Happy 80th Birthday, Ma Maw!

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"

II Corinthians 9:7
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July 2nd, 1930, Grace Louise was born to Eugene and Hazel Finnegan.
On July 3rd, 2010, 80 years later, we celebrated her birthday with a dinner party at the Mosteller Mansion in Hickory, NC.

Although there were only about 50 in attendance, there was enough cake for 300! : )

The mansion is so ornate that everywhere you turned, it was a beautiful place for a picture!

Crystal coordinated a picture table with photographs from Ma Maw's early years all the way through recent months. It was soooo sweet to look at pictures of her and of her family growing up.

Fillet Mignon...grilled shrimp...stuffed mushrooms...bowties with steamed veggies...spinach salad...phylo purses...steamed asparagus...fruit.......the menu couldn't have gotten any better!

After dinner, Aunt Valerie reviewed the year 1930...

Crystal and Elizabeth sang "My God and I"...the song being played when Ma Maw and Pa Paw first met.

Ray, Allison, and Christina played "Wonderful Peace"...

Jon and Marie showed a DVD presentation of Ma Maw's life...

Daddy gave a short Scotch and Irish family heritage...

and then, surprise! surprise!, a bagpiper came around the corner playing "Scotland the Brave" and followed with "Flower of Scotland".

Our family then gave a short musical tribute to our Irish heritage.

Happy Birthday!

I just don't understand it....the older and more out of breath you get, the more candles they put on your cake that they expect you to blow out! : )
Ma Maw had plenty of volunteers....

Then followed an informal social time as well as the chance to request songs from the bagpiper. We siblings gathered round and got a condensed lesson on the bagpipes....how they work, how they come apart, etc.

Everything began winding down, people began leaving...

then the silliness that had been bundled up all day came bounding out. : )

Told you we had a lot of cake! : )

Happy Birthday, Ma Maw!!! We Love You!!!