Happy Birthday to Me? (And a really cool thing)

My husband pulled off the feat of the century this past Sunday. For the first time in nearly 13 years, he surprised me! Mind you, this is no small feat. For a girl who snoops for her Christmas presents and can usually figure out what is going on under her own nose, I somehow always manage to be the spoiler of surprises. So, bravo to my hubby on this one! :)

What was thought to be a casual lunch with some old and dear friends that we hadn’t seen for awhile, wound up being a book release party for Behind Those Eyes on my behalf! As I stepped out onto the patio of one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, I was nearly bowled over by the loud, “Surprise!” 20 of my closest friends and family greeted me with. I was SO surprised, in fact, that a few seconds after the shock wore off and I realized the party was, indeed, for me, I looked at them and quite honestly asked, “Surprise? What in the world for?”

Not that the release of a new book one has sweated over, prayed for, and dreamed about for many months is forgettable, of course. The girl just doth lose her mind every now and then, ya’ll. :)

Oh, and did I mention I was not anticipating a surprise party for it’s release? Yeah, that, too.

But it was a beautiful time spent with people who love and support me intensely. It was so incredibly special to me to know I have friends who cheer with me in my life, just as they hold me up when life is not so much fun. What a blessing! (This is me with my mom, biggest life "cheerer," ever!)

And the biggest of brownie points go to my sweet hubby, Scotty, who not only organized this party AND managed to keep it a secret, but also got me a fantastic cake with a picture of the book on it (enough to feed a small country, by the way, but that’s beside the point), but also did all of this while spending most of the weekend on the couch, sick. Props, honey.



Undoubtedly, the most memorable point of the lunch came when the staff of the restaurant came and plopped a bejeweled sombrero on my head and draped me with an Aztec-looking wrap and began to sing “Happy Birthday” to me! Clearly, they had not gotten the memo on what the lunch was really for. (No, it's really NOT my birthday.) Either that, or my awesome friends who love to tease me about basically everything, gave them the wrong memo…accidentally, on purpose. Aren’t they fantastic? :)

Regardless, the surprise book release party was tons of fun. I was truly overwhelmed and honored by all of it. And I continue to pray that Behind Those Eyes will get in hands of women, everywhere. In the words of my dear friend, Devyn…every woman should read this book. I hope and pray many will.

And by the way…all of this fun at lunch topped off an already awesome morning in our class at church. Our dear friend, Alan Capps, graciously agreed to come and paint one of his famous “Jesus Paintings” for us. We were all awed by his unique and amazing way of painting the beautiful face of our Lord. To watch Alan at work, click on this link. Trust me…you will be blown away by his talent. Let’s just say that it’s probably not what you are expecting.

Oh, and guess who is the proud owner of a new Alan Capps, "Jesus" painting?

Happy Birthday to me, after all!

Lisa :)