my thoughts on the election...and my 32nd birthday!!!!

May God bless our president - whoever he is after today's election.  He's got a tough job that I certainly wouldn't want. That's all I've got to say about that.  On to my birthday celebration!!!!

God loved on me lots this weekend!  I feel like I should share about it for 2 reasons 1) because people have asked and, chances are, if you're reading this, you know and care about me and want to know how my birthday was celebrated (thanks for caring and wanting to share life with me!!) and 2)every good and perfect gift is from above - and i want to give credit where credit is due!

I suppose it started on Thursday at 1:15 when I had my massage that Nick signed me up for (yup, seriously, a  massage...what kind of "living on a ship in Africa" is this?!  a pretty amazing kind!!).  there's a sweet lady from Texas named Cyndi who is here for a few weeks on a Mercy Team...she's got some amazing massage skills that she shares with the crew while she's here.  I LOVE it when people use their skills to bless others...I especially loved this special treat!  So I got my 15 minutes of neck/back/shoulder massage on Thursday (so grateful for a husband who would sign me up for it...for whatever reason, i wouldn't have signed myself...and apparently the slots went fast...so even if i had finally gotten around to deciding that i wanted one, it would've been too late!).

Skip on over to Friday afternoon...the girls and I were making chocolate chip cookies in the crew galley (picture by emma):

 

....from a mix...they don't compare to hannah dewlicious cookies...but they'll do :) and the ever so sweet & lovely stephanie duncan came and found us and asked if i wanted to meet her and remy (my 6:15am dutchie workout partner) for coffee.  sure!  i'd love to.  about 6:10 in E ward?  sure!  sounds good. (the 3 of us have met for coffee in E ward multiple times...so it didn't seem out of the ordinary at all!) (though in previous years my radar would have been waaaaay up....) (keep in mind that for many years i set myself up for failure on my birthday because all around my birthday i would figure out every possible way that every possible person could surprise me....and, though i've had some wonderful birthdays, i must admit that it's not even possible for any birthday to live up to the expectations that i would put on it....so God's been working on that a bit...the evidence is that i haven't really done that the past couple of years - and i've been pleasantly surprised and wonderfully blessed instead of miserably disappointed!!!)

So at 6:09 I headed down to E ward (an empty room on Deck 3...with couches....).  Stephanie met me in the hall - and very naturally says, "oh i was just going up to get my coffee...nah...maybe i'll go get some in a bit." and in we walk to a room full of friends saying "surprise".  Now, I'm no good at reacting to surprises...and we all know I'm not so good at being the center of attention...so that was a pretty awkward moment....but after moving on from that initial surprise, the next hour was absolutely fabulous!

Stephanie Duncan, Stephanie Fiduk, Josh Callow, Catharine Fulmer and Tori Hobson = 5 rock stars of thoughtfulness and awesomeness.  As far as I know, they are the ones responsible for Friday night's festivities (i'm so sorry if i'm leaving someone out - please let me know...i want to heap thankfulness on you, too!!!)

The room was decorated with one of my most favorite things - encouraging words!!!! One wall (of cabinets) was covered in cards and bible verses that had been collected for me (reminded me very very much of a TA blessing bag. what a lovely thing!).

They also took the time to print off pictures of me/my family and laminate them and punch holes in them and hang them from the ceiling - they wrote words that describe me on the back (they were far too kind).  AND there was a jar for "coupons" -- I've got all kinds of fun gifts to cash in on: babysitting, cups of coffee, chocolate, a cup of tea at sunset on deck 8, a hug at my favorite ice machine,  a pancake breakfast, french toast casserole, chocolate chip cookies, extra shower minutes!  So many wonderful gifts from so many wonderful people.

 

There were cokes & juice & cookies & pretzels & even a BOSTON CREME PIE!!  (thanks for finding out and making my favorite, Josh!)(he's the one looking on as i cut into his creation!).

