Birthday Memories Continued Part 2!!!!

On the night before my birthday, Adelaide, my dear friend Sherian and I went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was so good and we had the best time talking and being together. Sherian has all boys, so I am thrilled to share Adelaide with her. Sherian is Adelaide's "other Mother". Adelaide and I could not ask for a more special friend!
The night after my birthday, a group of my girlfriends (that I have known for 25 years) took me out to dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and they showered me with some very thoughtful gifts. All these ladies are the greatest. We have raised all our children together and have been through both good and bad times. We all met at the same church 25 years ago. God has certainly blessed our friendships with each other.
This past Friday a group of my friends surprised me at breakfast. I knew I was meeting 2 friends, but 2 other friends showed up to treat me to breakfast as well. What a fun morning getting to talk and fellowship with my dear friends. The food was really good too.
Sorry for the 2 part post, but this is the only way I could figure out how to get all these pictures online, since they wouldn't load right the first time. If at first you don't succeed..... try, try, again!!!
This is another picture of the beautiful flowers that I received from my friend, Joyce at From This Side of the Pond. She was so thoughtful to send them to me and I am still enjoying them so much. Thanks again Joyce!!! I can't wait until we get to meet each other.
While we were in the mountains we got to go to a delicious spaghetti dinner/Bingo event at my sister's church. We had a buffet with all you can eat spaghetti, tossed salad, bread and a whole table of yummy desserts. (I should have shown you a picture of that!) This event was held in the community building next to the church where my Dad went to school as a child. It used to be a one room school house. After dinner we played Bingo and it was so much fun to yell B - I-N-G-O and win a small prize. My parents had the best time!!! And Mom and Dad won a lot of prizes.
My sweet friend Sherian gave me this beautiful planter as part of my birthday gift and it had hyacinth bulbs planted in it. After a few days, they bloomed and the aroma in my breakfast room has been amazing. The cardinals remind us of her sweet son Daniel, who is in heaven.
Right before my birthday I received this great package in the mail from my sweet friend, Valerie in Oklahoma. (Valerie Chris) She was so nice to remember me on my birthday. I love all my gifts Valerie. Thanks so much!!! The little Oklahoma magnet will remind me of you every time I see it on my refrigerator. Valerie and I got to meet each other last October. In fact, now that I have my new camera cord, I need to blog about our meeting and post the pictures. I will do that this week.
Valerie, Joyce and I are blog friends and we want to have a group meeting. We are thinking about meeting in NYC. Wouldn't that be fun?

Here is my sweet Adelaide and her little dog Holly. We got to see Adelaide while we were in the mountains visiting my sister, because Adelaide goes to college very near where my sister lives. As you can see, Holly was real excited to see Adelaide too.

I'm glad I was able to share with you some of my birthday memories this year. I turned 56 years old, but it was a really nice birthday. I am so blessed to have such awesome friends and family!! As you can see I was well celebrated this year. I still have not had my celebration with my Monday Bible study group. We have had some conflicts and have not met in the past few weeks. That makes it all the more fun. I can continue my birthday celebrations even longer.

And finally, thanks to all of you in blogland who were so thoughtful to send me such sweet comments and wish me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. You are all the greatest!! I hope to meet more of you as time goes on. In the meantime, we will enjoy our online friendships.

Love & blessings,
Melinda