Monday, April 13, 2009

Older and Wiser (I hope)

Today I turned 40.

Growing older is a good thing in Nigeria. Age is valued here. Wisdom is associated with age and sought after.

It was a good day. Since it was a public holiday for Easter Monday, this was the schedule:
Party. Swim. Party.

I hosted a few friends in the morning at the Rock Garden. (See pics of the location from Sunday post.) We had coffee, tea, cinnamon rolls, angel food cake, and egg rolls. I used some questions from the game LifeStories, and we all shared various stories from our lives. It's amazing to me how many stories each of us actually has stored up inside. We all got to know each other better. It was a really nice morning.

When I came home, I noticed that my househelper was making a huge fruit salad. I tucked that little detail in the back of my mind that something was definitely up.

Because of the large fruit salad, I decided to clear some clutter out of the livingroom.

I took the kids swimming for the afternoon. It's fun to see them develop their confidence as they spend more time in the water.

A friend had asked me to come to her house at 4:30 so she could discuss something with me. When she asked me a few days ago, I thought nothing of it, but later I figured she was part of the whole set-up. However, she actually did have some important things to discuss.

After I had been with my friend for about 40 minutes, Tobi called me on Bayo's phone, wanting to know when I was coming home. I asked if there was a problem. He said, "Uhhh...uhhhh....I'll call you later." I'm so glad he can't easily lie.

When I walked in the house, it was full of people and flowers and food! Bayo actually did a really good job since I didn't have a clue until just a few hours before. And it was very smart of him not to tell the kids anything until the very end.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday a special day!

6 comments:

conniez said...

Has it really been 10 years since we all celbrated 30 - It can't be!!! I can honestly say you still look the same - maybe it's the green mango sauce

Emily said...

Happy Birthday, Mary Beth!! It sounds like you had a wonderful day.

Clint said...

Happy birthday, Mary Beth. Thank you for sharing your stories on your blog. Our best to you, Bayo, and your entire family.

Mary Beth said...

Connie, I know if you were here, you would have made me a huge 4-0 cake!

B. Haugen said...

Mary Beth - Happy Birthday! Also, thanks for your discipline to keep up your blog. I've been enjoying reading and following your lives and ministry. God bless your efforts there where so many need your support and (more importantly) the Gospel!

The Black Family said...

Happy Birthday Mary Beth! What sweet fellowship you enjoyed on your 40th !! We love you guys and continue to lift everyone up there. We showed off some of our beautiful quilts to Nate's school and all the students committed to pray for your ministry.

In His Service,