A '12th Man' birthday party!

 Months before September 25th (his birth date), Timothy had decided that his 12th birthday needed to be a Seattle Seahawks '12th Man' party (if you don't know about the 12th Man, ask Google). He is definitely one child in our family who plans out his special days from beginning to end, or better yet, from breakfast to dinner!
He knows what he would like his cake to look like and he has a menu plan for all three meals. This year, we had such a big breakfast that no one needed lunch. So, we enjoyed two meals of his choosing. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will just have to wait to make another day more special!

Breakfast Menu: Pancakes with eggs and bacon

Dinner Menu: Pulled pork sandwiches

Cake Order: A peanut butter Seahawks football jersey cake.

Can you tell he loves Legos?!

The next Sunday, immediately following the teen service, we held a party for Timothy and his friends. This time I took the easy way out and made some cupcakes. My SS kids love them anyway! With the leftover icing from the cake, we were able to swirl the frosting and make some cool cupcakes in Seahawks colors!

Love these kids!

We were excited to find these "Little Smokies" which were newly available here, just in time for Timothy's football party! Perfect party food!

We also enjoyed tortilla wraps with ham and cheese.

 One other fun thing for the kids were the blue icecubes in the Mt. Dew. The kids loved them. We don't drink Mt. Dew but when it coordinates with your theme...it just works.

It was a wonderful day for everyone. Timothy was so happy that most of his friends were able to be here with him to celebrate his special day.

We ended the day with Timothy closing devotions in prayer.

We love our "12th Man"!

Happy 11th Birthday to Timothy!

Today we celebrated 11 years of life for our youngest son, Timothy! Here is a peek into our day. First of all, we took the day off of school which Mom needed as much as the kids wanted! It was a nice, relaxing day just being at home and preparing the meals Timothy special ordered for his birthday.

First up on the menu, ham, egg, and cheese biscuits for brunch.

While big sister and big brother played a long Monopoly game with the birthday boy, Mom was able to wrap the presents, put the finishing touches on the cake, and prepare the evening meal of lasagna.

Timothy is very specific about details and his birthday meal choices are no exception!

His birthday cake of choice this year was the caramel toffee cheesecake that his sister has chosen for two birthday cakes in years past. One perk of your children getting older is them choosing more adult desserts which Mom and Dad also enjoy! 

This is a very specific recipe that requires attention to make but, overall, it is much easier and less stressful than a buttercream icing cake!

"Happy Birthday to you!!"

And a dramatic blowing out of the candles!

Love our kids!

Caramel toffee cheesecake time!

Timothy is happy!

One of the sweetest parts of our birthday celebrations is when our daughter presents the card she has spent much time creating for the birthday boy or girl (Mom and Dad included)! She has done this since she was a little girl. It is always so special to watch her choose a theme carefully and put extra love and care into each one.

Since Timothy loves Legos so much, this year's card included Legos pieces to make up the number '11' on the front. She punched holes out of colored paper to make the blocks. So creative!

Timothy loved reading his card this year which said,

"To our,

Lego-building,

sneeze-repeating,

puzzle-making,

bacon-loving

11 year old!

We love you!"

He loved it and read it over and over again!

Then it was gift time! 

The part of the day he has been waiting for all day long!

His larger Lego set came with a small comic book which kept their attention for a while, allowing me to get these sweet photos of them so close. 

Love them but hey really need to stop growing up on us!

The next birthday in our family is #13 for Ryan!

 Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to create these special memories in our family. 

We pray our children never forget the love and provision of our Heavenly Father on special days and all the other days He cares for us in between.

Surprise!!!

The next big event on our summer calendar was celebrating my 40th (August 13th) and David's 42nd (August 15th) birthday. Usually, we go out on a date on the 14th to fit it in the middle and in order to prevent having to buy (and eat) two cakes! This year we had a wonderful surprise that we had never before experienced on our birthdays since we have been on the field (which I will share later in the post). As the calendar would dictate, my birthday fell on a Monday and David's was on a Wednesday. We were so looking forward to our date anyway and then because of something I saw at the mall the week before we were even more excited. The week prior to our date night I had met up with some of the ladies in the city for a brief shopping trip and as we were walking into one of the largest shopping malls here we saw this...

