February 12, 2015

Mom's 92nd Birthday!

February 12, 2015

Growing up, I used to feel sorry for my dad.  In February my mom and dad had their wedding anniversary on the 8th.  On the 11th was my birthday and on the 12th was my mother's birthday and my sister, Debbie's birthday.  Now we  have added my sister Janet's anniversary on the 11th.  I felt like Daddy had this big hit to his pocket book just after Christmas.  Then my sister Janet seemed left out since her birthday didn't come until the middle of summer.  Now I see it as a blessing for all of us since as many of us as can, get together during February. 

Carmen sang the birthday song used in Mexico to Mom in Spanish and then the rest of us sang Happy Birthday to Mom in English.  Carmen has a beautiful voice.

My brother came a week or so ago and now my sister Janet and her husband are here.  We say with all the events to celebrate, we can party all week.  Since my friend Tiny was here we did a lot of eating out this week and Tuesday night the quilters honored Mom and me.  Wednesday night we were at Jeff and Barb's for supper and tonight we had dinner at Mom's.  I like this!

Yesterday, so many of my facebook friends extended precious greetings for my birthday, that it took a couple of hours to respond to all of them.  Thank you to all of you who made the day special.  If I overlooked your post, please forgive me.  There have been cards in the mail and a wonderful variety of gifts.  I do feel loved.

 Left to right:  Me, Mom, my sister Janet - the baby of the family

Today at the office, I had to get there early so Ron could leave on jobs.  He was out most of the morning and some of the afternoon.  I did have a very good conversation with one of the customers.  Ron had talked them a few days ago.  A woman had brought her dad in to have some work done of something and she got to talking to Ron about her dad's poor hearing.  Ron told her about my Cochlear Implant.  She wanted to talk to me a little about it today.  She was sort of apologizing for him being loud and I said that is part of the deafness.  She said she realized that but was still embarrassed about it.  I understand.  Ron goes around explaining to people why I am sometimes loud.

Another customer and I had a longer conversation and it was very interesting.  As I have mentioned before, being able to converse with customers like this is such a joy.  I have had too much time where I avoided talking to them because it was just going to be too hard.  In so many ways, my Cochlear Implant has changed my life.  This man told me how he had come from Mexico as a young man and had been questioning his family's church's beliefs.  He began studying the Bible and visiting churches and in time accepted Christ as his Savior.  When I asked where he was attending church, he said right now they weren't.  Something had happened at his previous church and he had ended up dropping out.  The situation he explained, was a true problem, but it is time to find a new church and get active serving the Lord again.  I invited him to our church but told him if he found a church that taught the Bible closer to his home, he should give it a try.  He lives about 12 miles from our church.

It is easy to drop out of church for lots of reasons, and after just a few Sundays it becomes a habit.  I hope he will seek a church that is teaching God's Word and get involved.  From our conversation, I feel sure he knows his Bible well and will be able to tell if a church is teaching God's Word. 

Back to my day.  As I mentioned earlier in the week, I was having trouble balancing the business checkbook.  This morning, refreshed and alert, I quickly found my problem.  I had picked up a wrong number off the bank statement and once I put the correct number in, it immediately balanced.  Now I am ready to send the papers to our accountant. 

During the afternoon I waited on customers and prepared a bank deposit.  After we closed the office, I went to the bank and on the way, spotted a large flock of the Green Parakeets (small parrots).  On my way back from the bank, I found them again and my guess is that there were well over 300 in the flock.  They were gathering in the trees near the First Presbyterian Church and I stopped to take some photos.

It was very windy and taking the photos was a challenge, but I will keep looking for them and hope to find them on a day that provides the proper conditions for photographing them.  Their colors blend so well with the palm trees, that they are hard to spot, but if you roll down your car window, you can easily hear them.

They are hard to see, but I counted 125 in this photo of a small portion of the flock.  

( I enlarged the photo and did a head count.)

I spent about 10 minutes taking pictures before leaving to go to Mom's house for a birthday supper.  Janet and Joe Bob had picked up Bar-B-Q at Rudy's and it was so good!  Being with family is great!  Celebrating with family is spectacular! 

Mom serving the cake