The Birthday Week

The birthday week has come to an end. It was a great week of celebration with friends and family!

Tuesday was my (Deborah’s) birthday. A wonderfully simple evening with chocolate, a movie, Chinese takeout and no dishes! Oh the simple joys in life!

Wednesday was not such a good day. Neal unfortunately was in yet another small fender bender. Nothing major and no one was hurt thankfully, but the car does need some more work. He came home afterward to chocolate cake with chocolate icing and fresh amazingly good strawberries, so that kind of helped with the bummed-out attitude!

Thursday was Neal’s birthday! After a full day of working and school, we met up with Neal’s parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law. We ate at P.F. Chang’s and had a good time with all of them. We are headed up to Athens in two weeks to meet with almost everyone on Neal’s side of the family so that we can all celebrate the 6 birthday’s in February and March. Should be fun!

Friday I had plans to surprise Neal. Yes, I kept the secret for about an entire month!! I didn’t cave until Friday at lunch! I had booked a suite at the Marriott Marquis...on the 29^th floor!! Amazing views of Atlanta! Then, that evening, we walked a block and a half down to Agatha’s: Atlanta’s original comedy, murder mystery dinner theater. The show was Mayberry R.I.P. It was HILARIOUS! I think we laughed the entire night! Everyone in the audience has a part, Neal was Jud Clumpett, a hillbilly and I was Doodle, one of the ‘Fun Gals’.

Saturday we were able to relax and enjoy the day. Neal had a lunch meeting with a friend, and I was able to do some shopping with my mom!

On Sunday, Neal told our Pastor that he had decided to join the mission team that will be going to Croatia in April. We have been praying about this for several weeks now and believe that this is the right timing for him to make this trip! It is during his “dead week”, the week before his finals. He has been able to move several of them around so that he will not miss anything important while he is out of the country.

On Tuesday I got a call from my mom telling me that my on Sunday the 1st and Monday the 2nd, my grandpa had two minor heart attacks. He was able to get to the hospital immediately, the second one actually happened in at my grandmother's doctor's appointment. The doctors were able to go into his veins and arteries and find two separate blockages. One of them they were able to leave alone because the blood was able to find a different route of sorts. The second one they cleaned and removed the block as well as put in a small stint. The doctors were very positive after both surgeries and expect him to fully recover. Tuesday the 2nd was his 80th birthday. Please keep him and my grandmother in your prayers as they make some adjustments and start to recover.

So, another year older and we can’t wait to see what adventures and opportunities are going to come up in this next year of life!