One way that happened was the card shower the children gave me.
During the two months previous, unknown to me, Abby had initiated and supervised the making of fifty greeting cards. She created alongside Caleb, Phoebe, Ruthie (Johanna), and Jaden. For the two days before my birthday, I was banned from the schoolroom. I knew they were working on something for my birthday. On the actual day, while I was answering emails, they quietly scattered the greeting cards about in each room of the house.
I found the first one strung at eye level across a doorframe. There was a note on the breakfast room table that read: “We have placed a series of birthday messages in every room of our abode! Have fun as you search for them! Your Kids”
I found two magneted to the fridge, one tacked to the cabinet door, one attached to the ventahood, a couple on the piano, another wedged under the moulding around the french doors, one with the corner down in the edge of a lampshade, one standing on the hearth, another atop the television, another tucked into a photo frame, one slipped partially behind the thermostat in the hall, and so on, until I had gone into every room. There was even one hidden in the pocket of my fat purple terrycloth bathrobe. As I made my way through the house, I was amazed, and chuckled. I didn't know ahead of time how many there were all together.
I was touched by their thoughtfulness and creativity. They used colored paper, wall paper samples, old greeting cards, foam shapes, wax paper and golden tissue paper, stickers, brads, pre-printed messages, cut-outs from magazines and catalogs. There was everything from the big and elaborate, to the small and elegantly simple; from the single-lined: Happy 50th, to several lines of scripture or poetry. Some had very personal messages. Jaden even made three extras (for a total of 53). One, a large piece of red card stock, on the front bore the date and “From Jaden To Mom!” and 6 smiley faces. Inside he placed about 50 tiny floral and heart stickers, and embellished it with a satin ribbon. Every one of those cards was beautiful.
I have the greatest children in the world. And that was confirmed by the fact that Joel arrived home from work that evening with raw cashews for Mom!
That night, our maidens prepared a scrumptious meal and I opened gifts, some pretty amazing and special ones, even ones that were an answer to prayer. It was a precious, joyous time of celebrating. One of my 50 cards said "May this be a birthday you remember the rest of your life." It’s guaranteed! I certainly will.
Julia
I love this one because it reminds me of Ruthie and Phoebe when they were little. The girl on the right looks almost exactly like Phoebe when she was that age.
Ruthie used wax paper on the pink hearts purple paper one. And the blue plaid hearts are fabric.
Jaden knows I was born a Buckeye, thus the Ohio sticker. He put a Texas sticker inside!
This one began as a white embossed wallpaper sample, which was then colored with markers.
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