(Stock Photo) Scenes From A Birthday

Friday I turned 44.  Yikes! 

But as my wise uncle says regarding turning older, "It's better than the alternative." 

I am embracing that sentiment.

After scoo-scooing the kids off to school I headed to my happy place.  A new HomeGoods opened nearby about 2 months ago and I have been looking forward to checking it out.  I would have taken a selfie of me in front of the store, but it's kind of weird to take selfies when you're by yourself, isn't it?  I mean, the kind you take in front of a mirror isn't so bad, but when you have to hold the phone up and point it at yourself, that's just awkward.

Anyway, the store is beautiful.  I walked in and stood there in awe and listened to the choirs of angels in my mind singing their little hearts out.  But on further investigation, I quickly became overwhelmed.  It was almost too big of a store.  I much prefer the hodgepodge-ness of a simple TJMaxx or Marshalls store where the "home goods"sections are more of a luck of the draw kind of shopping.  In this particular store, you could find anything and everything.  So for me it kind of took the fun out of it.

Friday night all seven of us went to see the Newsboys in concert.  It was a blast.   Good, clean music and it made my heart happy to see our kids singing the lyrics of Christian songs.  One amazing part of the night was something the drummer did.  The audio is terrible and the song is a little too heavy metal for my liking but you gotta see this.  (if you forward to one minute in and watch until 1:30 seconds, you see the cool part.)

Our jaws dropped to the floor.  It was quite a site.

I believe if your birthday falls on a Friday you get to celebrate all weekend long.  Remember the Ultimate Vanilla Cake I mentioned we had on Bill's birthday?  On Saturday we had the Ultimate Chocolate Cake and it was divine.

We had a fire going, ate cake,  and watched Mr. Holland's Opus....one of my favs.

I really wish I could tell you about Sunday at mass and how Bill was a lector.  And how he read the First Reading, which was this:

Reading 1 Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

When one finds a worthy wife,
her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her,
has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil,
all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax
and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor,
and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting;
the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors,
and let her works praise her at the city gates.

....and how every time he looked up from the Lectionary he made eye contact with me sitting in the pew.  And how a tear fell from my eye because of the beautiful gift of a husband he is and all that.  And how I really want to remember that special moment and document it on this blog...

But, I better not because he'd probably be embarrassed.

That concludes the trifecta that was my birthday weekend.  I'm so glad I was able to use stock photos from the web to make this post complete.  It makes me wonder how people were able to blog before the internet came along.
Oh, wait.