Monday Monday Celebrations in Review

 Happy Monday Morning!  I hope you've had a blessed and peaceful, restful weekend, and are ready to enjoy this last week of August and "summer" as we know it.  Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, so that pretty much signals the end of summer and even though true autumn doesn't begin for a few more weeks, I think we are all pretty much ready for it to begin the day after Labor Day!  I know I would love to think that the summer heat will be over and we will be starting to enjoy cooler days...but here in Florida that really doesn't happen for at least another month. Still we can dream...

Meanwhile, still thinking about August...our extended family here in Florida has a lot of August birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate, and so we did just that on Saturday.  Not everyone could make it due to work schedules,  etc., but for those of us who could gather, we had a great time, as you can see below.

I love to post all the pictures the waitress took of our family, as you can see our expressions change and also because you can't really see everyone in each picture very well...

One particular nephew refuses to let us see his handsome face, but that is par for the course...and we celebrated his 23rd birthday anyway, and also the fact that he graduated from college with his Bachelor's Degree in some form of Psychology and Counseling...I don't know the exact title, but he did it, and is already working on his Master's Degree...so that is impressive. 

Just so  you know who these people are, you can probably tell the first two guys up in front are the "Steiner brothers", my hubby John and his brother "Billy". Then next to my hubby is my sister's hubby Art, next is my sister Doris, then me, then my sister in law Peggy (Billy's wife), next to her is our great nephew Jack, and his mother is next to him, my niece Debbie, then our son Benton. (Rose had to work so couldn't come), and then the smart kid who just graduated college, Nicholaus, next to his father Billy.

So we have family from both sides of the aisle, my hubby's family, and my family, and we all love each other and get along great.  We are blessed to be close enough to enjoy these special events together.

So that was Saturday.  Now for Sunday.  After church we came home and our son Scott had arrived from his home and work an hour or more north of us. Thankfully Rose was off from work also, so our "local family" could gather together to celebrate Benton's birthday, which is actually later this week.

Per his request we had grilled bratwurst and hamburgers, beans, potato salad and deviled eggs. This is my plate.  I actually did not eat the buns, and a very little bit of potato salad.  I'm trying hard to cut back on carbs as much as possible, but it isn't that easy, as most of you probably already know.

The bratwurst was cooked on the grill and then smothered with saute'd peppers and onions. That was yummy! The hamburger was smothered with swiss cheese, fresh onion and tomatoes, and topped with mustard. The beans I "baked" in the crock pot with onions and a little bacon along with mustard and ketchup. They were yummy too. Rose made the potato salad and deviled eggs, which were delicious!

Rose also baked the birthday cake, a yellow cake with chocolate icing, per Benton's request. That is what I always baked for him growing up. So here we are singing Happy Birthday. I think Benton was singing as well. I wish I had recorded us singing.  But you know the song:

Happy Birthday to you!, Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Dear Benton!

Happy Birthday to you!!

And Many More!! LOL.

And then the big blow out!  54!!! How can THAT be?   

Oh, it was so hard to blow out all those 54 candles! LOL.

Yay! He did it!! I hope he made a good wish! LOL.

We teased him that next year he will be eligible for the senior discounts every where! LOL.  But again...I still don't know how he got to be that old already!! It seems like just yesterday he was a new born 9lb. 13 oz. bouncing baby boy!

I just want to pause and thank the Lord for the blessings of family and friends.  We've all been through difficulties in life. No one escapes troubles and trials. But even so, we have so much for which to be thankful. Even when things have looked bleak and impossible, God has made a way. He has never failed us nor forsaken us. So, at this moment in time, I want to say how thankful I am for all that God has done for me and for our loved ones, and for His unfailing grace. And I look at the final verse here below..."For the Lord is good; His mercy endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations."  

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful rest of your week! May you know that the Lord IS good, and that His mercy endures forever, and that His faithfulness also endures for all generations..."

Amen.