As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Summer Birthday Celebration | 2022

 

On the final Sunday of July, we hosted our family's annual 

Summer Birthday Celebration!



We celebrated TEN summer birthdays, but we paid a little extra attention to one that was a milestone year. Our son Ryan is turning 40 this week!

🎉 Our party game was a little True-False with facts about Ryan.

🎉 We gave him a funny card. 





🎉 And we all gave him a special gift: an Irish Aran sweater. He has wanted such a sweater since he studied in Ireland one summer and visited the Aran Islands, but as a poor college student, a sweater was not in the budget. (He did manage to purchase a Claddagh engagement ring for Sarah while in Ireland, but that's another story. ♥)
 
I wish I had a better photo, but this one captured Ryan's joy at receiving his sweater!


Ryan told us the legend of the Irish cable knit sweaters, and then he shared this clip from the late Rich Mullins. It is laced with humor, but there is a message within the tale. 


Our Ryan has always been a joy to us! He is thoughtful, kind, gentle, hard-working, sensitive, talented, honest, and hilarious! He is a loving husband and father, and he faithfully follows Jesus! 

The father of a righteous child has great joy;
a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.

(Proverbs 23:34) 

 



Then all ten of us were celebrated with singing and blowing out candles and ice cream cake!

There are a couple of other milestone birthdays. Maddie is 18 this year, and Owen is 16!

(Baby K is not a summer baby, but she will officially belong to our family this week, so no one was going to remove her from the celebration table!)






And I will close this happy post with a bit of total sweetness! 



14 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to all! And especially to Ryan who has officially arrived at middle age. He wears the sweater well. The humor was gently dark. I enjoyed it. 🙂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the multitude of birthday greetings! Or was that birthday greetings to the multitude? It is sobering when one's children reach middle age. Glad you enjoyed the humor. 😉

      Delete
  2. I love your big family birthday parties! That is a funny video. I appreciate this kind of humor. What a special gift you all gave to Ryan for his 40th birthday! Cheers for baby K officially being a member of the family!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Deanna! We have so much to celebrate this month! Glad you enjoyed the humor too. 😉

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thank you, Barbara! It was Bekah's suggestion and it was a winner!

      Delete
  4. Love it! What a very thoughtful gift for Ryan's 40th birthday. So special. Tell him not to go out in an Irish boat!! Another wonderful group birthday celebration. 40, 18, and 16...milestones for sure. Congratulations to Baby K and her new parents and family!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ellen! We have much to celebrate this month!
      Agreed . . . no Irish boats for Ryan!!

      Delete
  5. Happy Birthday all you summer babies! I love the sweater and the story behind it. That is a great picture of Ryan's expression. And thank you for sharing that Rich Mullens clip. Hilarious and touching. You could see the glint of a tear in his eye just before he cracked his last joke. I remember seeing him and his crew in concert when I was very pregnant with my first born in 1989. Just watching that brought back sweet memories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Becki! And I'm glad you enjoyed the Rich Mullins clip and that it brought back such sweet memories!

      Delete
  6. Happy Birthday all! What a great sweater and funny story. Baby K has won the lottery with your wonderful family. Enjoy the rest of your summer ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Rosella, for the birthday greetings and for your very kind words! We are so excited to officially add Baby K, because she has been a part of our hearts for some time!

      Delete
  7. Such joy at your home celebrating the birthdays! Ryan looks very handsome in his Aran sweater. Happy birthday to all of you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Ryan in his sweater! (So glad that his baby sister had that idea for his gift!) Thank you for the birthday greetings!

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...