Surprise!

I've been hiding a big surprise for the last few months from my brother. He turns 40 next weekend and my parents and I have been planning a huge surprise party for him.

So on top of the two jobs I've been talking about, I've been planning this party. And my stress level had been a little high. I'm happy to report that the party went even better than expected. We had nearly 80 guests and Terry had no idea. When everyone yelled surprise he just looked stunned.

Our theme revolved around biking. The cake had a mountain scene with a 4 1/2 inch red bicycle riding up the road. Then we gave him a gift certificate to Backroads.com, so he could go on a bicycle adventure anywhere in the world.

There were the people he's known from high school, college, church, all of his five jobs and family there. His excitement, surprise and delight made all of the hard work completely and utterly worth it. I'm just so happy that I was able to share with Terry how much we all love him and value him as our friend.