A Very Happy Birthday

I enjoyed an absolutely fantastic birthday yesterday. I spent time with family, time with friends, and time just unwinding and be refreshed.

Margo, our kids, my parents, and my in-laws all got together and bought me a hammock -- a really nice one! It's extra long, so I can totally stetch out on it with room to spare. It's made of quilted fabric and is incredibly comfortable. We set it up down at the bottom of the slope behind our house, under the shade of a tree surrounded by woods. The family also got me the latest Stephen Lawhead book (one of my very favorite authors... you have read Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle, or the Song of Albion books, or the Celtic Crusades trilogy, right? No? The get yourself to a bookstore and start enjoying!) So I spent a chunk of the day just crashed out on the new hammock, enjoying a book, savoring the beautiful weather, listening to the sounds of birds overhead and this squirrel gathering winter supplies nearby. It was wonderful!

Later, while the kids were in Spanish class, Margo and I did a little shopping together -- just the two of us. Then the family went out for a late lunch in Gainesville. I had a leadership team meeting in the evening, but it ended early when a whole bunch of friends arrived to surprise me and celebrate. It was terrific just hugging folks, sharing cake, laughing together, and being encouraged. I really feel loved and blessed here, and I am so grateful to the folks at Hope.
Throughout the day I got calls and messages from friends back in Arizona. Boy, I miss you guys! It was great catching up with some and playing "telephone tag" with others (which only means I'll get to stretch out the celebration and talk to some friends when we finally connect later this week).

All in all, a really great day!

And I've got to comment on one more event that happened yesterday. While I was laying in the hammock, Margo decided she wanted to tackle a little more yardwork. She's worked with Therese Simpson in starting to clear out some of the undergrowth in the surrounding woods, but there is still so much to go. Well, she saw this one shrubby clump of poison ivy and tangled grapevine that looked pretty messy, but caught a glimpse of the branch of a maple tree poking through. So she decided to tear away all the tangled mess and reveal the tree. It turned out to be a big task, but Margo said she thinks the pruning is a lot of fun. As she worked, the piles of debris kept getting bigger and more of the tree was revealed. Turns out it was a pretty big tree -- strong enough for Margo to stand on one of the branches to get the junk out of the top limbs. But what really makes it memorable was when Margo was nearing the end, tugging and pulling on some vines above her with all her might, and she started shouting, "Free the Maple! Free the Maple!" It became a quest for liberating this tree from its ivy-strangled bondage, and it's a sight I don't think I'll ever forget.