Birthday Traditions

Today, Sept. 27, is my second son's birthday. He was born in a military hospital in Cherry Point, NC, at 2:25 AM, weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. He is now 11 years old and he's so excited about getting a year older that he can hardly stand it! Last night I decorated his room with balloons and streamers while he slept, so that this morning he woke up to a festive bedroom. I brought him breakfast in bed which he happily ate while Clara and I sat and talked with him. His breakfast was served on the special Red Plate our church family gave us in NC as a parting gift when we moved away. It is a beautiful plate that says "You are Special Today" around the edge. On the back it was signed by all of our friends in NC. ~D~ had requested bacon, eggs, toast with grape jelly, and orange juice for breakfast.

When he came downstairs he opened a present (new wheels for his scooter that he's been asking for!!!) I took his picture after he opened it. We looked through the photo album that has pictures of his birth, and talked about the day he was born and how much joy he brought to our family. In that album there are also newspaper clippings and headlines from the day he was born, and now that he's getting older, they are more fun to look through and see how the world has changed. O.J. Simpson was in the news, George Burns was celebrating his 100th birthday, Pocahontas was coming out on video, and ER was #1 on the Nielson ratings. Sometimes in the evenings on our kids' birthdays, we watch videos of when they were babies. This is a great time to tell them stories of their baby days and answer questions they have.

Later today, I'll measure him to see how much he's grown. We'll also have his favorite meal for supper, tacos. Since he's having a couple friends come over on Saturday to celebrate, we'll wait and do the cake thing then. Tonight, we'll just go out and have some Croatian ice cream after supper. I like to buy a special book for my children on their birthdays but I didn't get around to doing that this year.

Before he goes to bed tonight, we'll all gather around him and each of us will pray for him and thank God for giving him to our family.

Happy Birthday, dear son! You, the middle child, are an easygoing, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, artistic boy who loves soccer, and the Lord. I cherish these days with you as you grow, learn, and change. I love you!

What birthday traditions do you have for your children? I'd love to hear them!

It's the Ugliest Thing I've Ever Seen

If you are the squeamish type, don't look!



My son was out in the Croatian countryside yesterday with his Dad on a workday at a Christian kid's camp. While they were digging in the dirt, they uncovered this giant. Believe it or not, ~N~ is holding an earthworm! Isn't that disgusting?! It looks more snakish to me than wormy. Either way, I'd probably run from it shrieking in terror! Nobody else there had ever seen a worm that big.

~N~ wanted to go fishing with it. Shoot, that worm would probably EAT any fish that came near it!

Bergamo, Italy

This is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed in a few nights, just outside of Bergamo, Italy. The house is actually the orange building in the middle. They have an amazing grapevine swinging down and across the front entrance. It is over 70 years old and still produces grapes that the owners pick and eat, even making their own wine. It was in a charming little Italian village, situated on a beautiful lake. The weather was warm, around 80-85 degrees and sunny. Flowers were still in full bloom everywhere and the Italians were out in full force suntanning on the beach.



Our room was bright and clean. Our only discomfort was the mattress, which was thin and extremely hard! We had our own bathroom, which was nearly as large as the bedroom! The bathroom had orange tile and an orange light bulb in the ceiling fixture. I'm not crazy about the color orange, and mixing it with hot pink was definitely an amusing twist. The owners brought breakfast to our room each morning on trays. We had small pieces of toast with jam or ham, yogurt, corn flakes, Nescafe, orange drink, cakes, and little Italian biscuits. The bed and breakfast is owned by a young couple who don't have children. They travel during the winter months, working from their laptops. This year they said they will spend 5 or 6 months in Thailand!



Clara and I are in front of one of the towers that belong to Castle San Vigilio in the hills of the old walled part of Bergamo. The tower was open for us to walk through and it cost us nothing to look around and rest on the benches, where we could look over the city of Bergamo.



Think gas prices are high in your State? There are 3.8 liters in a gallon, and Italy uses the Euro, so its like paying $6.35/gallon! Ouch- That hurts!



We are getting used to the European way of eating pizza. The pizza is brought to you, uncut, on a large plate. This pizza is cool since it looks like a fish! ~D~ ordered a Margarita pizza, the kind that only has sauce and cheese on it. We miss American pepperoni pizza. We found a couple places in Sweden that served pepperoni pizza, but it is hard to find. The boys usually play it safe and just order the cheese pizzas!

I'm Back!

Next time the baby takes a nap, I'll sit down and write about our journey through Italy and our time in Sweden! It was so wonderful to return to Sweden and see so many of our friends still there, and to feast our eyes on the natural beauty of a Swedish summer!

Today, I clicked on this link in my sidebar "Daily Inspiration for the Nursing Mother" and found my little submission there. If you are a nursing mother or interested in breastfeeding, you can read it here.

I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule now and I'm looking forward to it! Eager to see what's been happening with the rest of my blogging friends, so I'm off to check up on y'all now!