The Month-After Birthday

How good it is to come together in Jesus' name! (That's not a verse, but it could be!)

Cheryl's birthday is February 20, but getting a date on the calendar proved a tricky feat with everyone's busy and differing schedules. It was more than a month after her actual birthday, but we managed to execute another memorable overnighter, this one at Glenice's house.

We walked the trail that Glenice takes every morning, and my assigned mission was to give pointers on what trees to take out to thin her forest. It turned out to be even more brutal than she thought if she decides to abide by DNR expectations. Jury's still out on that one.


Our best times are sharing God's truth, His revelations, His character and what He's accomplishing in our lives. Glenice can be counted on to be able to retrieve so many different references, be it a concordance or a study we did ten years ago.

Cheryl's excitement and enthusiasm in relating key truths and wisdom was evident. She was able to speak at length in the afternoon, evening, and next morning. Tina was processing some things, which both Glenice and I took and personalized by considering our own issues--different circumstances, same principle.

We heard Cheryl's "One-Liners," daily reminders and several-times-a-day reminders of God's truth, which she emailed to all of us, including Rosie. These are tremendous, solid truths that will bolster our foundation.

Glenice brought out the scrapbook box, and we worked on that in the evening. Tina said she was supervising it so "you guys won't screw it up for when I want it at my funeral!" It was great!

I think Glenice is trying to place dates on some of the pictures. We've learned our lesson and try hard to label and date photos now.

These were from Saint Patrick's day, and they decorated the table beautifully with the spray of white and the emerald of the water. Glenice placed purple beads at each of our place settings, which we played with by forming different shapes. Cheryl didn't wear the birthday tiara until Wednesday afternoon when we took a few quick pictures to capture the event.

Glenice broke out these beauties, and it didn't take us long to total the top layer.

I just wanted a picture with Tina...

...and one with Glenice.
(Cheryl said she didn't look pretty, that she looked pretty yesterday, but we didn't take pictures yesterday. I was sorry about that because we all looked pretty yesterday. She did surprise us by assenting though as you can see below.)

Let's see if we can remember what year this was taken.

Dean took these pictures of the four of us, and something made me laugh.
I love us.

Cheryl said if she could have designed a birthday that she would have wanted, it would have been this one. That made us all happy. We got in hours of God-talk, laughed often, ate well (thank you for the deluxe meals, you guys!), scrapbooked, walked, remembered, and were sent off to our homes bathed in soul satisfaction, earnest prayer, and God's great delight. While we did miss Rosie, we know He works in all things, and it's all good.

Thank You, Lord, for Your extravagant goodness and the delight you take in delighting us. Work Your work of righteousness in us as we abide in You as one Body. We love You. xoxo