Happy Birthday, Buddy!

5/1/13-Today, Christian turns 2.  For the next month, we have two 2 year olds in our family.  A fact I bet will tickle Christian immensely as he and Chloe grow up.  I can just imagine that the entire month of May could very well be spent reminding his "older" sister that he is the same age as her.  Perhaps 10 years from now it will drive me insane, today I am smiling at the thought, just anxious to have our little boy, and all the antics he'll bring with him, HOME.

My emotions are everywhere today.  There is a profound ache- missing Christian and feeling broken that we can't be with him to celebrate his life today.  Birthdays are a pretty big deal around here; it's hard to celebrate without the guest of honor!  Tears have certainly been shed.  Simultaneously, I also feel grateful, I feel joyful.  Unless something crazy happens, this will be the LAST birthday Christian spends in the crèche.  He WILL be here next year on May 1, Lord willing.  That is exciting, a blessing beyond words.  I am also just feeling grateful that we got the opportunity to celebrate early with him in April and that he seemed to "get" that it was something special, though language is a barrier and our traditions may be a bit different than he is accustomed to seeing.  It was a really special time and I am thankful God provided that experience to look back upon today. 

 

 

Unfortunately we didn't video singing and opening gifts, but here is a little clip of him playing with Marc and the kids...if you listen closely you can hear his voice;)

Yes, our Christian is TWO and he is not here, but we certainly are not letting the day go by unnoticed.  Birthdays are about celebrating and praising God for life.  We will celebrate this AMAZING little kid and praise God for creating our son and little brother. 

I asked the kids how they thought we should celebrate...they, of course, wanted cake.  We went to buy a cake and they were very sure that Christian would pick Elmo.  One of Christian's favorite toys is an Elmo phone I bring each time we visit him, so I completely agreed with their decision.  We grabbed Elmo party supplies and kids meals as a special treat...I even went to Wendy's AND Arby's.  Everyone got their favorite cuz it's a special day;)

Our friend Janan popped over for a visit, just in time to join our party;)

Birthday hats or unicorn cones?  Either way, they made sure to save an Elmo hat for baby brother (we'll see if it makes it until then.  I reserve the right to rebuy identical birthday hats, FYI;)

Our cupcakes...with a blue "2" candle.  This year they had to blow our Christian's candle for him....but never again hopefully:)

 

We sang to him...



The kids are drawing pictures for him that we'll keep in his baby book.  They saved an Elmo ring from the cupcakes for him and Marc and I will finish writing letters to him that will also go in his book.

It is certainly a day to celebrate.  This wonderful little boy was created two years ago and we couldn't be more thankful.  He is mischievous and so stinkin' sweet.  I can't wait until he's here stuffing a cupcake in his face, getting crumbs all over my kitchen floor and has his cheeks covered in icing...I can already picture his smile spread ear to ear.  I can't wait to hold his soft little hands and kiss his squishy cheeks.  I can't wait to give him birthday hugs and feel the way he squeezes me so very tight in return.  We couldn't be more ready for him to take his seat at our table...each day is one day closer.

Happy Birthday, Buddy.  We pray you will be able to realize in the depth of your being how very special you are to God and to us.