A sweet little Hal's birthday came and went last week.
She wanted her Mama to bring a Tinker Bell cake that she had seen countless times at the local Walmart to her class day, which happened to fall on her actual birthday this year.
She wanted to spend the day with her family.
No party.
Just a family trip to the American Girl Doll store up in Denver, then dinner and her very own ice cream sundae at The Cheesecake Factory with her Mama and Papa, brothers and sister, and her Gramps. :)
It felt strange when she said she didn't want a party this year. I absolutely LOVE celebrating birthdays because birthdays are the days that remind me each year how the Lord graciously gave me some of the absolute deepest desires that my heart has ever had and He blessed me with little souls to raise up for His glory.
Birthdays aren't just another year gone by. They're a tangible touch from above on this Mama who feels so privileged to be a Mama.
My Hal, well she was the one that wasn't "planned" as they say, but all the plans we've ever thought we've made, were already made for us before even time began anyways, right? And when we find ourselves falling into His plans, we find ourselves BLESSED! My Hal, she started growing six weeks after her big brother was born and we got to hold her in our arms 11 short months after her big brother was born.
She's got this tender heart, much like her Mama's. Sensitive with a soft voice. She's always willing to please. She's a nurturer, naturally caring for all her dolls from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to bed.
She's so much like me I sometimes struggle to understand her... maybe because I don't always understand myself? I have a love/hate relationship with how easily she gets her feelings hurt. I'm the same way... a sharp tone can crush me in a heart beat. Maybe she's a mirror that daily forces me to face not only my strengths, but my weaknesses... and when I'm looking right in the eye of my weaknesses, I often find myself flustered and sometimes even angry. Not angry at my Hal, but at myself and the ways that I fall short.
Kids can do that you know... make you brutally aware of ALL that you are, the good and the yucky.
My Hal, she has this spunky nature about her. It really only comes out when she's in the safest of places. She's goofy and funny and silly. And I love those moments when she lets it all out in silly-talk at the farm table, because when she's a heap of giggles I know that our home has become a safe-haven for her heart over the years. This little farm house, with these folks, she's her realest self and that blesses this Mama so very much. :)
It's always hard to believe that another year has already gone by.
It's hard to believe that she's seven, that her chubby-toddler-hand days are gone, never to return.
It's a gift to know that each day is another opportunity to discover more of who the Lord has fashioned my little Hal to be.
She's rather amazingly beautiful, inside and out.
She's more than I could have known to ask for in a daughter. She tender and kind and abounding in grace and I am so in love with the fact that she is mine for this season of our lives.
Happy Happy birthday sweet girl!
You are lovely and you are loved. :)
