Belated Birthday Bonanza!

When you're married to a pastor if your birthday falls on a Sunday it's a little like when you were younger and you had to go to school on your birthday. Such was the case for me this past weekend. Add to it that Sabian was preaching both services (our pastor is on a missions trip to the Galapagos Islands - how cool is that?!) and it was the icing on my Sunday birthday cake. Knowing this, we had planned to celebrate the day after and Sabian was in charge of planning the day so I had that to look forward to.

I guess you could say my celebrating really started with my trip home the week before. That post is still to come, but it was good to be with my family for a few days. Then, the Saturday night before my birthday a lady from our church had us over for dinner and cake.

Sunday morning I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode, or some other surreal show/movie. I'm not one to proclaim that it is my birthday but it seemed as though no one knew or remembered. One person at church wished me a happy day but other than that it was as if it was any other day. Which, come to think of it, I suppose to them it was!

Since Sabian was preaching both services and had command of the microphone that day I had previously warned him to not make any announcement regarding my birthday. He obliged until after the service Sunday night when, apparently a surprise cake and ice cream gathering had been planned. It was all very sweet and was not planned by him, which was his out. I had expressed to him earlier my observation of my seemingly forgotten day and that night he said, "See? No one forgot, they were just playing coy."

Here's me and my girl on my day:

Monday brought about the day Sabian planned for us, which started with a little sleeping in and then a trip to the beach for the three of us. The weather wasn't the most cooperative, but it cleared up enough for us to spend some time out there, take a quick dip in the water and a walk. We steered clear of getting in too deep because the water was actually fairly rough and Addie was none too fond of the dancing waves.

When the rain started making a reappearance, we packed up and headed down the beach to a restaurant where we could still enjoy the sand and water from the safety of shelter. While I thoroughly enjoyed my crab legs, eating this particular meal with a sleepy six month old was a bit of an adventure. Once through with her carrots and fruit, Addie was ready for a nap. I cracked those crab legs faster than ever and then snuggled a sleeping Addie while Sabian finished his. Crab legs are a lot of work, but oh so worth it.





After the beach and lunch it was time to head home for showers. I still didn't know what was in store for the rest of the day, but got Addie and myself ready. When we were just about done Sabian laid out the plan - we were going out on a date while Addie spent the evening with a couple from our church. You'd think that this announcement would evoke excitement, and while it was an appealing offer, seeing as it would be Addie's first time with a sitter, my emotions were...mixed.

I know, I know - crazy that this was the first time we'd had Addie stay with a sitter in all of her six, almost seven, short months here, but it simply boils down to us being able to have her be with one of us or both of us without any problems. It isn't that we haven't wanted to spend time just as a couple, but until now we just hadn't made the effort to think about who we would want her to stay with and we've just been able to pack her up and taken her with us wherever we go.

Maybe it was good that I didn't have time to think about it, because before I knew it we were on our way to the sitter's. As it turns out, Sabian had done some covert homework while I was gone and during a phone conversation brought up the subject of sitters and got my take on who I would feel comfortable with. He was able to line up a couple from our church who had previously offered to watch Addie whenever we needed them to and they were more than happy to take her in for the evening. Long story short - Addie did great and I only called twice. She was sound asleep when we got there and had had a fun night.

Our night consisted of dinner, dessert, and a trip to the movies. We saw 9, which was my choice, and we really liked it. We had the whole theater to ourselves, something that hasn't happened since we went to see Ray way back in the day. Sabian did remark that it was funny that we dropped Addie off and then went to see an animated movie. Speaking of the animation - it was awesome.

So, birthday 2009 is over and it was a good day. I am thankful for my husband who planned the festivities and thoughtfully made time for the three of us to have some time together and then just the two of us.