Eli's 33rd birthday was last Friday!
Well, I was having difficulty coming up with a present for Eli's birthday. We do the "traditional" thing of going out to eat, but we also get each other a creative gift each year. My dear sister in Christ--peer mentor--co-social worker--and role model, Won-Jung Hong, gave her husband a homemade hardback book for Father's Day two summers ago. I thought to myself, "What a perfect idea for Eli!" Eli just loves being a daddy, and his 2007 birthday was the day that I told him that we were pregnant...so I thought this was an appropriate way to reflect on the past year of pregnancy while looking forward to our future life with Lil' E. Thanks for the idea, Won-Jung! (By the way, Won-Jung' husband, Davin, is an architect by day and an amazing photographer by night...check out his sight: www.flickr.com/photos/zoesappa).
Here is Eli's birthday book. It is called "Just me and my daddy!" (I wrote the story as if Emmanuel was telling it...so technically it was a gift from Emmanuel.)
After Eli read the book for himself, he read it to Emmanuel. If you look closely, you can see one of the pictures in the book of Eli and Emmanuel.
Eli gave Emmanuel a big kiss and thanked him for his thoughtful present! 
Later that night, we headed to Red Lobster for Eli's Birthday Dinner...now we chose Red Lobster because we had a coupon and we thought that they had an item on the menu that they no longer had...anyway...it was almost going to be a disappointing birthday dinner, but then our waitress brought over the other 15 waiters and they sang Happy Birthday to Eli and hung out at our table (business is slow these days, so they just hung out with us). Business is real slow and that's why they gave Eli this jacked-up "dessert"--it was whipped cream with chocolate and a candle...business is slow.
All in all, we had a great day! Now my man is 33...I can't make any "old" jokes because my birthday is in a couple of weeks and the closer I get to 30, the more I realize I'm not a teenager anymore.
We are taking the high school kids on a retreat this weekend. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move in a powerful way--and for the weather--we don't want to get snowed in!
Your (well, Emmanuel's) gift was so touching and thoughtful. I know Eli will treasure that for many years to come. What a great idea, Carmen!!!!! I'm so proud of you. But your description of the birthday dinner -- HILARIOUS!!! PURE COMEDY!!!!! "Business is slow!" LOL. I could just hear you saying it and that made it even funnier. :-) Tell Eli I said happy birthday! I never knew you and he had birthdays so close together!
ReplyDelete