Great weekend

Well I do believe this year’s birthday (28 – geeze) may have been one of the best. I’m really blessed with a great family and great friends.
I think what may have made this year’s birthday so great may have simply been spending it with Laurie and the fact that I really didn’t expect anything for my birthday yet I got a number of great, thoughtful gifts, especially from unexpected places.
Friday night Laurie and I babysat for her brother and sister-in-law in Forney. Jake and Brooklyn are definitely one of a kind. I taught Jake how to play checkers and he didn’t want to do anything else the rest of the night. Now I need to teach him chess and see if he can beat me 4 games to 1 in that as well.
Brooklyn on the other hand went right to bed after dinner at Chick-Fil-A and sharing her ice cream cone with me. That was a fun and very messy experience.
Saturday morning Laurie and I had our first wedding shower at our parent’s church. I was the only guy in the room until my cousin Delaina brought her six-month old son Matthew to the party. I made sure to hang out with him for as long as I could. Of course me holding and feeding Matthew at a wedding shower had all those church ladies talking.
I’m quite certain that everyone believes Laurie and I will have our first child well before my sister Kara and her new husband, Tim — which is somewhat understandable considering Kara’s only 22 — but we’re in no rush either. Give us a year at least.
Saturday evening Laurie and I returned to an old haunt, Schezuan Pavilion for dinner.
I spent many birthday’s there in high school and it was great to be back — especially with Laurie. Their Chinese buffet is still one of the best on my list.
After dinner we went to watch Amazing Grace and I loved it.
It really opens your eyes to the true meaning behind the song and the abolitionist movement in the U.K.
Granted, I’m a big baby but there were several points where I got teary eyed watching the movie.
It was also great to see a movie with a pretty strong Christian message that didn’t suck.
I thought the editing was a little weak at times and it occasionally reminded me of a Hallmark movie feature but otherwise I thought it was a great true story with actors who came across as truly passionate in their craft.
I’m a big fan of Albert Finney since his role in Big Fish. I thought he played the role of John Newton with great passion and skill.
Definitely a must see. (read more on the WDL blog)
Sunday of course was another great time at encounter, followed by Jose helping me install my new Sirius satellite radio and then Laurie joining me for entry Sunday night.
All in all, a full, busy and tiring weekend but well worth it — and no pictures on my part to remember it by. Doh.