Cause to celebrate

Today, I am preparing for Hannah's 11th birthday party. She actually turned 11 on May 24th but has waited til now to have her party because of scheduling conflicts. I appreciate her flexibility. Sometimes it's the only way we survive our craziness.

She's having six girls over. We're doing a crazy dinner and a night of celebrity stars, complete with a red carpet runway, costume changes, facial and manicures, and an after party. I love birthday parties. Especially as they get older. When they were little, it was so much work to keep them entertained and to keep our house intact. At 11, it's really not that hard, and Hannah's been helping a lot of the organizing, which has been fun. I'm sure her night will be a huge success!

But as I focus on her and her celebration, I can't help thinking of a little boy in Eastern Europe. Do you know that in orphanages, they don't acknowledge birthdays? He has never had anyone sing him happy birthday, eat a birthday cake with him or given him a birthday present. He probably doesn't even know what a birthday is.

Likewise, he's never celebrated Christmas. If St Nicholas has visited, it would be to give each child a small piece of candy. How different our lives are, half a world away! He will be home in a couple months. He'll be here in plenty of time to celebrate Christmas and all it's splendor, to play in the snow, look at Christmas lights, help us decorate the Christmas tree, make gingerbread houses and of course, partake in the annual Lunnen family Christmas sleepover.

He will be here well before his next birthday. We will sing to him, eat cake and ice cream with him, shower him with presents, celebrate the day that another beautiful little boy was born into this world. We will celebrate him. Because every child deserves to be celebrated. Every child is a blessing.

For tonight, we celebrate Hannah, our smart, funny, cute, precocious, spirited Hannah! :) Happy birthday, sweet girl! Our lives would be so different without you! We love you!!