birthday – Page 3 – everything He gives

Noey’s day (5!)

January 5, 2018 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

DSC_0003 (1) DSC_0016 (1) DSC_0020 (1) DSC_0025 (1) DSC_0030 (1) DSC_0033 (1) DSC_0039 (1) Oh my sweet son. I’m so very proud of you. Five years old feels like a big deal and seeing you reach this milestone—one whole hand—it squeezes my heart a little bit hard. I’m happy and excited to see you grow, but mostly just feel like I’m grasping at sand slipping through my busy fingers. How to really not miss a moment of these fleeting days? So often busy with necessary work, with hurdles in front of us, with decisions to be made and mundane things that preoccupy. And then here you are, my once quiet snuggly little man child, now all long and tall and losing all that baby chub. It’s so wonderful to have a boy in the home–all the pants with holes in the knees, the stinky boy breath, the noise and cars and the way that everything morphs into a weapon. Also to see the special bond and understanding you have with your daddy. The way he knows just what treats and toys will light up your world. The way you two love to run errands together and have little pockets of man time. It was a special memory for us all this past summer when he took just you for a long weekend to the beach to visit with your Baba and Nain. I don’t think you’ll ever forget all the fun you had together. This past year was the year you quietly and without fanfare asked Jesus into your heart. Your little spirit is coming to life, delighting in Jesus, asking to pray at most meals, loving to learn about God and His Word. Can I tell you, there really is no greater delight for a parent than to share my greatest delight with you? To see Him at work in you, growing and shaping you. You’re learning how to be a little gentlemen, too, with so many ladies in the house to look after and take care of. I love to see your bond with your sisters, the way you are learning to gently care for them, to use your strength not to harm or hurt but to protect. You take joy in being the one to hold open the door for us, and I see your delight in using your strength to serve. We have our hurdles at times, son, of course–but

Your favorite foods are pizza (in your daddy’s footsteps), applesauce, cereal and pancakes, chips and popcorn. You are still addicted to your dee-T (blankie) which is fine by me. Rue the day you outgrow dee-T! You are sensitive, careful, a tinkerer, loud and wiggly, bouncy and giggly, a lover of music (drums especially) and riding bikes. You can’t wait to grow up and have a “real race car with a trailer behind it.”

This was maybe the most fun birthday we’ve had with you yet because you were actually excited about opening presents and didn’t mind us singing happy birthday to you since it was just us. When you opened your playmobil “trash truck” (recycling) you said, “Yes!! Now we can go trashing all day!” You held it up at the window for the trash men to see when they went by the next day, and they honked at you and gave a thumbs up. It was a treat to see you build your lego airplane with daddy and I think you’re finally at the age where you really enjoy legos and playmobil. It always surprises me how much you love your hand knits, and you wanted to put your new birthday sweater on right away. I’m just glad it actually fit well! You reminded me all day that you wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and that you wanted cereal for dinner. I made spaghetti, which is another of your favorites, hoping to entice you with it, but in the end relented and let you have cereal.

I look forward to the adventures we’ll have in the coming year! Welcoming a new baby with you as my big boy helper, spring and planting our garden, fall and your official start of school. So many new things to come! Your daddy and I adore you and thank God for you. Happy 5th birthday!

Love,
Mom

a big girl

December 4, 2017December 4, 2017 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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The day before Thanksgiving was Philippa’s third birthday. Being that all of our children thus far have birthdays around the holidays, we often struggle with how to celebrate both Christmas and birthdays reasonably, simply, and economically. We’ve tried different things each year, it seems. This year, we’re making a bit more of birthdays and planning a lower-key, less-gifts sort of Christmas.

Philippa woke on her day early, and it’s the first birthday where she has really talked about it for weeks before her big day, and both girls woke up eager for birthday fun (Phoebe enjoys other people’s birthdays just as much as her own). Phippa really can’t wait to be “a big girl.” We had to wake sleepy Noah up a bit early that morning so birthday girl could open a few gifts before daddy headed off to work. Usually we let the birthday child decide the meal plan and activities for the day, but her only real request was for chocolate cake with blueberries. A girl who knows what she wants. 🙂 We gave her a few gifts in the morning–a hand-dyed play silk from my favorite blogger, Ginny, and her lovely little handmade shop. It smells heavenly and is simply gorgeous. Ginny generously sent along some stickers (made from her own nature photography) as well for Philippa, which was such a treat (though I was tempted to keep them for myself). She also sweetly worked hard to get Philippa’s gift to her on time, which meant a lot to me! We let Philippa open her birthday dress and her toy, which was a wooden stable with horses. That was a huge hit with each of the kids and they all played with it all day.

