Sean's first birthday celebration (at 4 years-old)

Yesterday, October 11th, our Sean turned 4 years-old! It was a very special day in many ways. Foremost on our minds was the reality that if he had not been adopted, he would have been in danger of being transferred to an institution since he had reached the 4 year mark. How very different would his birthday have been if he were still in the orphanage....it would have been just a regular day with no special celebration of his birth and worst-case-scenario, being placed in an institution where likely his care would be much worse and with little hope. Praise God that He worked out for this special boy to come into our family--first putting it on our hearts, then providing the money we did not have and giving us grace to overcome the difficulties involved in bringing him from across the world. I still marvel at what the Lord did, as I never would have imagined that we would do such a thing, but Gods ways are not our ways--they are far above.

We decided we would just enjoy his day and spend it doing things Sean likes. We made him some his favorite foods for meals (banana, egg, macarani and cheese, fruit, potatoes, fish)... he so loves to eat!

After a haircutt (which he tolerated amazingly well) he got to take a bath--one of his favorite things, as Sean loves water and gets himself wet at any opportunity he can. I've never seen a child so enthusiastic as he is in the bathtub! :)

The girls read him some books and we sang songs together--music is another big favorite of his. We read Psalm 139--our favorite scripture to read on a birthday, and we were reminded that God made Sean fearfully and wonderfully--just as he wanted him to be and with a special purpose, and that he sovereignly placed him in our family, knowing this before he was born...."all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
We had fun having him open and enjoy a few presents (undoubtedly his first) and the children enjoyed giving him his own baby (he likes to play with babies of theirs).

Sean enjoying opening and reopening and reopening his musical card from Nana and Grandaddy "The Eensy Weensy Spider"

Then we enjoyed going to a local park--we fed the ducks, went for a walk, ran around, jumped in the leaves and enjoyed the beautiful weather yesterday. We saw a dog running with his owners who only had 3 legs--one of his front legs was missing (we found out from being run over by a car) The owners let us pet this happy, kid-loving dog and said he doesnt know he is

handicapped. That so reminded me of Sean.

Back at home with Daddy, Sean enjoyed playing with Daddy--being swung around and lifted on

knees...which always gets him giggling.

The kids danced to classical music together (another favorite of Seans as well as the others) and had some balloon fights. Then after dinner, Sean had his first birthday cake and icecream. He was in heaven, and you should have seen how he scraped his bowl clean!

Aside from probably wondering why Mommy was taking pictures all day long, I think he had a good day and loved the special attention. I know it is one we will not forget. Just a typical birthday of doing fun things together as a family for us, but something new and very different from any other "birthday" for Sean.