From My Journal....A Birthday Full of Fun and Surprises

So Friday was my actual birthay,  but the celebration(s) began early.  I firmly believe it takes more than one day to fit in all the fun. Every Wednesday morning, I already have a standing appointment.  I head over to a friend's house where about six of us gather to work with our hands.  To make handmade projects.  To create.  I look forward to this group every week.  We have fun getting to know one another and lend opinions/help on each other's projects. I learn a lot.  Older women teach younger women.  It's God's way and I love it.  It helps, too, that in this case, I'm a younger woman.  Not for long, I presume.


The girls surprised me with a yummy lunch of chicken salad on croissants, an amazingly beautiful fruit salad and this cake.  It's my favorite cake - a Wegmans chocolate cake w/white frosting.  Lots of frosting.


Mmmm mmmm good.  



And some presents.  I love presents too.  Below you'll see one of my favorites.  Well, they are all my favorites.


 Thurday morning started with breakfast out. Is there anything better than a girlfriend breakfast at a diner?  The answer is no.

It seems like each time the three of us get together, our breakfasts get longer and longer.  This week, we ran way into the lunch hour.  I noticed the tables around us being served these yummy things and thought, "That looks like fried dough."  I.Love.Fried.Dough. Maybe as much as frosting.  So I inquired.  Our waitress confessed she had forgotten us and would bring us some right away.  She also said they are complimentary, for everyone.  Well, that works!  And they were good.





Two of us girls were celebrating birthdays and both got gifts in these cute blue canning jars.  Hers was filled with PB buckeyes.  Mine was filled with this.  Yup, it's white frosting.  And yes, I will eat all of it eventually.  Soooo good!  Another reason to love girlfriends!






Later that day, I received this in the mail. 

It requires some explanation.  Saturday I broke a tooth/filling while eating almonds.  One friend said, "that's why you shouldn't eat that healthy stuff".  No.  That's not why.  But it sure hurt so I had to find a dentist asap.  Since moving here just over a year ago, we haven't gone to the dentist yet.  Don't judge.  We'll get to it.  After my examination, it was determined that I need a crown.  That's something new.  To date, most every tooth has been filled, I've had three wisdom teeth extracted, three root canals, a broken tooth that had to be pulled and now this.  I've inherited my father's teeth.  Not a good thing.  I cried when I heard what the bill would be.  I was thankful for ibuprofen 800's after the 2 hour manhandling I received.  So, it was really  nice of them to send me this birthday greeting just two days later.  To refresh my memory of their existence.  Ugh.

 After dinner, Scott and Ally experimented with baking me a cake.  This is a first!  I sort of created a recipe for them and laid out the ingredients.  Spice cake with the Pioneer Woman's favorite white frosting and heath bars all crunched up between layers and on top.  Doesn't that sound yummy?  I like to see men and children working in the kitchen.

Because my oven is whacky, the cake was a little overcooked.  Tiime to be creative.  No one wants a dry cake.  So, I suggested we poke holes and drizzle caramel topping on the layers.  A good decision.  Assembling and frosting would take place the next day.

I'm so proud of them!







Friday morning I woke up to a sleepy "Happy Birthday" from my husband.  Then I remembered I had left this pile undone the night before.  There is always laundry to do.  Even on birthdays.  So, this was my first order of business.  From chaos to order.  This makes me happy.

 Next, I headed for a cup of coffee and my priority spot every morning.  Here's the favorite gift I told you about earlier. Isn't that the cutest mug ever? And yes, it has a chicken on it. Well, maybe it's a rooster.  Regardless, I hope it's prophetic.  There's no better way to start off a birthday than with your Maker and His Word.  After all, if it weren't for Him, there'd be no birthday.

After the kids were off to school, I got ready and headed here to meet another favorite friend for breakfast.  You can imagine it was delicious.  The perfect day to splurge on pancakes. Loved it.  Loved the company more.  A great start!

 

By the time I got home (because we chatted a while and then shopped of course), it was time to get Scott and head to pick up Ben for his Friday Last Days of High School Lunch Out.  Ben and I decided lunch out every week was a good way to celebrate these last months until graduation.  A new eatery every time. We tried out a local pizza parlor this week.  The guys had pizza slices and I had this amazing calzone.  Worth every bite.




I was pretty tired by then (all day birthday celebrations can wipe a girl out), I headed to my chair with a warm corn bag and worked on my Bible study homework.  It was the perfect thing to do on a rainy afternoon until the kids come home.

Along with reading messages from Facebook all day long.  It's so good to hear from friends we don't get to see much or ever.


 I greeted the kids at the door and discovered surprise guests!

This couple is so important to us.  We have loved them for many years, but this last year especially they have demonstrated an amazing commitment of friendship to us.  They bless us over and over again.  They are God's gift to this family.  And they drove down here from Syracuse to bring me a gift!

