My big, early birthday present that "You can put things in...."

What interesting days the last 3 have been--filled with everything from big, joyous surprises to little tears of disappointment...

Wednesday morning, I knew very little of the plans that my family had made for a fun day spent in town, but I soon learned more....

Mother, Jacob and I headed for Bismarck and, while I was driving and Mother was looking at a book, the first surprise of the day slipped out and I found out that we were meeting my dear friend, Miranda in town and that we would spend the day together with her! Mother had some sessions to do at her office, so we dropped her off there and then Jacob gave me directions to the nearest ice skating rink and he and I went there to play some 2-person hockey. :) We were on the ice for about an hour and half and then went in the van to thaw out. A few minutes passed and then, joy of joys--Miranda pulled up along side of us! A big hug later, Jacob and I hopped in her car and she drove us to the library to drop off some books and then stopped in at a Christian book store and bought a copy of "No Greater Love"--which I soon found out was to be my birthday present!!!! How sweet of her! Now we get to watch it finally. :)

After picking Mother up, she and Jacob paid for us to go out to eat at Taco Johns (one of my favorite places to go if we're going to go out to eat...) About this time, I started to not feel so well, but just tried to ignore it--which worked for a while.

Later in the afternoon, we went to look at the things that go in the birthday present that you put things in, and I tried to pick from the many different kinds....... However, we learned that we needed to wait a week to get these "Things" as the big item needed to be set up before moving these things into it.

As this is getting very confusing even for me, I think I'll just show you what my big birthday present was!

Here "It" is--after we got it set up this afternoon in the living room:
YAY! I had mentioned to my family that one thing I'd really like for my birthday was a goldfish to put in the little bowl I have. They surprised me with a much better environment for a lot more fish. :) They've even set up a "Fish Fund" so I can get started! The guy my family bought the aquarium from also included a box full of additional items that are needed to keep the tank clean and running smoothly--plus all the decorations, so it's been fun going through that and getting everything set up. Now I just need to decide what kind of fish to buy...

But, back to Wednesday... I found out pretty quickly that Miranda was going to be coming home with us to spend a couple days at our farm! Our families only live about 75 miles apart, but we don't get to see each other very often, so I was really looking forward to a couple of late night talks with my friend! But, by the time Miranda and I got to our house at 7:00, (Mom and Jacob came later--after stopping at the Sam's Club) I was not feeling well at all, as you may or may not be able to tell from this picture!

Miranda spent the night in the living room actually and was so sweet to help with chores so I could rest. By the time I woke up at 10:00AM the next morning, I felt almost well again and had recovered fully by the afternoon. Thank you for your prayers!!! Now if you'd pray for the others, that would be much appreciated also, as my parents feel sick now and I'm praying hard that Miranda's family doesn't get this too!!!!!

Last night, Miranda and I got to have a late night talk, so we were both very glad for that time together. She left at 8:30 this morning, as she had a cleaning job to do at a friends' house. Here we are together with the cake my mom bought at Sam's... Mother doesn't like to ask me to bake a cake for my own birthday--so she bought a pretty cake to insure that I wouldn't. :) Thanks for the treat, Mother B!

Oh yes, I wanted to mention that Jacob spent some of his hard earned money on:

...a new guitar! He's pretty happy now too.

There's much more I could write (and will try to tell about another day), but it's getting very late here once again and I'm very much ready for a good nights rest. You too???