Fairy Day

Little Girl loves fairies! She discovered Tinkerbell and all the wonderful Tinkerbell movies just before we left America. A few weeks ago I found these super cute little treats at a specialty shop in Nairobi. Apparently, they are British and everyone around here (in the wazungu world, anyway) but me knows what they are. Kinder Eggs, thin chocolate shell eggs with a little prize inside. I just noticed the Tinkerbelle chocolate eggs and knew there was a little Easter fairy fun in there somewhere.

Sure enough, a Fairy Day was waiting! We marked it on the calendar and counted down the days. Then, Fairy Day, combined with waking up with a dry Pull-Up for the 3rd day in a row (thanks to Mom waking up in the middle of the night and taking a sleeping girl to the potty), resulted in a chocolate fairy egg for (with) breakfast!!

 There was a small little Rosetta fairy inside, but she seemed more impressed by the collection paper with all the fairies' pictures on it.

Then, a morning full of fairy fun bgins! A new Tinkerbell movie in the tent with all the fairy friends watching with her.

And, thanks to Ambrose our groundskeeper, the other fairies were hidden all around the yard.

My camera battery died so we didn't get any pictures of the actual fairy party in the shamba (garden) and our fairy tea party with Ambrose in the yard. Way too cute! But Little Girl had a wonderful time, and it was so good for me to take an hour out of the busy work morning to spend on our fairy adventure. Wonderful memories.

Still processing....

We still don't have an answer as to whether or not Julia's "first family" will give full consent for me to adopt her, but they are willing to talk about it at a family meeting on March 31st. I will go back and meet with them again on that day. More on that later. Just too much to process to write about it now!

In addition to processing and working through the situation with Julia's "first family" and all the unknowns there, we are also in the process of buying land for HCO Kenya. Buying land in Kenya is nothing like buying land in America! It is exponentially more difficult and is full of stresses that would never enter the equation in America. So, needless to say, my brain is turning into mush right now.

I do have to share something special that I learned while at Julia's birth home. Remember the ring that Julia gave to her "first mom" when we last visited her the week before we went to America?

Julia's birth mother died in September, and she was buried with the ring. That little pink, plastic ring that Julia got with a sucker at the grocery store was something special, not just to Julia's birth mother, but to the family.

Yeah, my brain is mush. And at this point, my heart is pretty much mush, too!

Hearts, treats, and Julia's sweet words

FPD #14: Hearts

Well, that's easy to do on Valentine's Day. Julia and I made white chocolate cake batter blondies for the aunties and babies. The babies got their own little tiny hearts.

We also made brownie cupcakes. Yes, one of those Pinterest pins that I actually did! Of course, I am not a food photographer so they are not the beautiful pictures you would see on Pinterest (and probably weren't as good as the ones in the picture I pinned either), but here is proof that we made them.

 brownie batter on bottom

 covered with strawberry cake

 with buttercream frosting

Mmmmm.

We delivered cupcakes to our wazungu friends, the ones who might appreciate that sugary sweetness. Kenyans don't really like our kind of sweet, although they will always pretend to! They don't want to miss out on the American goodness....whether they truly think it is "good" or not.

Julia decorated more valentines that we put on Kenyan biscuits to pass out to some of our friends. These were the ones we passed out to people who would have no idea what to do with a cupcake.

Happy Valentine's Day!

YOU are God's greatest Valentine. He loves you today and every day!

(message in Swahili & English)

Julia got such a thrill out of passing them out to friends....the man who grazes his cows on our road, the askari (watchman) who stands outside of the gate a few houses down from us, the ladies who sell us vegetables on the street in town, the people in the Posta who always help us, the burned man in the bank parking lot who always waits at our car, the old mama at the shop at the end of our road where we buy bread and eggs, and the boys who always ask to carry our bags for us when we are shopping in town.

When we were talking about giving people valentines, I was so touched to see it all click in sweet Julia's head. This morning after she ate breakfast, she couldn't wait to hurry and finish so she could the special valentine out to Ambrose, our groundskeeper. "Mommy! Today is the giving day! We can give them the love that Jesus put on us and the sweeties!" 

 Can't you just see the sheer joy on Ambrose's face?! He felt so special.

And as we were talking about who we could show God's love to today, she had such sweet thoughts. "Mom, you 'member the burned man who wants oranges? He is just sad. Maybe sweeties and love will make him happy." I love this little girl!


After a busy day of sharing God's love with our friends ~ some whom we know, and some whom we do not ~ we made it to the baby house to give our aunties and babies their Valentine's treats!

This was perhaps one of the best Valentine's Days of my entire life!! I am 36 years old, have never had a "real" valentine on Valentine's Day, never been on a date on Valentine's Day, and as much as I want that and can't wait for that to happen, I must say that it is going to have to be pretty darn great to top this Valentine's Day!!! Truly an amazing day, and so full of God's love that it just poured out all around us.

The first in a barrage of Valentine's Day posts....for the boys!

Julia and I started putting together her Valentines last night.

As we talked, she realized that she could not wake up and give the boys their Valentines in the morning because they would already be gone to school. So, we had to hurry up and get the boys' treats finished so she could deliver them before she went to bed.

I don't know who was happier....them or her. No one had ever given them a Valentine before! And this was her first time to make and pass out Valentines. (We were in court for our first "big" hearing on Valentine's Day last year.)

She simply could not wait to go to bed and to wake up to Valentine's Day!

"Stop pushing the button!"

FPD #7: Button

Little Girl discovered the car alarm button. Actually, my wonderful friend, Dennis, fixed it while I was in America and it makes the beep noise now, so it's like a whole new toy.....or thing to annoy Mom with. Little stinker. Can't you just see it in those little eyes?!

Yep, she knows how to push my buttons....and now, the car alarm button.

What a difference a year makes! This was my baby last year on Black Friday, shopping at Village Market in Nairobi.....

Look at those baby fat cheeks!

And one year later (minus two days)...

Time flies and babies grow! I pray I will always see the joys in the everyday, not wishing away a single moment or missing a single blessing. Each day is a treasure, and I want to cherish every jewel.

A sneak peak....

Julia and I spent an hour this morning with the awesome Kara, of Kara Bryant Photography. Here are just a few glimpses at the beauty she captured in my sweet baby girl.

Minnie Mouse Birthday!

Yes, more birthday posts. Those days (Friday & Saturday) were actually so busy that I actually did not have time to mess with pictures and post. But we had such a great time at her party and I think it turned out so cute, I just have to share!

 I had so much fun playing and decorating. I ordered all the printables for the water bottle wrappers, Hershey miniature wrappers, cupcake labels, the birthday banner, food labels, etc from Ashley at Cupcake Express on Etsy. She did an amazing job, was super efficient and so very nice to do the personalization. If you are having a party, it is a fun, easy way to cuten it up. Check out Cupcake Express. 

I had such a fun time with my girl. She is truly a joy and I am thankful for every day with her. This was definitely a birthday to remember!