The Birthday That Never Ends. . .

I have a confession to make -- I had a birthday. It was quite a Mournful Occassion. One more year of my life has officially passed. Sigh. Aside from the ponderous Thoughts my birthday brought, and the great Sorrow it laid upon my inner most being, it was really quite fun.

The whole thing really started on Friday, the first day of our Fall Retreat, and nearly a whole week before my birthday. My dear friends from Arkansas - Julie, Hannah B. Hannah Sue, Natalie, Abbie, and Sara -- brought me a cake with peanut butter frosting! Although much of this beautiful cake ended up on the face of Joel Winzer and the truck of Mark Hickle, I did get to enjoy several scrumptious servings. They had even prepared, bringing along candles, matches, and some creative birthday songs/dances. We did not get a picture of the cake in all its Glory, but did get one of it spread over Joel's face and Mark's truck:







Then I spent the weekend hanging out with great friends -- my brother Andy, the other young men from Rolla, Melissa, the Arkansas Girls, Samis, and, most especially, my friend Ashley. We shared a set of bunk beds, and spent a lot of time doing what girls do -- talking. :) It was a great birthday Gift. (See the post titled "Fall Retreat '08" for pictures)

The fun and games continued on Tuesday, November 25th, when I got to spend the morning hanging out with my Spectacular friend Alida. I recieved my first official birthday Gift . . . it was unwrapped, but that just tells you what great friends we are. :) I also got to have lunch with another good friend that day, and catch up on the Happenings of life. That event was dampened only slightly by the fact that I left my take-home box on the counter after paying for lunch, but brightened again by a Hug.

Wednesday, I met with a group from my speech class and we worked on our final speech project. That had absolutely nothing to do with my birthday . . . except that we met at Panera Bread and I treated myself to a Caramel Coffee Drink of sorts. Yumm! I got to chill with my friend Zephan that afternoon -- literally. We went to the park and ate lunch by the lake. It was great to talk about life, and hear more about what God has been doing in his life up in Columbia where he is going to school.

The actual day then arrived with Gusto -- it amazed me that the President had declared a National Holiday on my birthday! Quite exciting. We had the Robertsons over to celebrate Thanksgiving, and all of us managed to over-eat quite nicely. A rousing game of Balderdash followed, in which everyone graciously allowed me to win, as it was my birthday. :) Then I had several birthday phone calls, and gifts from the family. Here is Elizabeth, trying to help me out a bit with those.


Saturday, Colin hobbled over on his crutches, and he, Andy, and I watched a movie out in the Shed. Again, not really related to my birthday in any way, but fun none-the-less. I also received birthday Gifts from both my grandparents in the mail that day, which was such fun.

And the last event that I felt blessed to enjoy in the this never-ending birthday was a Thanksgiving Open House we hosted on Sunday afternoon. Friends, food, fun, games. . .what more could one ask for? (See post titled "Thanksgiving Open House" for pictures)

All in all, I feel blessed to have such a beautiful group of friends and family who made my birthday special. A thousand thank-yous to everyone . . . what would a birthday be without Others? Now, all there is left to do is step away from the Denial, and move into the stage of Acceptance about this new Age I have reached. Sigh.

Rebekah