Birthday Breakfast in Bed

This morning my girls made me a birthday breakfast in bed. I was instructed to "stay put" (which is hard for me!) and wait for morning nourishment. First arrived my Gingerbread Coffee in my favorite "A" mug and soon after Caroline's scrumptious eggs with ham and cheese and a toasted sundried tomato bagel with a large pat of butter for every bite. What a fun way to start my second day as a 41 year old.

Psalm 139

"All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139)
Today is my birthday.... forty-one years full of JOY only because of the One who ordained every one of them.

It was a "Joy-Making Day" with these two dear friends who whisked me off for a day of shopping, and lunching, and fellowshipping, and fun.

I think I'll keep them. And I am off to dinner with this sweet chick and her dear family...
Matty's chocolate cake...here I come!

Holidays at Nana's House

At Nana's house, stockings are a big deal. Everyone has one...all 16 of us! Stockings at Nana's are fun because everyone stuffs them. When I say "everyone" I really mean just the girls...although Andy did have some treats for the kids this year...tiny flashlights! They loved them. We all sneak in sometime late Christmas Eve to stuff them with treats we've picked up over the holidays. I remember the first Christmas I spent at Andy's house when we were only dating. Nana had a stocking hung on the mantle with my name on it. She has since never ceased to make me feel like a special part of the family.

Caroline and I made this scrumptious Chicken and Olives recipe last night. It was kind of a lengthy process, but we didn't mind. We just strapped on our waist aprons and got to work. She is such a big help in the kitchen. The recipe suggested buying canned whole tomatoes, draining them, and squeezing them out. Caroline loved that process.... she drained and squeezed while I chopped. It is so much fun sharing the kitchen with her. After all was done, we ate by candlelight with Rebecca and daddy.... a successful meal with daddy's comment, "That was so good!"



I must admit... my new "Birthday" apron is rather cute and makes moments in the kitchen a whole lot of fun....ahhhh.

Joy-Making Days begin....

Today is the first of our Joy-Making Days....or at least with an official title. I'm looking forward to posting our memories here.