I made a grain-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free chocolate cake from the Celebrations cookbook (sidenote: amazing cookbook!) for Philippa, topped with the vanilla buttercream from the same cookbook. I did something funny/wrong with the frosting so I had to play a bit with it to get it to spread on the cake, but it ended up being delicious.

We had a fairly regular sort of day otherwise, school and cleaning and playing outside. Daddy came home with a balloon for her, which she loved. After dinner my parents stopped by with their gift for Philippa and we let her open the rest of the gifts before cake. We gave her her own “journal” (from Michaels) and her first real set of colored pencils. I found a really cute handmade pencil roll-up case at this etsy shop, and it happened to have foxes on it, which Philippa loves. I wasn’t sure if she’d be too young to appreciate it, but she has treasured this little gift every day since, and has used many of her stickers from Ginny to decorate her journal, too. She seems to feel quite grown up with own little set of pencils. My parents gifted her a sweet new dress and pair of pajamas, and a tiny little mini mug. She opened my hand knit sweater for her and promptly tossed it aside, as she did with the rest of the clothes, but the next day she was eager to try everything on and wear it. We also gave her a ukulele, and it has been okay, but I didn’t realize it wasn’t real wood and sort of wish we had gotten this one for her. Still, for our music-loving kids, it has been fun for each of them to have something to play together (Phoebe, her violin; Noah his drums, and now Philippa her little uke).

A couple days later Philippa agreed to let me snap some pictures of her in her sweater that I made (ravelry notes here), and I’m super proud of it. I feel like it’s the first one I’ve made that has fit how I wanted it to. It’s a cropped sweater, so the body is supposed to be short on it, and it looks darling over dresses. She seems to really like it, too.

It was a fun day, even though there were some usual hiccups and challenges along the way. Her hair did briefly catch on fire while blowing out candles. 🙂 I remember Philippa’s second birthday being hard, her being out of sorts and unusually grumpy and strung out, and she was a bit like this on this birthday, too. All the attention is a bit much, even though she loves it at the same time. Although in reality, their birthdays make me feel a bit strung out, too, trying to make it a special day. Simple is always best, right?

We are pretty thankful to get to know this precocious, funny and darling little girl. Lately she keeps coming up to Brandon and I and rubbing our arms and saying, “I lus you daddy” or “I lus you momma.” We live for those sweet little unexpected moments.

Philippa’s first birthday here, second birthday here.

(Affiliate links included in this post.)

a (late) birthday letter

November 30, 2017 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

hey baby girl. can it really be? you’re finally three. i look back on those early days with you–oh, how happy they were. you were born in laughter, and you were your strong-natured unique and spicy little self right from the start. you were born just days before Thanksgiving and with everyone busy with family and festivities, we had a quiet few days alone together at home enjoying new you and the sleepy early days.

this past year with you has been fun and full and hard, a bit, too. being two is hard, and maybe being three won’t be much easier. but i see you growing and changing and learning, and i’m proud of you! you began talking up a storm this year, and hearing more of your little thoughts and funny words for things has kept us laughing. You call your bottom your “bawnos” and your fingers “fing-wey” or “fing-wa.” hugs are “squishees.” you call my yarn my “kninning” and my needles “neenles.” i love the way you run, little arms down and flapping back and forth. you love “moomies,” get excited about anything phoebe and noah are excited about, and you still love to be the family clown and make everyone laugh.

you can be bossy and head strong but also so sensitive, and a harsh word can easily send you into tears. this year we worked on potty training, and it was a long, long road–with still some hard days here and there, but you’ve made great progress and how you’ve loved your new big-girl status.

