Monday, November 10, 2008

It's True! I'm Older!

Is it ladylike to tell my age? The lines of etiquette have been so blurred these days. You know, it seems there's no longer black and white, no right or wrong! So I think I'll take a chance here and just tell ya' -- Saturday was my forty eighth birthday! I was born November 8, 1960, the day JFK was elected as President of the United States.


I had a full day Saturday, which is a good thing, as I was still feeling gloomy due to the outcome of the presidential election. Our church has been in it's missions conference this past week, with Saturday being a busy day of interacting with the missionaries in attendance.



I headed off for an 11:00 Ladies Missionary Tea. I got home around 1:30 p.m. to fix Agustin's lunch and send him off to work. I then set to making my signature Banana Pudding to take to the IN HOME FELLOWSHIP DINNER later in the evening.

Without further adieu, here are some photos of how I spent my birthday.


Some of the gifts I received.

A crystal Christmas ornament.

Three C.D. s. A friend's sister is the artist.



Some "unmentionables" LOL

Body care, scrapbooking goodies, and sugar free Jelly Belly jellybeans!



Here are some of the ladies gathered at our Saturday morning tea with missionary wives as special guests. (They're on the far right end of the table.) We had several tables squeezed into our small fellowship hall at church. When our Christian day school grew in number, we were forced to partition off half of the fellowship hall for school offices and a few more classrooms. What a blessing! That's a "good" problem to have to deal with.



More church friends.



More ladies enjoying Christian fellowship.
Future wives and moms! Possibly missionaries?




More ladies sharing tea.



Here are the gals that sat at my table. What a great group of girls these sisters are. They're all homeschooled and so musically talented! They performed the special music after tea, before the missionary wives each took turns speaking to us.
Each missionary wife shared her unique perspective about her and her spouse's ministry. We had representatives from Batswana, Guam, and the Ivory Coast. Our key note speaker was a pastor's wife from right here in the USA, (I think from Arkansa) Mrs. Twila Jones. My heart was truly pricked and moved as Sarah Le Clercq shared with us just how much the kindness shown to her two small sons was so appreciated. As a mother, she wanted to give her kids a NORMAL life. She now realizes the life her boys are embarking on is so much better than NORMAL! See my sister's post HERE to get a clearer picture on what I mean by "better than normal!"
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE LINK, IT WILL BLESS YOUR HEART!
You see, her little family is on deputation, which involves much traveling and much time in the car. This dear lady is also pregnant, due in February. She wept as she tried to share her heart with us. It is always a blessing to my heart to see how godly people respond to Christian love.This dear lady was treated to a day spa and admitted it was her first time ever to receive a pedicure. Once again, God reminded me how I take SO MUCH for granted in my life.


Isn't this a sweet little teacup and saucer I brought home? Each lady in attendance brought a teacup and saucer. These were set up on the serving table so that each lady could choose the cup they would like to keep! I chose this Christmas one since we are quickly moving into that season!


My sons called to wish me a Happy Birthday. That brought a smile.
To close out the day, the IN HOME FELLOWSHIP DINNER was
a fun, casual time spent in the home of one of our deacons. Three families in our church hosted the dinners. Pastor assigned a missionary family to each one of the host homes. We were honored to have the key speaker of the week dine with us. We gathered around the grand piano in the living room and sang several hymns. It was GLORIOUS! The acoustics were phenomenal as our voices harmonized throughout the house and onto the lanai where the overflow was.
My favorite hymn sung was "Just A Closer Walk With Thee". To close the evening, Pastor Clark gave a devotional, encouraging us to get the gospel out, to reach lives for Christ. Stressing that our only hope for this country is Christ, not government.
I then came home and awaited the return of my husband. He has promised me a dinner out on his next day off.
So there you have it, a recap of my birthday!

14 comments:

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

What a lovely event! It is so thoughtful to have such a nice tea for your ladies and visiting missionaries!

I love the tea cup you got to bring home!

Happy Birthday to you as well!

Susan said...

Sounds like a wonderful birthday, surrounded by Christian friends. Not too much better than that!!!

Happy Birthday, Pam ((hugs))
Susan

Rita Loca said...

A busy day indeed!

candy said...

Glad to see that you had a nice birthday :)
hugs,
candy :)

Mishel said...

Happy Birthday Pam!!

Hugs,
Mishel

Humble wife said...

Happy Birthday to you~ I wish I could sing a tune~ All is well from far away~ Your ears are safer anyhooo!(notice I could not even make it rhyme while trying~ you are sooo blessed to NOT have me sing!!!)


Happy Birthday from NM
Love ya
Jennifer

Nina in Portugal said...

What a fantastic day you had! Happy Birthday! I loved the post Jungle Mom did about you!

I can truly relate to the missionary wife on deputation. I had a tough time while my family was there. We went everywhere with my husband, cause I wouldn't have it any other way. As a former Pastor's wife I always wondered why the missionary wives weren't with their husbands...did they not support him? Where they bitter about their impending move to another country....I wanted to make sure those same questions weren't asked about me, or my family. I wanted everyone to know I loved my husband, was very excited about our move and actually shared his same burden for the Portuguese people.....But, it was very hard on us. All the traveling, sickness, 5 kids, one of which was 5 weeks old when we set out on deputation. All of my kids were still under the age where they couldn't bath themselves....It took a lot of work...I'm still exhausted from it!! I thank My Lord for only putting us threw that 'test' for 16 months! So many families have to endure deputation much longer...and for those families I pray.

Sorry 'bout the book.....how's your friend Marie

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yes, it is a good problem to have such overcrowding in church.

groovyoldlady said...

Sorry I'm late, Pam...Happy Birthday!

And you just stop fretting about that election. GOD is still in control, and no one comes into power without HIS permission. God has a plan for this presidency - perhaps a plan that will bring us all to our knees - and that would be a good thing. Trust Him and rejoice that He is good and that He is in control.

TO BECOME said...

Dear Pam sounds like a wonderful birthday to me, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! especially the husband part. Jim always makes my birthday so special. You were born the year before I grauduated from high school. I could have been your mom.lol Not really but I was old enough.

It sounds like you also had a great time with the missionaries wives and the ladies of the church. I guess you are feeling pretty good today.

P.s. I am 65 and I have never had a pedicure, I wouldn't know what to do, I would probably be to shy.lol I am glad you had such a good birthday. connie

Lori said...

Happy Belated Birthday.

Sounds like you had a good birthday. I love all your goodies.

Also that chuch gathering looks like so much fun! The tables were decorated so pretty.

Rebecca said...

What a pretty tea cup! I'm glad you had such a wonderful time.

Anonymous said...

Hey, us young chicks were born in the same year :) I'm way older than you though.

Sounds like you had a marvelous day with friends and family to lavish their love on you.

Happy Birthday a bit late! I wish you a year filled with God's best!

(Thanks for posting the gift photos, you gave me a wonderful idea for a gift I need to send to a friend.)

Kristi said...

HaPPy biRthDAY!!! And, yes, it is all right to share your age. I'm thirty-seven and proud. You're forty-eight and still a young chick! :)

That was some birthday recap! The missionary tea looked like so much fun and sounds like it was a blessing.

I'm so glad you had a great birthday.

I think we're all sorry and blue about the election. But the heart of the king is in HIS hands. We're winners either way. RIGHT?

Love ya,
~Kristi