Surprising Stella

On Tuesday we surprised Stella with a little graduation party. Surprising her turned out to be quite the chore. The party had been planned for the previous week, but down with a bit of a cold, she decided to stay at home rather than returning to our small hamlet. When she sent me a message Saturday saying she had finally made the trip back, we quickly rescheduled the party for Tuesday (finding a time during the last week when all TEN of the team was free was simply a miracle). Then Stella sent me a message saying she would go home on Sunday. Enter much pulling of hair on my part. I mean how dare she miss her own party?

But after much pleading, and coaxing, and making up things I needed her help with, and a big pouty lip, I managed to convince her to stay until Tuesday afternoon…all without mentioning the little shindig.

We put on a spread of her favorite food…PIZZA! Which, ironically, just so happens to be one of my favorite foods.

I also whipped up her my favorite dessert, carrot cake. (Seriously, make this cake today. It, and obscene amounts of coffee, are the only things getting me through this week.)

The writing on the cake…a little messy. But considering I had this cutie on my hip while doing the writing? Pretty awesome.

Why did we put all this together for Stella?

Because she constantly blesses us with her humor, her wit, her sarcasm, her joy, her profound and practical love for the Father, and her willingness to do a million small and big things. She’s bought train tickets, carted pounds upon pounds of butter from the big city to our small city, arranged things with the orphanage, persuaded train officials to let people carry my luggage to the platform, negotiated with post office workers…and done many other countless things to make my life easier. If you need to get something done, Stella is your woman.

We all love Stella.