On the wings of prayer: Birthday and Halloween

They always fall on the same day, year after year. This was the 35th time. Goodness - I am 35.

And I have to say, this was the best birthday I've had in a long time. Let's see what this old mind can remember....

Some background - A few weeks prior to my birthday I emailed Brandon at work and told him that I wasn't going to hint at what I wanted. I informed him that I wanted a weekend away with him to Omaha for some shopping, and that I would love, love, love to go to a Lincoln volleyball game the same weekend.

As we prepared for the celebration with his folks, he told me he wasn't able to volleyball tickets for the NE/Penn State game. I wasn't surprised; it was near impossible.

I celebrated with the Luke family a few nights before my birthday. Jacki made Mexican Chicken Chowder soup for my meal. Sarah added some fruit; we had some bread, and it was all yummy!

I got some new things for my kitchen, some spending money and some other goodies.

And then Sarah had me open my gift:

A Husker N with a volleyball on it. I loved it! Last year for her birthday I had given her an N with a football on it.

After I opened it, she handed me a note from Brandon informing me that I had three tickets for the NE volleyball game vs IU in a couple of weeks. I was giddy! I got to go to a game! Sarah made it happen - thanks so much. And I was also thankful for the friend that donated her three tickets for that game. More to come on that.

For my cake, I made pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. So yummy.

My real birthday was full of fun, too. To start off, I had an eye appt. Good times learning your eyes have again gotten a little worse. Another sign of old age. From there, I took my dilated eyes to meet Sarah for coffee at Starbucks. However, it was more than that! She had Gretchen and Lindsey there, too. And my favorite donuts to go along with my hot chocolate. I felt so loved.

I was the able to go to my fave Thai place with Brandon for lunch. I always treasure that time with him.

The afternoon was full of phone calls, texts and reading sweet messages on FB.

Brandon came home for a quick meal (left over soup....I wasn't going to cook on my birthday). We got the girls in their costumes and off we went.

Three tigers this year - costumes I bought at 75% off last year. Sweet little tigers, aren't they?

We went over to Lindsey's house first to see all our friends dressed up. There was the "Peanuts" gang, a gymnast, Doc McStuffins and a pizza box. It was a beautiful evening to be outside!

Surrounded by my friends - G and L

From there we headed over to the cousins' house to walk their neighborhood with them. What a fun looking crew. We enjoyed our time with them like we do every year.

After we walked a couple of streets with them we stopped by at each of the girls' teachers home. I love how they are excited to see their teacher, and the teachers are always excited to see them, too.

We came home, got the girls in their jammies, and then they hid my gifts in the living room.

Each girl had drawn a picture for me on a white board. So special!