Birthday Girl-Choices

Warning: Tons of birthday pictures and too much birthday information, listed below, for most of you. It's okay if you walk away now. Remember, we have two kids away from us on two different continents who missed being with their mom yesterday. The info overload is mainly for them. We won't be offended if you leave now and come back tomorrow.

For those of you who stayed....here we go.

We have a tradition in our family. Whoever has the birthday gets to choose what we do for the whole day. My girlfriend has the only summer birthday so kids are out of school and we have more free time so she literally gets to pick stuff for the whole day. As Anderson reminded her yesterday, "It's your day mom, you get to do whatever you want!"

One of the traditions we have is that the birthday person gets to have a special breakfast. This was picked out by Carys yesterday. Over the years she's had good big sister examples and yesterday she was super excited to do this on her own. On Tuesday we had to make a special trip to the grocery store to get what she needed. I was then instructed to wake her up at 6:30 yesterday morning so she could begin.

About an hour and a half later we were all enjoying her creations. As the kids brought the goodies in they sang happy birthday because Carys put some candles on three of the muffins. Benay got to enjoy breakfast in her BDAY QUEEN hat that Anderson made for her.

Carys made blueberry muffins, they were awesome and we killed them all.

Carys also started this thing.....

.....which turned into this.

Very cool right? Amazing how tangerines, blueberries, kiwis and bananas can turn into a tropical "edible" paradise. We killed this fruit plate as well.

Carys is our party nut. She loves them and she had breakfast planned for about a week.

Anderson then showed her our birthday blog about her.

And then she opened up some presents.

This is always fun but even more so with Giovanni around.

 After all her hard work Carys needed to just chill for a little while.

My girlfriend then chose to just hang out with the kids and play. The big kids played Monopoly.....with loud outbursts of funny accusations of cheating.

The little dudes asked my girlfriend to play with play-doh.

She made this.

As this was going on she began receiving phone calls.

This happened throughout the day. The first came from my parents who have a tradition of calling on every person's birthday to sing happy birthday together. I wouldn't say they are ready for a record contract (sorry guys) but I will say that it's become a tradition and everyone waits for that singing call.

She literally had different people calling her just to wish her a happy birthday. She got to talk to Bronwyn and lots of our Brasilian friends and family. One of our favorite calls was our brother Elinton who called and said, "May God bless you with many more birthdays in your own country.......which is Brasil."

The last call she got was from her parents but they missed us as we were out eating supper.

She then got to talk to Ansley on skype.

Ansley prepared a birthday croissant complete with candles and sang happy birthday.

Throughout the day she also got several emails and notes of facebook wishing her a happy birthday.

She made the kids happy and chose hamburgers for lunch. No picture needed for that.

After lunch she chose to go swimming at a pool just down our street. It's close enough to walk.

She had fun getting to hang out, talk with a new friend and enjoy some "cool down" time with Quigs as it was again in the 90's yesterday.

The kids also got to hang out with their buds that they haven't seen since October.

We all came back, took showers and got ready to go to one of my girlfriends favorite restaurants. A pizzaria.

My girlfriend, her birthdays and pizzarias seem to be a common theme. Here were are a year ago, on her birthday, in São Paulo state (city of Tatuí if you want to look it up) with some of our best friends. You get the picture. My girlfriend LOVES pizzarias.

Anyway, we got there around 7:30. You need to understand that Brasilians eat late. When you go to a restaurant at 7:00 there is usually no one there. Here are a couple of pictures of our place at 8:00.

Here it is at 9:15.

Anyway, at our pizzarias they keep bringing pizza around. All kinds of pizza. You eat until you say stop and bring out the dessert pizza. So we tagged the regular pizza for a while. The cheese was, well, cheesy.

And then made a dent in the dessert pizza. Carys and Anderson wanted to take a couple of "rub it in" pictures just for Ansley who is our family ice cream freak.

We had a great time. Actually, the whole day was great.

We got home close to 10:00. Everyone stripped down (it was 90+ in our house) and got ready for bed.

After the kids got in bed I plopped down on the couch in front of a floor fan trying to stay cool. My girlfriend came over, gave me a little kiss and thanked me for her great day and then she went to bed.

After she went to bed I started thinking about how many people love my girlfriend, how many expressed that today and how cool it is to have family, real family, on two continents. All these people know what our family has always known. She is a special person.

