Despite the insanity of Yiayia and Papa (Steve's mom and dad) traveling 2,000 miles, arriving just hours before Elias's 1st birthday party, staying only about 48 hours, and following up their visit with a brief trip to Phoenix before heading home to Munster, I think we had a really nice, relaxing visit! Throw in their our church's annual meeting, a Valentine's date night for Steve and me, and a kind of impromptu anticipatory birthday celebration for Yiayia and you would be reasonable to think the whole weekend was complete chaos! I think in the midst of everything that was going on, God had the grace to turn his face toward us and give us peace (Num. 6:26).
(WARNING: huge tangent coming up -- skip down to the pictures if you're not particularly interested in my rambling about my own attitude, and God changing it.) I think that was especially true for me, as the week before I had moments where I thought myself to be completely crazy, or foolish, or both to think I could pull off having the house ready for a weekend visit with the grandparents and our son's first birthday party when we still have unpacked boxes and ongoing home improvement projects. I practically begged my very gracious husband to stay home from a Wednesday night church commitment because I was feeling overwhelmed and underqualified for the task at hand. My extremely type-A flesh was quickly taking over this vessel.
Thursday morning I had a more extended time with God than usual -- largely because I was catching up on the Bible study homework I had procrastinated on that week (really, that's how it tends to go every week), and an awesome time during the group study itself just basking in God's word and who He is. I didn't have an "aha" moment when a particular scripture or the Holy Spirit really said something specific to me, but just resting in Him and being reminded that he is God and, as Priscilla Shirer says in the video accompanying the study, "He is able and fully capable of being God." She also said, "God is good at His job," and I added in my notes, "and just good." We discussed so many scripture passages that are comforting reminders about God's character: Isaiah 55:8 where it tells us that God's thoughts and ways are completely other, Psalm 145:17 that talks about the Lord's righteousness and faithfulness, Jeremiah 29:11 that reminds us that God has a plan for us, and it's a really cool one.
I could go on and on, but the point is, God used his Word to provide me a tangible sense of being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2). A weight was lifted and I was no longer burdened with feeling pressured to have every square foot of the house immaculate (which was totally unrealistic, but yet that was the standard i was holding myself to) and every detail of the party perfectly planned. I was able to let go, accept that some tasks on my list would go undone (and be ok with that), and really agree with God on His priorities for the weekend. Hopefully, if you asked my husband, he would say that he noticed a change in me too!
Ok, so back to the visit itself and the cute pics of the kids (which is, I'm sure what you're most interested in!):
We had an E is for Elephant theme for the party because we often call Elias "E" and elephants are just so stinkin' cute! Here are a couple of the cute things we made for the party. We also made adorable elephant-shaped cream cheese mints, but I never even pulled them out of the freezer! Oh well, I guess I'll be looking for an occasion to serve elephant mints, if they survive very long -- Steve and Grace have been enjoying the fact that we didn't serve them at the party so they can have them all to themselves!
Following a Funston tradition, we always turn out the light for candles/singing! Uncle Jon might disown us if we didn't :)
E wasn't too sure about the cake at first. I think he really wanted another of the nutter butters his sibling had been supplying him with all night.
He obviously warmed up to it, though!
The kids playing with our new friends, the Booths -- Azure, Aurora, and Eve.
Elias wasn't the only one that enjoyed the chocolate, banana, PB cake!
Speaking of chocolate cake, we just had to introduce Yiayia to Daddy's favorite eating establishment, Atomic Ale for an early birthday celebration. The have the BEST chocolate cake that they make with one of their microbrews. Yiayia even said it was better than her favorite Jewel chocolate cake! Also noteworthy, I had the only sip of beer that I didn't totally hate.
Thanks for coming to visit! We love you and miss you!
