As always, birthdays are a big deal around here. But we didn’t have a big PARTY for Johanna this year. See, it’s ALWAYS a party here… or something like that.
Actually – everything is just moving along at a slightly slower pace around these disciples’ house this year. I’m not about to blame it on having a new baby. I’m blaming it on me getting older.
But even though we didn’t par-tay like we normally do, we had a splendid day.
At 6:30 A.M. Marie and I hit the road and got bagels at Brueggers. Johanna is a big fan of bagels.
We were home in time for our traditional “wake-the-birthday-child-with-the-birthday-song” serenade. We did this without Katriel as she decided to sleep in that one day.
Nan joined us for breakfast and brought some gifts. It seems I did not take photos during that portion of our day.
A little later Johanna’s speech teacher came by with a little something for Johanna. She felt badly at how abruptly services ended. I had to tell Johanna that we wouldn’t be seeing Mrs. Chapman again. There were a few tears but Mrs. Chapman ably eliminated those by reminding Johanna of the mini bag of M & M’s she had brought, along with a book and some bubbles.
A short time later Auntie Emily and Baby Anna came to visit. Anna brought Johanna a sweet princess T-shirt. She has worn this shirt since with a great deal of glee. Again… I seemed to have failed to record this with my camera.
After lunch our friend Ella came by also baring gifts. We had hoped Ella could stay for supper, but baseball interfered.
I tried to get a few photos of our three year old… she was less than cooperative.
Nan and Nene came for dinner. We ordered pizza. Ba and Poppy couldn’t join us as Ba had surgery last week. Daddy picked up hats and those silly blow-y things. We are a wild-and-crazy-bunch, no?
After dinner we opened family gifts. Nigel gave her a print of Tic-Toc-Croc from Walt Disney’s Peter Pan. He found the picture online, printed it, and went to the store to buy a frame. (Said frame was broken before the day was done. Just sayin’.)
Mom and Dad produced a box FULL of clothes… none of them fit. 😛
And she opened her very own “bike,”
I slowed her down long enough for a photo. Hey – I thought I had a princess hat on. Nope – I’m a monkey… Figures.
The requested Bolt cake (finished around 3PM for a 6PM slicing…)
It was Johanna’s last day of speech therapy. It didn’t HAVE to be… but somewhere along the way someone didn’t complete their job and papers were not where they were supposed to be in time to have a meeting before her birthday. I cried. Johanna is beautiful and tries to share a lot of what she is thinking. But we often do not understand her. And non family members almost NEVER understand her. But she is going to miss out on 13 weeks of much needed therapy because someone didn’t do their job. No one in the chain will really admit it was their mistake, either. This has been very frustrating. I cried.
I’m celebrating, though, because of my LORD. HE never falls down on the job. He never fails to follow through. He never forsakes us. He never gets distracted.
Romans 8:28 (ESV)And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I got up early that morning and made cupcakes and purple frosting. We invited the speech teacher to frost them and eat them with us. My baby girl attempted to put on more sprinkles than any cupcake could ever hope to hold, and I let her eat every one of those wayward gems with a spoon.
She will most likely resume therapy in the fall. I look forward to the day my daughter can share her thoughts completely and without a barrier. And I pray that one day she will proclaim Jesus as her Savior in a voice the WORLD can understand.
Okay. That is SO not the truth. That was what I did when Stewart was a baby, but I forgot to enjoy it.
The week of 5/20 – 5/25 the kids and I deep cleaned. We moved furniture and vacuumed. We polished wood and washed trim wood. We cleaned the deep crevices of my bedroom for the first time in six years and found piles of dust more than 0.5cm deep. And it was clean.
Just because I like this picture, I am sharing it with you.
My friend, Martha, commented recently that she didn’t know how she had missed so many of my blog entries. Well… it’s because I finally get time to download my camera and spend a few moments on the computer, I do multiple entries. That’s just how it is here at these disciples’ house.
And – I hear Katriel crying, so I don’t know if I will get to do anymore today.
This past Sunday was Katriel’s dedication. It was different from the others’ dedications in two ways. First, we held a much smaller gathering. That’s just how things played out this year. I’m actually okay with that. Secondly, it was the most personalized dedication we’d had. I’m not sure how that happened, but it was really nice. I felt much more connected to it. Hmmm – maybe it’s just because I’ve stood up there so many times I wasn’t quite as nervous anymore? 😉
I DO have six kids… but I apparently only saw three of them on Mother’s Day? Or something like that. 😛 I was blessed with chocolate, muffin tins, AND a new *person* for my mother’s necklace.
I spent part of the afternoon swimming at the rec. center with Marie. The outing was John’s and my way of saying thank you to her for the tremendous help she has been these last six months. Marie took on a great deal of responsibility with Johanna the last three months of my pregnancy, and she has continued to be a huge help to me since Katriel arrived. She and I had a great time splashing and I even went on the waterslide!
Dayspring Disciples 
