Birthday Girl!

 

My oldest daughter, Cecelia turned 9 on Sunday. She was a good sport about not having a big party this year. She'd wanted a Hannah Montana party, and I had some cute, fun ideas on that front, but it was not to be. Nick and I were extremely busy all weekend with OHOP's monthly Awaken the Bride conference. Nick led worship on Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday morning (I sing on his team.) He also taught classes on Sat. afternoon and Sun. afternoon. It was a crazy time to think about poor Cecelia's birthday. She was thankful, though, that her birthday was on Sunday and glorified and worshiped God with excellence! Fortunately, Grandma always remembers to send birthday gifts early, so she had a gift to open first thing after church. (Thank you Grandma & Grandpa; you are awesome!) Her sister, Keliah, couldn't wait to give her gift of a pink Princess Disney hat, either. That evening, she and I got to go out (just the 2 of us!) to see Alice in Wonderland - sharing the tub of popcorn and large Cherry Coke for supper. We had fun together and planned to have our family cake party to celebrate on Monday evening.

After much speculation and looking at other guitar cakes online, I just made up my own ideas with what I had on hand to create her pink guitar cake. (Notice the C.C. initials!) Nothing too fancy, but perfect for our little gathering with 2 kinds of ice cream. The remains were breakfast this morning. Anyway, I'm so proud of my little girl, getting so grown up (but not too grown up.) She is truly a gift from God and I'm so humbled to be her mom.

The gifts from us were pretty simple this year. Books, a couple toys, candy and clothes. As you can see below, Sabina was certain that the cute puppy was hers!  Today, she even got to stretch that birthday joy for another day with the arrival of a package from my parents - Granny & Papa. Woo-hoo! I'm determined to enjoy letting her be a little girl for these next couple of years. I don't want her rushing in to growing up too fast. These years are precious. Besides, once you are grown up it lasts for the rest of your life! That's not so fun. Even though I try to impress a sense of responsibility and contribution upon all my children, I also want them to have lots of time to just be KIDS. This is the time for the games, books, songs, artwork, and dances that will truly make up the woman Cecelia will be. And, please God, help me be the mother that Cecelia needs.