My Birthday

My family knows that I enjoy being recognized on my birthday. Other holidays and special occasions can come and go and although I enjoy when we do celebrate, it doesn't bother me much if we don't, but on my birthday, I like a bit of a fuss. It doesn't have to be over the top, but just something special here and there.

Brian took the day off. Those of you that haven't figured it out, I really love my man and like nothing better than spending time with him. This alone would have been special enough. He got the kids up and on the bus while I caught a few extra winks....heavenly.

We went out to lunch (with Gabe) at Subway (my choice). Brian often comments that I am a very low maintenance wife. :-) We ran a few errands and did a bit of shopping.

He had intended to make a cake, but we were out most of the day. We stopped and picked one up. We decided to have dessert first as Bess had a babysitting job. So we did cake and ice cream when the kids got home from school. It was very yummy and the kids thought it quite the treat to have dessert first.


I opened my presents. Brian is always very generous. I got new birding binoculars, three Cricut sets, a portable speaker for my mp3 player, a wireless weather station, a shirt and some jewelry, plus several precious cards from the kiddos. Just perfect.


After dinner, Rachel gave me a very long, wonderful foot rub. She has such a servants heart and knows what her momma loves. She is so sweet about it and loves that it makes me happy.

I received tons of birthday wishes online from friends far and wide and phone calls from family.

It was a very pleasant day spent with the people I love most. Thank you, Brian and children, for making my day so special. I feel so very loved and blessed by you all.

Hannah's 9th Birthday

March 1st was Hannah's 9th birthday. Hannah is a tremendously cheery child and loves all sort of celebrations.

We had to spread her birthday out due to Brian's work schedule. Mom and Dad came over on Sunday the 28th and we had Shepherd's Pie and cake and ice cream.

Later in the week, we had our little family celebration. Hannah loved all her gifts and we enjoyed celebrating our little Hannah.

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Rachel's 11th Birthday

Rachel had her 11th birthday on the 8th. Our kids just love birthdays, even when it isn't their own, but especially when it is their turn. They talk about whose turn is going to next and then count the days, weeks or months until the special day. Ever since Christmas, Rachel has known that her birthday comes next and has been eagerly awaiting the day.

I surprised Rachel by bringing her lunch from McDonald's and staying and having lunch with her at school . We then went back to her class and shared cupcakes. It was such fun seeing her face when she say me and realized what was up. Her teacher is very sweet and everyone sang happy birthday and then she put up a large board and everyone take turns saying some nice about Rachel.

Mom and Dad came over later in the day to have dinner with us and celebrate. We had one of our favorites, Shepherd's Pie, and Rachel requested ice cream cake for dessert.

I had given Mom and Dad some suggestions for gifts, one being a sewing box. Mom was able to find a nice one and stocked it with some supplies and pieces of fabric. Rachel loves working with her hands and I am teaching her some simple sewing techniques. She was so thrilled with the gift.


Happy Birthday, Rachel. We love you! :-)

Brian's Birthday

We celebrated Brian's birthday after he got out of work. It was a quiet celebration, spaghetti and meatballs and cheesecake. Brian doesn't really enjoy his birthday. I have to chuckle at the difference between him and me. I love everyone to make a big fuss on my birthday and he would just as soon let the whole day come and go with little notice.

Happy Birthday, Brian. We love you very much. :-)

July 15 - Gabe's 10th Birthday

Gabe turned 10 years old this year! Where have the years gone? He has seemed so much older and more grown up this past year.

He kept telling us that his ninth year was his lucky year and didn't really like the idea of turning ten, but when the day came he said it didn't feel any different and maybe being ten would be okay.

He received things he asked for and some he didn't. I love to surprise the children with a gift they were not anticipating. This year, an mp3 player was that gift for Gabe. He was thrilled. He loves to listen to books on tape and the Adventures in Odyssey episodes. Our library has some great book downloads. We have loaded several for him already and he loves it.

Look at those eyes...they are smiling eyes when he realized what he had gotten.

New Lego sets are always high on his gift list. This set was very challenging for him, but he got it together.

He had asked for a 4-layer chocolate cake like Hannah had for her birthday, except he had green frosting and mini chocolate chips...yummy! For his birthday dinner, we had lasagna, salad and Italian bread. Noona and Papa came over to help us celebrate. They gave Gabe money this year and he was very happy with that gift.

After dinner the children had a swim in the pool. It was a very nice day, sunshine and warm temps. The perfect end of a special day.

Happy Birthday, Gabe! We love you and can't wait to see what this year holds for you. You make us laugh and smile and think and bring so much joy to our lives.