TGIFRIDAYS IS HERE IN SIBERIA!!!

I couldn't believe my eyes! We had visited one in Moscow but to have one all the way over here was so awesome.

So, we really looked forward to eating out and trying some barbecue ribs for the first time in, well, a very long time. The food was super yummy as we had hoped it would be and we returned home to celebrate with our wonderful kids.

On Mom's birthday, we buy a cake! Why not?!

My Love and I. (Please ignore the still unfinished house.)

The next day being Wednesday we prepared for our mid-week service as usual. I felt bad that we had nothing planned special for David after the service since his birthday fell on a Wednesday. However, David and I had noticed over the weekend before our birthdays, that our kids and a few of our Sunday school kids had some sort of plans that they were keeping TOP-SECRET from us!

Once the service had ended, Lena (Rita and Yosya's mom who we have told you about in previous posts) had the job of "stalling" us in the new house where the adults meet for services, while the kids prepared the old house (where the kids meet for SS and Wed. evening services) for a surprise party for David and myself.

Once the room was ready, Lena lead us and the other adults over to our old house to see what the kids were up to. We were welcomed by a loud "Surprise!" and little heads popping up all throughout the house. They had all worked hard to plan the party and make us a gift! What a blessing!

All of us all around the table.

As it worked out, I had made Ham and Cheese Stromboli and actually had some left over (a very rare occurrence) so we were able to warm it up and share with our guests for the party.

The kids asked Lena to make a cake for the occasion and she made this beautiful chocolate zebra cake!

I also received flowers from Rita and Yosya's grandmother. We are so touched by special gestures like this from her and are praying for her salvation. Please pray with us for Margarita's salvation.

Here is a closer look at the banner the kids made. Notice the "fish" symbol. 

It says, "Happy Birthday, Dee Dee and David!!!"

After the food and hot tea, it was time for our gift to be presented. The older girls brought out this...

It is a photo collage of pictures that the kids took themselves (except for the photo of us). Once they had all the photos they wanted,  one of the unsaved mothers took to them to the city to have them printed out...just for us! It was so touching seeing them go to all this trouble for our birthdays.

We ended the evening with an impromptu singing of a traditional song here which would translate, "It's a shame that birthday's only come around once a year." If I had known they were going to sing it I would have recorded it but we weren't able to catch it on video.

What an encouragement the young people were to us today! 

We are so thankful for our growing church family!

A Special Delivery

One of the greatest blessings about being an MK (missionary kid), in my opinion, is the numerous opportunities to reach out to people who are so very hungry for someone to show them the love of Christ. Many times those who are the most needy of love are the precious children we see every day. 

They are often running through the village looking for whatever mischief finds them first. Hardly any toys in their homes, they play with whatever they find along the way. Obviously, this can lead to them into serious trouble or even suffering injuries as a result of their curiosity.

One of our weekly visits is to this small boy's home. His older sister made a profession of faith years ago. She used to bring him to Sunday school with her until she became weary of leading his abundance of energy to services. She has "grown up" too quickly and now rarely attends services. 

However, her little brother loves to come to Sunday school so we pick him up every Sunday morning and bring him ourselves.

Recently, he celebrated his seventh birthday and our boys wanted to buy a present and take it to him. 

With his family situation being as it is, there might not have been enough money to purchase a cake, much less a toy for him to enjoy opening on his special day.

So, we excitedly chose a toy we thought he would be really excited about and the boys took it to him. 

I am not sure who was more excited about him opening it, the little birthday boy or our children. 

It was so fun to watch the whole event.

Once again, I thanked the Lord in my heart for allowing us to serve Him here in Russia as a family.

"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Acts 20:35