Steve's 57th birthday is on Sunday (Aug 30)! Every day is a celebration as far as I'm concerned! Steve is always so hard to know what to do (or purchase) to let him know he is loved and appreciated. He doesn't like to spend money on himself, so every dime I spend on him, he complains. So...I typically plan something that doesn't involve much money. This year however, I had a really good idea - and I spent money on it too! We had purchased a new car in February that has Sirius radio. The "free" service was only for 6 months - it expired yesterday. Steve loves 50's and 60's music...I love the broadway, classical, easy listening and big band music. The variety of music is so incredible... and there are no advertisements! We have really enjoyed Sirius radio. However, if you know Steve, it is not a necessity, so we were not going to renew the subscription. Well...I just picked up the phone yesterday and called Sirius and renewed it for a year. I was amazed at how thrilled Steve was that his radio was not shut off! So, I guess I got him a gift that he really likes this year! And, he only complained about the money I spent on it once!

Also, to celebrate his birthday we are going to Frankenmuth Michigan to meet Steve's baby sister (age 40) on Friday. I love to eat at Zenders. My favorite thing to eat at this famous chicken restaurant are the wonderful fried chicken livers smothered in sauteed onions. No one else likes them...but to me they are like candy! I can't wait.

Then, on Steve's actual birthday, after church, we are going to meet Jason/Kendra/Kinsen/Jaybin and Stephanie/Daniel at the Tipton park for a picnic and a geocache! Sure wish Sara/Chris/Grant/Mason lived close. It always seems so hard to meet with the family when one link is down in Florida.

On Monday of next week I am supposed to be released from the foot doctor - Wow! It will be 12 weeks. This week I have been wearing a tennis shoe on my broken foot. The tennis shoe works really well. When I put on any other shoe, my foot aches after an hour or two. I tried going to a wedding in a rubber soled black shoe (not very pretty, but at least not a white tennis shoe). I was hardly able to get to the car that evening. When I got home my foot was swollen again. So, I wore tennis shoes to church the next day. Tennis shoes and white socks! Now that was a fashion statement. It was rather humorous to me that it is not the women that noticed that I wore a pair of slacks and tennis shoes...it was the men. They were the ones that made a big deal out of the fact that this was the very first time they saw their pastor's wife in a pair of pants on Sunday morning - let alone tennis shoes.