you and noah are inseparable, the very best of friends. often when i’m busy in the mornings doing school with phoebe, you two are off playing together somewhere and, boy, do you love to laugh together. i hope your bond stays strong all of your days.

often you ask me how the baby is doing, and you seem so excited to be a big sister and not the littlest one anymore. i think you’re going to love it and be a very good big sister.

sweet girl, you have a tender and joyful spirit. i still love our evening sings and prayer time, just you and me. watching you grow up is a delight. seeing you become more interested in our morning family time in scripture, and your interest to always try and answer the questions. to sense in you a love for God and to hear you pray is a blessing. i pray for you continually to love Him, to walk with Him all your days, to know the joy it is to grow up in the shadow of His wings, facing all your days with Him. He has a great plan for you life little one, and i’m thankful we get to be a part of it.

happy third birthday, philippa ruth. i love you so ❤

mommy

the night raccoon

January 3, 2017 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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The boy who doesn’t like opening presents, who hides from his cake and goes under the table when people start singing him “happy birthday.” He likes a small and simple day. We let him open a few gifts from grandparents in the morning before daddy left for work so he had a few things to play with. We walked to the park and he tried out his new crossbow. Daddy came home from work early so he didn’t have to wait too long for the rest of his presents. He requested pancakes and bacon for dinner, which was a thrill to the girls. So we had that plus chocolate birthday cake. He opened his gift from us which was a drum set, and it definitely was the highlight of his day. We were so happy to be able to surprise him with something so unexpected. He loves drumming and had asked for a drum awhile ago, and usually can be found beating to the rhythm of music with two railroad track pieces on the couch cushions. I didn’t finish his sweater in time which is a disappointment, he even asked about it, but I’m almost done with it now and will share pictures soon. I really can’t believe how much he’s grown in the last year and how he has transformed from a little baby to this big gangly kid. So weird.

I left his cake on the table after we enjoyed some so that we could bathe the kids and get them to bed. Usually Brandon and I will shower and get in our jammies after the kids are down. We came out after our shower and Noah was standing at our door (out of his bed) with his hands in his mouth. Brandon noticed he was all chocolatey around his mouth and at first told him he was going to spank him, then he started smirking and said, “well you’re just so darn cute and it is your birthday, but get back in bed.” We were chuckling that he would get out of bed knowing we were in the shower and go sneak a bite more of his cake. Little did we know until we came back into the kitchen what he had actually done. (I wish I had thought to get a picture of it!) His cake was scraped nearly clean, covered in little claw marks everywhere. He had literally licked the icing off the entire cake. Three days later on Phoebe’s birthday he snuck out of bed and licked the icing off of HER cake too, even though I had put it higher on the counter. So he’s become a little night raccoon sneaking into our kitchen after bedtime. He is quiet, this one, but mischievous.

my strawberry girl

December 27, 2016 MarthaKimball2 Comments

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She tells me her phoebe sweater is one of her favorite gifts and she’s been cozying up in it every day at some point. The yarn relaxed so much after blocking it that even though I made a size 6 for my petite little 6 year old, it still is quite big and will fit her for a few years if she takes good care of it. I loved knitting it and am so glad it is cozy and warm and a cheery red for her. It reminds me of the bright red cardinals we see flitting around in the drab winter scenery, little spots of color in the long winter. The bonnet was one of her stocking gifts, she has asked for one for months. I think this one is so cute and it will get lots of wear. We gave her the book “Phoebe’s Sweater” along with it, which has the knitting patterns in the back.

Her birthday this year was really calm and quiet and peaceful. She wanted to open all of her presents before daddy went to work so we let her. We gave her a violin and the sweater I had knit her. Brandon had picked out a special necklace for her, it looks sort of “indian-ish” so it goes well with her latest imaginary play. She had a few other gifts to open from her grandparents. She wanted to go to the park to play, the one that has swings, so we spent the morning there. The weather has been fairly mild lately so it was really nice to be out. I let her skip her “quiet time” after lunch and we worked on her new legos and then snuggled and watched a christmas movie. I baked her cake that morning, a gluten-free funfetti cake with my own buttercream icing and I covered it in strawberries because she loves them so. She was soo excited about her cake, as you can see.

six

December 23, 2016 MarthaKimball1 Comment

There were no gifts under the tree that year. We didn’t really even notice, which is a wonder for me, a gift lover. Our hearts were caught up in anticipating a baby. I was as any first time mom would be: nervous, anxious, excited, filled with wonder and worry and dread and joy all at once. It lent a whole new meaning to the Christmas story, to the Advent season, to the waiting for the coming of the promised One.

