Blessings Abound

I've been planning this surprise for months and yesterday was the big day.  Dan's 50th birthday party.  His actual birthday in on June 12th but I planned for the party after the morning service yesterday.  

I found that the blessings were in abundance yesterday.  Thanking God for blessings #1621-1625.

We had "Friend's Sunday" at church and so he was expecting to see new faces and old friends so it seemed a perfect way to incorporate the surprise.  One of the first blessings was just seeing a full church!  Our church is small and struggles much of the time.  Unfortunately, we find that when people don't feel like it, or feel down, or have something better to do, they just stay home.  And they don't realize how much that affects the rest of the church.

It was wonderful yesterday to have a large group of people, excited to be there, singing and smiling!  It made a huge difference in the atmosphere of the place.  My husband was energized and had a wonderful sermon.

At the end of the service, we let him know about that party and I had a video presentation that I put together for him.

Here are some pictures of the day.

I had two friends who offered to do the grilling so I could concentrate on keeping the guests happy.  Thank you ladies!  They did a great job, and kept me laughing all day.

The teens found a way to stay cool.
 

The little ones had a great time.

One of the things I was most excited about was the gift I put together for Dan.  Friends, family, and church members gave me words of encouragement and notes for him.  I was able to compile them all into a published book, along with different photos.
 

I also added different quotes that I thought fit, scripture that he finds especially meaningful, and even a poem that he had written.

I kept feeling like things were a bit disorganized all afternoon because everyone was spread out all over the place.  It was extremely hot and humid so some ate outside and some were inside.   I never had anyone in the same place at the same time to give him his gift or have everyone sing, "Happy Birthday" to him.  Some had to leave early and others came late.  And of course, half of the time, I forgot to take pictures.

However, when I woke up this morning, there was a note on my computer desk from Dan.

"Love you!  Awesome day yesterday.  It was perfect for me, exactly my style!"

So he was blessed, which makes me feel blessed!  

Another blessing was that we were due to get severe thunderstorms yesterday afternoon.  They held off until the last guest had left and then we got hit with a massive downpour, severe winds, and hail.  It lasted only about 10-15 minutes, but it was enough to bring down some large trees only a couple of miles down the road.  I'm so thankful it didn't happen in the middle of the party.

A final blessing today was waking up to find a book review of my book, Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World,  from Debbie Jackson of Homemaking Dreams.  Debbie has been a blogging friend for years.  You can go to her blog to read the book review here.  Thank you, Debbie!

So all in all, blessings abound. :-)