Happy 40th

40th anniversary celebration

We arrived at the cabin for our family reunion on Saturday the 16th (that will be another blog post.  And if you think there are a lot of pictures in this post, just wait!!).  Esther had baked the anniversary cake at home but it still needed to be decorated.  Elizabeth, Dan and Marc helped Esther with the decorating.

  

Even-ing and stacking the layers.

Frosting the next big layer.

Ready for the decorations

On Sunday, our anniversary, everything was ready and waiting for us when we came out of our room.  It was beautiful.  They had done such a nice job on everything.  And that was just the beginning.

We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the beautiful view.  This became a morning habit for me.  The view changed everyday with the clouds and the weather.

After lunch we started the celebration.  Dan and Marc had worked up a short church service. Marc led some songs and Dan did a short devotional on God's faithfulness.  It was very good.

The two couples had prepared an anniversary Bingo game using our numbers--numbers that meant something in our lives.  The game pieces were Kisses.  When someone won they got a hug from Mamie and Papy.  This helped the kids to get to know us better.  It was special.  As we played they all ended up winning because each time they got three in a row they would come and give us hugs.

1968-Our Mustang (although I think we finally remembered it was a '67).  1982-The year we arrived in France.
 3-Number of cats we've had.  51100-Our zip code in Reims.  2002-Our first grandchild, Micah was born.
1971-The year we met.  1964-The year Mike was saved.  1957-The year I was saved,
1973-The year we got engaged.  There were a couple other cards with different numbers on them too.

Guess who won, first?

Nope, it was Esther AND Elizabeth!

Telling the story behind the numbers.

 Lots of hugs!!  Lots of winners!!

 

Then we had the gifts.  When Mike gave me his gift I gave him a kiss.  The kids' reactions were so cute.  

The sign Dan made.  Everyone signed their name on the back!

An etched vase/candleholder.  Here I'm showing the kids the etching.

Arranging the roses in the vase.

                                                     

The kids were guessing what it was.

The kiss!!

 The reactions!!

After the gifts we cut and ate the cake.  Then it was time for pictures (See previous blog).

But the celebration wasn't over yet.  The girls had also planned a special dinner for us.

Sparkling grape juice to celebrate.

Steaks, baked sweet or white potato, ceasar sald and rolls!  DELICIOUS!!
 And cake for dessert.  Actually we ate cake all week.

The whole day was wonderful! 

 

May 17, 1975

May 17, 2015