Mission Accomplished

The day dawned cloudy and I was concerned. Soon, the clouds moved out and the sun drove away the gloom. It was going to be a great day. I went to my church about eight o'clock to get the cakes and then drove to Bethel. When I arrived no one had yet opened the doors. Only a couple of minutes of wait and the organist for the morning arrived and had a key. Eureka! I could get in and get the preparation going. Carrying all that stuff up and down stairs was no joke. When the rest of my family helpers got there, the load was shared and then it was no big deal.

When we finished what we could do before the service began, we sat in a classroom next to the kitchen so that we were out of sight. As far as we knew this reception was still a secret from my parents. Mary is so involved in her church and I made the comment that it would just be like her to come down to the kitchen to do this or that and catch us in our act. Suddenly I saw her out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, she was delivering cookies for the EVENING service in the morning. I saw her and flew out of sight. She didn't see me. We heard her greeting people as she made her way back upstairs. When the service began and the minister made his announcements, he reminded people of the celebration today for Jim's and Mary's anniversary. Dad and Mary had read it in the bulletin on their arrival and in their nature, one could not sense a reaction. At that point, we all got in gear and set up tables and put chairs in circles out on the drive. The plan was to use the lawn but the mosquitos are so bad right now, we changed plans a bit. Soon it was all in place. The tables looked celebrative with their white skirts and cloths gently moving in the breeze. It was a pretty sight. We then went in and listened to the sermon but left early again to get the cake cut and the lemonade in the pitchers. Lemon slices in each pitcher added to the eye feast. The big bouquet of flowers put on the finishing touches. When Mary came out she was a bit overwhelmed. Of course there were the "you shouldn't have done this" comments. My daughter told her that if we had told them our plan they wouldn't have let us honor them. Their church family really rose to the occasion. The card basket was chuck full of cards. The people stayed much longer than we expected them to. My dad's sister and her husband came after their church service was out. That seemed to please both my dad and Mary. One of the ladies my dad and Mary have helped for the last couple of years was there. I understand she has been attending for some time. I get such a joy out of watching the missionary work of my parents. To my parent's surprise, Nicki, had heard of this celebration last Sunday and has been crocheting an afghan all week. With pride, she presented the finished product to them. I could tell that Mary was so moved.

Mary came to me after everyone had been served and said, "This is so special". I responded that this was for two very special people. She thanked me more than I cared to be thanked and when I told her she had already thanked me she said she felt she had to do it again. I think we succeeded in showing our love and honor to them.

Mission accomplished.