And this is where that day began.
My birthday is in two days, but today is the day we get to celebrate.
And how glad I was that today was the day everyone could come, given that this is the only day in the forecast this week where it said only sunshine, no rain!
Before the celebration, while Dave was gone for a meeting, Claire was prepping for JV Kid's camp and Tyler worked in the garden and studies for the class he'll be teaching soon in ForMission (that's a blog post for another day!), Lara and I hung out with the kids, enjoying so many different places and things they wanted to do here today!
During most visits to our house, there are a certain number of things that are a given for the boys; one of those is playing the piano with Asher! He really loves music, and can often be found playing on our little keyboard, blowing into the recorder, shaking a maraca, or singing into the Karaoke microphone!
Judah, on the other hand, loves making up stories...with cars, with animals, with Legos...with anything, really!
After naps (theirs, not mine! ☺️) we took a walk in search of something in particular.
We were looking for blackberries that usually grow near us.
That picture was of me giving Judah the one and only berry that's ripe right now! Hopefully we'll be around when the rest of them ripen.
What a view from the blackberry bushes in the field next to our little road.
It wasn't too long after that when Papa came home to join the party!
Claire had arrived earlier too, so it was fun to all be here together enjoying this gorgeous day.
Meanwhile, the boys found yet another location for fun...our back steps!
While Judah was making up another race car story, Asher was taking a phone call. 🤣
Lara brought snacks to us back here so we could replenish ourselves after all our hard play!
Around the corner, in the the garden, more fun was taking place - the harvesting of our second watermelon!
Our neighbor lady gave the vine to us earlier in the spring, saying she thought our grandsons should have watermelon straight from the garden. She's actually come over almost every day to water that vine. She says it needs lots of water, and we weren't always around to give it what it needs so she took it upon herself to do that for us. She's so kind!
Asher took it upon himself to make sure it was clean!
And if you don't have any more watermelons to wash off, why not wash the top of the well? 🤣
Since dinner was in the making, and Judah knew it was about time to get the party started, he suggested we put on our hats so my birthday party could get started.
And then we wore the hats for the next hour while we were still at play!
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| Sure, we can make animals out of Legos and play zoo in the sauna! 🤣 🤣 🤣 |
Claire and Lara were hard at work in the kitchen, getting dinner and dessert ready for us.
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| Claire and Lara, thank you for an incredible meal |
We had an incredible feast outside on our patio, on this warm, beautiful summer evening.
While we could've sat out there for a long time as adults, Judah was excited for me to move on to my presents!
And what fantastic presents they were! Who doesn't want to get marshmallows for their birthday?? I love these that came from Judah and Asher (via the Tiger store in Ostrava...they have the best ones!)
Tyler and Lara fulfilled a wish of mine to have new glasses for our kitchen...they're so pretty!
Claire gave me a really special book called "Face to Face" by Kenneth Boa.
And Dave fulfilled another wish of mine - a ring, with seven pretty little diamonds on it. WOW! I feel so loved!!
There were other special gifts too...they know my love language! I definitely felt loved by all!
And then the finale...blackberry cobbler birthday "cake" from Claire!
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| With frozen blackberries from Makro since we don't have enough on the bushes near us! |
Oh, is my love tank full after such a beautiful day!!
I was writing some girlfriends I've been connected to since my early 20's and said to them, "I turn 58 soon - such a good age, though I’m actually already looking forward to 60! Honestly, I like aging…well, not everything about it - ha! But I like being older, wiser, more grace-filled, patient, and faith-filled. So bring on the 60’s…and the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s!" 😂
Birthdays are an opportunity to thank the Lord for his faithfulness, and pray that I'll continue to walk faithfully with him in the coming year. Which is definitely what I plan to do!
It's also a time to thank the Lord for my family - my mom and dad, first of all, for having me! And to thank him for the family He's entrusted to me. I love all of these people so much, and feel a deep gratefulness in my heart to the Lord for giving me His abundant life, which includes dear ones like these!
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| Too cute of a picture not to include! |
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