We began the month of February by sketching a picture of a birthday cake on the calendar on the 21st. The talk of a birthday party filled the house and the boys focused on what flavor cake "they" wanted for Micah's special day. One morning Micah came up to me and said "Mom, don't worry about my birthday. I don't have any friends to come to it, so it's no use." My heart melted inside me immediately! He has made friends since living in Bulgaria but friendship looks different right now and that lonliness is felt by all of us. I tried to reassure Micah that he had friends here and that a birthday party didn't mean gifts and kids filling a house, it was a time to thank God for his life and celebrate that gift of life with his family. The truth was my heart was aching for him. During Malta a wise woman comforted me by reminding me that he will not realize he is missing out on anything unless we live life like he is. I walked away from our conversation and realized the truth in her statment. I can stand with one foot in America and one foot in Bulgaria and always be looking back and forth but I will never be fully engaged in our new life if I do. Things are going to look different for us but it doesn't mean that the change is better or worse. Differnt doesn't mean we're going to miss out on what we used to do but rather we will gain a differnt way of doing it. There were alot of things that "weren't" at Micah's birthday but what was there were smiles and alot of them. Ben proudly decorated Micah's cake for him and presented it to him after dinner. It was a special time and we gained great memories and missed nothing =)
The next day the boys were pretending to be babies and I was feeding them a bottle of whip cream! (Micah was baby Hulk and Ben was baby Iron Man) =) Who wouldn't want to keep playing that game!? So what does a sweet cuddling moment in the Phillips's house turn into...a full on whip cream fight! We smeared whip cream on each other, in hair, on walls and eventually ended the game by landing two sticky boys inside a bathtub. Why not have a good reason to mop?! =)
Only you guys would have a whipped cream fight! LOL Can you see me cringing at the thought of whipped cream smeared on the walls?
ReplyDeleteWhat good advice! But my heart still hurts for Micah. It's easy for you to grasp that but it's harder for kiddos. I'll be praying for him. And tell him he has a late bday surprise coming from "Sara Clara." LOL
That was wise advice, though I still know the pain of the lack of depthness in relationships/friendships in your lives, so please know that I am beginning to pray that God Himself will bring to y'all people that need love that only the Phillips can fill with HIS love!! And let me know when it happens!! :))
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you are the BEST MOM EVER! I don't remember one thing about my 5th birthday party. Micah will always remember the love and fun of his first birthday and how you guys made it a fun celebration. I can't wait to read this a year from now and see how many amazing things God will do in the lives of your kids! (And you, of course. Even if you send me coffee mugs that make me get queasy.)
ReplyDelete