happy birthday community style

July 26, 2010

I have a perfect excuse for not posting the past couple days :-)

Saturday was my 55th birthday, and I hosted an all-day drop-in birthday party!  I advertised on facebook, by email, and handing out invites to friends I met during the week previous.  In the end, I received 70 facebook greetings, several more by email, half a dozen phone calls, and 35 friends dropped by!  It was a wonderful, amazing day!

Eat and be merry!

We had blueberry crepes for breakfast, fish salad and egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and a huge crock-pot full of chili for supper - with lots of snacks along the way!  A friend brought along a big birthday cake and helium-filled balloons (the first I've ever had on my birthday, lol - I was as excited as a little kid).

There were lots of leftovers, so I took them to our street church gathering on Sunday morning.  The chili went really well with the hot dog breakfast menu this week.  And I received lots more birthday greetings and hugs - and another cake!  Wow!  By the time I got home, I was partied out - and with the hot weather as well, I ended up doing the "day of rest/ siesta" thing for the rest of the day. :-)

Friends and fellowship

We had quite a selection of guests who turned up to our Saturday party.  Folks from the street ministry.  Relatives I haven't seen in ages.  Good buddies, old friends.  My kids and grand-kids.

And friends from a church I used to attend.  That church had gone through some rough times, and finally closed down.  People have been hurt, and hesitate to speak to each other.  Others have been puzzled that I no longer attend a "real church" and have, in their discomfort, kind of avoided me.  It seems as though "our church" was the connecting thing in the past - and when that formal grouping disintegrated, people no longer had much "in common."  We talked a lot, back then, about how we loved each other and how we were family - but when hard times came, sadly the "family" connection didn't seem to hold up.

Even at my party, former church friends came at different times of the day, in little groups.  Fear, I suppose.  And yet, they did come, taking the chance of running into each other.  That's a good sign, I think, because I've tried to host get-togethers before (like for my hubby's birthday), and some folks just "couldn't" come. 

We enjoyed eating together, and catching up - and sharing what God's doing in our lives.

It was a wonderful birthday!  Thank You, Father!