Happy Birthday Mariposa!

Philippians 1:3-11

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

After weeks of preparations, we celebrate Aliah's 11th Birthday mid-week last week. Yes, weeks of preparation! It is a joy to see each of the children celebrate the gift of life that God has given their siblings. For weeks now each of the other children have worked on making home made gifts or have worked toward thoughtful gift giving, wrapping and hiding things in various places where they would not be discovered and unwrapped. For weeks we have had a disco ball pinata in progress on the kitchen counter, specifically created to celebrate this event. Serena found the directions, read them, and created the pinata for Aliah all by herself, taking hours to find the supplies and decorate it to surprise Aliah. This outpouring of love in the wake of a season of challenges is a beautiful testimony of God's grace in the lives of these children.

Aliah got the nickname Mariposa (Butterfly) shortly after coming home (at age 8) because she spent her entire days flitting from one thing to the next, often not lasting even five minutes at any one thing before she became distracted, discouraged, frustrated, or uninterested. She was constant motion in a restless sort of way, often leaving a tornado-sized disaster behind her, physically or emotionally, wherever she went. And yet we could see in this beautiful child the potential to learn grace and love and peace through Christ. Nearly three years later we, as parents, have learned more than we ever wanted to know about special needs, early trauma, therapeutic parenting, Biblical teaching, and the amazing network of support available. We rejoice that we see Aliah growing in the grace and hope of Christ and we see the beauty of His transformation in her life.

Aliah, we are confident that God, who has begun this good work in you, will be faithful to bring it to completion. It is our prayer that you would continue to grow in the grace and love of Christ, and in knowledge and discernment of His Word, and that your life would overflow with the fruits of righteousness for God's glory. We love you!

For her birthday meal Aliah chose french toast bake, mangos, and pistachio/pineapple salad. It was a sweet meal for a sweet girl!

We are still exploring our new neighborhood and took a l-o-n-g bike ride after supper.

After the bike ride, we celebrated with the pinata that Serena made for Aliah. It was a super-strength pinata, so it took much longer than we anticipated to break it!

At Aliah's request, a pink pony cake!