Surely, if your life is anything like mine is, you've had those days in which you were all prepared to go in one direction when suddenly that all comes to a screeching halt and you have to take a detour. You have no idea what that detour's gonna look like, but God has been oh so slowly teaching me that I need to just hang on and hope for the best!
I had one such day on Wednesday for my "baby's" birthday. We were all set to head down to Portland for the day and I had in my mind all the fun things we would do down in the Big City to treat our little Birthday Girl. At some point mid-morning, my husband sidles up to me and asks, "Would you be terribly put out if we don't go to Portland today--but go tomorrow?"
Why no, dear, of course that would be fine....except for the minor little detail that I have NOTHING planned for our youngest who happens to be having a BIRTHDAY TODAY!
Turns out one of the moms from our homeschool group had spontaneously invited anyone available to join her at the park that morning. So I suddenly switched gears, we opened some presents, and new fuzzy bunny in tow, whizzed to the park. It was a spectacular day, 5 or 6 families showed up and tremendous fun was had by all! And thank you dear moms of my homeschool group for instantly coming to my rescue! You moms are always SUCH a joy to visit with--and a real encouragement to me!
After much raucous play, swingin' and slidin', we went back to pick up Daddy then had a picnic lunch by a nearby lake. The older ones threw sticks in the water while we patiently waited for our Birthday Girl to finish her entire, very huge hamburger. She was determined to do this--and she did it! Quite impressive! She must be 4 and not 3 anymore--it's now official! And once more....tremendous fun was had by all!
With a swing by the good ol' trusty Wal-Mart bakery our Birthday Girl picks out her favorite pink and lavender endowed birthday cake and we head home for the final leg of our birthday festivities. She tells Daddy that she wants pesto pasta for dinner (yes, pesto pasta--she also loves mint tea!) and Daddy whips up some mini-Birthday-Girl-sized meatballs to go along.
Birthday boxes just happened to arrive in time to be opened that evening. G'mom and G'dad from TX just happen to call at the precise moment we're singing Happy Birthday so they join in, too, via speaker phone--and all in all--tremendous fun was had by all!