{"id":326,"date":"2010-08-09T09:33:52","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T09:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/chocolate-cake-clear-skies-and-a-digger-a-perfect-day.html"},"modified":"2010-08-09T09:33:52","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T09:33:52","slug":"chocolate-cake-clear-skies-and-a-digger-a-perfect-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/chocolate-cake-clear-skies-and-a-digger-a-perfect-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate Cake, Clear Skies, and a Digger: A Perfect Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/u><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

William turned two on Saturday. He spent most of last week
\ngetting ready. “It’s William’s birt-day! Two years old! Presents and choc-o-late
\ncake!”<\/p>\n

The day itself lived up to any and all expectations. It
\nbegan with Penny and William “helping” me bake the cake. <\/p>\n

\n

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5150.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5157.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And then, for the
\nparty itself, William’s uncle showed up on a real live digger, complete with
\nfront loader. <\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5173.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

William was too nervous to take the first ride, but Penny broke
\nthe ice for him. <\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5179.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

After that, he rode in circles and maneuvered the various
\npieces and parts with serious concentration. <\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5198.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He couldn’t have loved his presents more: power tools, a
\nsinging vacuum, trucks, and a Yankees sweater (a major concession to his dad, as it was given by a family of otherwise Red Sox fans). <\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5291.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Penny was very excited about the party, and she offered to make place cards (since when does a 4-year old know about place cards?).<\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5262.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 And then he got to eat the chocolate cake and take a three
\nhour nap.<\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_5267.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

All told, a wonderful day. Happy Birthday William. We are
\nvery glad you are with us.  <\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William turned two on Saturday. He spent most of last week getting ready. “It’s William’s birt-day! Two years old! Presents and choc-o-late cake!” The day itself lived up to any and all expectations. It began with Penny and William “helping” me bake the cake.  And then, for the party itself, William’s uncle showed up on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nChocolate Cake, Clear Skies, and a Digger: A Perfect Birthday - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/chocolate-cake-clear-skies-and-a-digger-a-perfect-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chocolate Cake, Clear Skies, and a Digger: A Perfect Birthday - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William turned two on Saturday. He spent most of last week getting ready. “It’s William’s birt-day! Two years old! Presents and choc-o-late cake!” The day itself lived up to any and all expectations. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}