Birthday Girl

This is my girlfriend (holding one very cool little dude).

Yes, I know she's super cute. I've been telling you that for years.  Today is her birthday.

If you don't know, our family is pretty fond of her.

We have a blog tradition on birthdays of allowing the rest of the family to share what the birthday person means to them. I'm blessed that our family loves each other, really loves each other, so on days like this it's easy to share our love for each other. No love is easier for us to share about than the love we all have for my girlfriend. She's pretty awesome.

Here we go:

Bronwyn: "Happy birthday mom!! Thank you for always being so helpful and for praying for me. Like this week with my exam. You called me before and after and helped me stay calm. I love you and I wish I could be there with you today!! (and it has nothing to do with the pizza) I love you!"

Ansley: "My mom has taught me more about showing compassion to EVERYONE than ANYONE else I have ever known. She has also shown me, especially in these last couple of years, what kind of mom I want to be like if I have kids- a mom that is sweet and always smiling, but that is also tough and expects a lot of her kids. A mom that doesn't cry when you leave home because she knows God has a plan for your life- a plan bigger than any plan she or dad could ever dream of for you. And, most importantly, a mom that teaches you that God loves you more than she ever could. Thank you mom, for literally being THE BEST MOM in the world. Driz bid driad. Dridz bziadrz. (Happy Birthday in the voice of "m"), I love you and miss you soooo much!"

Garrett: "Mom is the best mom in the world. She is sweet, and nice, and pretty and she always helps me with everything i need. And she always encourages me! And I love her so much!!"

Carys: "She is so pretty so smart and she is the the best mother i could ever wish for!"

Anderson: "She is the best mom in the world. I wouldn't trade her for the White House or anything in the world or in the universe. She makes the best food in the world. Especially the lasagna! Happy Birthday!"

Giovanni (as translated by Carys): "I  love her so much she plays with me and takes me to the swimming pool.Happy birthday mom."

Me: "My girlfriend is my girlfriend. We've been married for almost 25 years and I find myself sneaking peeks at her beauty just like I did when we were dating. She's the most beautiful person I know. She is so beautiful on the outside. Everyone can see that so that's kind of a "duh" statement but she is even more beautiful on the inside. I love her inside beauty as much as I love her physical beauty. This sounds like a broken record for me when I share what I feel about her but she has shown and demonstrated to me more about grace and love and peace than anyone I know. I've seen people mistreat my wife, she keeps on loving them and giving grace to them and living peacefully in the Spirit. I've wanted to choke them and she always just wanted to be Jesus to them. To choke them with the love of Jesus. Her example has changed my life in how I treat people. She's also the most amazing mom and wife that I've ever seen. Just amazing. I know, and anyone else who knew me before I met her knows this as well, that I am a better person, Christian man, because of my girlfriend. That's just fact. I'm a better dad because of my girlfriend's example and advice over the years.  I'm blessed because I know that all of our kids have a mom they can say is their role model. We all know how hard it is to say that in this day and age. My girlfriend prays with our kids, reads Bible stories with our kids, counsels our kids and, almost as important, laughs with our kids, is goofy with our kids and tries new things with our kids. She also knows how to discipline in a Christ like way. It's rare these days to find someone who can blend all of that the way Jesus wants. My girlfriend does it. The Jesus light that you see coming out of our kids comes from my girlfriend and her example. She is a super, super cool mom. I really love that she not only listens to the Spirit but follows Him when He says to do something. Think in your head right now, how many women do you know with 4 kids that would leave a very comfortable life in the U.S. and move to another country, with a different language, to live (not visit but live) and tell people about Jesus because the Spirit told them to do it? And then be willing to die in that country if the Spirit asks and/or to stay until the Spirit sends them back to the U.S. or even to another country? My girlfriend did it/is doing it. How many women do you know in their 40's with 5 kids try to get pregnant with a 6th because the Spirit tells us that we are supposed to have one more even though, we know, some people think it's nuts? My girlfriend did it. She listens to the Spirit and then she acts.  Fear, staying in her comfort zone, traditions, whatever don't rule her life.....the Spirit does.  As a Christian man, I can't tell how attractive that is. And, as you all know, she's my girlfriend. I can't stand being away from her for even a day and I would love it if God blessed us with 50 more anniversaries together. We'd be old, no teeth, maybe in diapers, maybe not remembering much of anything but I would be willing to bet that when I look into her eyes I would remember my love for my girlfriend because that love is, literally, a part of me.  God has burned everything about her into my heart!"

