Dear Justin,
When I look at my life, no one has quite had the impact that you have. Through highs and through disappointments, we have overcome victoriously. When I look back, I see a life full of God's blessings, but at no point in my life have I ever felt so complete. The Lord is truly shining on us right now, and I can't wait to see what other little blessings God has in store for us. Over the past 30 years, you have become the man I am proud to call my husband. Although you are human, and you make mistakes, you are committed, strong, caring, considerate, determined, successful, passionate, loving, supportive, brilliant, and exciting. I could go on and on. You are truly celebrating 30 great years. I look forward to the next 30, and the next 30. I love you!
When I look at my life, no one has quite had the impact that you have. Through highs and through disappointments, we have overcome victoriously. When I look back, I see a life full of God's blessings, but at no point in my life have I ever felt so complete. The Lord is truly shining on us right now, and I can't wait to see what other little blessings God has in store for us. Over the past 30 years, you have become the man I am proud to call my husband. Although you are human, and you make mistakes, you are committed, strong, caring, considerate, determined, successful, passionate, loving, supportive, brilliant, and exciting. I could go on and on. You are truly celebrating 30 great years. I look forward to the next 30, and the next 30. I love you!
Love,
Whitney
So, Justin's 30th birthday was Sunday, November 4th. I couldn't wait to give him his present, so I let him open it late Saturday night... hey, it was almost midnight! I had searched high and low to find a Nintendo Wii, but after unsuccessful attemps at 7 different stores, I got in touch with a few friends, and our friend Tim happened upon one at GameStop, so he bought it for me. Thank you SO much, Tim!
Here are the presents, all wrapped up.
Surprise! I think I was more excited about the Wii than Justin is, but I'm sure he'll learn to love it! I wanted to get him something that he wouldn't buy for himself. Something that we can just let loose and have a little fun with. Justin set the Wii up Monday night, and we've had fun with it so far!Sunday morning, Justin woke up to birthday cards from me and from the dogs, and to what he was thinking was just another typical birthday. And it was, for the most part, until the end of the day. We went to church, went to lunch with our friends Brian and Kristen, and then wasted time at the mall for an hour or two before going home to play with the dogs. We always have Small Group on Sunday nights at 6:00, so Justin thought nothing was out of the ordinary when we left for one of our favorite restaurants, Jim 'N Nick's at about 5:45. See, we usually meet at people's homes, but about once a month, we usually do something different like go to a park, or something like that. We walked into the restaurant, and went straight to the back room, which is a semi-private room they open when they are busy, or for parties. Rounding the corner, Justin saw a lot of familiar faces, but it wasn't until my dad yelled "SURPRISE!" that it really clicked. Somewhere around 50 people showed up to wish Justin a happy 30th birthday. It was fun to surround Justin with so many people who love him! I knew that surprising him would be a huge feat, but we were able to pull off the huge party without any sort of suspition from the guest of honor! Here are the pictures from the party.
Justin and Me at the Party! He was so surprised!
Red Velvet Cake, Justin's favorite!
Justin blew out all 30 candles with one breath. Hope his wish comes true!
The Castleman Family
Amy, Elyse, Steve, Justin (a Hardy, not a Castleman), and Emily
Missing in the picure is Erin.
Our Small Group at Church (clockwise from bottom left)Maghan, Martina and Camron, Shaun and Ashley, Jared and Rachel, and Hal
More of our awesome Small Group!Jessa and Mike, Bret and Lanie, Cortney
The Koski FamilyTodd Howell, David Sr., PK, Momma Koski, and Melissa
The DeRosa Family
The DeRosa FamilyCherry, Joe, Meredith, her boyfriend, and John
Britney and Scott
Ken, Kameron and Kelli Gunnells (Kelli is one of my work partners)
The Leach Family! (clockwise from bottom left)Mom, Mimi, Krista and Jordan, Daddy Bill, Josh and Becky, and Dad
Jordan and Josh are my cousins. Their mom is my dad's sister.
Not pictured here are my brother Matthew, and his wife Amanda.
Ashley, Me, Justin and Daniel (Daniel's wife, Dana, couldn't make it because they had a sick little boy. Get well soon, Chase!)
Glida and Richard Magnani
Justin and one of his best friends, Daniel Pittman
My good friend Ashley and Me
Kim and Keith. Keith is Justin's long-time good friend. We recently went to a party celebrating their marriage!
And last, but certainly not least, two of our very best friends, Andrea and Tim
A big thanks to everyone who came to the party, and to all of you who wanted to make it, but couldn't. And a big Happy Birthday to my fantastic husband. I hope your 30th year is the best yet!
7 comments:
The note you wrote to Justin at the beginning of this post is so beautiful and touching. God truly blessed you both when he brought you two together!
Whit-you are such a sweet wife to plan such an amazing surprise birthday party for your hubby. It looks like everyone had a great time! I hope Justin has many many more wonderful years and birthdays!
Whitney,
De-lurking myself...got here through Amber's blog. I had to comment because I knew so many people in your pics!
Jessa--in my husband's youth group when he was a youth minister in Destin, FL
Todd Howell--went to HU with him
Rachel and Jared--went to church with them in Tuscaloosa
Crazy small world!
Wow, I'm impressed! Our husbands are so opposite... Michael is so low-key and would hate a big surprise party. But I'd love one! But you have to marry someone similar to yourself to pull off stuff like this, I guess. I went the whole "opposites attract" route, so no suprise parties for me... not from Mr. Low Key, anyway. You and Justin really do almost seem like siblings; you're like the male and female versions of each other! Oh, BTW... Happy Birthday, Justin!
Ok - everytime I see your gorgeous face perfectly make-up'd and beautiful hair so sleek and shiny, I think to myself...how in the heck does she always look so perfect?!?! Then I remind myself that you don't have kids! lol!! I am glad to hear ya'll had so much fun celebrating Justin's b-day - ya'll are so lucky to have eachother and all of your wonderful family and friends! How good of you to surprise him with a party!!! Hope ya'll have fun with his new present!!
happy birthday Justin! Glad you guys had such a great time. LOVE the wii. I didn't understand the obsession until recently, and I swear I threw my arm out playing tennis...I am not usually a sucker for this kinda stuff, but I totally want one now! May you have many happy tournaments!
Happy B-day Justin! May your future be as bright as my past! I hit the big 60 soon.
I have no idea who either of you are, I was looking for something completely unrelated when I accidentally stumbled on this blog, but wanted to say you guys look like the happiest couple ever and it looks like you have so much going for you. I hope to have the same for myself someday! Best wishes and congrats!
-some random guy... climbthis@gmail.com
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