"Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers."  Doctrine and Covenants 112:1-13

"Therefore . . . I would that ye should do that which is good . . ."  Helaman 5:8

Family and friends have been generous with their goodness even more so this week on my behalf.  I am grateful for all of the thoughtful birthday wishes, cards, gifts, calls, love, and a surprise party!  The best gift anyone can get is to know you are loved and I certainly feel I am.  Lucky me to have all of you in my life.  Thank you!!

Mr. Taybarn, I think.  Our English family went to a buffet for Family Night to celebrate my birthday a day early.

Here we are--over eating like we're supposed to at a buffet--fun at first and misery later when you can't breathe

She still had room for a lime, or is that her lipstick?

We thought we were going to a teaching appointment on my birthday evening.  My surprise!  The candles are blown out and I get my wish.  Can anyone guess what it is?  What does a missionary wish for more than anything?

There's my birthday cakes!  How many people get 12 birthday cakes?  Only special ones like me--hee, hee

Here's the fam, minus one black kitty who took off somewhere.  You can guess how much Elder Blain loves the cat members of our English family, but you cat lovers can enjoy that I can get my cat fix here.

My lovely birthday sign.  They spoil me so much.  You can see why we love them!  They are SO fun!

There's not many things more exciting to a missionary than mail (other than baptisms and getting to teach people).  I had two packages waiting for me today at the door when we got back this afternoon.  Presents!!  I even took pictures of them.

Teri must have spent an hour on the stamps

Pretty stuff for the tables and kitchen makes our flat more enjoyable, from Teri and Jim

Pretty and practical stuff from Karalee & Arian--I couldn't find any gum or calcium citrate here.  The doctor says they don't use it.  The little blue flashlight is from University of Colorado at Denver, where Karalee and Arian do research.

This lemon curd stuff is what I keep on hand at all times.  It tastes like the filling in lemon meringue pie--my favorite!

A birthday treat made up of a crumpet (which I'd never tasted until our English family introduced them).  Peanut butter and lemon curd top it off.  YUM!

Since I was eating peanut butter, Elder Blain had to leave for a walk.  He hates the smell of it, but he eats peanuts--go figure.