Birthday Celebration

For Kathi's birthday we had a nice evening out with our good friends Joe & Missy.

We started with babysitters for the kids. This was an adult only event. One of the few of these we get in a year. We love our kids, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's nice to leave them behind.

With John Mayer's Continuum in the CD player we headed for dinner at a quaint little place in North Portland called Lovely Hula Hands. This restaurant was excellent. It is in a little house that according to the staff was built in 1910. Our neighbor Krista recommended this restaurant and advised us to arrive around 6:30 in order to be seated right away. She was right. By seven there was a crowd waiting outside. Thanks Krista.

After dinner we headed to one of Kathi's favorite stores; the world famous Powell's Books. If you haven't been to Powell's you are missing out. It is the worlds largest independent new and used bookstore. For those of you who don't like to drive into Portland don't worry there is a location in Beaverton. Although it isn't as big it will only get bigger when it moves. That is right. The new location will only be five minutes from our house. Sweet.

The girls ran off to the education and children's section as Joe and I wandered. We ended up at the coffee shop to get some liquid fuel for our lady shoppers. After we delivered the goods to the ladies we headed up to my favorite section, the red room. This is where the house the religious books. This is also where I met "The Prophet".

The Prophet: "Are you familiar with this section of the store?"
Me: "Sort of."
The Prophet: "Well I am looking for a book on the Psalms."
With Joe's lead we pointed out the shelves with the books and commentaries on the Psalms.
The Prophet (as Joe ducks around the corner): "I am not looking for the book of Psalms, but a book on the Psalms."
Me: "I'm sure you will find one here. They have plenty of books on the Psalms."
The Prophet: "This is our book, our book."
Me: "Uh, sure it is."
The Prophet (as he randomly and quickly pulls a book off the shelf): "Look here's one!" It was a daily devotional on the Psalms by someone I've never heard of.
Me: "I am sure it will be fine." (I wonder if I am trapped)
The Prophet: "Let's see if it has a word for us."
Me: (crap I'm trapped)

The Prophet proceeds to open the book to a random page and begins to read out loud. He is holding the book so that both of us can see the pages. I am doing my best to be polite and appear to be interested. He leans in closer.
Right about now I begin to wonder if God sent this guy to me or is it one of the poor lonely people of the city that isn't all right in the head just looking for some attention. Either way I stayed for a bit.

The Prophet (as he finished up the reading): "Do you know what that says?"
Me: "Uh, not really."
The Prophet: "It says... Emmanuel... EmmANuel... E..MMAN...UEL!"
Me: "..."
The Prophet: "Isn't that awesome?"
Me: "Sure."
Silence...
Me (as I slowly slink away): "Well thanks for sharing that with me. You have a great evening. I hope you find the book you are looking for."

Phew. A narrow escape. Sorry Mr. Prophet I just wasn't catching your vibe.

Joe and I finished up our looking and went and found the girls. It was time to get home to rescue the babysitter.

The evening was filled with good food, good coffee, good fun and good friends. A perfect birthday celebration.