ONE day!

Yesterday Nathan turned one year old.  How can this be?  Wasn’t he born only a few months back?  And yet I can barely remember life before he came.

We have much to celebrate, and celebrate we did.  Two weekends ago, Tim’s cousin hosted a dinner for Nathan in Richmond, and we ran with a Winnie-the-Pooh theme (with an emphasis on Tigger, who is Nathan’s current favorite animal in the world ((followed closely by black bears))).   Tim’s Aunt even made a Winnie-the-Pooh cake, which Nathan delved into rather timidly (Tim would like me to note that Nathan was NOT timid about delving into the vanilla ice-cream).  It was so fun to do a big birthday bash with people who know how special Nathan is.  That was important to me since we are still getting to know everyone in Roanoke, and few here appreciate what this past year has involved for our family.  We celebrated again last weekend when we met Tim’s parents and another Aunt, Uncle, and cousin for a half-way-in-between dinner.  It worked out well; Nathan slept the hour to and from the restaurant, and we still had plenty of time to spend with family over the meal.  His actual birthday was much quieter compared to our “official” celebrations, but it was still very special and filled with all of Nathan’s favorite things: pumpkin pancakes started the morning off right, as did delving into a tub of new bath animal toys (thanks, Ben and Maria!) and running the dishwasher (we tease Nathan that he is our resident dish-watcher…he is transfixed by the running dishwasher).  A yummy lunch, a long and windy walk, floor play time, some special phone calls and cards, park swings, cake, and more presents made for a whopping good finish to the day.  Tim was able to get off work just a tad early and go with us to the park, which thrilled Nathan to no end.  We saved a few special activities and presents for this evening, too, in order not to completely overwhelm him yesterday.  I loved having a low-pressure day, and Nathan seemed to really enjoy the simple things we did.  We also spent a lot of time remembering the past year, letting it all sink in.  We’ve gained some small bit of perspective in 12 months, and we can look back and see God’s hand at work in many ways and in many lives.  We don’t know what He’ll do in the coming year, but we’re excited to find out!