7 Years of Birthdays I Never Thought I'd Have



There's only one pretty child in the world, and
every mother has it.--Chinese proverb

 Four adoption terms defined -


Natural child: Any child who is not artificial.


Real parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.


Your own child: Any child who is not someone else’s child.


Adopted child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.



This year I had the blessing of celebrating mija's 7th birthday.  I never thought I'd have a child for whom to celebrate birthdays, so each birthday is momentous on many levels.

This year wasn't an easy one with unemployment, health issues, and such.  In fact, we talked her into having her party the Friday after her birthday, so we could get and extra paycheck in beforehand.

And this week...well, I've been in brought to tears in pain numerous times this week.  I've also was brought to tears when mija prayed that we would have enough money to buy ice cream for her party. The challenge of being challenged but trying not to pass that challenge onto her can be challenging.

She just couldn't wait for her party.  She wanted to "Freak Out" and she said in her own words!



Can you see Rapunzel in the tower?



Unlike many years previously, I didn't make the cake this year.  Well, if you count buying a toy that could be a cake topper and and an already decorated cake, and putting them together, then I did make the cake this year.



Mija wanted a "Tangled" birthday part.  Since we don't do Halloween, we asked abuelita to make her dress like Rapunzel's dress in the movie. It was her chance to get a costume.  She loved it!

So, she got to visit with family, score some gifts (10,000 beads?  Really, Aunt?  10,000!?!), and enjoyed cake, ice cream (yes, God did answer that prayer), and had the opportunity to "Freak Out" with the disco ball the neighbor gave her.

All this to say, it's been a rough week, but knowing that 7 years ago, I was able to walk out of the hospital with my daughter, well, that was one night of joy.