Weekend of Celebrations

Just a few days after we returned from Florida we enjoyed a BIG weekend of celebrations spending it with good friends and having lots of fun! Life has been a little crazy these last few weeks, so sorry this update has been a bit slow in coming!

Saturday 21st April was a special day for two lovely friends, Adam and Kyla, as they got married. It was extra special for Abigail too, as she loves Kyla to pieces and was her Flower Girl. She has been looking forward to it forever and loved every minute of it on the day! From getting ready with all the girlies in the bridal party in the morning ...

... to twirling in her dress and posing for all the photographs!! We told her that if she smiled nicely when they wanted to take her photo's then it would go quicker ... and amazingly that worked!!

Abigail got to hand out bubbles to all the guests as we walked out of the wedding ceremony and then spent the reception blowing the remaining ones all over us!! As well as hanging out with her favourite bride and other members of the bridal party of course!

Abigail did a great job sprinkling her petals and sat nicely on her little step at the front of the church during the service. We were so proud of her. We all had a good time celebrating with the newly-weds and friends. Abigail was so tired at the end of a day filled with excitement, that she asked us if she could go to bed even before her usual bedtime!!

If the Saturday was all about Abigail, the Sunday was definitely all about Naomi, as it was April 22nd, her first birthday! She had lots of fun opening her cards and pressies (with the help of her older sister) and even managed to pull a surprised/shocked expression on her face each time she opened something new!

 

One family tradition (for the girlies at least) is to measure their height on both their birthday's and their half birthday's. This year Naomi measured 2ft 3 3/4".

In the afternoon we had a couple of friends round to celebrate. Ordinarily we may not have done anything too special but we figured this would probably be the only year that Naomi and her two fairy godmothers would all be in the same place for her birthday. So, they came with their families to mark the occasion.

Abigail decided that Naomi's cake would be a 'Kitty Cat' one (Hello Kitty to everyone else!) and that it would be pink. With her big sister's added assistance Naomi's cake was made and decorated with all three of her family members playing a part. She wasn't so interested in blowing the candle out herself though but Abigail was very quick to assist in that department too!

It was a fun afternoon ... but I'm sure we, like many other parents, can't believe how quickly our little girls are growing up.

Since that weekend loads more has been going on, including the MOPS resale where we sold a lot of our baby stuff and made $240. We also had the opportunity to speak at our church's missions conference. It was a real privilege to share with them all and had the added bonus of picking up some more supporters, both in prayer and financially. One of the more interesting parts was at the family night when we had to share our calling into missions as if talking to the persecuted church ... without using 'dangerous' words like God, church, mission etc but still getting our message across. Try it sometime, it can be very amusing ... but is a day-to-day reality for many, including several of our close friends.