Ed and his "60s!"

This year marks a milestone for Ed as he enters his 60s on April 27th. To launch this period of celebration, we planned a surprise party for him on Saturday, April 12th as friends from our town, community theaters, school, and the Knights of the Silver Sword mixed wonderfully together to compare stories of how Ed came into their lives.

My niece Christine and I were able to keep him "in the dark" until about three hours prior to the party. This is when he walked into the house to see the dining room set with food and the back room set for beverages. He was still puzzled until he saw his baby pictures set around as decoration and finally put everything together. It was a good thing because we desperately needed his help in getting the house ready!

I can't thank Christine enough for helping to keep me sane over the past few weeks. Its interesting that I can plan major global events involving thousands of people but tend to FREAK when a small event is in my own home.

Also, we are fortunate to have as our friend, Steve Peters. Steve is a VERY talented artist who captured this event with a lot of amazing pictures. He is gifted with a special "eye" that is able to capture the sparkle of each individual in his photos. Also, he had a bit of psychedelic fun with a few of the photos that are included as well. His photos along with a few of our own are available in our album on our Picasa web site. We hope you enjoy them. If anyone else has photos to share from that night, we would LOVE to have a copy of them.

If, after seeing the photos, you're wondering WHY there is a chocolate covered lawn mower? Well, while birthday gifts were not required, we did suggest that "tithes and offerings" of a chocolate nature be designed with imagination and creativity - a dangerous thing to tell our friends. There were many amazing designs that included a chocolate "cake" made of chocolate candy; a plunder bag appropriately monogrammed with "Mine" that featured security devices (two mousetraps); and an amazing chocolate trifle topped with chocolate covered espresso beans. BUT the winner was what you see in the pictures. Our dear friends, Dan and Carol McAfee covered a small child's toy lawnmower with a myriad of chocolate candies. Ed made a point of informing them that he also has a 36" deck mower in Chicago that they could work on as well (hint hint).

Surprisingly, the time went by VERY fast and everyone left in the wee hours. When the house grew silent, we were privileged to realized how blessed we are with knowing and loving these people. Thanks to all!