Birthday Celebrations

We had quite the celebrations for Mia this past weekend. One was to celebrate her birthday. We held the party at NW Kids Club which is basically a large indoor playground with a sand box, play fort, jump house, and toddler area, not to mention room to run and play. It was lots of fun and, despite coming off sickness, Mia really loved it, which, after all, is the point these things. The theme was focused around animals, of course, leaning heavily towards horses. When fully dressed she was the sweetest pink cowgirl (thanks to Gramma Linda), but she quickly lost her hat and boots so she could play. In the picture above she's posed with Goldie the dog.

Here she is gathering up "piggies" in the race to put them back in the pig pen. She wasn't satisfied to just bring them back one at a time! We also raced hippy hoppy horses and eventually broke open a stubborn white pinata horse who did not want to give up her loot.

The other celebration took less preparation than the birthday party but also involved a birthday of sorts. Several months ago, Mia prayed and thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for her and for forgiving her sins. Some people call this a "spiritual birthday". Wondering about her understanding of that prayer, I've asked her on different occasions about heaven and sin and what it means to "ask Jesus into your life". She knows as much as a 4 1/2 turning 5 year old can know, that everyone, including herself, "makes bad choices", that she can't get to heaven on her own, and that Jesus died for her sin. That's all truth. Since Jesus himself said, "Let the little children come to me." I knew it was time to celebrate. At our church we recognize new life in Christ with a rose up by the pulpit. This weekend we told them about Mia's prayer and there was her rose, right up front. Praise the Lord! Here is a picture of it, I assume hers is the big one in front!