Hannah's "Sweet 16" Birthday (Part 1)

"And Hannah prayed and said:“My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation."

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah officially turned 16 on Monday, June 21st:  the first day of summer.  :)  We decided to have her birthday party on Saturday the 19th, because Daddy and Mama were taking her somewhere special on her birthday.  Friday night after dinner, some of us went shopping nearby for birthday gifts for her.  Saturday Hannah and I were working at Lavender Fields, so Mama and Lexi (along with everyone else) cooked like crazy, wrapped presents, and decorated the house.  When we came back home, after work, everything was ready for us!  We got Hannah all dressed up, and then ate dinner about 30 minutes later.

The bouquet on the table.

The table was set with a tablecloth Grandma gave us (from one of their cruises), Mama's fine china and glass goblets.  It was so pretty!

The tablecloth.

Here you get a better idea of what the table looked like - it was much prettier in real life! :)

Lydia patiently waiting for prayer and dinner.

Hannah at the table.

Dinner that night consisted of grilled chicken, greenbeans, carrots, buttermilk rolls and mashed potatoes with Hidden Valley Ranch dip mixed in and topped with cheese!

Mi familia - minus me.

After dinner and clean-up everyone got comfy (put on jammies!), signed cards, and then Hannah opened presents when we were all gathered.

That's an "H" on the envelope - courtesy of Lexi.

Reading...

Then, she opened presents.  The biggest gift (from the siblings, that is) for everyone's birthday is...food! :) 

My beautiful sister.

Her cake. 

I made the cake on Thursday and then Lexi made the icing and decorated it for us!

Lighting all 16 candles.

Blow the candles out, Hannah! or is she sneezing :)

I forgot to add that after the presents were opened, we watched about half of Cecil D. BeMille's Ten Commandments.  After cake, we watched a tiny bit more and then went up to bed.

Before I close this post, here's some of Hannah's pictures:

Hannah is my best friend and I am so grateful the Lord gave her to me as an older sister!  She's always there to help me when I need it, or just to be quiet, when I need that too! :)  She is a gifted pianist and plays for us just about every morning, the sweet piano melodies filling the house.  She is a great example to all of us younger siblings, and she takes her role as the first born daughter seriously. 

We love you Hannah!

                                                             Kimber and all the Wasses'

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Before I end, I want to tell you about some friends of ours! :) 

Our friends, the Nice's have recently started a business, called Drury Lane Farm. They raise chickens on lots of open pasture - the way chickens are supposed to live :) - and sell fresh, yummy eggs and broilers/roasters now!  Somewhere in the near future, they may even start longhorn beef!

But back to the present, feel free to check out their website at http://www.drury-lane-farm.com/ and here's the Nice Family:

They really are a nice family (okay, I couldn't resist!) and some great friends of ours - so, check them out and give them a call or drop them an email if you're interested in any healthy, delicious chicken and eggs! :)