July 17 & 18....anticipation and family

What a weekend I have had!!!  As you can see I missed July 17th so here it is...

July 17...anticipation

and what anticipation it was!!!  I have wanted to see the musical "Wicked" for a very long time.  When I found out it was coming to Calgary - and the day before my birthday... well, how could I not go and with my two beautiful daughters, Lys and Haley.  It was AMAZING!!!  We had tickets in ROW B...That's right!  I had my mouth gaping open all night long.  Tears streamed down my face at the end just because of the sheer awesomeness of something like that.  Having done productions- albeit on a MUCH smaller scale - I can appreciate the incredible amount of time and effort involved in a show.  It was the FASTEST two and half hours of my life... AMAZING!!

July 18...family
What better way to celebrate my birthday than with my GREATEST blessing on earth...my family.  Even writing this I am starting to cry because of the overwhelming joy that they bring me.

Today we went white water rafting out in Kananaskis.  Not the normal 50th birthday thing to do, but I never want to be normal...ever.

All day long my Blackberry was bleeping and binging with a constant barrage of facebook birthday wishes.  A few minutes ago I read through them.  If you ever are feeling sorry for yourself or feel like no one loves you... have birthday on Facebook.

I am blessed....

My wonderful brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, and even my grandbabies... all sharing with me blessings on this day.
so so so good!

Friends - new ones and many from LOOOONGG ago... connected by a blue little box with an "f" in it.
so so so good!!

"My" kids - from the dorm and from Colombia teams...I have read messages from some that, although they weren't born directly from me, are equally tied to my heart as if they were.  I wept through notes about turning back to God and growing in their faith and loving and serving others more and my life is so enriched because of the small part that I have had in those journeys.

These are my family....connected by something stronger than DNA...  it is LOVE.
so so so good!

Praise God from whom all THESE blessings flow!!