A Birthday to Remember Part II

It's official today--Happy Birthday to me!!

Today started off with a trip down to Shoreline/N Seattle to drop off a gift to be completed for Paul. Turns out the lady offered to have it ready if I had the time to wait in the area. I had already planned on treating myself to a walk around Greenlake (~3 mi.) and as usual I have a book on hand to keep me busy if I need to wait somewhere. So off I went for a wonderful sunny walk around a beautiful lake. I talked with my Mom (though I'd already called her at 9:16am her time as is our tradition on my b-day), sat in the sun and read for a while. Finally the call came and I picked up the gift. Since it took 2.5hrs (longer than expected) I headed straight for Goodwill to pick up some shorts for yuck night with the high school kids.

From Goodwill I headed to my favorite cafe Spotted Cow in Mill Creek. I called my Dad and chatted with him a bit, then waited to meet Paul for one of our last supervisor/intern conversations. After texting and calling his house, he finally showed up at 2pm (our usual meeting time, though we had agreed on 1pm for this day). We had a wonderful conversation. I never thought I'd get to met anyone like Paul and I'm so grateful I have. He's such a wonderful mix of creativity, wonder, questions, grace and uniqueness. Watching and interacting with him has been one of the strongest means of salvation for me this year. I don't know if I could have healthfully continued in ministry without his constantly pouring God's grace on me this year.

From the Spotted Cow I traveled a few stores away to a restaurant Azul (Latin inspired cuisine) to meet up with the office ladies for Girl's Night Out and to celebrate my b-day. Those ladies are such a hoot when you get them out on their own!! Happy hour made it a cheap date too.

Finally I made it to the Jeremiah Center for Yuck Night. I sat in pickle juice, had orange juice poured on my head, had oatmeal in my hair, tossed balloons full of old milk, ate cake (decorated with refried beans, nacho cheese, pickles, mayo, cheetos, and oatmeal), guzzled tons of a gallon of orange Gatorade, did a slip and slide (through ketchup, mayo, cheese, noodles, old milk, cottage cheese, oatmeal and any of the other left overs on the yuck cart) and then wrestled in a mud pit with mostly dirty water and rocks. So I washed off some of the yuck, but got a few bruises on my feet and cuts on my legs. Boy was it worth it though to be with the kids and build those relationships with them in goo and grossness!!

All in all, a wonderful birthday. One I will not quickly soon forget and it's up there with the top best birthdays!!