Celebrating the Gift of Another Year

As I mentioned in the previous post, I spent the morning of my birthday hosting an Easter Egg hunt for the neighborhood families.

Then the kids insisted that I open their gifts.  My daughter bought me a dark chocolate with her own money.  She wasn't exactly discreet about it, buying it while with me as I tried not to look, but she was thoughtful and didn't exactly have any other means of transportation to the stores.

My husband (and kids too, I guess) gave me the latest home fitness program in my all time favorite series which has transformed my health and helped correct many of my severe back problems (Gift #584).  I am really enjoying the workouts, while my kids are digging the hat that came with it.

 

 

These workouts take half as much time to complete as all the previous programs, but they are intense and effective.  HIIT (high intensity interval training)  is my favorite way to exercise, and in a stage of life where I struggle to find time for sleep, much less exercise, condensed hard core workouts are ideal for me (Gift #585).  Thank you, family! I received lots of nice gifts from my thoughtful extended family as well.  What a blessing it is to have your loving support (Gift #586).

Our tradition is to plant flowers on my birthday weekend, so my husband began the process of planting roses. We have planted two rose bushes at each of our two previous homes as a married couple, and they have come to represent each of our children, so we had to plant two more here as well. We added a weeping willow to the mix, and my mom brought me some really nice potted flowers for the front entrance and back deck.  Thanks, Mom, for sharing your green thumb with us. (Gift #587)

New Planters

They also brought us a new table and chairs for our umbrella on our deck and a "Happy Birthday" cookie cake.

I recently added a colorful rug out on the deck, and we hope to stain the deck (and add a porch - pretty please, dear hubby of mine?) as soon as it has had enough time to weather.  It seems a new van for me has been prioritized over the porch, deck extension and/or outdoor entertaining patio with pavers and stone wall with fire pit, so at least I now have some colorful accents, flowers, and a place to sit on our modest little deck.

One servant-minded friend arrived mid afternoon with a chainsaw to generously provide lumberjack services.  My husband doesn't have any chainsaw experience, so thanks to this dear friend, all my husband's fingers and toes are still attached (Gift #588), and we got a spot cleared in our natural area for the storage building which was built the following week.  Oh the irony of cutting down more trees after I sobbed over the accidental removal of tree hedge that encircled 3/4 of our lot.

Then some friends came to visit me bearing a housewarming/birthday plant.  It is the prettiest and largest Easter lily I have ever seen.  He's a builder, and she's a decorator, so while I should feel intimidated to have them over, I know I need all the help I can get when it comes to home improvements and decorating, so it was a special treat to get some input from those who know so much (Gift #589).

As a way to buy companionship say thank you to some dear friends who have tirelessly helped us move multiple times (including the same friend who had come earlier that day to cut down trees for us) and to simply acknowledge in a small way how much we appreciate another couple who have poured out their lives in faithful, exhaustive service to our church family for years, we "treated" (with the help of a gift card from a special someone who is very generous to us) some friends to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants nearby.  The food was absolutely delicious and both the conversation and dessert were filling and sweet.  Friendships in the Lord are such blessed treasure (Gift #590)! I'm so glad they joined us.  The restaurant staff sent me home with some rich chocolates hand-crafted in the mountains.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.