~Daddy got home...and a Birthday party for Mary~

Yea! Jesus brought Phillip home safely from Cartagena on Monday, Oct. 3rd! We try not to worry while he is gone....but we are always THRILLED to have him back home with us again! =) So after visiting with him for a little while, we left to go and buy the supplies to have a birthday party for Mary the next evening. We had invited a few Colombian friends over to help us celebrate. We would have loved to have had the whole church, but there was not room.
~ I had planned to decorate with different colors, but when I went shopping for the plates, cups, napkins, etc. the colors I wanted weren't there...but due to halloween, they had a lot of ORANGE! So, I changed my colors and decided to decorate with pink and orange. =) The Lord helped Kimberly and I make Mary's # "1" birthday cake and it turned out so FUN...exactly how I had pictured it. ~

~In case you can't read it...there is an "st" on the orange star...so with the "1" candle it spells "1st".~

~Looking at my scrapbooks while waiting for the last guests to arrive.~

~The kids table with a baby Mary peeking around Noah's chair. Phillip plans to post about these later...but our pastor's wife and husband from Medellin made the jeans skirts that Kimberly, Sarah, and I are wearing (and the shirt that Noah is wearing too)...as gifts to us. =)~

~We had a wonderful evening together.  I just served a simple meal.  My Mother-in-law's taco salad, a yummy punch, cake and ice cream.~

~Sorry, I was too busy dishing up plates to remember to take this picture when the punch bowl was full.  Jesus helped it be yummy...and I had to fill it up twice. =)~

~Mommy, Mary and her cake~

~We sang to Mary and clapped and Mary wasn't quite for sure WHY the celebration...but she grinned shyly and watched us clap.  =)~

~We also made a jello cake for Phillip and Bro. Jimmy's sake. =)~

~Mary enjoying some bites of her cake and ice cream.~

~Kimberly has taught Mary to say "Wow!"  So here she is saying, "Wow" over her nice gifts she received. =) Mary also says, "Gracias" (Thank you in Spanish!)  I hope to video her saying it some time.~

~And at last, she got to open her doll baby from Phillip and I.  We would have never guessed that she would have reacted so much.  She L.O.V.E.S. her doll.  The little bear that the doll is holding plays music.  When Phillip took her doll to take it out of the box for her, Mary began fussing. =)~

~Look at her sweet smile looking at her new dolly.~

~One happy Daddy with his 3 girls...with a cute smiling Elijah in the left hand corner. =)~

~I was happy to find this cute little outfit for Mary's birthday in our mall for a great price.  I love the cute little 1" tall piece of aqua piece sewn in at the neck, and the little orange belt in the skirt. =D It's got a cute little doggie, flowers, a hippo, and a purse on it.  The skirt is a tad long...but the blouse is a smaller size than the skirt (and they didn't have any other sizes), so I knew that she has to wear it now before she outgrows the matching blouse. =)

Thank you, Dear Jesus, for sending us our sweet Baby Mary!