Birthdays

I found out yesterday that we cannot send a birthday cake to Lily on her birthday next month. That was upsetting to me. I know she has probably seen other kids have birthday celebrations and I wonder if she ever wonders why no one celebrates her birthday.

Our 4 year old son seems to think he is entitled to a party every time someone else has a birthday. With every party invitation sent to his siblings, he cries "Why don't I get to have a birthday? I want a birthday!" He just doesn't understand why he has to wait an entire year for his next. We have explained it several times, but either he doesn't care for the logic or he just doesn't get it.

So I wonder if Lily has seen other kids parties and gifts and if she has wondered why no cake has ever been served in her honor?

I know that in the big picture this is really not that big of a deal, but it still stings a little. I want to give her everything our other kids have had.

Today we were swimming at the local Y. I wondered if she has had the chance to swim and remembered last summer when my friend brought home her two children from an orphanage in Ukraine. I don't think either of them had ever been in a bath tub and they certainly had never been in a swimming pool. I'm guessing in an orphanage, it is doubtful Lily has ever been in water.

It's just these little things that hurt today. She needs to come home. She needs to have birthdays and go swimming and pick out pretty dresses to wear and have dolls and toys to call her own.

As much as this makes me sad, it also helps motivate me to push through and get to her. It also motivates me to be a better mom to my kids that are here.  Though I cannot provide the life we want for Lily just yet, we can allow our kids to experience the wonderful life God has given us.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are selling things to raise the last of the agency fees we had to pay with the switch to Wacap. Our online auction is here and our jewelry sale is here, and of course the vacation auction is here.