Happy Birthday, Julie!!!

Yesterday, June 5th was my wife Julie's birthday, her 35th to be exact. Her day started with David, Jonathan, Caroline and I making a trip to the mom and pop doughnut shop at the end of our street to pick out Julie's favorite doughnut, an apple fritter! Of course, the kids all had to pick out one as well! Later that day, the same three kiddos and I went out for flowers for Mama as well. They all wanted to get Julie sunflowers which had just come in fresh that day. In addition to that, David got Julie an orange flower, Jonathan a red one, and Caroline a pink one. It is wonderful watching the kids pick out flowers for their Mama, as they did back for Mother's Day as well. I think it is more of a blessing and treat for me watching them select the flowers than it is for Julie to receive them. Our children are truly amazing creations...for sure.

Thanks to some generous Rooftoppers, who volunteered to watch our kiddos, I was able to make dinner plans for just the two of us...errr, three of us including a nursing Selah. But, three is more romantic and peaceful than seven so we were thrilled to bring her along. And actually, Selah is the key to the rest of our evening, which turned out to be an amazing night and birthday...one of the best we have celebrated together in our 10 years of friendship.

We live in South St. Louis, very near the Italian district and along with that community are a slew of great Italian restaurants. Not knowing St. Louis all that well, I asked a friend and very knowledgeable restaurateur named Will, and he was very helpful. The first recommendation was Cunetto House "the standard" for Italian food here in St. Louis, but they did not take reservations. Next on his list was Trattoria Marcella, which did take reservations, so we had our birthday restaurant.

As soon as we arrived, the hostess saw little 7 lb Selah and she was enraptured with her. In fact everyone who sees little Selah these days is enraptured with our 2 month old who looks like a newborn still. As we were seated Mike introduced himself as our waiter and did a great job all evening. This was the first time Julie and I had an evening away from the family since arriving here in St. Louis. We don't need many of these as we adore our family and love being together, but an evening away is special anytime you can get one.

Throughout the evening we talked, got caught up on our day, enjoyed the numerous courses and slow atmosphere of the restaurant. It was wonderful time connecting with my bride and wife of 8 1/2 years. Periodically throughout the evening people would see Selah and comment and several conversations would begin. Julie and I, loving to engage people, were thrilled to meet people and get to know them... however briefly.

Shortly after we started with out dinner, the table next to us filled with an older couple who looked very sharp and whom immediatly took notice of....you guessed it, Selah. When we shared that she was not our first, but rather our fifth we got the usual look of surprise. This started a conversation that was intermittent at first, but increased progressively throughout the evening. John and Jan were from West County and had three grown children of their own. They vacationed at a cottage in Northern Michigan and John was an officer in the Marine Corps in the 70s. Additionally, they are Jesus followers as well and we shared numerous wonderful family stories and anecdotes throughout our evening. After some time they finished their meal and said their good byes. We were just finishing our dessert but had not yet gotten our bill. As they left and I asked Mike for our bill, he had a little surprise for us...

John and Jan had anonymously paid for our bill and wanted to leave before we knew. Julie and I sat there in shock. We had saved for several months and with our budgeted funds had spent quite a bit on dinner that evening, and yet this wonderful couple, fellow Marine, brother and sister in Christ gave us the ultimate gift on Julie's birthday. You see these past several weeks stuff has happenned that is part of life but has caused us some difficulty and presented some challenges. These difficulties and challenges have not yet gone away and they might not for some time. Yet, that expression of grace from God through John and Jan, left us both speechless and with tears in our eyes. This was God's gracious gift to us amidst our little storm and it confirmed His presence with us and also His tender and gentle touch upon us in the midst of our struggles. Julie and I laid in bed that night just reveling in the amazing evening that God had brought about. Even today, we still are soaring on the wings of God's work through one expression of generosity and grace last night. Happy birthday Julie!!!