Blanket of Grace--God's Gift on My 50th Birthday

I wasn't expecting to wake up to this on my 50th birthday at the end of April!

Snow fell all day!

Rose is out replenishing the bird feeder while the handsome steer looks on jealously.

I miss Pennsylvania where my birthday was part of the whole lovely experience of springtime--

where spring is actually spring instead of snowstorms and blizzards--

but I couldn't help being awed at the beauty of this snowfall that was for once a snowfall

and not a blizzard.

There were several inches of snow outside already in the morning.

And after breakfast (I wanted bacon and eggs), birds started perching on the tree outside our window,
including this goldfinch--while I was talking to my sister-in-law Ruth who had called to wish me a happy birthday!
(More about the goldfinch in another post!)

Just the day before I had  switched our typical schedule and worked almost all morning outside, before doing school in the middle of the day, and then the children had been working on the mess around the wood piles.

There's just never any end to the work that I see when I look out windows.

And so for my birthday, it was just like the Lord covered all that mess and all that work staring us in the face--

covered it with a blanket of snow,

like a beautiful blanket of grace,

so I could enjoy my day without feeling guilty about the hopeless list of all the things that really need to be done around here.

In between all the usual work and school, I kept going to the windows and looking out at the beautiful snow--that white blanket of grace!

And lunch is leftover chicken soup with garlic toast.

And there's granola to bake,

and vaporizer to clean and put away for the next sickness.

And a day bed that Hannah outgrew needed to be cleaned and readied to try to sell on Craig's list.

I made beef cutlets for supper, and Rose helped me make scalloped potatoes. 

They are my very favorite potatoes!

 Rose also made me this luscious icecream cake with Rice Krispie crust. I wanted her to try to make it in a bundt pan to see how it turned out, and it turned out so beautiful!

(Even though we had to substitute Rice Chex for Rice Krispies!)

Jonathan and the children surprised me this evening.

I came from my room into the hall just before supper to meet Jonathan and Hannah singing "Happy Birthday to You." They were each holding a balloon. 

Jonathan motioned for me to come on out further, and around the corner down the hall toward the kitchen were all the rest of the children, each with a helium birthday balloon, singing, too! 

It was a total surprise and so sweet!

Of course, I wanted a picture, (my classic response!) but I let them get away with not having to pose all over again just for a picture. 

I will just have to let that be a precious memory I hope I won't forget!

I had a recipe on the fridge that I had saved to try on my birthday--chocolate cups filled with berries.

The next post will show more about that. 

I just loved these cute little edible baskets!

Timmy had built three rustic birdhouses, using ideas he'd found online. 

I loved the one he gave me!

He had filled it with chocolate eggs!

Carrie had knitted me a scrubbie, and she and Rose both had ordered me a new kitchen towel from dear Niece Amaris, and Crystal had sneaked them to Jonathan at IHC.

(The beans almost spilled when I discovered this strange bag in the trunk of our car at the hotel!)

Jonathan also got me this "Pioneer Woman" soup scoop (our old ones broke), and a food chopper because ours burnt out a couple days ago.

And after supper, Rose (don't tell me how she did it!) but she got me to let her give me a ride on the four-wheeler!

I thought it couldn't hurt this once.

You only turn fifty once in your whole life.

And so we went outside--almost all of us went out.
And the four-wheeler got stuck over and over, but I got my once-in-a-lifetime ride on a four-wheeler
on my 50th birthday--
out in that blanket of snow.

That blanket of grace--covering all my failures and messes and to-do lists.

That grace that says, as I read that day, "That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, 

for which you also suffer...That our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him..."

2 Thessalonians 1:5, 11-12.

Jonathan lit the beautiful candle he had bought for me.

He liked that it had two wicks!

So did I!

I couldn't have had a happier 50th birthday--

all under that beautiful blanket of grace!