Nov 17: Celebrating a birthday half-way around the world

11/17/07: I (Jennifer) have never celebrated my birthday in another country before – likely due to the fact that this was only my second time to ever even travel outside of the U.S.! So this was definitely a birthday like no other.


We were staying with our missionary friends for the weekend, in Berdyansk. We had breakfast and then all went down to the Sea of Azov. We walked around and took some pictures. Then Maya (their older daughter) had gymnastics. So we dropped her and Heather off, and Jonathan toured us all around the town.






We saw the beach, some churches, and a water park, among other things. A really bad storm had passed through the prior weekend (remember me talking about the window flying out of our building?) and had caused pretty major damage all over Berdyansk, and we saw a lot of people trying to clean up and recover.

Then we went downtown and walked around the markets. We met a few people from Jonathan’s church and enjoyed more of the sights and sounds of everyday life in Ukraine.

We went back to pick up Maya and Heather, and then headed to the Potato House for lunch. Note: if you are ever in Ukraine and you see a Potato House restaurant, you must try it. Their burritos and salads were awesome!


We went back to their house and hung out for the afternoon. Then Heather made homemade pizza for dinner. After that, they surprised me with a birthday cake and gifts: a birthday mug and a children’s Russian/English picture dictionary.

All in all, it was a great birthday, one I won’t likely forget any time soon!

11/17/08: While last year was a fun and memorable birthday, this one is even more so because I have my boy with me this year! He and Zack started the celebration last night by giving me my gifts early. William gave me a beautiful pair of earrings – picked them out all by himself! And Zack got me a subscription to XM radio – awesome! The best gift of all is knowing that I get to go home this afternoon and spend the rest of the day with my two favorite fellas!