Wednesday, April 22

We had been discussing several ways to celebrate his birthday with proper social distancing, like a car party in our yard, but nothing quite worked out to have family come here – so we settled on phone calls, selfie photo wishes, text messages, cards, and Facebook likes and wishes – and apparently someone suggested food drop-offs. 🙂

His first gift was from me – and arrived two days before his birthday. A Bag-A-Nut for our yard.

The other week when I posted a picture of him raking nuts, a friend on Facebook said, “He needs a nut-picker-upper.” We didn’t know anything like that existed. It seemed like a wise thing for us since we have a lot of shellbark and hickory nut trees. He already raked up most of the nuts, but he thinks he is really going to like it.

Jere and Kristen came the night before his birthday – hoping he would be in bed when they arrived, but he was in the kitchen preparing our morning coffee. I go to bed early and didn’t see this until morning.

Deb brought her gift the other week. Cerwin was anxious to explore the bag on his birthday morning.

It looks like he will have some goodies for awhile.

Back – several weeks ago – when we were trying to plan a car drop-in, I joked to Deb that maybe we should ask everyone to bring a roll of toilet paper. She remembered that. 🙂

He started getting text messages and phone calls quite early. One extra fun call was a face-time call from Hans in Belgium. I didn’t think about taking a picture when he was talking to Cerwin. I answered the call on my phone, so took it outside so he could see our yard and the patio chair where he and Anneke liked to sit to enjoy the scenery when they were here last year. When I came inside, I put my phone on the table to visit and only then thought about taking a picture.

Thanks, Hans – that was a special call.

Deb surprised Cerwin and stopped in with photo greetings from those who live at a distance or could not stop in because of the virus.

Cerwin looking over the notes. It was cold outside, so Deb said, “Come inside, I have another set of these for you.”

She only stayed a few minutes, but posed with this large balloon she brought for him.

She brought more goodies. Oh, my, there are Amish-made filled donuts. Cerwin may have to share those with me.

After she left, he read the birthday wishes that were sent to Deb – who set up these pages.

Our children. The wedding was Nate and Abby’s several years ago.

Mark and Diane – Maine

Roy and Deb – Southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Nsimba and Elizabeth – Nicodemus and Nzeba – Maine

Josiah, Becky, Alixa and Biankah – Berks County, Pennsylvania

Hannah – Maine

Josh, Emily and Tucker – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hezekiah and Kayla – Tennessee

Austin and Jana live near us here in Pennsylvania

Following more phone calls and messages from family and friends, we went to Longhorn for the meals I had ordered for his birthday supper. I had an insulated bag along to keep the hot food hot until we got home. We are almost half-an-hour away from Longhorn.

Cerwin with his filet mignon, baked potato and salad. We also got a small loaf of bread.

My shrimp, rice and broccoli.

I enjoy their strawberry/grape/mandarin orange salad – with feta cheese. I chose blue cheese dressing. Yum!

When we got home there was a warm pecan pie from Jere and Kristen’s family.

There was also an ice chest and bag filled with goodies from Roy. He took special time to find unusual ice cream. Did you ever hear of Brown Sugar Bourbon Vanilla and Red Velvet Cake? I never heard of those. That pleased Roy. He wanted to get us something we had never tasted.

Delicious Peanut Butter cookies from Jeff and Chris. Jeff stopped in for a quick visit after supper.

This came from Lydia, our last visitor of the day.

When I opened the box to see what was inside – I felt warmth. Warm chocolate chip cookies, oh, my.

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Selfies and pictures Cerwin received with birthday wishes on his cell phone during the day.

These included our brand new great grandbaby – 3 day-old Bennett. Since another photo fit on this page, I added the one on the bottom right that Diana sent today – with a partial smile.

I don’t know if you tried to count our crew, but I just checked my list. The total is 45 – and that includes a few that are dating. 🙂

His birthday cards

Thank you everyone!

This morning before leaving on his early morning milk sample pick up for DHIA, he said, “I guess I am back to an ordinary day where I won’t be the center of attention.” 🙂