celebrating...

These weeks have been filled with fun memories and childhood sweetness, and lots and lots of celebrating.

 To enter into my 36th year, meaning i turned 35...we celebrated with a bang.  I filled my day with friends, heart connects, good food, and it was perfect. The girls are at ages where their anticipation and love feels like it is just showering on me, and they even all picked out presents for me ( well, Hope had some help! )

 35 years of living and have had some epic moments under my belt, incredible communities i have lived with, rough patches, failures, dreams that felt lost, heart break, painful relational loss, but here i am with my three adorable daughters, dynamic husband and living out dreams in my heart, more so than i possible could have imagined.

 

Thankful for intentional friendship, of community that hashes out the good, the bad, and the ugly, of friends who want to live focused lives, of lives filled with Hope, knowing more of the Father's love each year, of finding deep friendship with Lebanese and Syrians, of all the tears i shed during nursing school that now allows me to help desperate Syrians...the list could go on and on.

*                                                                        *                                                                     *

 Sophia was invited to her first Lebanese birthday party, and I loved watching her heart feel chosen and invited. We processed all about the party and what we should get Mohamed alHakim, what the theme might be, so she could coordinate with an outfit. It was so girly and adorable and so deeply thoughtful that I loved seeing her heart emerge: how could she love him and give him gifts he would like and dress so that he would be happy?

We landed on a "beautiful dress", even wearing a Mama necklace to take her up a notch or two. 

 Even with all the talk, lead up, and excitement, it always takes Sophia a little bit to warm up to new environments and lots of noise and people. She finally felt comfortable interacting and playing and was running around with her best school friend Rawan and Rawan's sisters!

Such a joy to see Sophia step out and take social risks and be grinning from ear to ear and get to talk about every detail and every moment after the fact. 

*                                                               *                                               *

And then we celebrated the fact that we made it 8 long days just.us.girls.  Baba had to fly home to be with family because our dearest Grampy went to be with Jesus. The girls were actually delightful, helpful, sweet, loving. 

Sophia was the one that felt her world shaken. She went four days being really courageous, and then her sweet tender heart started to melt. She was more weepy, more melty, getting angrier faster, and when I would cuddle and love on her and try and understand- it always came back to : i miss my baba. 

 The most potent moment was after her bath and she was naked and just standing there and tears were just freely falling off her cheeks. I thought something might be hurting, did something happen? , and she just kept quiet while tears dropped off her deep brown eyes. Finally she said, " I am so sad, I miss my baba. 

 Struck with how central our family of five is for her. How much her world orients to us. Layla is bravely out there wanting new experiences and new people all the time, and Sophia really just delights and needs the five of us together to be completely happy. 

So, when that Baba came back, we were ready to love on him...that is for sure! 

 He brought bubbles from Aunt Tweedle and the girls had a blast playing with them!

Hope's open arm stance is so amazing here! 

Hope's face!!!