Being the mother of three boys brings it’s own set of challenges, but it also brings wonderful joy. Today, I experienced a sense of pride. My 13 year old son Gabriel makes me a proud mama.

He has been volunteering each Wednesday with Carolyn Mejia our media director for several months. She has been teaching him to run and program the lights for the services. He is like a kid in a candy store and loves what he is doing.

Each Wednesday, Carolyn picks Gabriel up from school and brings him to the office. He stays until Flipside youth each week and eats pizza at the meeting. This afternoon I received a call from Gabriel telling me that he didn’t have anything to eat for dinner and could I bring him something to eat.My heart leaped as I heard the words come out of his mouth.

He has been following the Daniel Fast with us. I had already planned to bring him dinner, but hadn’t stopped to call him and let him know.I am so proud of him and his heart. He and his brothers have had a wonderful attitude about the fast. They aren’t technically counting down the days, but the chapters left in John. Each chapter represents which day of the fast we are on.

Today is my Mom’s 60th birthday. My Dad, sister and I have been planning a big surprise for Mom. It has been so hard not to twitter, blog, or have any information in cyberspace about this surprise.

Part of the surprise was me. I flew in last night at 12:00 am to DFW, and my wonderful sister picked me up. Her 3 children all slept in one room so I would have somewhere to sleep. Wow!

To seal the deal I called my Mom this morning to wish her a happy birthday. I was careful not to lie. I told her that I wish I was with her right now and that I needed to go to get ready for a meeting. The meeting was with her.

My sister has been terribly sick and needed to go to the doctor, so off we went. Her appointment was at 10:40 am and we had to be at the restaurant by 11:35 am. We both prayed the doctor would move fast. By 11:10 am we were out the door and on our way to the “meeting.”

My Mom’s coworkers met us at a Mexican restaurant. Everyone couldn’t wait for Mom to arrive and see her reaction. It was just as we thought, she burst into tears and was completely shocked.

The other part of the surprise is we are going to San Antonio!

Happy 60th Birthday, I love you!