Happy Birthday Benay! 

New Posts

My girlfriend (thanks for the reminder Brian.....guess I had a brain lapse) has started blogging again.

She's been sharing about blessings from 2011.

Just click here to go there. Once you get there just keep scrolling down to read the last couple of posts.

P.S. You guys did a good job with your homework. Ansley was really encouraged by your notes to her on her blog. Thank you and keep it up. You don't want detention do you?

St. Jude Half Marathon

13.1 miles, no stopping and she got stronger as she went along

Her time?

2 hours and 23 minutes.

Here she is 2 minutes (look how good she looks!) after crossing the finish line and holding her medal:

I told you faithful readers that she was going to nail it didn't I?

I could not be more proud of what she's done over the last 3+ months.

I think a lifelong runner has been created.

More details, from her or me, will come later.

I intend to brag on my girlfriend some more.

D-Day

After fourteen weeks of training five days a week this super,super cute girl (who just happens to be my girlfriend)...

....will defeat, crush really, a half marathon today. I could not be more proud of her.

Details to come later.

23

23 years ago today I married my girlfriend.

I'm very blessed because on that day I married:
-my best friend

Over time I've come to realize that on that day I also married:
-the most gracious person I've ever met
-the person who has taught me more about God's grace than anyone else in my life
-the most forgiving person I've ever met
-the best cook I've ever met
-the most incredible mom I've ever known
-the best wife a man could have
-the best bible teacher I've ever met
-the best example of what a Christian looks like that I've ever met

Am I biased? Maybe, but I believe with all my heart that every one of those things are true.

23 years later I also know one more thing to be true:

She's even prettier now than she was then.

23 years later my girlfriend is still my best friend and I can't thank of anyone more blessed than me.

Mother's Day-Part 2

So we have a child coming home this Sunday. She's been in the states at college and she's missed out on a lot (birthdays, mother's day, Andersonisms, etc) this semester.

She's in the middle of finals week as well and so the next few days will be to fill her in and, hopefully, give her some giggles during the stress of test week. 

Here is a nutshell view of mom's mother's day weekend. I'm going to share in mainly video with a few pics thrown in. 

Anderson's Mother's Day presentation at school on Friday:

Followed by Carys running in the finals at her school's track meet (complete with your mom yelling for her). 

She won her first heat and came in 4th in the finals. Against much bigger girls I might add. She's started taking track and field this year. Her teacher told us last week that Carys is the fastest girl in her class. Impressive. 

On Sunday, as you know our tradition, your mom got to pick out her day. 

We had our worship service on Saturday night instead of Sunday so that everyone could enjoy time with their families. 

Because we didn't have to get ready for a houseful of people your mom chose to just relax the whole day. She just wanted to enjoy some family time around the house. Nothing special. 

So, while mom and I did some laps around the park, Ansley fixed her some awesome blueberry, cinnamon muffins. 

She had a little help from her junior baking associate. So little, in fact, that I'm pretty sure this is the only help he gave. Putting on Garrett's cooking hair net and posing for the picture. 

Giovanni, as is becoming his/our custom, said a special prayer before we ate our breakfast. 

We then went to Espetão do Forte to pick up lunch. 

Before we ate lunch Giovanni wanted to pray again. This time was a little more difficult because he had already started eating his churrasco and his mouth was full of meat. But he got the job done. 

We then had present time. 

Giovanni had to get in on every present. Whenever your brothers and sisters gave their presents he had to give a kiss to mom after they did. Garrett made sure Giovanni did it even after he got sidetracked.

As you can tell from the video it's the season for mom to wear lots of clothing. It was about 70 degrees (so cold!) and, as you can see, she has long pants on, sweatshirt and used the scarf that Carys gave her. We are entering the season of hearing (5x a day) how cold she is.

Anyway, after lunch she really enjoying speding time with you on skype.

She,Garrett and Anderson then went and picked some of our lemons to make some lemonade.

She rounded out the day doing what she said she really wanted to do.

Reading a book.

Okay, so it wasn't without some help but she did get to sit down to read a little. 

All in all, it was a great day and, believe it or not, fairly relaxing for her. 

And kind of tiring.