THE BIG ONE

"The big one" is not just a reference to my husband's birthday yesterday ;o) About 12:30 yesterday afternoon I called my husband and he told me something interesting. Someone had just warned him that "The Big One", that is a massive earthquake some of the locals have been expecting, was supposed to happen in 30 minutes. Well, I just had to laugh at the thought that someone had figured out how to pinpoint the time of an earthquake down to the minute. My husband told me that some of the hotels in the city were being evacuated, just waiting for 1:00. I'm not a very trusting person by nature, and this definitely made me very suspicious. It sounded like some kind of trap. "Everybody come outside for this earthquake and stand over here in the same spot while we all wait for the hour to strike." Okay, maybe they didn't say that; but maybe you can see my point. It sounded like someone was looking for an easy target. Of course, I wasn't there, and I don't know all of the specific details, so I admit that my analysis of the situation could be completely off. In the end there was no massacre, no destruction, and no earthquake. I must admit though that I did still give the kids a lesson in earthquake safety, and kept checking the clock for the time. After all, God is able to do it if he sees the need. My opinion is that "the big one" that is believed to be coming is being saved up for the time when God uses it to protect Israel from it's enemies.......but time will tell.
When my husband got home from work our daughter gave her daddy a birthday card she had made for him. The words she wrote were so sweet, "To: My Best Friend: Daddy! Dear Daddy, I am very glad that God called you to be my Dad. You are the best Daddy in the whole world! I love you!" Better than Hallmark.
Last night we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate my hubby's big day. We very rarely take ourselves out to eat, so we didn't feel as guilty spending a little extra on this special meal. We've all been craving a good, thick steak, so we found a steakhouse. It was called Black Steer and is a chain out of South Africa. We had never heard of it before, but is sounded like it was just what we wanted. We were positive we had found the right place when the waitress let us know, "It's not Kosher" ---- perfect!! If you go to the link you'll see some pictures; we went to the "Rosh Pina" branch. We were a little nervous when one of the first steaks listed on the menu was said to have "monkey gland sauce". We asked the waitress about it and found out that it's a popular sauce in Africa, and is nothing like the name implies. I actually found a recipe for it too; but it was still really funny to see that on a menu. We all ate to our fill, and even had dessert. We haven't had cheesecake in ages, so when we heard that as a choice, we were all excited. Too bad it was not true cheesecake :( I'm sure it had cream cheese in it, but it tasted like it was whipped with milk or something, and it was really light and creamy. Not rich and firm like we're used to ---and love! It's really too bad that we didn't ask the price before we ordered, because the "cheesecake" ended up costing us $8 EACH!! Ouch! We came away spending $100 --- and will not be paying for another meal in a restaurant for a looong time ;o)
On our drive home we had a chance to talk with our driver some more. I'm always very interested to get a chance to speak to the locals and get their views of what's going on in their country. The MD meetings didn't seem to impress him much. He even mentioned something that I hadn't thought of. If (or when) these negotiations start going sour and people aren't getting what they want...it might start another infitada (rebellion). He told us that we are very fortunate to be here right now. Only a few short years ago it was common to see a city bus or a restaurant blow up in the middle of the day.. in the same places we drive by every day. God is so good to us to give us the opportunity to live here at a time when there is relative peace. I pray that it's His will to move us to our next home before things become destructive here once again.
After we got home, at 9:30, a bunch of guys that work for my husband called and said they were on their way over! They showed up with this ice cream cake (yummy) and all stood around singing happy birthday to him. It was really sweet to hear these "tough" guys standing around singing to my husband. They got to the line where you're supposed to say, "Happy Birthday dear *****", and they all sort of stumbled over themselves. You could tell that none of them wanted to say the "dear" part and were trying to figure out what to say. It was pretty funny. They all pitched in and bought a nice chess board as a gift too. It was touching to see how much these guys have come to respect my husband's leadership and how they showed their appreciation.
Late in the night, just before his birthday ended, my husband finally whispered to me, "Don't tell anyone........but I'm not really 22." That's okay, sweetie..... you grow more handsome with each year, and more irreplaceable to my heart! I hope you had a wonderful birthday.