And then you came, so quickly, taking us all by surprise. I called the midwife at 6am on that December 23 morning, she said to take my time coming in, but I felt an urgency to get to the hospital. By the time we left the house for the 45 minute drive to the hospital, I was desperate to get there, contractions coming in wave after wave without a break between. We got there, checked in, chatted with the midwife for a few moments, and suddenly I was in transition. Within an hour or so of arriving at the hospital, you were born. In about three pushes, they laid you on my belly and I just remember your dark quiet stare. We didn’t have time to think about medicating, we didn’t have time to call family before suddenly there you were. The midwife sat down heavy in the rocking chair at the foot of my bed and said, “Wow. Now that’s how it’s done. You need to give classes to all these other ladies on the LND floor.” I felt proud, but the reality was, it wasn’t really because of anything I did. My labor with Noah was far longer and far more difficult with complications to boot. Its crazy how little of it is up to us, anyway. “Birth plans” and such–an illusion of control.

From day one until this day, six years later, it’s never been in my control. What a year we’ve had, you and I. In a way different than the other children, I feel like we grow up together–you, the firstborn, and I. You, the one who throws challenges at us that we are hardly practiced for, and we learn as we walk through them with you.

You amaze me as you grow. I can’t believe we are one-third of our way through our parenting journey with you. Only twelve more years until you’ll be free and ready to take off on your own little wings. I hate the thought! I can’t believe its gone already and I’ll never have it back, all those precious baby years with you, so tiny and so new. Yet each year with you is so much fun, as you grow and change and become more and more your own little person.

I love everything about you. I want you to know, you are so very special, my phoebe girl. God has mighty plans for you. He’s already working in you and through you. He has entrusted hardships to you at a young age, and He will be faithful to see you through. He will be faithful to carry you all the way. He may not remove the thorn, sweet one, even though we so wish He would. But He will bring great good from it, so much good that you will one day marvel with great joy and say, “The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made…The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.” (Psalm 145:9,17) ALL of it. All. We won’t understand a fraction of it, but we have this promise in black and white–He is good to all, He is righteous in all that He chooses to allow or cause.

You are still one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received in my life, you are such a treasure. Through you God keeps teaching me that I’m not in control here–He is. I’m so so proud of you, all your hard work, your willingness to try things that are scary and difficult for you, your quick turn to repentance when you’ve done wrong, your courage and bravery and general usual state of HAPPY. I just love you so. I treasured our day together today, playing together, snuggling, just keeping it simple, thanking God for the gift of life.

I love you so

Mommy

now you’re four!

December 20, 2016December 20, 2016 MarthaKimball2 Comments

my dear sweet boy

never lose your tenderness. be brave enough, be strong enough to be a tenderhearted man in your generation. it is a beautiful quality of yours, something i love most about you, even if it is often misunderstood. it isn’t weakness or shyness to be tenderhearted. our Savior is tenderhearted, and maybe those with tender hearts see those that others pass over so quickly–the lost, broken, hurting. it takes tenderness to extend compassion. so don’t let a cruel hard world pound out of you your tender heart. stay soft, stay breakable.

my, what a year you’ve had. you have literally transformed before our eyes. maybe this is so unusual to us because our phoebe girl grows so slowly, but you are surpassing her this year. you are really growing up! you moved into your own boy room, and have since loved the privacy that gives you, even though you don’t love being alone in the dark of night. you’ve begun to battle nightmares almost nightly, and often come snuggle with us in our bed. it’s the first time, though, that i’ve really seen you turn to the Lord in prayer on your own. you are beginning to learn to pray on your own to your Heavenly Father, and not to be afraid to speak freely to Him.

this morning i said, “noah! you’re not three anymore!” and you said, in a distinctively more grown-up-sounding voice, “i know but i still call you momma.”

