it's my birthday and i'll blog if i want to... blog if i want to... blog if i want to...

go back and read the title with a monotone indifference. thanks. proceed.

so, i'm 35 now. september 27, 1972, jefferson hospital in birmingham, alabama. richard and vicky had their 3rd kid in 4 years.

cindy woke the girls up before they "woke me up." i saw them scurrying down the hallway pretty giddy. that's not the normal behaviour in our home in the mornings. but they were happy. they couldn't wait to surprise me and give me gifts. so they rush in carrying things and saying: "da...ddy, wake up daddy, it's your birthday. we've got presents.."

so i pretend to snore a time or two and act disoriented. it was almost as if i was bating them. and they bit. "da...ddy, wake up! it's your birthday! c'mon daddy."


so i turn over and look at my beautiful two daughters. they had smiles and a bag full of presents for me. so i "read" the cards, they were basically pictures of things i like and represent love. a rainbow heart from lolo. hearts, soccer and basketball from aubrey. things i love. with their name on it. i gave them their names.


so, i smile and thank them. i truly was excited... not so much for the cards, but the fact that it made them so happy to bring me joy and do things they knew i enjoyed.


so then i open up the gifts. i pulled out several things: one by one i pull out 3 "hot-wheel" cars. i told them how fun it was going to be to play together with them. then, i pulled out a snack bag of "gold fish". cindy bought these last week for aubrey's soccer team. and then i pulled out a zip lock bag of chocolate candy. this candy is from their dessert bowl. after dinner every night they each get one or two pieces of candy. that's all the candy they get during the day.


as i thought about it, my heart was pounding. i was smiling. they were so excited to give me what they gave me. but everything they gave me already belonged to me. it is all mine. it was given to them by their father. it was bought by their father. and they brought it to me with joy, and it made me extremely happy.




cindy and i grabbed some lunch at mcalister's. i can't wait to spend the next 35+ years of my life with her.i actually worked a full day today. we're taking off to dallas tomorrow, so i just had to get stuff done. but, we met up with family and friends at tele's in spring hill for my birthday party. about 25 people gathered to eat some of the best food in town. it was a lot of fun. i was so glad to be able to celebrate and thank God for these people who help me live for God and experience his love and joy, and over come trials. God is so good to me.

of course, i ordered the #11 (enchiladas mejicanas - cheese enchiladas with fajita beef on top) - cut the pico and the onions in the enchiladas. it came out just like i ordered it. and i did some damage to it! cindy ordered the #4 with the sour creame sauce (chicken enchiladas).

cindy helped the girls ... or the other way around... make chocolate cup cakes with oreo icing. hmmm...

and then the birthday boy special. a baskin robbins oreo cake. now that's good stuff. becky can probably do a cake just as good (with blue bell) but she's in the middle of her volleyball season right now.

uh... who gave us this? becky... i think this one is yours. i thought this is a funny pic. caleb is 4 months old today.

i've been around here for 35 years now. i've prayed prayers of thanks giving to God for this life that's mine. i've told him how i want to give him my life, i want to use my gifts for him, i want to thank him for things that i've done or have had this year. that's when i realize that my life is a vapor of his breath. the gifts i have are his - not something i've developed and now show him something new. the things that i have that i say i want to give to him are already his.

all i have is his. it was his already. it is his now. it will be his. i wonder if he had a smirk on his face this morning when i woke up and "told him" about the gifts i'm going to use for him and the things i'm giving him. i wonder if he smiled and hugged me and thought: "ricky, your life is my gift to you, your gifts are my glory i placed in you. it makes me so excited to see you give the to me with joy. you please me." as i go through my day, a light bulb comes on in my head. "none of it was ever mine to begin with..." and i see Him smirk with joy.

P.S.: as we're getting ready to leave the exquisit cuisine establishment of tele's... in comes another huge group of people to sit in the same room as us. a guy walks in with a pink baseball cap on and a dallas cowboys "t.o." jersey (#81). it was neal mckoy. he does a lot of work for the "angel network", you know helping sick and handicaped kids. good stuff. and no, he didn't "give me that 'wink'!"