Birthday/Easter Party

Glenn and Theresa held Zeb and Abbie's birthday party on Saturday. This was also sort of an Easter party. Although the weather was predicted to be rainy, the showers held off and we had a very nice time.

Most of the ladies stayed inside as it was not raining, but quite cold and windy.

Theresa held an Easter egg hunt for the younger crowd. This was a lot of fun and they have a large yard, so there was plenty of room to hide the eggs.

Dan just loves the idea of those candy filled eggs. He is off and running.

Rachel joins in the fun, but a bit more lady like in her searching.

Glenn build a fire and the outside group enjoyed the warm and atmosphere. There were plenty of laughs and conversation inside and out.

Here are the birthday boy and girl getting ready to blow out the candles. (Zeb and Abbie's birthdays are only a week apart.)

And opening gifts.

Theresa has a gift for hospitality and her parties and get togethers are always wonderful. She makes terrific food and She and Glenn make everyone feel welcomed and at home. We always have a great time with them.

Happy Birthday to Me

Last weekend I celebrated my birthday. It is a rare occasion that Brian is able to be home when my birthday falls on the weekend as usually the month drill weekend is the first weekend, but for some reason it is later this month, so he was home.

We had a great day. We went to the library, which is our usual Saturday errand and then headed out to lunch. We went to the food court at a local mall which pleases everyone as they can each get what they want.

We then went to the large Joanne's store. Brian stayed in the van and watched a DVD with the younger set and Bessie and I browsed to our hearts content. I only bought a few things, but it was so nice to have the time to look around without my usual entourage.

To make the shopping trip more fun for all, we went into the near by Target.

Brian and the children spoiled me this year with wonderful gifts.

The children bought me a new mp3 player with lots of memory. This will be so nice for all those book downloads. I have recently discovered that our local library system as a very extensive download library. I enjoy listening to audio books while I work on my stitching and sewing.

And a very unexpected gift from Brian was a new laptop computer. It has been many years since we have had a new computer and Brian's knows how much I enjoy blogging, reading blogs, Facebook and chatting with online friends. I was very excited and also a bit guilty...well, for a few minutes anyway.

Brian made dinner and he and Bessie made a cake. It was a special day made especially nice as Brian was able to be home all day. I am so blessed by my wonderful family.

Hannah's 8th Birthday

Hannah had her 8th birthday earlier in the month. She was so excited this year. Each milestone builds memories for the Littles and they are beginning to look forward to things like birthdays, vacations and holidays.

Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we had to wait until after church for the festivities to begin.

She got some fun things this year, including some PetShoppe, a new umbrella and a pretty purple and pink pillow that Bessie made for her.


She had seen a cake in a magazine at a friends house. We did the best we could although I'm sure it wasn't exactly like the fancy one. Four layers of chocolate cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. It sure was yummy!

Mom and Dad came over later in the day for dinner and cake and ice cream. I just love the "flower" headband we found for her. It is so Hannah!

Happy birthday, Hannah. We love you, sweetie!

Rachel's 10th Birthday

We celebrated Rachel's 10th birthday this last week. She has been so excited at the thought of her upcoming birthday. The Littles are especially aware of when their birthdays are, or at least which one is coming up next and they talk about it for weeks before it actually arrives.

This year, Rachel was able to give us concrete ideas for gifts. It was very hard in the past for her to come up with more than simple suggestions, like toys or books. She had some very specific ideas this year and it was fun shopping for her.

We actually had two celebrations, the 8th, which is her actual birthday and the next day when Mom and Dad came over and had dinner with us.

Earlier in the day on the 8th, we had picked Brian up at the airport. He was returning from simulator training. A trip to the airport is always a treat.

We had yellow cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. The children all pitched in to frost the cake.

Bessie and I both had commitments back at church that evening, so we had cake and ice cream in the afternoon and let Rachel open her gifts.

Rachel was so thrilled with her gifts. We got her a few things on her list and a some not. I love to surprise the children.

It is exciting for me to see the change in our Filipino children. They are becoming so much more open and willing share their feelings. I think they are finally feeling secure in their family and home. They have certain expectations now for how things work in our family and they can feel confident in knowing those expectations will be met. Birthdays are one of those things. They know they get to choose their dinner and dessert and that we honor the birthday child on their special day.

We have seen Rachel blossoming, coming out of her shell, becoming less nervous and timid. She can more openly share her struggles and victories. She is developing (or perhaps we are just seeing it) a very distinct personality that is all her own.

Happy Birthday, Rachel! We love you!

Bessie Turns Sixteen

My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the fact that our baby girl had her sixteenth birthday today. And while my mind is doing that, my heart is bursting with joy that our baby girl turned 16 today. Such opposite reactions to the same event.

