Mama's 70th Birthday Party

Jake's Mom, (Mama) turned 70 last month so we decided to have a little party for her. She was blindfolded and brought to our church, (where she also attends) and was SO SHOCKED to see many of her friends and family standing before her! What a fun night of celebrating this dear woman!

The cake with so many candles on it! That thing lit up the night sky!! Opening some of her gifts with eager helpers, her grandchildren. One of her friends gave her this little outfit! What a hoot that was!
Annie laughed and laughed until she was crying. It was so hilarious!!
From this same woman she received a note pad with this quote written across
the top: "I'm great at multitasking, I can cough, laugh, sneeze and pee all at the same time!"
I'm just glad all her Amish brothers and sisters had left already!
I think she would have been embarrased....at least I would have been!!

Tyler and Luke with their beloved Grammie!

My Dad and Annie have been friends since they were little kids, so to say that they were happy when their children married each other would be an understatement!Annie is a JOY to our lives. She has not always had an easy life, in fact, much of it has been very, very difficult. Yet, this woman has decided that her past will not dictate her future....something I am constantly amazed and challenged by. She has been through great rejection from her family, (because she left the Amish church), but restoration is slowly taking place and she is grateful. She is a woman of true courage and diligence, a woman of GREAT faith and abounding JOY! If you ever have the chance to meet her, you won't soon forget her! And she raised an amazing man that I get to call HUSBAND, FRIEND and LOVER!

Just last evening we had a meeting with the local zoning board to discuss the plans we have to turn our carriage house into an apartment for her. They approved our plans so we now move forward with all the "red tape" so they say....the permits, inspections, etc. It is with great anticipation that we move forward. She has not had a true sense of stability for many, many years. Her husband died twenty years ago so she's been on her own in a way. I look forward to this new journey with her at our side. There will be a season of adjustment, no doubt about that, but I'm willing to make it work. She is loved deeply by ALL of us.

"When men speak ill of you,
live so as nobody may believe them."
~Plato