Of Birthdays and Backyards

Today was Speedy Mo's 9th birthday.

Have you ever heard about children from "hard places" sabotaging their own birthdays?

Did you know that, for boys (at least for mine), "9" is a hard year?

Well, let's just put those two things together and then mix in it being a Sunday (my husband is a pastor) and throw in a few (well, 5) sick children and you pretty much have

a recipe for disaster.

well. . . I guess not exactly disaster, but it most definitely did not make for a great day for little Speedy.

Ah, well, we are going to try actually having a celebration later this week and Speedy Mo seemed content tonight when we talked about it.

Our normal birthday routine (pretty much) goes something like this:

Drive-thru the coffee stop with Dad early in the morning for a special birthday drink

Breakfast of choice

(Speedy will probably pick sausage, eggs, and pancakes) w/ our family

Presents from Grandmas and Grandpas and maybe from a family friend or two

and either

a small party with family & friends or a day out with mom and dad to do something special

(Speedy Mo chose going to a "race car track" with mom and dad this year)

and the child's dinner of choice

(Speedy wants "meat and noodles" - translation: beef of some kind and noodles with garlic, basil, and butter, and a cesaer salad).

ha ha - typing that out makes it seem like SO much!

Of course, we try to make birthdays extra special as one way to make each of our children know we value them as individuals. . . but our birthdays are far from the themed plates, pony rides, and gift bags craze that seems to dominate our current American child culture.

Anyways. . .

on a completely different note:

We have outgrown our backyard!

Yep. It's true.

The suburban lot on .25 (or less) of an acre with a backyard smaller than your average swimming pool just doesn't cut it for a family with 10 kids.

We had NO idea when we moved in to our WONDERFUL home that we would ever have 10 children. We certainly didn't expect them to arrive 6 at a time!

And now, with 8 of our children between the ages of 7 and 13, we are seeing the need for a little more space out of doors to play AND to work.

We actually have plenty of house space. Less would be fine. It is that outside area that we are finding to be so crucial - and not available in our current residence.

While it isn't the greatest time to be selling a house, we are really praying that the Lord would move mightily on our behalf and send someone to whom this house and great neighborhood will truly be a blessing and then, that He would place us somewhere that will be helpful to the continued healing our our children "from hard places" and any other children he may someday bring our way.

Would you please pray with us?