Today's Bethany's 7th birthday, and an assortment of us gathered at her Aunt Jessica's Chili's to help her celebrate the occasion; on hand were Bethie's Aunt Beth and Hannah, whom Jessica hadn't seen since August:

Sweet girls!

Look what Aunt Beth and Hannah gave Bethie for her birthday present:

A beautiful 14K gold cross on a gold chain! 

Also present was Hannah's other grandmama, Ann:

Of course, there was alsoAunt Kirstin, Benjamin, and crayons:

 

And Uncle Charles!

Hugs and giggles were the order of the day:

I loved this snapshot:

Just for Alex....yes, Beth was there too!  She was sitting next to me, though, so wasn't in good photo proximity.  Sorry about that! 

No birthday celebration is complete without some cake (chocolate lava cake) and ice cream:

It was a lovely time!  Happy birthday, Bethie! 

I'd posted at a forum I frequent about the Skylark - the car Charles uses when he's in town - and how coolant is pouring through it.  According to Pep Boys it's the heater core, and was going to cost over $300 to mend or replace.

Um, no can do.

Steve Reed, a pastor and engineer, pointed out that unless Charles really must have the heater, it can be bypassed so the coolant can do its job with the engine.

Took it back to Pep Boys and that's what they did. 

Thanks so much, Steve!  They didn't volunteer the suggestion, and it would never have occurred to us.  Yer a peach! 

Just talked to Don, and it turned out his bag was finally delivered to his hotel about an hour before.  

Why, one may ask, should it take so long for a bag to get from St. Louis to Decatur to Champaign?

Because the bag sensibly decided 8 below zero was too darn cold so made a bid for freedom when it got the chance, and hightailed it to Palm Springs, California. 

Yes, Don's bag's been living the good life - the WARM life! - in Palm Springs, while he was stuck out in frigid conditions all day, tramping from one site to another.  As he put it, "My bag's smarter than I am." 

Yesterday Don left for a couple of days in Illinois, poor man.  It's absolutely frigid up there right now, currently showing a temperature (per Yahoo! weather) of -6°, with the high expected to rocket up to 9°.  And he's conducting a site survey today, meaning he'll need to be outside a fair part of it.  

To get to Champaign (where he's staying, as Rantoul doesn't apparently boast much in the way of hotels) he flew from here to St. Louis, then caught one of those little feeder flights to Decatur, renting a car and driving the rest of the way to Champaign. 

In Decatur the airline found it had overbooked the flight, so bumped the last four people who'd made reservations.  Don wasn't among them.  However, the flight was also overweight, so four bags were pulled off the flight and left behind.

Don's WAS one of those.  That this had occurred didn't become apparent until the flight had landed in Champaign, and Don's bag - along with three other travelers' - never showed up.  Here's the kicker, though:  there were four unclaimed bags.

The bags of the four people bumped off the flight.

Now, what makes this choice is that the airplane was a tiny one that seated maybe twenty people.  It was small.  So first off, this tiny flight was overbooked by 20-25% (unless there was supposed to be a larger plane used, and it broke so this one was hastily substituted?  That's possible, I suppose), then when it came to pulling off bags, did they take five minutes to located the bags belonging to the bumped passengers?  Remember, we're talking maybe a couple of dozen bags here.  This isn't having to search through the baggage area of a jumbo jet. 

No, they just yanked off four bags at random.

Way to go, American Airlines!  Now you've separated EIGHT passengers from their luggage instead of FOUR, by keeping four people back and sending their bags on, and sending four people on but keeping their bags back. 

In addition to missing Beth and Hannah's arrival yesterday, I also had
to skip Bethie's birthday party on Friday afternoon, doggone it.

And Belle of "Beauty and the Beast" fame was there!  Is that a bummer
or what?  How often does one have the opportunity to meet a real Disney
princess? 

Fortunately, though I couldn't be there with my camera, Elaine was with hers; here's Belle with (left to right) Margaret, Meredith, and the Birthday Girl, Bethany:

As you can see, it was definitely a dress-up affair.  ;^)

Belle made-up all the other little princesses:

There was dancing:

And games:

A story involving stolen treasure:

Treasure for which they had to search:

By all accounts it was a lot of fun, and the girls had a super time.

They made it safe and sound, though Don said they both looked pooped as they staggered through the revolving door into the baggage claim area.  Dmitry and I may have missed their arrival but there was still a good-sized group to meet them, since the Kloesels showed up, including the kids.    Don said Hannah looked a little shell-shocked at the crowd, staring openmouthed from one to the other, but immensely enjoying her cousins once the grandparents and aunts and uncles had their turn with her.  After collecting the luggage, the whole kit and kaboodle headed to LaMadeline's for supper, taking up almost an entire room in the restaurant.

When I whined about photos, Don assured me Kirstin, Beth's mother, Ann, and her Aunt Sue all had their cameras working overtime, so I'm hoping they'll kindly email me photos to post. 

They made the MAC flight, praise God, and in fact managed to get onto an earlier flight from Seattle, so are now scheduled to land at 5:35 p.m.!  

Beth just called, and she's packing for their journey to Texas.  

Which is super!

However, she begs everyone pray she and Hannah get a seat on the MAC flight from Japan to Seattle, as those are strictly parceled out on a first-come/first-served basis, and what's more, there's only the one flight each week.

If they don't make it they'll have to come back to Zushi and, I hope, try again next Saturday.

So.....!  Let's everyone please ask the LORD to save 'em seats on this upcoming flight! 

Jessica went to the obstetrician this morning and had her pregnancy officially confirmed.  ;^)

When it comes to calculating due dates, don't quit your day job, Jess....she guessed latish August; the doc says Sept. 21. 

Heartbeat was strong and steady, and everything looks good.  Pray God it continues like that for both Jessica and Beth.

Having received the official word Jessica finally clued Brianna in who, bless her, immediately called me to breathlessly share the good news.  She is SO excited! 

---

This afternoon was a fun thing - a surprise snowfall.  Big, fat, gloppy flakes that didn't stick but sure looked purdy.  My favorite kind of snow.