you love playing with your sisters, and do so well with both of them. your favorite things lately are to play that you are dogs, running around in the house and yard on all fours, and to play drums constantly to whatever music we have going in the house. you are addicted to movies much to my chagrin. 🙂 you have learned so much alongside phoebe in our first year of home educating, and i can tell you are so bright and eager. you still love to be tickled to tears before bedtime, as you always always have, and you love to be sung to. you love trucks and cars endlessly. you love to help me in the kitchen, really to help with any task.

i am so so proud of you, son, so thankful that God gave us you. you came quietly on this december day four years ago, but with so much drama somehow at the same time. what a champ you were as your momma struggled to recover in the weeks following your birth. i especially want to tell you that i’m very proud of you for the way you have loved phoebe in all her health battles this year, being protective of her and looking out for her. the way you told her you missed her while she was gone to winston salem. it’s not easy having to bend to someone with a special dietary need, and yet you do it quietly and with such a good attitude. thank you, son! your daddy and i adore you more than we can ever ever say and we thank God for the gift of you!

happy fourth birthday, my favorite boy with the best giggle!

we celebrate

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016 MarthaKimball1 Comment

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Have you missed my posts just about our ordinary days? I have. There is lots of writing happening in my head, so much writing, so many things being learned and processed, but so little time to put pen to paper these days.

My heart needed to reflect on a little celebrating today. The day before Philippa’s birthday we drove my oldest daughter, Phoebe, to Brenner’s Children Hospital in Winston Salem, NC to their celiac center. We are about a year and a half into this diagnosis and life change, but we haven’t seen the progress we should be seeing in Phoebe, and it is time for a second opinion. So they day before Philippa’s birthday was spent driving 5 or so hours, and meeting with doctors, lots of talking about health history and numbers and bloodwork. Ironically, the day before I wrote this post we spent driving back and forth once again to Winston Salem for a two-week follow-up. The news about where Phoebe is and how she’s doing isn’t good, and my heart is heavy today. More testing ahead, surgeries, biopsies. More blood work. As any momma will tell you, it is so hard to go through a thing like this with your child. You’d rather it be you any day than them. How can you answer their questions about why God has allowed this and why He doesn’t take it away? These are the things that break your heart.

Yet squished in between these appointments and my momma’s heart revolving around all of this with Phoebe, a little girl turned TWO. How good of God, how appropriate of God to call us to celebrate and feast and give gifts in the very middle of our hard moments. He knows our form, He remembers that we are dust, He knows our frailty, and He knows that when we turn our hearts to rejoice and celebrate and feast, it really can tune our attention to all His manifold goodness.

And so, again today, as I try to catch up on pictures and happenings in our family, my heavy heart looks over these pictures of my littlest one and smiles. She is such a stinker. She was in the WORST mood OF HER LIFE on her birthday. I have no idea why but she really may have spent every waking moment crying or whining. We made her cake in the morning that day, then ran some errands. I let Phoebe and Noah each pick out a dollar gift for her from Target’s dollar spot. Noah bought her a little wooden firetruck, Phoebe bought her a few sheets of Elsa/Anna stickers. Later they wrapped their gifts to her and made cards. I really love encouraging them to give gifts to one another because as we all know, it really is better to give than to receive. It’s so fun to wrap up a gift and then watch the recipient open it with delight. And because what mother doesn’t shamelessly ~~force~~ encourage her kids to like one another? After naps, Philippa watched me ice her chocolate cake with “spinkles” (her request–they tasted horrible) and licked the icing off the spatula. She couldn’t wait to open her gifts once she saw them so Noah let her open his early. Poor thing, having to wait all day for celebrations!

My parents came for dinner and we sang her happy birthday and had cake and ice cream. She opened gifts, a rocking horse from my parents which she loved so much she didn’t much care about her other gifts. Should have saved that one for last. 😉 We got her a set of little letter blocks, and a stuffed peppa pig that talks when she squeezes it because she adores peppa. When she opened the sweater I knit her she screamed “NO!” and chucked it behind her. But I still love her and she will WEAR IT ANYWAY. As you can see, ~~I forced her~~ she wore it happily the next morning and I snapped a few pictures of her in it. Once in a better mood she has enjoyed it more. It is a bit bigger on her than I thought it would be so I may be able to get two winters out of it (woohoo!). I really do want to knit the same sweater for myself, such a soft and rustic wool, very warm and cozy.

