Today is My Birthday!

A dear friend sent this song to me via text at 6:00 a.m.   I am glad I was already awake before I opened it and it started singing to me! LOL.  It was a great way to start my birthday...and yes, I danced!!  I know I come across as a bit of a stuffed shirt sometimes, but I do love to laugh and sing and dance for my own entertainment and exercise...it's a great way to get the heart pumping and the kinks out of this very OLD body!!  I was just reminiscing with this friend (via text) who sent me this song this morning...we were both young teenagers watching the Ed Sullivan show at that moment when he introduced the Beatles to America...and I remember wanting to scream and cry along with all the other girls in the audience, but I was at home in my living room, and my parents weren't going to let me get carried away with that or they would turn off the TV...so I sat there and screamed silently...LOL.   Were any of the rest of you watching? Some of you may be too young...it was a moment in time that changed the world of "rock n roll" for sure.  I did enjoy the Beatles for the first few years, but when they started dabbling more into the drug and hippie culture of the time I kind of tuned them out...besides by then I was getting married and singing a whole different tune.  But the Beatles will always hold a place in my young teenage heart memories.

"Today is Your Birthday", by the Beatles.

We already started celebrating yesterday after church by going out to lunch with family and some church friends.  When we arrived at the restaurant this beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly was waiting for me to take some pictures!

Looks like he's missing some of his tail, but he's still beautiful and I felt like it was a special gift from God to see him!!

Another Gift from God was this group of happy people sharing our lunch with us!

This cutie pie eating lemons is the granddaughter of one of my dear friends. I'm not sure how she could eat those lemons without puckering, but she did it!  She's a real sweetheart...

Another view of the table...

And this one shows the bear laughing at us from up on the wall...

And here's the photographer doing a selfie...our son Scott...

 After eating lunch the family came back to our house for dessert...apple pie!!  Of course there has to be the traditional picture of the big blowout:

And a toothy, happy birthday grin...

Here's the rest of the gang...sweet DIL Rose, sons Benton and Scott

and of course Lily Grace and her dog Bailey:

And hubby John

I was surprised to find this package on our front porch Sunday morning before we left for church. We didn't even know it had been delivered. Thankfully there had been no rain to soak it overnight!

It was actually from one of our special sweet blogging friends who loves to send surprises in the mail!

And it was chock full of surprises for sure!  Yes Lily Grace got in on the party...especially because this package was from her special friends in South Carolina where she originated from...

And yes, there was something in the package for Lily Grace...a sweet little fairy friend:

The package was full of so many fun and interesting surprises...this bird identifier is really cool:

And a lovely fan to keep me cool, calm and collected:

And a gorgeous fall bag:

Among many other fun and interesting little gifts.  I am always amazed when people do such special things so totally unexpected!

Tonight Benton and Rose are coming back over to finish off the day with Tacos and they are bringing me something that they have been working on that wasn't finished yesterday, and after all, today is my real birthday! LOL.  

To say I am blessed is a real understatement. I am truly blessed by God with good friends and family, and a loving Heavenly Father Who knows me so well.  I am truly grateful to Him for all He has done for me in these many years of life.  There have been happy times and sad times, wonderful days and difficult days...there have been times when I have wished we could stop time and start over again because things just weren't going the way I thought they should...but God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy and grace, has been there for me always...never allowing me to suffer beyond what grace He had to give to carry me through those difficult times.

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

These verses do not say that God will not give you more than what you can bear, but what it does say that with that "temptation" or situation will give you the way "of escape, that you may be able to bear it."   Testing and trials will come in our life. God does not protect us from having these difficulties or sorrows...but He gives us the grace and the way to move on...He carries us through the tough times and tenderly sets us back down on solid ground once we are able to walk on our own once again. But He never leaves us nor forsakes us...He's right there ready to catch us again if we begin to falter.  "God is faithful"...even when we aren't.  If I could share any kind of testimony of my 73 years of life it would be summed up in this verse...that God is faithful...and He has always helped me able to bear the deep sorrows of life and has given me what I needed in the times of trial to survive and keep going.  And He will do that for you as well, dear friends...when you put your faith and trust in Him, 

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths."

That is the key to living a joy-filled and peaceful life, even in the midst of life's storms.  Don't trust your own instincts and so-called learned wisdom, but put your complete trust in the Lord...and He will always direct your path in the right direction and give you peace and comfort.

I will try to follow up later with the rest of today's story, but this week is going to get pretty hectic. We will be preparing for our family reunion trip this weekend and then on to the north Georgia mountains for a couple more days with our kids.  When we get back home hubby will be finally having a long awaited medical procedure and that will keep us both somewhat out of commission for doing much reading/writing for a while longer.  So if you don't hear much from me in the next few weeks, don't be alarmed.   We are doing what all of us have to do...living life and thanking God for His grace and love and great mercy.   I hope to touch base with you as I can...you are each and every one very special friends.  May God bless you all with His love and grace and peace. Amen.

Happy 8 year old me! LOL.