For the past week, as I’ve waited for Caden’s bus to drop him off, I’ve taken some alone time to read through the gospel of Luke. I’ve read this book several times but for some reason, I’ve hung on every single word – I’ve been engrossed in every miracle, every parable, and every word from our Saviors mouth. As I read through the pages that serve as a record of Christ’s ministry, a sense of shame came over me like never before.
For so long I’ve considered myself to be a faithful and obedient child of the Lord. I can’t count all the times I chose right over wrong. I can’t count how many times I’ve sacrificed willingly for God’s purpose. But the words in Luke really pierced my heart as I thought about true obedience. Jesus walked the earth sharing His love. It just poured out from His body not even His power could be contained (think about the bleeding woman who simply touched His cloak and was immediately healed from 12 years of bleeding. (Luke 8:40-48)) While He was sharing and teaching the Word, He was also preparing to be faithful and obedient to it. There He was being completely unselfish during a time that most of us would spend just thinking and doing for ourselves. He knew what was to come and still He poured out his love and wonders. How awesome!
I pray for that kind of obedience. When I’m exhausted from a long weeks work, I want to still share in the Word with others. I want to be the servant He’s molded me to be. He has plenty of awesome things in store for me, I just have to surrender to Him and be obedient in my walk. I look at Caden and think about how loving he is. The love just pours out of him. It cannot be contained. (Sound familiar?) He did not get this from Eric or me. While we show love – it certainly doesn’t always come in the pure way Caden’s does. I guess I had to become a mother to really get it, to really experience that. I now understand what Jesus was talking about when He said to become like little children. I am in awe, honestly! (Luke 9:47-48 & Matthew 18:3)
It’s no longer enough to do just enough, I want to do more. I want to be more. I want love to pour unselfishly from my heart – faithfully with obedience.
Jackie and I had an absolute blast planning Eric’s Birthday party. It wasn’t great having to “sneak” around but I spilled all the beans in a poem we wrote and read during the party. It was entitled “The Lies I’ve Told in the Past Week”. The poem made plenty of references to iParty and little incidents that happened during the planning stage. Jackie read it in an English accent so it was a big hit to say the least.
Anyhows, we were aiming for classy and elegant (with a man’s touch of course). So the color scheme was black, white and silver. It was an intimate dinner scene that we shared with our closest loved-ones. While Eric wasn’t totally surprised, he was shocked at how many people there were and how elaborate everything was. Here are some photos of the set-up and place settings.
And the final layout for the place settings…
Here is a snapshot of Jackie putting some extra touches on the place settings. As you can see we set up shop for quite a few people.
We had Hors D’oeuvres, wine, and catered dinner from Olive Garden. While it was a blast planning everything, it was even more fun celebrating and sharing in that moment with Eric and our friends.
Here we are sitting around the table just talking, laughing and enjoying the company.
and here are some more photos…
I special ordered Eric’s birthday cake. We opted to stick with the color scheme and do black, white, and silver. It was white cake with fresh strawberries in the middle. So delicious.
We topped the cake off with sparkler candles and set out to sing happy birthday to the man of the hour. Here he is blowing out the candles.
Overall the birthday was great fun (at least for me) and we are so blessed to have such sweet friends. I want to send a special thank you to my great friend Jackie for being my right-hand lady as we ran around getting everything ready.
Happy Birthday, Eric. May you have many (and I mean many) more!
