Sunday, February 16

It is not over yet ~ the reason I called this a marathon. 🙂

A birthday rose from Hezekiah. He gave it to me when we got home from the restaurant on Saturday evening.

Lydia and her friend Mary Ellen.

There was a lot of noise and fun and busyness when Cerwin, Diane, and I got home, as the Myers’ grandchildren were preparing for a party in our house on Sunday. Lydia and Mary Ellen were decorating cupcake’s for a baby shower (for Nathaniel & Abby) – that I learned was also going to be happening in our house the next day. 🙂

After getting beds and air mattresses ready for six extra people, I happily crawled into bed.

As you can imagine, Sunday morning was not the normal routine in our house – with six extra people – so Hannah and I decided that we would let everyone else get ready for Sunday school and out of the house, and we would just go to church.

Cerwin was not going to either service, as he had snow to plow in preparation for parking a lot of cars. It had snowed almost every day for the previous week.

Jere

Several minutes after everyone left, and Hannah and I were relaxing, Jere and Kristen and their little boys arrived. When they saw me, Jere said, “You are not supposed to be here, you are supposed to be at church.”

I thought, “That is where you are supposed to be too.” 🙂

I quickly replied, “Okay, we are out of here.” The little boys (Ian, Jared, and Jesse) just stood around smiling and looking a bit naughty until we left. Josh and Jana came later to also help prepare for lunch.

Since Sunday school was already in session, Hannah and I sat in the sanctuary and listened to the teacher in the overflow area behind us.

When we got home, our garage was beautifully decorated and set for lunch – and I learned that Jere did the snow removal for Cerwin.

Our tables have never looked prettier.

There were more beautiful roses.

I felt honored when Kristen told me that when ordering the cake she told them we don’t want a dark over-the-hill-cake, but a pretty, elegant one.

Kristen making garlic bread.

I was told to stay out of the kitchen – but they did allow me there to take pictures.

Deb made lasagna.

Then it was time to eat.

Chris made the salads. She brought them prepared, and I missed getting a photo of her placing them on the table.

With our mothers, there were twenty-nine of us.

I certainly enjoyed all the celebrations and attention (who doesn’t), but I am more comfortable on the other side of the camera.

I asked them to bring me the camera so I could photograph what I was seeing when they sang Happy Birthday.

Kristen and Jere separating the layers.

The bottom layer was chocolate cake with raspberry filling.

The top layer was white cake with lemon filling.

They know my favorite flavors, so I took a small slice of each.

…and there is more to come.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that I found my first clue (in our church mailbox) about what would be happening on Monday. Remember, I got a note in the mail on Friday, asking me to keep Monday open.

I had to unscramble this word to find out what it was. ISELDA. I concluded that it spelled LADIES. So I knew I would be doing something with ladies.