Surprise!!
We've been planning it for 2 months now, the whole time we were hoping and praying that he wouldn't figure it out! It was my Uncle Henry's 60th birthday. We wanted to throw him a surprise party. We invited everyone he knows, and the funny thing about it was my dad was handing out invitations right infront of him and he didn't even know! It was about 15 minutes until the party started and it was all going so smooth, no stress at all. My dad, (going along with the plan) called over to his house and had the following conversation:
Ring, Ring
Aunt Juanita: "Hello?"
Dad: "Hi, Juanita. It's Bill, bring him here at 2:30, let me talk to him."
Aunt Juanita: Chuckles, "Henry, Bill's on the phone."
Uncle Henry: "Hello?"
Dad: "Hi Henry. I need to talk to, can you come over?"
Uncle Henry: "We're getting ready to go out to eat, whats going on?"
Dad: "I don't feel comfortable talking about it on the phone. Just, please come over."
Uncle Henry: "I'll have to talk to Juanita. Is there anyone else you can talk to?"
Dad: "No, Henry, you're my older brother and I need to speak to you. Please, it won't talk long."
Uncle Henry: "Ok, what time?"
Dad: "2:30."
Uncle Henry: "I'll try."
Dad: "Please do, I appreciate it."
Uncle Henry: "Alright, I'll talk to Juanita. Bye."
Dad: "Bye."
Well, the house quickly filled up with family members and old friends, the last guest arriving just seconds before Uncle Henry and Aunt Juanita pulled up. There were about 100 people waiting to see his reaction. He gets out of the car, and Aunt Juanita stays in.
Ding Dong (that's the doorbell ringing)
My dad answers the door.
Uncle Henry: "Hey, what's going on?"
Dad: "Come in"
Uncle Henry: "Is this going to take long? We have reservations."
Dad: "Just come in."
Up to this point Uncle Henry is oblivious to the crowd of people awaiting his arrival and hearing how cold the ball of fire he is really can be. He has also failed to realize that just 3 feet behind my dad are his sisters and sons.
My dad steps aside and Uncle Henry puts ONE foot in the door
Everybody: "Surprise!"
Uncle Henry turned the brightest shade of red I have ever seen him, and turned around and shook his finger at my aunt.
He walked in the house and wonder around through the crowd, each face surpising him even more and the real surprise hadn't even been unveiled yet. His son Tony had set up a slide show presentation with pics of him growing up and then he ended it with pics of lions, monkeys, elephants, african cuisine, african villages and people. After the slide show, Tony and his brothers stood up infront of the crowd as Tony read a speech that he had prepared. He talked about how things used to be, before Uncle Henry was saved, he talked about how things changed, and about Uncle Henry's love for God and burden for the lost. He ended it with an announcement that sent Uncle Henry's heart racing... or maybe it stopped. He was just in shock.
You see, my Uncle Henry's dream is to go to Africa and preach. Every one who was present for the party, and numerous people who were unable to attend had all contributed an undisclosed amount of money to make his dream come true. Through teary eyes Uncle Henry stared speechless and in awe at his family and friends. The rest of the day was just as awesome. Just to see his reaction to the people who arrived and the amount that was contributed for him to go, was such a blessing. It made the rest of the worlds seem to just go away for a while...
Happy Birthday Uncle Henry!
We've been planning it for 2 months now, the whole time we were hoping and praying that he wouldn't figure it out! It was my Uncle Henry's 60th birthday. We wanted to throw him a surprise party. We invited everyone he knows, and the funny thing about it was my dad was handing out invitations right infront of him and he didn't even know! It was about 15 minutes until the party started and it was all going so smooth, no stress at all. My dad, (going along with the plan) called over to his house and had the following conversation:
Ring, Ring
Aunt Juanita: "Hello?"
Dad: "Hi, Juanita. It's Bill, bring him here at 2:30, let me talk to him."
Aunt Juanita: Chuckles, "Henry, Bill's on the phone."
Uncle Henry: "Hello?"
Dad: "Hi Henry. I need to talk to, can you come over?"
Uncle Henry: "We're getting ready to go out to eat, whats going on?"
Dad: "I don't feel comfortable talking about it on the phone. Just, please come over."
Uncle Henry: "I'll have to talk to Juanita. Is there anyone else you can talk to?"
Dad: "No, Henry, you're my older brother and I need to speak to you. Please, it won't talk long."
Uncle Henry: "Ok, what time?"
Dad: "2:30."
Uncle Henry: "I'll try."
Dad: "Please do, I appreciate it."
Uncle Henry: "Alright, I'll talk to Juanita. Bye."
Dad: "Bye."
Well, the house quickly filled up with family members and old friends, the last guest arriving just seconds before Uncle Henry and Aunt Juanita pulled up. There were about 100 people waiting to see his reaction. He gets out of the car, and Aunt Juanita stays in.
Ding Dong (that's the doorbell ringing)
My dad answers the door.
Uncle Henry: "Hey, what's going on?"
Dad: "Come in"
Uncle Henry: "Is this going to take long? We have reservations."
Dad: "Just come in."
Up to this point Uncle Henry is oblivious to the crowd of people awaiting his arrival and hearing how cold the ball of fire he is really can be. He has also failed to realize that just 3 feet behind my dad are his sisters and sons.
My dad steps aside and Uncle Henry puts ONE foot in the door
Everybody: "Surprise!"
Uncle Henry turned the brightest shade of red I have ever seen him, and turned around and shook his finger at my aunt.
He walked in the house and wonder around through the crowd, each face surpising him even more and the real surprise hadn't even been unveiled yet. His son Tony had set up a slide show presentation with pics of him growing up and then he ended it with pics of lions, monkeys, elephants, african cuisine, african villages and people. After the slide show, Tony and his brothers stood up infront of the crowd as Tony read a speech that he had prepared. He talked about how things used to be, before Uncle Henry was saved, he talked about how things changed, and about Uncle Henry's love for God and burden for the lost. He ended it with an announcement that sent Uncle Henry's heart racing... or maybe it stopped. He was just in shock.
You see, my Uncle Henry's dream is to go to Africa and preach. Every one who was present for the party, and numerous people who were unable to attend had all contributed an undisclosed amount of money to make his dream come true. Through teary eyes Uncle Henry stared speechless and in awe at his family and friends. The rest of the day was just as awesome. Just to see his reaction to the people who arrived and the amount that was contributed for him to go, was such a blessing. It made the rest of the worlds seem to just go away for a while...
Happy Birthday Uncle Henry!
posted by monique @ 2:49 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:46 PM,
alainna said…
WOW! Thanks for sharing what happened at Henry's party! Our whole family has read and as i watch them read it i can see smiles quickly form! Thanks bundles for telling us about it! That sounds so exciting! We were all so happy when your Dad called and said they wanted to send him! What a blessing for him and for us! This is going to be so fun having him here! I can't believe it took me this long to know you had a blog! but i found it now! so keep up the updates :0). luv ya!
At 10:15 PM,
Anonymous said…
You did a wonderful job taking us inside of the "surprise!" I could picture his red face and for him to be speechless...wow, you really got him! That had to be a wonderful day for all of you. How exciting that we get to share in his dream come true! We'll make it memorable...actually, Africa itself is memorable, but it's our privilege to be on the receiving line of his presence here in Kenya. We'll make the most of it! Now that we know your blog we'll check it out more often! Thanks Monique!
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