Bessie is a tremendous joy to me and to our family. She is thoughtful and helpful, always pitching in with chores, cooking or helping with the younger crowd. In this day and age where you hear so many negative things about "teenagers", I am so proud that Bessie exemplifies being a responsible young adult.

She is fun and often funny, adventurous and a bit daring. Qualities I envy. She strives to love the Lord with all her heart and to listen to His urgings. I enjoy spending time with her, we garden and stitch together, enjoy the same books and watch the same movies. I am so proud to be her mom and most of the time her friend.

She is quick to point out that she is not perfect and no I suppose she is not, but I sure wish I was as mature at 16, as she is, especially spiritually.

So, Happy Birthday, our baby girl, we love you!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Today was Gabe's 9th birthday! What a full, fun, wonderful day it was. We try and squeeze as much fun and enjoyment out of our special days as we can and today we squeezed a lot!

Brian was able to have part of the day off, which is always a treat for us. The day was gorgeous, clear blue skies, warm temperatures and a pleasant breeze.

As soon as Brian got home, we let Gabe open a few of his gifts. He always is so appreciative of what he gets and this year we were able to surprise with a few special goodies.

After lunch and a fun swim in the pool (Yes, we finally have our new liner in! I'll post about that later.), we sang happy birthday, ate scrumptious ice cream cake and let him open the rest of his gifts.

We spend more on the kids for their birthdays than we do for Christmas. We decided, as a family, several years ago, to scale back at Christmas time, moving our focus from all the gift giving to the birth of Jesus. This has worked out for very special times at Christmas and special birthdays for each child.

Gabe's big gift this year was a Nintendo DS. He had no idea this was coming. He had not mentioned getting one or even asked for one. I knew he would love it and we really surprised him with this gift. He was actually beside himself, he was so excited. He didn't know what to say. He knows how expensive they are and did not expect it at all. I love it when we hit on something that is so special to one of the kids.

Everyone was oohing and aahing over the new toy. Gabe loves electronics of any type and he took right off setting it up and starting to play.

Bessie helped him put together his new Nerf gun. We love Nerf.

On each child's birthday, they get to choose their desert and what to have for our dinner meal. Gabe wanted ice cream cake, pizza and wings. We opted for take out. We picked up our food and headed to one of our favorite local spots, one of the canal locks on the Champlain Canal. Each canal lock has a picnic area with grills and picnic tables. Being a Tuesday, we had the place to ourselves except for the Lock Master.

Brian and the kids brought their fishing gear, I brought my binocs and camp chair! I actually love to fish, but do not like "little kid fishing" (Isn't that terrible of me!?). Brian, on the other hand, has the patience of Job for these types of things and does so well working with the kids. I sit back and watch and save myself the frustration. I was quite surprised how well they all did. Bessie and Gabe are pros, having been fishing many times, so they did great. Rachel picked up casting quickly, but didn't really seem to enjoy it all that much. Hannah is going to be a natural. She was quite willing to sit quietly and watch that bobber, with never a complaint. Dan, well, I guess we just need to give Dan a few more years. Dan is not into sitting or being quiet or being still for anything and before long he was splashing in the river with his pole and throwing rocks.

Brian hooked a fish and let the birthday boy reel it in...a small bass. Just another treasure in this great day for Gabe. This is a catch and release area, so after pictures, this little guy was let go.

Isn't this a lovely spot? We finally headed home about 8:00pm.


After the Littles went to bed, Brian, Bessie, Gabe and I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Gabe went to bed at 11:30 (late even for him), tired by so happy. He wanted one more hug and me to tell him "happy birthday" one more time. I think he was reluctant to let his special day go.

I found myself, on several occasions today, looking at Gabe and thinking of his birth parents, especially his birth mother. What a sacrifice she made and what a gift that sacrifice was to us.

Gabe is such a special little boy and we adore him. He and I are especially close. We enjoy so many of the same things. I like his sense of humor, his terrific imagination and his love of nature and science. I love talking with him.

All these things make me wonder what type of personalities his birth family has. How much of what makes Gabe "Gabe" came in his genes and how much is a product of his life here with us. I know some people want to think it is all nature or all nurture, but I'm sure it is a combination of both.

Either way, doesn't matter to me. We have never been the type of adoptive parents that want our kids to look like us so we can pretend that they aren't adopted. We am very aware that our children had lives before they came to our family and that is okay. All the elements of their lives make up who they are.

However Gabe came by his uniqueness, I love it and love him so very much. We are so happy that his birth mom chose to have him and that God chose to give him to us.

Happy Birthday, Gabe!