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| Better get ready, K, this is going to be you next year! |
This is the last birthday that he will spend alone. I am hopeful that his Baba will have remembered to give him the birthday drawing that Leah made back in March for us to take along with him. I don't know if it will have any meaning to him, but I want the people there to know that this little boy has someone who cares about him, and has been thinking about him every day, and especially today.
I wonder if he'll like cake and ice cream. ;) His Baba says that he has a sweet tooth. ;) I'm excited that he'll get to be here for two siblings' birthday parties and two cousins' parties before his birthday rolls around again - maybe it will help him to get a sense of what to expect and build his anticipation for when it's his turn. I wonder if he'll like blowing out the candles. I wonder if he'll have learned enough about expressing preferences to help decide which kind of cake we should have! I wonder if he'll like the balloons and singing and attention, or if he'll be shy and unsure.
Even though K was not home for his birthday, he still got a few birthday presents. I knew when the bunk we purchased via craigslist ended up being near my parents and not near us that they might try to pay for it. But nope, no mention at all of them covering it (good for them!) so when Mom got up here earlier this week I wrote her a check to pay them back for the cost of the bed, with money that I'd been holding in our checking account for that purpose. She promptly returned it saying that Dad must have forgotten (?) to email telling us they were going to give us the bed. (WAY nice for us! We went back and forth for a LONG time on this particular bed. It was nearly exactly what we wanted (Matt would have gone for a slightly more contemporary style if given his choice of any bunk bed in the world), in great shape, came with one mattress, which we needed, because Owen already has one, but we needed one for K, was a beautiful color, etc. But the price was nearly three times what I was in my idealistic world hoping to spend. But everything that was in my price range didn't meet my two significant criteria: 1) solid and stable, so it wouldn't wobble and creak when either child moved around and 2) real drawers underneath so the boys wouldn't need to have a separate dresser in their small room. We finally decided this was the way to go, ready to pay the full price. But as it is now, we can use that money instead for the exterior door by Matt's office on the addition! A little bit here, a little bit there, and somehow it all seems to be working out so far.) And from his other grandma, we picked out a pillow (realizing that this boy has not once in his life had a pillow! Will he like it? Will he know what to do with it?) and a super cute set of sheets. So once the laundry goes through, we will have K's bedroom all ready for him to come home!
Today also marks exactly 2.5 months since we returned from our trip to K's country. A "normal" period of time between first and second trip is 4-5 months, which means we *could* be more than half way there!
I've spent much of this past week dealing with feelings of being overwhelmed by the far-reaching nature of the challenges of being Reuben's mom. This attitude is so contrary to how Matt and I have walked through the first 2.5 years of knowing about Reuben's challenges. At my core I know what is true, and I know that these feelings are coming as an attack to get us to doubt the wisdom of the choices that we have made to bring us to this point, and it becomes a battle in the mind, trusting that the only wise place to be is smack in the middle of where God is leading us. I think I need to spend more time reflecting on some of the thoughts I shared here!
So, those of you who read this that are praying for us - this is a specific way you can pray.
Happy birthday, K! Gwen picked out your present, and has already tried it out and thoroughly approved of it. We'll give it to your mom and dad when we see them in July.
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