Joshua's birthday

Wednesday we celebrated Joshua's 34th birthday.

"Who is Joshua?" I'm so glad you asked!

Joshua is an old family friend of ours we first met 16 years ago upon our arrival in Jos. He is a charismatic young man with brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta). Because his bones are brittle and break easily, he has never been able to walk (as far as I know) and is transported around town in a wagon. Although he's faced tremendous challenges, he has spunk and an optimistic spirit. He coaches a football (soccer) team, loves to preach, and is currently working on the script for a video. We thank God for Joshua's 34 years and how He has blessed Joshua in spite of physical suffering.

Joshua had said that he'd hoped his party could be Saturday because a relative from out of town couldn't come on Wednesday. But we'd already planned on coming to visit him Wednesday, since that was his actual birthday, so we hoped we could avoid the crowd by keeping with our original plan. Mom baked and decorated two huge birthday cakes, and we put together our small gifts and birthday cards. We piled into my parents' car (I knew my car would never survive the journey) and drove out to Joshua's house, where he lives with (and is taken care of by) his mother, Esther.

The road to Joshua's house is absolutely wretched. At one point, I asked if I could get out and walk instead. I'm terrified of bad roads, and this one was truly the pits. One place was impassable, so we had to take an alternate route (which proved better anyway). When we arrived, we discovered--to our great surprise--a small crowd gathered under two canopies. There was a sound system set up--although no power to run it--and maybe a hundred plastic chairs beneath the canopies. We greeted Joshua, delivered the cakes, and sat down outside. Soon, Auntie Esther came and insisted we sit inside the house.

The walls of the living room are plastered with football posters and articles. There's no way to mistake Joshua's favourite sport (one he's never played himself). It was hot and stuffy inside, and after a little while, we went back outside. Clouds were gathering, promising an imminent rainstorm. After awhile, a man stood up next to Joshua's wagon and welcomed everyone. He then asked my husband to pray to begin the party. David did so (in Hausa). Then the man asked my dad to give an "exhortation" to those congregated. Dad spoke about Joshua's thanksgiving attitude and how we should also rejoice in all circumstances. Then the man asked for a few people to sing Joshua a special number. One person led us in "Happy Birthday," but the rest of us were rescued due to lack of time, as the storm clouds were descending. We sang Joshua "Happy Birthday" again, and Mom posed to cut the cake with Joshua for a photo.

Afterwards was a quick photo shoot--oh and did I mention there was a cameraman from the local Nigerian TV network?

...and then it began to rain, softly at first. It was also getting dark, even though it was only about 5:30, and my family all agreed we should leave before the rain really began. Not only did we not want to get wet, but the road would become impossible in the rain. So we piled back into my parents' car, giving Auntie Esther our apologies. (She kept insisting we stay for the food, but we emphatically told her we weren't offended that we were missing the refreshments.)

And it poured as soon as we reached the main road; we'd traveled the dirt road just in time!

So we did what we had gone to do: greet Joshua and wish him "many happy returns" on his birthday, and deliver his birthday cakes. He was happy. His mother was happy. And we were happy not to remain for the whole program. But I do wish we'd gotten to taste the birthday cake!