Birthday Blessings

March is my birth month. I love celebrating my birthday!!! It doesn't bother me one bit to admit that I turned 57 on March 5. Not doing so certainly doesn't change how old I am. Besides, you're only as old as you feel, right? Which makes me somewhere around 30. It's especially fun to spread the celebration out as long as possible, which was really the case this year.

My first well wishes came almost a week before my birthday on February 28th when a couple of ladies at church said "Happy Birthday" as I passed them in the hall. Tommy and I flew to Las Vegas Wednesday through Friday before the 5th to see "The Lion King." It's an awesome production, by the way. My son and daughter-in-law called the night before my birthday with a nice surprise (more on that below). Many people took the time to post birthday greetings on Facebook. I got several calls on my actual birthday. My boss took me to lunch the Monday after. Cards came in the mail for a couple of weeks. I had lunch dates to celebrate with friends on the 11th and the 14th. And just this week, a surprise package arrived in the mail. All in all a very good birthday celebration lasting almost a month!

There were two extra-special gifts this year. First, Matt and Amber called the night before my birthday to say they had decided what to buy with some money I had given them and wanted to see what I thought. They then texted this picture to me and Tommy. What a special way to let us know our first grandchild was on the way. And, what a wonderful birthday present! This was the first birthday since my mom died, and I missed her annual call. Lindsay pointed out that perhaps God knew it would be tough not hearing from my mom, so He blessed me with another pretty great phone call. Isn't God good? And wasn't my daughter insightful?

Secondly, a friend sent this darling mug as a surprise. It says, "My idea of a good birthday is shopping for new shoes while wearing new shoes." I haven't seen her in over a year, and we don't talk except via Facebook posts. But she remembered how much I love shoes and took money from her budget and time from her busy schedule to buy this and ship it to me anonymously. That she would do that touched me more than I can say. It took me a good portion of the day and some searching on Facebook to figure out who sent it. Thank you again, Betsy.

My life is truly blessed--whether it's my birthday or not.