March 29

Today we got to celebrate the first birthday of our sweet friend Andrew. His parents - our friends Dan and Jen - put together an awesome party, conveniently located across the street at our neighbor's house. What fun!

There's the birthday boy, representing the Cardinals on Grandpa's lap.

Hannah, who is the same age as Daisy, and Jen rocked the mustaches.

There was even a mustache-shaped cake!

Caleb was pumped that he won one of the games, which involved tossing a pretzel into a cup.

Meanwhile, Daisy wore a new dress and some new-to-her shoes, which were hand-me-downs from Hannah. (It's nice to have generous, well-dressed friends!)

Lily spent most of the time on my back, which kept her happy and let me stuff my face with delicious party food enjoy myself.

Eventually I put Lily down, and she was delighted to play with all of the toys!

(No, her feet and legs aren't really that big. It's just a bad angle with a weird perspective.)

Fun!

Daisy felt snuggly, so she crawled into my lap. She loved how her feet lined up with mine, so we took a picture of it.

After the party was over, Caleb and Hannah came over to our backyard to play while I made dinner.

Our Caleb was so excited to be playing outside with friends!

This makes my heart beyond happy, because it is a concrete example of answered prayer.

Chris and I tried to sell our old home for nearly a year before we realized that it wasn't possible to sell it without taking a major loss and moved on to renting it out. Over the course of that waiting year, I prayed often and fervently for the home and community where we would end up. I prayed specifically for neighbors who would be friends; neighbors who we could bless and who would be blessings to us.

God answered that prayer so abundantly with the neighbors up the street who, even though they barely know us, blessed us with this swing set.

And with Mary and Terry across the street, who helped us assemble this swing set and love us like family.

And with Dan and Jen and their kids, who, even though they aren't neighbors, might as well be.

I am so thankful.

I'm also thankful for this: 

Sweet Daisy, pushing Lily in the swing.

Love it!