Birthday Fun

Well, my Mom came to visit for my birthday! Doesn't get much better than that! Love it when my mom comes--for sooo many reasons. I love that we always get some little project or to-do item done when she comes, I love that she plays with the kids like she's still 35 years old (which I turned on Oct 3rd!), I love that she listens to me so lovingly and responds in grace, and I love that she never leaves without helping me gain a new/better perspective about things I'm facing. I value her friendship, her prayers over me and my family that are passionate, her dramatic, emotional response to injustice, her dedication to serving her Savior through the church and community, her great desire to be used up for Kingdom purposes, the way she never stops parenting all of us kids and prays for wisdom to do so....I value you, Mom! Right now, she and Dad are at a very, very busy point in their ministry, and it is challenging for her to find time to leave town. So when she is able to steal herself away and find herself on my doorstep, I am ecstatic! Monday night we ate at Ops and then came home and Stan and Mom had cake and ice cream for me. Mom and Dad gave me a generous amount of mad money and then also gave me a Fontanini manger scene lighted grotto. I look forward to building my collection! Stan and the kids had given me an iPod touch earlier as an early gift, and on Monday they gave me a wonderful little travel case for it. We were able to hop over to the Jekyll Island Hotel's Grand Dining Room for lunch on Tuesday, and we had Benjamin as our tag-a-long. We weren't certain how he'd do, but praise the Lord, he was wonderful! We enjoyed a scrumptious lunch in that beautifully appointed room and had a funny experience of over-hearing several little old ladies at a table near by talking fairly mild church gossip about St. Simons UMC. :) I hope that if there are little old ladies having lunch together in Albany that they are saying wonderful, sweet things about my parents! Then after lunch (and I'm sorry the pictures aren't better!) we zoomed home just in time to meet Olivia at the bus stop. Wednesday was a shopping day. My sweet Mom and Dad-in-law gave me a Belk gift certificate and Mom and Dad also gave me mad-money, so we went and spent every bit (except for .07 cents!). I saved $308. :) Not bad! We had a dinner picnic at the riverfront park, and the weather was sublime. Then Mom came with us to our Wednesday night church activities. What a fun thing to have her there to see what we've been pouring our hearts into week after week. She was sweetly encouraging through it all. She helped me look at paint colors at Lowe's on Thursday morning before she left. I took home a couple of samples to try on the walls. This is something I've been meaning to do for months, so I appreciate her pushing me to do it! Maybe in November we'll find some time to do this big project! All in all it was great having her here, and I had such a nice birthday! I'm so grateful for my loving family who made it a special week! I also meant to mention in my post about our trip to Charleston that Karen made me a delicious cake for my birthday! I don't remember the name of it, but I remember she said she has friends who call it "Waffle Cake", because it tastes wonderfully rich and sweet like waffles! It was delicious, Karen! Thanks for making it for us to enjoy!