So, after the fun surprise party, I got to go participate in part of the ship's "spiritual retreat weekend" - I felt like it was God's birthday present to me!!   It really deserves a blog post of its own (maybe there will be one that i can link you to).

Dianna's nutshell version of the spiritual retreat weekend:  the chaplaincy department did an incredible job of creating "stations" and providing activities where we could interact with God, His word and His Truth throughout the weekend.  Caroline and I ended up working through the stations together Friday night...what a gift to be able to share that with my daughter!  Saturday we were able to make fabric covers for our bibles (again, it was a privilege to do that with Caroline!).  I sewed -semi-successfully!!- for the first time!!  I covered my Jesus Calling book.  I tried to cover my Bible...but ended up letting Miss Rebekah finish it for  me (many thanks!).   My covered books are my tangible birthday gifts from God!!  Here's one of them:

On to Sunday - my actual birthday!  We had a peaceful morning...Nick arranged for Tori to make (and deliver!) her AMAZING french toast casserole. 

It is so good. so good.  At some point I decided that I was only going to eat what I wanted to all day (with not even attempt at "healthy and balanced") -- I had multiple servings of french toast casserole throughout the day! 

God gave me a rainy morning - another birthday present from Him.  I love the rain!!

We went down to deck 3 for Ward Church. Got to shake our bodies for Jesus and play our pretend trumpets. :)  Then this really incredible, good looking, wise, creative guy spoke about walking with God and "what's your next step?" He's my favorite.  (and then it was super cool to realize that yesterday's Jesus Calling used some of the exact same words that Nick used as he taught...).

After Ward Church we had lunch...and I had a quick nap...Emma had her nap...Eli went to karate and Caroline went to play with a friend for a bit.  About 2:45 Catharine came to watch the kids and Nick and I went to the Hotel Riviera. 

What a delightful time with my best friend...the weather was perfect.  The music was fun (especially when "I will survive" came on - who knew it was such an international song?  The brazilians present seemed to particularly enjoy it!!!).  I even got to hear the "crunk my money" (or whatever in the world the words are!!!) song.  The coke was refreshing (complete with ice!).  My glass is without a doubt 1/2 full.

The creme brulee (one of the main reasons nick took me there) was delicious!  The pool was nice.  a very enjoyable time, just me and him.  We headed back to the ship...had dinner (Catharine graciously agreed to keep the kids a bit longer while we ate) and then enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL sunset on Deck 8. 

After that we headed to "church" (ship wide service on Sunday nights)...enjoyed some sweet worship and heard some neat testimonies of what God did through the spiritual weekend. 

This was my favorite conversation during the service (the chaplain leading was inviting people to come to the front and share what the weekend had meant/what God had done):

Caroline: "Mama, can I go up and share something?
Me:  "Absolutely!"
Caroline: "Will you go up there with me?
Me:  "Nope.  Ask your daddy."

(she did and he said "yes"...and it was lovely)

Interspersed throughout my birthday weekend were gifts and phone calls and emails and facebook messages (so much facebook love!) from so many thoughtful and caring people....so much love and encouragement and blessing poured out all over me.  It was almost overwhelming - in a good way! It kind of feels like it may take me a while to reply to emails and such...I'm sorry for any delays!!

I do believe this one may take the prize for "best birthday yet." (and i don't give those kind of awards out lightly)(but it's a little hard to give that award when some of my most favorite people are on the other side of the world...)(but thankful that each and every one was a part of blessing me for my birthday).

It's a good start to being 32.  (annnnd....i'm really excited cause i know there are a few more things heading my way through crew mail....the celebration continues!!!!)

i'm praying that i experience the presence of God more in the coming year than ever before...praying that i draw nearer and nearer to Him....praying that i will decrease and He will increase..praying that i'll recognize God and join Him in whatever it is that He wants me to do.  Praying for more patience and less selfishness.  Praying that He will be the center, the focus, the ALL of my life - every moment, every day.  Can I ask for one more birthday present? Will you pray these things (and anything else you want!) for me, too?