fullness of grace: Celebrate good times, c'mon!

My 23rd birthday was last week (July 7th) and honestly, I couldn't have felt more loved or celebrated!! I felt so blessed to have the most amazing husband and friends down here! The only thing that would have made it better is having all of you in Dominica to celebrate with us! But thank you for all the packages, cards, emails and prayers for my birthday.

First off, for those of you who don't know, I love surprises. So, any chance Kyle has to surprise me, even if it's something so small, he does it just to make me happy! The Saturday before my birthday Kyle planned my birthday dinner and wouldn't let me know where we were going. Well, me, Kyle, Chris, Katy, Ashley and Ryan and squeezed into one car and headed out to Portsmouth. Soon I figured it out (since there are just so many restaurants in Portsmouth) that we were going to a place called Big Poppa's. Kyle and I had heard good things about it, but never had a chance to go.

When Kyle was planning the dinner, he wanted to make sure we had reservations. We had seen Big Poppa's before, and it had been packed with people. He was a little nervous, that if he didn't call ahead, there wouldn't be any tables available. Well we walk in, and we're the only people there! There was only the waitress and I'm guessing her young son. But still, the atmosphere was really neat, as the restaurant was on the beach.

And it turned out to be one of the best meals we've had in Dominica! I got the garlic shrimp which was delicious. Poor Kyle is allergic to shrimp and lobster, so he ended up with pasta, which he still said was good. When we first came down, I didn't like fish at all, but I am definitely going to miss it once we leave the island!

But the BEST part of the meal was the beautiful and delicious cake Ashley made for me!! She worked days on the cake, getting it just right! We're getting pretty good, we might just have to open up a cake shop! (and while you're at it, can some of you start praying that somehow, we end up living in the same place again!! She prayed for us to stay for fifth, and that worked! :)

There's a story behind why it's a sunflower... when I was younger, my whole room was decorated in sunflowers. One day my mom and I found this really cute sunflower cake in a magazine and I loved it. But we never got a chance to make it. One day I mentioned that to Ashley as we were at the pool, and that was just the inspiration she needed for my cake! I think she ended up using about 5 boxes of powdered sugar to get the petals just right! It was so sweet and thoughtful, and to top it all of, it tasted so good!!

This was the first version of the cake, but the petals started to fall off. Well that didn't stop Ashley! She got to work, and made a whole new batch!

Then, on my actual birthday, I was spoiled even more! While Kyle was at the hospital until the afternoon, Ashley planned a birthday breakfast for me, and invited our Bible study. Honestly, it was the best breakfast I've ever had! (Sorry Greg - maybe if I liked biscuits and gravy, I'd feel differently :) She went all out, and we all commented on how we felt like we were eating breakfast at a hotel! First of all, how she set everything up was so cute. Just to have all matching plates down here is a big deal! But the best part was all the food!! We had strawberry stuffed pancakes, omelets, bacon, fruit kabobs with yogurt dipping sauce, lemon poppy seed bread, blueberry muffins, and champagne punch.

She really out-did herself! Everything was delicious, and we were all so stuffed by the time we left! She even got me flowers and my Bible study gave me a basket made by the Carib Indians. Once again, I realized how blessed I am by the friends I have made down here!

Our Bible Study! (Liz & Meg are missing): Ashley, me, Ralna, Katy & Katrina

And the celebration continues!! That night for dinner, Kyle and I went to dinner at Stabox (I'm pretty sure they were copying Starbucks, even though it's not a coffee shop). When we went to order, the waitress told us that they were missing about 75% of things on the menu. So dinner definitely wasn't as good as Saturday night, but I just enjoyed having a night alone with Kyle!