A Blessed Birthday!

My son with a Big, Beautiful Bag! (NOT ME! The Jeweler's Bag!)

Beautiful flowers! Thanks Bianca & Teresa!

A close up of my pearl necklace from Josh!


God is so good to me! I know I don't deserve His goodness, but if He waited until I deserved it; He wouldn't be God would He?

I had the most awesome birthday and I am dying to share it with all of my faithful readers; all five of you! yipee!

FRIDAY, NOV. 3: My awesome nephew gets off-campus permission, and spends the night with us. This made me feel so very special!

SATURDAY, NOV. 4: More of nephew Josh Daniel. He did have to leave us for bus visitation, but returned that afternoon. Then he left for a game of Laser Tag and dinner with friends, but returned that night to sleep. We did have an enjoyable afternoon catching up on things, looking at blogs, etc.

SUNDAY, NOV. 5: Nephew and his friends come over after church for dinner. By the time their bus routes were finished, it was around 3p.m. before we ate. We giggled and bonded. Wonderful time! Photos on my last post proved that.

MONDAY, NOV. 6: Recuperating from weekend. I had a very stiff and painful weekend, but the laughter and joy of having awesome people around me helped me shuffle through it. I was happily anticipating the next two days because my dear hubby was going to be off from work! A birthday gift arrived today - a beautiful, silver pair of hoop earrings from my mom. Gorgeous! Shane and I did some school and did partial amounts of our Monday Home Blessing.

TUESDAY, NOV. 7: I was feeling a little better by afternoon, so Agustin took Shane & I out. This was the day I went to CVS for photos to post, we then went out to Remington's Steak House. (We decided since there was WED. prayer meeting and Patch club on my actual birthday, it was better to go ahead and celebrate today so we wouldn't feel rushed, etc.)Remington's is so much fun. Its decorated with western and country flair! My kind of place! You get to eat peanuts and brush your shells off onto the floor! Shane's kind of place! The steaks are awesome. (Agustin's kind of place!) Agustin and I both ordered the New York srip with loaded baked potatoes. And these potatoes are HUGE and you get unlimited baskets of bread, which inlcude yeast rolls and cornbread -the sweet, southern kind! YUMMY! Shane had his regular--kids chicken fingers. Well they really weren't kid's fingers, just from the kid's menu!!! We giggled and talked. It was a really sweet time. It is times like these I miss Josh, my first born. He was at work and planning to come over on Wed. After dinner, we went to the Mall where I looked at so many purses! I didn't purchase one, but found a few I loved. Baker's had the most beautiful red purse I have ever seen. It also came in black which is what I really need. I wanted to look at more stores before purchasing anything. Unfortunately, by the time I did Dillard's and Macy's, I was hurting so bad I didn't think I would make it back to the car. So I didn't get back to Baker's to get the purse I had decided on. I just wanted to get home! I made it with help and home never felt so good! It was a great evening just being with my husband and child.

WEDNESDAY, NOV 8: MY 46TH BIRTHDAY! Agustin cooked pancakes for breakfast. I had hundreds of phone calls! (not really, but many!) I recieved a most beautiful flower arrangement from my hairstylist and her daughter in law. You will see the flowers in photos. We went to church. My friend Pat and her beautiful, godly daughters had a gift for me. OH JOY! We then came home afterwards to find my beautiful son Joshua. He has a key, so had let himself in and his friend Shawm Smith was with him. Shawn has been Josh's friend since they were babies together in the church nursery at West Gate Baptist Church. They went to preschool, K-4 and K-5 together. After K-5, we lost contact with Shawn and his family because we changed churches and they moved away not long afterward to Oklahoma. It was so neat when in Josh and Shawn's Junior year of high school, Shawn and his family moved back to Tampa. Josh and Shawn picked up right where they left off in K-5, except they were more mature and grown up . (I think!) So anyhow, the two guys were here and Josh comes up behind me with a beautiful gold Kay Jeweler's bag! I peeked inside and there it was! A beautiful, golden box with a beautiful, golden bow. I couldn't wait because we all know Josh has good taste in jewelry!!! (Don't we niece Jewell?) I have posted a photo for you all to see what my dear son gave me. You can't tell, but under the pearl are small diamonds. They pick up the light and sparkle so beautifully. This was wonderful; but even more than the pretty necklace, his gift of time to drive an hour to me and another hour back home meant more to me than any gift he could have given me. He had worked all day and had to work the next day, but he made the effort to come over on my birthday. I had told him on the phone the day prior not to bother. I could see him on the weekend. He just chuckled and said in his Napolean Dynamite voice,"I'm coming, gosh!" He got to spend a couple of hours with us. We made and ate tacos and caught up on things while Shawn snored on our family room couch! Bless his heart! He had worked hard all day as well, but what a good friend to accompany Josh on his little road trip! It was a very special time that I really don't seem to be able to put into words here. Then to top off my day, my hubby told me to use the credit card and order clothes for myself! He told me to include "underwear". Hmmm!

What a blessed week I had. Enjoy the photos!