My mom surprised the kids with a “singing machine” recently, too, and that has been the biggest hit around here. She gave a new pack of Adventures in Odyssey CDs, and they have been listening non stop. The microphone is making all of Phoebe’s dreams come true, and thankfully I can send them all to the basement where the cacophony is muffled nicely.

Anyway, I’m thankful that life is a peculiar mix of joy and pain, that God calls us to celebrate and rejoice over His good gifts even when we’re having a bad day or a hard year. As I read in Ann Voskamps’ advent book this morning:

“Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.”
-G.K. Chesterton

There is so much joy to be had in Him even in the hard times. I hope wherever you find yourself today, you can find your way back to joy in Him. Our circumstances are unstable, as uncertain as shifting sand, but He remains unchanging. Hallelujah!

for my feisty girl

November 22, 2016 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

Two years ago today, this little feisty bundle with a shock of black hair came into our lives. You looked at me fiercely with grumpy little eyes when I first looked at you, already trying to boss me around. You wanted to nurse and you wanted it NOW. You haven’t stopped bossing since.

Philippa, you are full of vim and passion and zest for life. You love a good party, and you love to make everyone laugh. At two years old you now have a head full of white blonde hair. In the mornings I hear you yelling, “Mom! Momma!” from your crib when you’re ready to get up. You come running out and there’s no time for snuggling. Quickly you busy yourself playing with brother or sister. You love “can-cakes” for breakfast and you call your water bottle your “coffee.” You love to go outside and “ho-high” on the swing all by yourself, pushing away our hands if we try to help you on the stairs. The best moments are when you grab my face with your chubby hands and turn it roughly to the side so you can plant a big “tiss” on my cheek. Or when you wrap your squishy arms around my neck and say “hold on ti-ight!” Your snuggles are far and few between, but they are truly the best and your daddy and I live to sneak them in. Whoever you have in the moment is your favorite and you couldn’t possibly even deign to look at the other parent.

I miss our nighttime nursings, but love that we’ve traded them in for rocking in the chair, reading board books that you toddle over to me, while you suck your thumb and we sing hymns and little songs that you love. I love, love to hear you pray–“Dear Gah.. thank you for Noah” you always start with.

If you can’t tell, sweet girl, your daddy and I are just smitten with you. You can be feistier than Phoebe and Noah combined, if you want to be, but you are just as capable of equal measures of sweetness. Today at two years old, you have been grumpier than usual, and I wonder if we are entering those “terrible twos,” but thankfully, we have had a go at this twice before. We engage it with a lot more laughter this time around and hopefully a lot more grace. That’s the benefit of being baby #3.

We love you so so much, precious little biddle-e-dee, and always will forever and ever no matter what. You are one of the greatest treasures + joys of our earthly lives. We pray for you every day to know Jesus and love Him and use all your passion and headstrong ways for His name and His kingdom. We can’t wait to see what this next year holds in store for you and we hope you have a very happy birthday!

Love,

Momma

june celebrations

June 20, 2016 MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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The middle of June is celebratory for us, my birthday as well as my mom’s being on the 14th (yes, we share a day!) and then Father’s Day just a few days later. It feels apt for the very middle of the year, half gone by, to mark it with some feasting and cake.

My birthday fell on a Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week, which is just fine and dandy by me. I’ve always felt a bit like a plain and ordinary sort of girl. I was successful, however, in finagling Brandon into celebrating my day over the course of a few days. 🙂 The Saturday prior to my Tuesday, we had a few hours without the kids to walk through a few shops downtown and grab a bite to eat at a favorite sandwich spot. On my day, B offered to take me out to dinner, but I really feel like a breakfast out is my kind of deal, so we took the whole fam to one of our favorite local spots, the Corner Kitchen in Biltmore Village. This is maybe one of the first times we’ve taken Phoebe to a non-gluten free restaurant, so we packed her own bowl and cereal and milk, and it was a little stressful knowing the environment wasn’t gluten-free, but I think we all felt pretty special being able to eat together as a family at a restaurant and I don’t think Phoebe even noticed that she didn’t have anything off of the menu. That girl loves her Nature’s Path cheerios. Brandon went off to work as usual, the day was a little hectic for me with errands, and then in the afternoon we gathered at my parent’s house to celebrate together with my mom and the rest of the family around. My mom even ordered a special birthday cake made by a local restaurant that has a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, Posanas. They made a decadent chocolate ganache cake for us, and it was extra special because we could all eat it together!

