The way I got him up there was sort of last minute, but perfect! We were supposed to have a meeting up at church on Wednesday night with the Elders to talk about Life Groups, but Josh ended up having to cancel for a late appointment. My dad, who's an Elder, got one of the Elders to call our house that night and ask Josh if we could meet to pray and talk about Life Groups on Friday night at 6:15 (the time of the party)! Josh never doubted that for a minute!! I had a really hard time keeping a straight face, so I used tactics like pulling out the coupons to cut while he was talking to me about it.
Thursday night, Amber and I met up at the community center (aka La Fiesta for dinner) to decorate. I'm so thankful for Amber's decorating talent! Amber was such a huge help to me and made it so much fun!
My wonderful mom slaved away making all of the food for the party, served it, and then she and my dad cleaned up! I was also thankful for the help of my brother and dad for helping set up, my sister and brother-in-law for picking up the pizza for the kids, my sister for being my photographer for the night, and my mother-in-law for watching the boys all day while I ran all around town getting ready for the party. 
Josh had no idea his mom was coming! She flew in that morning, and we just made sure that he didn't talk to James on the phone or he would've spilled the beans. We were so thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family who came, especially those who went to great lengths! Anna pulled an all-nighter and flew in first thing, Michael, Jilinda, and Lydia drove from Dallas (their first time to Waco with Lydia!), Joey came from Dallas, and three of his friends were able to leave a board meeting out of town early to come!
After eating delicious pulled pork sandwiches, we sang Happy Birthday, ate yummy Italian Cream cake, and then the girls talked and the kids played while the boys played a basketball game. Josh had so much fun and told me later that he'd always wanted a surprise party!
His big present from me was a scrapbook full of letters from his parents, my parents, his siblings, my siblings, and his aunts and unlces telling Josh "Happy Birthday" and what he means to them. I knew Josh would treasure having something like that, since he is so close to his family. Everyone did such a nice job, and he absolutely loved it! He flipped through it, and said, "Wow! You got everybody!" and then we read them together that night before bed.Last night was so much fun and a wonderful memory that we will always treasure!
