Ann's surprise party

Oh dear! It's already the end of October, and I'm finally posting about August! :( I'm sorry everybody!!!! If you want to see the pictures bigger, just double-click on the picture, and you should be able to see it big.
 Because of our plans for Ann to go to America on August 26th with Daddy and Mama, we decided to have a surprise going away party for her, and invite lots of friends and acquaintances. She's hard to keep such a big secret from though, and we were sure she knew something was up.

 We did most of our planning in the mornings, while she was working on the farm, and had to remember not to say anything about the party while she was home. :)

 We decided the party for Sunday afternoon, the 18th, after church was over. Daddy printed up little invitations, and we gave them out when Ann wasn't around. I took some to McDonalds, and my boss stuck it up on the office door, for all to see. :) 

                           

 He really wanted to come, but he had to work, and so he got some things ready to send with a one of the girls who did get to come, and I'll tell you more about that further down.

 So, on Saturday morning, Ann went to the farm, and I went to work, and while we were gone, Daddy,  Mama, Rachel, Emilie and Kristen were busy. We had a roll of fishing line, and Daddy strung lines from 5 or 6 different trees, and carefully wound it around and around a couple of branches so it would be easy to undo the next day to string up balloons.

The girls pumped up all these balloons on Saturday morning, and left them in the garage, and pulled down the door. Ann didn't have to go in there at all, so we were pretty sure they would be safe. :)

 We had previously plotted (?) planned (?) to have Emilie take Ann out to eat for lunch on Sunday. (We  NEVER go out to eat on Sunday for lunch!) But, because Ann was leaving, (AND because we needed her to be gone so we could decorate and get ready!,) Emilie told Ann she wanted to take her out to eat on Sunday. So, after church on Sunday morning, we took Emilie and Ann to Pelican. (the name of the restaurant) Then we came home, and started scurrying around everywhere! Inori (the Christian college student going to college in Nayoro, and coming to our church while she is here), Kristen, and I carried the balloons out of the garage in the tarp, and put them out back, but it was kind of windy, and they started floating away, and a couple of them popped, (on Rachel's rose bushes I think ;) ) So, we squeezed them, tarp and all through the window into the living room!

  Dad unwound the fishing line, and then we tied balloons to the string, and he tied it to the light attached to the the house.

  Dad adjusting some of the balloons that slid down a little bit.  After we were done, we gobbled down some lunch before we went to pick up the girls for church which starts at 2:00.
  I was SURE Ann suspected something! Later on we found out, that at family camp a week or so before, one of the girls had said to Ann that one of her friends couldn't come to the party, and Ann was like, "What party?" But then she thought we weren't doing anything because we hid it too well. ;) Phew! Actually, on Saturday after work, Ann came home, and looked at the dish drainer, because she thought, if there was going to be a party, there would probably be bowls, and spoons and things in the drainer from making a cake. Thankfully Mom and Emilie dried the dishes!!! Phew! On Saturday afternoon, Mom and Emilie took the 2 cakes over to the church and decorated them, and the Wilhites let us keep them in their refrigerator.
  We live really close to a river, and going over the bridge to church, we looked back through our trees, and we could see balloons and things, so we decided that on the way home, when we were crossing the bridge, we would have Inori show Ann pictures of when she went to Korea, so that Ann wouldn't happen to look at our house and see the balloons in back. Also, in the summer, we close the curtains in the living room, so it stays cool inside, so, that helped her not see the decorations which were only out back, when she came inside.
  Normally after we come home from church in the afternoon, Emilie and Ann walk the dogs, so I watched which way they went, and they turned left after crossing the road, and we normally turn right, so I thought, "Oh! She'll know somethings up now!" but she actually didn't.
  She first started suspecting something when she saw the Wilhites were here when she came back. :) (Two farmer grandmas had already come while they were gone) Then people started showing up. She was surprised! :)

One of Ann's two cakes. This cake has Deuteronomy 31:8 written on it. "And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."

The 3 farm girls! Ann, Kumi san, and Mami san (Mrs. Nakajima)

Ann talking with Bro. Hatanaka. He wore a big red bow tie for the occasion! ;) The girl on the right is a friend from McDonalds.

Before we cut the cake.

View from our upstairs window. :)

Dad made up a slide show of Ann with various pictures since she was born up until now. It was cute. :)

Annie with her arrangement of flowers from the Nagahisa's. (Where she worked as a volunteer and learned some flower arranging a few years ago)

 My boss sent these things from McDonalds for her. A french fries pillow thing, and then there's a pin in it that is a graduation cap, and says congratulations or something like that.

This is a certificate of thanks (?) from McDonalds.  She got lots of really special presents from people, and I think she had a really nice day.
 It had been rainy in the morning, but the Lord allowed it to clear up, and the ground to dry, for the decorating, and party, and just at the end of the party it started to rain again! God was very good to us. It was still raining in the night, and this was what it looked like with the light on. It was kinda loud, the rain on the balloons. It was neat!

 I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish this! I hope you enjoyed reading it! :)

~Katie~