B wasn’t supposed to get me anything for my birthday, but he ended up surprising me at home with a couple new bath supplies that he picked out for me at Earth Fare. He is so cute, knowing that I love lavender and tea tree, and finding a few things to surprise me with. I think my cards from all the family this year were my favorite, I received such sweet and life-giving words from siblings and parents and Brandon. Of course, words mean a lot to this gal. My parents went above and beyond, spoiling me with some new all-clad cookware (!!!) as we have been using the same pots for the last 10 years, some kind of target teflon pots that have been all scrapped to smithereens, probably killing us slowly with carcinogens day by day. I’ve been trying to switch to stainless steel and cast iron as I can afford it, so I am so excited and thankful!

Later in the week, Phoebe and I got around to making a (grain-free) lemon lavender ricotta cheesecake together from Nancy Cain’s cookbook. We love pulling on our aprons together, she always picks the yellow one, and I the red and white one my grandma sewed for me. We put it in the oven and went out for a walk in the neighborhood, then got distracted chatting with a neighbor and suddenly remembered our cheesecake baking away, and hurried back home. It was a little too browned, I would say, but just delicious! I meant to have some whipped cream to top it with, but forgot, and the kids actually loved it, which surprised me. Usually they don’t like lemony things.

My birthday always seems to coincide with the blooming of the hostas, their regal green necks and purple crowns. Different things blooming all year long mark the turning of the seasons for us, without our even realizing it half the time. I feel so incredibly blessed this birthday. I really am living my dream, mother to three precious children by the side of the man I adore. Even in the midst of the regular challenges and trails of life, I am really content. Or at the very least, learning contentment. I read this scripture this morning, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory” (Psalm 73:24). What peace! What a life! What an incredible gift. All of my days, guided by his loving, good counsel, keeping me in the path that leads to peace and blessing, and then afterwards, He’s just going to take me right on into glory. GLORY. My soul can’t help but sing a hallelujah to that. I find that the hardest seasons that I am facing are only making His presence and grace all the sweeter, instead of pulling me away from Him, and what a mercy that is! That is certainly a work of His Spirit in me, not of my own wandering flesh. The Psalm goes on, one of my very favorite passages of all time, one I can almost never read without crying: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26). He really is enough for us. There really is hardship and heartache that threatens to break us, but the reality is, Jesus won for us everything we need to be content when He won salvation for us on the cross. There is nothing that can truly shake us, nothing that can steal that peace and security and joy that He won for us. What a priceless gift!

After all of that celebrating me, it felt quite appropriate to turn out attention to Daddy on Sunday. We stayed home from church because Philippa had been up most of the night coughing. There’s something very grounding and restful for us in staying home for a full day and being all together. It was a gift. B did work on a table he’s building in the garage, I sat near him and knitted, played guitar, sang hymns. The kids rode bikes up and down the street with a neighbor boy they befriended, and I carted children in the bike trailer for rides. We were outside all day until late in the evening, cooking hot dogs wrapped in a grain-free pretzel dough over the fire. It was a nearly perfect evening, until I realized how shallowly Philippa was breathing and how raspy she sounded. I whisked her off to the ER and didn’t get home until around 1 am. So, there was that. (She was laboring a bit too much to breathe, they did a breathing treatment and she’s on a round of steroids, but already improving.) Brandon cleaned everything up, bathed the other kids and tucked them into bed, washed the dishes and kitchen, then sat out by the fire reading late into the evening waiting for me and the baby to get home. That’s the kind of Daddy he is, even on “his” day, doing what needs to be done, serving. We love him so much, he really is our whole world in so many ways. Happy Father’s Day to all of you Daddy’s out there!

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