Nine

Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" 

Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

You have filled my heart with greater joy 

than when their grain and new wine abound.

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, 

O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:6-8

On Monday, our firstborn turned nine. That means we've "had her" for nearly 10 years, counting womb-time! While we did have a very small get together with three of her friends a few days earlier, it was her real birthday I knew I'd enjoy most, with just us here.

She started by opening presents, but then the middle of the day was very normal...responsibilities, tidying, schoolwork, and so on. In late afternoon, I decided to let them watch some cartoons (old Superman cartoon shorts! They think Lois Lane is the silliest gal ever - she takes too many risks, they think, in order to get a good newspaper story!).

I let them watch because I was getting ready to play with food - something I've not done much of in the past few years. Can you see the shiver of yippee! go down me? I needed to make her birthday cake and also some treats for her to take to school. Photos of that, below...


But you know what I think the best thing was about EG's 9th birthday? It was a sweet answer to prayer. Almost every day, I pray that my children will filter all they hear and read and see through the truth of God's Word, the Truth we are trying to teach them, with God's help.

EG began picking my brain with some deep questions on her birthday morning at breakfast. She's always been a deep-thinker, hard-question asker, but that day her questions showed me that she was able to pick out subtle differences between some things she'd heard someone say and what we've read and discussed from the Bible. Praise God! She was able to recognize that something didn't sound right in what she'd heard. I am so, so thankful that He has made her aware and alert and that she came to me and shared her thoughts, giving me the chance to see God at work! Obviously, it also gave me an opportunity to point her to scriptures that explain the issues she brought up.

EG is a dear girl. And I just love her so much.  I can't really even be articulate about how happy we are to know her, to parent her. Thank you, God, for every day You have given us with this daughter!

Fix these words of Mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11:18-19

Lord, help us - we are weak and failing people. We need Your power and grace. Make us faithful!

This is the cake EG requested. It's a popular standby for sure: cookies and cream ice cream between layers of devil's food cake, with ganache on top. I converted it into cupcakes so we wouldn't have gobs of leftovers.

I like the magical glow in this photo. You can see the mismatched cupcakes. I decided to play with piping some designs on a few. It's been years since I tried to pipe anything, and I've never had a steady hand. But it sure was fun to play! I only had a few ancient tips to choose from and I needed to see if any of them would make a decent design on the cupcakes I planned to send to school.

Here's what I ended up with. I was happy not to buy new tips and happy that these "blue worms" of icing meant using less icing, hence less sugar overload. And look, it doesn't require a steady hand! But I did have a pretty stiff hand when I was done - I did about 30 of them (some for 2nd grade, some for 3rd grade).

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Counting endless Mercies....

83. We (totally unknowingly) bought our last box of diapers for CA about 10 days ago. I may have to write a whole post on how God has blown me away with the ease and speed of CA's potty training. What a blessing!

84. Saw the first little bluebonnets popping up by the side of the road

85. LC in my lap, me reading to her, wisps of her long hair floating up because of the breeze coming through the open window

86. LC's sweetness: tidied parts of the downstairs while I was busy upstairs...did this just for me...

87. That He is with me always 

88. Michael Card's music - the lyrics are practically a sermon in themselves, set to song

89. an adoptive home for our fish

90. hearing the girls sing worship songs together last night...BB and I were having a much-needed talk downstairs and took longer than usual to get upstairs for bedtime (and worship time)...so they started on their own...sweet to stand at the closed door and hear them singing