Birthday Party

Leah and her cake

James and Stephanie (Polka Dot) from Iowa City came up to help us celebrate!

Leah had a great birthday party! We spent Sunday going to Hy-Vee and trying to prepare for the day. We attempted nap time but Leah was too keyed up to actually sleep. Chris took James golfing in the morning. His arrival was the first Leah knew he was coming. At first she had to act shy, but once he came back from golfing she cuddled right up to him. He got to see her bunk beds, photo album, toys-the whole tour. Stephanie, one of Leah's nurses, also drove up and had the same tour. Leah enjoyed her party and all of her guests--and gifts! She plowed right through unwrapping them so quickly, though, that it was hard for anyone else to know who she got what from. Later today I will have to sit down and look at it all again. Last night was a late night-and today is the first day of school. James and Steph stayed for a bit after everyone else left last night and we talked about different memories of Iowa City. We did not enjoy our time there, but despite that, we did make some good friends, and even can laugh about some of the things that we went through during our stays. (Of course we would like to never stay there again and just have the memories!) If we think back to a year ago and Leah's fourth birthday, we certainly never envisioned all the events of this past year. It is hard to remember how easy life was back then and how we never gave a thought to IF we would celebrate birthday number five. It has certainly taught us to appreciate each and every day, and we continue to pray for there to be many, many more birthdays for Leah.

Since it is our first morning of trying out a school routine, I must go get the girls up. I doubt this is well accepted by either of them. Please keep Leah in your prayers for continued good health, low AFP numbers, and for a wonderful, normal school year.