Had it been warmer out and not raining, I imagine they would have challenged us to a game of putt-putt golf.  They kill all five of us every time we play.












Back to the kitchen for these two....time to frost the cake.  They did a great job and it was delicious!!



Scott then took me out to dinner to my favorite authentic Chinese restaurant.  We ordered the same thing we have EVERY time we go. Black pepper chicken in sesame oil and shrimp in black bean sauce.  A.m.a.z.i.n.g.  We ate almost all of it.  Still, I felt guilty for leaving the kids home alone.  What kind of mother leaves her kids on her birthday?

Scott assured me they would be fine.  I wondered what they would eat, but they all pushed me out the door.  I should have been suspicious. I hurried us home so we could spend the rest of the evening with them.  On the way, I whined, "Almost 200 facebook messages today, but none from Drew (my college son)."  Even his girlfriend texted me first thing in the morning.  I no sooner said it then pulled into the driveway where his car was parked.  He didn't forget!!  Instead he surprised his mom and came home.  Yes!

And if that wasn't enough.....my living room was filled with people I love.  I mean filled.  A surprise party!!  Another first for my husband and kids.  They did a great job keeping it from me!  As I gazed around the room with that silly grin on my face, I gave thanks to God in my heart for filling my life with these people.  A year and a half ago, I didn't know even one of them.  Now I can't imagine life without them.  Scott and the kids outdid themselves in the food department too. There was a lot of frosting.  And party mix.  And presents.  It was a good night. 

 I go to sleep a very happy woman.  When it comes to the things that matter, my life is full and quite satisfactory.  A blessed life. 

An Armful of Gifts for an Undeserving Woman

There's a passage in Luke 5 that speaks to my heart this morning.  Jesus was about to choose his first disciple.  His name is Peter.  Jesus found Peter in his boat with empty nets - no fish caught that day.  Jesus did a little teaching at the site and then told Peter to go ahead and put the nets in the water again.  Skeptical, Peter did what he was told.....obedience in spite of unbelief.  He didn't believe he'd get any fish, but he believed in the One who gave the order.  Of course, a miracle happened.  There were more fish than two boats could handle.

Here's my favorite part.  When Peter saw the fish, he turned to Jesus, fell on his knees and said, "depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Ever felt that way?  When you look right into the face of God's goodness and recognize how much you don't deserve it?  I'm feeling like that today.  It's like I have an armful of gifts, given to me from the One who is over-the-top generous, the best giver of the most perfect gifts (James 1:17).

Has He given because I deserve it?  No.  Because I've believed or obeyed?  Maybe.  Because of who He is?  YES!  Because He wants to delight His children?  YES!  Because He is for me (us)? Definitely!

Take a look at what fills my arms today...

• Two of my kids are in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip they shouldn't have been eligible to go on.  They are fully financially funded.  I get to see pictures of them and their team at work everyday.
  
• My husband finds himself unemployed (for the 2nd time in 6 months) and we:  1. have received an overage check from our escrow account.  2. our mortgage payment is decreased a significant amount.  3. our kids are given spending money for their trip beyond what they need. 

• 2 days later, we are invited to join friends down south for a mini-vacation.  Scott drops everything to drive us 700 miles one way for 4 days. 

• Our hosts treat us like family.  We eat abundantly.  We laugh and enjoy friendship. 

• We spend a few days on the ocean, overwhelmed by God's vastness, reading His Word and listening for His voice. 

We are refreshed.

•  I get to put my pale winter skin in the warm sunshine in April. 

• Friends text me and make me laugh all the way home because I'm bored from sitting in the passenger seat for hours and hours.  

• On the way home we drop in on our college son (and 2 more cuties) and kiss that face we love so much. 

• I come home to an opportunity this weekend to minister with one of my heroes and share God's Word and my experiences with over 100 women.

As I look at all these gifts that have been heaped in my arms, I am like Peter, whirling around to acknowledge the giver of all these gifts.  I look into the eyes of Jesus.  I am immediately aware of how undeserving I too am.  I've disappointed Him (and myself) too many times.  And my response is also like Peter's, "Go away from me, I am a sinful (wo)man."  I don't deserve these gifts.  I can't handle His glory.  I don't deserve anything but punishment.  He's simply too good for me.

But I don't see condemnation in His eyes.  I see the warmest smile.  What I see there is love. Love for me.  How can He love me so much when He knows me so well?  I also see delight.  Like how I look at my kids on their birthdays or Christmas morning when I'm about to give them gifts that I took much time picking out because I know it will speak how great my love for them is. 

It's true I don't deserve any of God's gifts but I am no longer rejected or condemned by my sin past, present or future.  Because of Jesus' death, resurrection and sacrifice for me, I am now in His family. His daughter.  He loves me.  He is for me.

So I choose to accept the gifts, run to Him and say "thank you" over and over and over again.  I will never run out of praise.

"We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.  In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged.  Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!"  Romans 5:3-5