite. Anything to tie up his siblings with is always a bonus.
Taking these four youngsters to a restaurant was almost too much for me. Under the tables, over the tables, through other people's tables it was an explosion of energy with very little incentive needed.
Happy Birthday Tekoa!
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