Philip Turns 43!

He says that 43 is 3 years into the "middle" of life. It was a joy to be able to celebrate with our D-Group* last evening and share some of the blessings that God has given him over the years. He requested a Mississippi Mud cake which was a first for me.

*D- groups are made up of students who want to be a part of a discipleship group on campus. We meet several times each semester and have lots of fun. We share, pray, learn, and laugh together. This is a great group of students!

Philip's 40th Birthday!

After arriving home from PA we started getting ready for Philip's "big" birthday. Turning 40 wasn't earth shattering for him at all....he said as he looks at his life, he's done everything he's dreamed of and God's allowed him to do more than what he could have imagined. I'm so thankful that I've been blessed to watch God's working in his life over the past 10 years and it has truly been amazing! We celebrated with family and a few friends and enjoyed reminiscing about what God has done.

We celebrated with steak (thanks to a Kroger gift card for a Proctor and Gamble study :o), baked potatoes and salad. Then, Philip had asked his mom to make him a Mississippi Mud Cake...that was wonderful! The following day we celebrated with our Young Adult Sunday School Class....but I forgot my camera!

Birthday #39

Philip celebrated his 39th birthday yesterday! It turned out to be a good day in spite of a sick boy, rainy day and stuffy-nosed wife :o) We celebrated small scale at home since Stephen is not be be around people for another 24 hours. We ordered pizza from Papa John's (taking advantage of their $10 large pizzas - one meat pizza will feed all of us) and had a special dessert. Mom Brown gave me these really neat special glasses some time ago and periodically I make a special dessert to go in them. Yesterday I just layered chocolate pudding, whipped cream and raspberries in them. They were yummy!

And then the neatest thing happened. A box arrived from Zondervan which had the new Reader's Greek and Hebrew Bible author copies in them! That was exciting and a very nice birthday present! I think they're expecting to start shipping them on April 1st. The pre-sales have been pretty amazing and I hope the trend continues :o)

Philip

In addition to helping here at home, taking care of the boys and teaching he has taken some time to celebrate. On the 12th was his 37th birthday so we celebrated the Sunday before at his mom and dad's with strawberry shortcake.

Yesterday we had the official celebration of the release of the Reader's Hebrew Bible. It started shipping earlier this month and so far there are a lot of good reviews and comments about it. I'm so proud of a husband who "finished the job." This will be such a blessing to those who are serious about reading Scripture in the original language. His mom and dad hosted a party fit for a king. They fixed steak and shrimp (with marinated, pan fried mushrooms to top it), salad (with homemade crutons), corn on the cob (or corn on the combine as Allan called it), baked potatoes with all the fixings and pecan pie for dessert. What a celebration! Afterwards we read the sayings of Jesus on the cross to commemorate Good Friday and then fixed a fire in the fireplace. Lovely evening, good food, great company...we're blessed.