It was on this day four years ago at bedtime that Nadia surprised me by praying to accept Christ as her Savior as we were kneeling by her bed. I thought we were "just" having our nightly bedtime prayers, and I was surprised to hear what she prayed when it was her turn to pray. I wasn't sure she was really old enough to understand (albeit I was her age when I became a Christian). I didn't want her to have a false assurance, but when she kept talking to Ian (age 2 1/2 at the time) about his need to become a Christian, I realized that she understood. Growing up we celebrated our spiritual birthdays as well as our physical birthdays, and so today was Nadia's 4th spiritual birthday. Since Paul goes in to work before the rest of us get up, I let her open her present last night. Last year I got her a Bible for her spiritual birthday. This year I got her the latest Imagination Station book (about an orphan train). She has already read several chapters of the book.
Usually birthdays start with donuts, but I didn't make it to Dunkin Donuts yesterday. In hindsight I could have asked Paul to run and get some yesterday while I was at Sunday School and the kids were in their choir rehearsal. We got some today and will enjoy them tomorrow morning. Normally I let the kids pick their lunch and dinner menus on their birthdays, but today happened to be the annual breast cancer awareness event in our town. On that day many local businesses give free food at lunch time (hot dogs, soups, cookies, ice cream, pulled pork, pink lemonade, cupcakes, brownies, etc.). The kids
certainly had more desserts with their hot dogs than I would have let them have at home! We never have ice cream at lunch, but Nadia and Oliver shared a cup of strawberry ice cream, and Ian and Nadia shared an ice cream sandwich. Nadia and I were each given a pink carnation. I was thinking of the various kinds of cancer the kids' grandparents have had - skin, prostate, Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and ovarian. I still don't understand why breast cancer gets so much more attention than any other type of cancer. For one thing, there are means of screening for breast cancer which isn't the case for ovarian. Anyhow we enjoyed our lunch, and I also dropped off the paperwork at the bank to start the process of refinancing our house.
At first Nadia picked goulash and carrots for dinner, but then she changed her mind and asked for pizza from Ciro's. Paul was very happy that she chose pizza. For her dessert she picked a caramel apple pie (Pioneer Woman's recipe except without the pecans this time as I didn't have any on hand). The last time I made that recipe was almost 2 years ago - Thanksgiving 2014. I remember how much my mom loved that pie. Apple pie was one of her most favorite desserts. Her mom used to make an apple rhubarb pie that my mom loved. It was hard not to cry as I was making the pie. I haven't been crying *as* often lately, but it still amazes me what random things can trigger an emotional response. For example a few days ago we were playing "Max" a board game that my mom gave Oliver last December. It hit me that it was the last game we received from her. I am not one to keep too many toys, games, and puzzles once my kids outgrow them, but I can tell you I am not planning on giving this game away. Oliver now refers to the game as "Grandma Harton's game" which is fine with me.
I think all in all Nadia had a good day. I also let her skip spelling and piano today in light of it being her spiritual birthday. She was hoping I'd let her skip soccer. Nope. I asked her last spring if she wanted to do soccer again this fall and she said "yes" so she needs to stick out four more weeks. She says she doesn't like playing on a U10 team. She said the same thing her first season of U8 and then later changed her mind and wanted to keep playing. We shall see if this is her last season or if she continues playing soccer in the future. She says she wants to play softball in the spring. We shall see. Celebrating spiritual birthdays is a special memory of my childhood, and I hope the same is true for my kids. Ian's is January 20, and Oliver doesn't have one yet. Mine is April 28, but we just celebrate the kids' spiritual birthdays.
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