Feeling the birthday love!

Yesterday was a wonderful 27th birthday -- thanks to everyone who made it so special!

David sent these beautiful tulips and irises to my office:

(Apologies for the photo quality; this was taken by my cell phone.)

And then when I got home for dinner, he surprised me with this absolutely scrumptious cake from Chez Alice, the bakery that did our wedding cake!

Chocolate cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate curls -- yum!

And I had so many Facebook birthday wishes -- I really was touched. It's striking to see how Facebook really can work to reconnect you to old friends. I was actually surprised at how many of my old friends from middle school, the ones I had added as Facebook friends just to see what they're up to these days (yup, that's me, Facebook stalker extraordinaire), actually took the time to send me a birthday message. Not to mention the outpouring of love from the community we currently live in... Seriously, guys, I love Facebook. And I love you!

I was also informed by not one, but two of my grad student friends that this year is my last n^n birthday until I turn 64. That's right -- I'm now 3^3 years old. How exciting! I love how nerdy our friends are. :)

And I was brought to tears more than once by the expressions of love in simple birthday cards from family. My kid brother Eric (who, incidentally, is graduating from college in less than two weeks!) sent me the absolute sweetest card from a brother you could ever get. And David's grandparents have included me in their tradition of sending a birthday greeting to each grandchild -- it's such a welcoming, enfolding gesture, and I appreciate it more than I can express!

So here's my long-winded way of thanking all of you for loving me -- not just on my birthday, but every day. I have been so richly blessed with family and friends, and yesterday was a beautiful reminder of that. Thank you all so much!

Birthday Week!

It's the end of April, which means we're coming up on the biggest celebratory period of the year here at Keddiebears central! :) My birthday is on the 28th, David's is on May 3rd, and then our three-year wedding anniversary is on May 13th. I like to think of it as Birthday Week, followed shortly thereafter by Anniversary Week... Good times!

This year is especially a big deal, because David is turning THIRTY on Sunday. So I'm throwing him a big birthday bash this weekend. And because he's turning thirty, and because he never really had a themed birthday party as a little kid, I've decided to go all out and throw him a Star Wars party!

I'm really excited about this party! I'm not going to reveal all the details here and now, because hey, a girl's got to have something with which to surprise and delight her guests... :) But I will say that I have super high ambitions for the birthday cake I'm planning on making. We'll see if I'm able to pull it off... It involves this:

And this:

And a few of these:

We'll see how it all turns out...

In the meantime, start thinking of brilliant and witty things to say to David on his birthday -- I know he'd appreciate the blog and Facebook comment love!

Diana's bridal shower!

My dear friend Diana is getting married this August! Diana and I were roommates all four years of college -- she and I shared a bedroom in our crazy 8-man suite freshman year, and stuck with each other for the rest of college. :) She and Brian started dating the day before my birthday our sophomore year, and are seriously one of the cutest couples ever... I'm so excited for them!

Last Sunday afternoon, we threw a shower for Diana in the city, at Alice's Tea Cup. What a cute, whimsical place! We had tea and scones and other scrumptious desserts, and a really fun time of hanging out and showering Diana with gifts for her honeymoon. And, of course, I took tons of pictures...


The interior is even cuter than the storefront!


Fairy wings decorating the wall... Plus hand-drawn paintings and quotes from Alice in Wonderland throughout the tea shop!


Diana's sister, Alice, is the matron of honor, and she did an incredible job of planning the shower and putting together the cutest details. These little tea samples were part one of the favors...


...and part two was cupcake pops! Handmade by Alice! I'd read about them on Bakerella, but didn't think I'd ever have the patience to make them myself... So I was super impressed to see that Alice had made enough for each of us to have one!


That's right, those suckers were homemade!


Diana and her female relatives.


One of the adorable teapots on our table -- they each had little animals sculpted onto the lid.


Massive amounts of food! Scones on the top tier, tea sandwiches on the middle, and various desserts on the bottom. And Sandy and Charlin peeking through the middle. :)


Roommate love! Diana and Shauna clinking teacups.


Diana after opening her gift from Alice. Don't they look so much like each other?


Diana and her bridesmaids!


Diana and the Princeton crew (minus Shauna, who had to leave early to finish writing a brief...) -- we're trying to create a "P for Princeton" hand signal, with Diana showing our '03 pride. It's totally intelligible, right?

I had such a fun time hanging out with these girls -- both getting to catch up with dear old friends, and meeting some of the other women who have played an important role in Diana's life. And we're all so looking forward to the wedding!

For more pictures of Diana's shower, check out our new Smugmug gallery!

Good Friday and Easter photos

It's been a busy, busy week... But now that we've got some breathing room, it's definitely time to post some photos from last weekend's events.

Every year for Good Friday and Easter (except last year, when Easter fell over spring break...), the evangelical fellowships on campus come together for a weekend of services commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's always such a beautiful weekend -- I love each and every one of these events.

Good Friday Service
On Friday night, we all gathered in the Rockefeller Common Room for the annual Good Friday service. It's a more somber service, focusing specifically on the crucifixion -- which is, honestly, something that I don't meditate on often enough.

The service is full of beautiful music...




...readings from scripture that walk you through the last hours leading up to the crucifixion...

...and a homily. This year, we had Ross Wagner, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and an elder at Westerly, who spoke on the shame that was borne by Jesus on the cross.

Tons of people came out to the service, including several grad students from our small groups -- it was so good to worship with all of you!





Easter Sunrise Service
At 6:30am on Easter Sunday morning, as the sun was rising over campus, about 50 of us gathered for a sunrise service on Frist South Lawn.

The service began with a trumpet call to worship...

...and continued with singing...

...readings from Scripture telling the story of Christ's resurrection and our resultant eternal hope...

...and communion.

A surprising number of students were there, despite the early hour, and a surprising number of women were wearing pretty Easter dresses, despite the chill of the morning!



And then we all headed away from the sunrise, on to the baptism service.

Easter Baptism Service
Eight of our brothers and sisters were baptized on Easter Sunday -- praise God!

Bill was giving final instructions to the eight about to be baptized as the rest of us filed in...

...and here's a shot of about half of the crowd that gathered to witness the baptisms. There were so many people there to support their brothers and sisters!

Bill led off with a short talk on the call to baptism, and the importance of this sacrament in the Christian life.

Then each of the eight being baptized gave testimony to the work God has done in their lives...

...the three leaders of PEF and Manna entered the pool...

...and each of the eight were baptized in turn.

Congratulations, Andrew, Alan, Ivy, Sumin, Jeff, Eric, Beza, and Karin!

Easter Luncheon at the Beesons'
And then, we capped off our weekend of Easter celebrations at the home of John and Angel Beeson. They invited tons of people from Westerly into their home for a fabulous luncheon spread, and for Easter egg fun!

We got to hang out with dear friends...


...and then filled plastic Easter eggs with candy and hid them for the little kids...

...who then had a blast running around the yard finding them all!




Thank you, Beesons, for a wonderful Easter afternoon!

So that was our Easter weekend! Hope yours was as blessed and refreshing!