Happy 5th Birthday Peaches!!!

A year ago our little Peaches would have celebrated her birthday in an orphanage in Gambella, Ethiopia.  It is unlikely that there was any celebration or any awareness of her birthday.  What a difference a year makes!

Her 5th birthday came with great anticipation for her family, though Peaches didn't seem to realize the full extent of what a birthday really meant.  We had planned to celebrate on the day of her birthday with family and some Ethiopian food - injera which was to be prepared by our new Ethiopian friend and we were even going to take a try at preparing some goat meat.  The next night we were going to have many of our friends over as a celebration to God for the bringing of Peaches into our home.  At last count, we were at 47 people!

Heather's unexpected surgery and stay in the hospital put a wrench in those plans, but her release from the hospital on Peaches' birthday did allow us to have a small celebration at home that night.  Her continued confusion about what a birthday is was a reminder of what it means to be an orphan.  There's no one to celebrate your birthday, no one to remember you on special occasions, no one to take notice of you when you accomplish a first in life.  It's just you against the world.  And there's no one to even take notice that it is just you against the world.

We were blessed by some friends who brought over some last minute birthday party supplies - since our week was detoured through the hospital rather than into birthday party preparation.  The supplies were perfect.

It is interesting that this was Peaches' first real celebration opening presents.  She was somewhat unsure of what to do, but quickly got the hang of it.  She was also unsure what it really meant to now be "5" and also unsure how long this recognition lasted.

Enjoy the pictures of our beautiful little girl - the excitement in her eyes and the smile that requires no camera flash!  We brought her into our home not just to shower her with gifts on her birthday, but also to allow her to be rooted within a family - our family - and to be celebrated for who she is.

 Peaches was excited to open her gifts - unfortunately we only had Toy Story 3 wrapping paper in the house!  Not very girly!

 Tangled is her favorite movie!

 She has always wanted a robe - mainly because Eddie Joe has one!

She now has her very own Tangled dress and crown!  What a princess!

McDonald's for supper!  What could be better!

Bugg made some special cupcakes for Peaches.  They were amazing.

Look what we found when we opened the box!

Ready to light the candles!

And with an unsureness as to what this was all about, she complied with our excited screams of "blow out the candles"!!

A cupcake fit for a princess!

Those eyes say it all!

We were also blessed to find out that an Indonesian tradition is to bring fruit to someone who has been sick.  Our newest addition to our church body (Anna, who is from Indonesia) brought this plate of fruit for Heather.  A beautiful gesture.  Thank you Anna!