Ethan's BDay Party

One of my new fun friends, Rachel, had us and many others over to celebrate her son's 2nd birthday. Ethan is a very precious little boy and he has a Magnadoodle that Rebes already covets. Anyway, Rachel got great dinosaur invitations that she sent out weeks ago. Rebekah walked around the house with it in her hand for a long time (she loves getting cards, notes, etc, in the mail, hint hint...). She LOVED seeing the invitation at other people's flats, too, excitedly exclaiming, "Ethan's Birthday Party!" Imagine her delight when we arrived at the party and there were matching flags, plates, and napkins!! She pointed to each dinosaur and said orange dinosaur, then pointed to every other one she could see. I just wrote a high school unit on making connections when you read and all I could think was, "Great job making connections, sweetheart!"

We had a great time at the party- Rachel outdid herself with chips, salsa, yummy guacamole, pasta salad, tons of sandwiches, treats, cupcakes, cake, ice cream, soda, tea, coffee, etc...It felt like being home again! It was also at this party that I looked around and thought, I really do have friends here. :) Rebekah was adorable as she sang happy birthday, too...

(on a side note- Rachel just began a women's Bible study using Beth Moore's study on the fruit of the spirit. I went on Thursday night (the first night) and am glad to have accountability to be in the Word with women experiencing the same feeling of dislocation. It's easy to feel spiritual b/c your hubby is working on a divinity degree, but when you get down to it, you can still feel personally isolated. This community has been very welcoming and I am thankful for it.)

Rachel was also kind enough to share these pics of our family from the day's festivities.

p.s. Thanks for the numerous comments from the last post on how great I am looking! While I am doing better here than in the good ol' US (attribute that to no Sonic, little eating out, etc.), I am not that thin!!! I appreciate the comments, but would hate to disappoint! ;) I think that particular picture made me look smaller than I really am. Still, I feel blessed. :)