Birthday Memories 2018

Kate came to visit on Friday night and ended up staying for the entire weekend! She wasn't ready to go home yesterday. We've had fun and it's been both a busy and lazy visit. Saturday morning we got up early to go make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hungry. All the food is donated and since we had more peanut butter and jelly than we had bread, we had to stop at the total number of 3,826. That is still a pretty good number and we were told the sandwiches don't last 72 hours.

With co-sandwich makers Calvin and Mei

Kate and I also served in Preschool last evening for Bring a Friend weekend. Kate is so good with the children and they loved playing with her!

These lovely tulips were delivered to me on Saturday. They are from Sara and her family. So many tulips were in the box that I needed two vases.

I am now 69 years old and while taking a shower, I was thinking how blessed I am to have reached this age with good health, able to walk and run, to still have great eyesight, to do so many things. Neither of my parents reached this age and my mother suffered severely before she passed away. I miss them, but am glad they are not here to see the bad things of the world, but sad too because they haven't gotten to see their grandchildren grow up nor the great-grandchildren.

So many thoughts running through my mind as I think about my life and how good God has been to me. Life hasn't been without it's losses and disappointments, and even some regrets, but life is sweeter and richer knowing the love He has shown to me and the forgiveness given. Today has been a day filled with joy and loads of birthday wishes from family and friends. My plan for tomorrow is to go to the nursery and buy some plants to plant. Jason and Amy provided me with a pretty hibiscus to begin with.

This afternoon Kate and I took a very long walk on the trail and decided it's way too hot! 

It was much nicer Friday evening.

We ended the day with Mexican food and CAKE!!!

Birthdays from long, long ago!

Five

Six

Seven

Just about the middle of 0-69

Queen for a Day

Sunday was my birthday! So I baked myself a cake! At the fire station, it is the tradition for the person who is celebrating to provide cake. I like that idea! And since my DH doesn't bake ... voila!

Dear Father God, I am so grateful ... my heart is full of thanks for Your love and protection over me all my life. I thank you for the experiences which taught me, the people who loved me, my parents and grandparents, my brother and sister and families, for every friend, for every teacher, even the ones I wasn't crazy about invested in my life in some way. For all the provision You've made to me, for the way You made me, I ask forgiveness for the times I have been disappointed in myself, but I realize I did not know or understand that in Your wisdom You made every person unique and that includes me. 

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!"

In searching for an old document the other day, I ran across this. I am posting it here to save it in my photo journal. It was written somewhere between 0 and 69! You can see it was typewritten! So thankful for its truth!