Happy Birthday dear Emma Belle, Happy Birthday to you!! Family and friends fill the back porch of our recently constructed home and I am listening to a big little voice ask "Can I open my presents PLEASE" remembering what a wonderful feeling it always was to have a birthday!!! I watch as she opens with such curiosity filled with a love like none other. Busy, Busy, Busy is a newly 4 year old little girl ripping paper and pulling presents from every package on the porch overwhelmed with what to play with first. Can you ever get that excitement for a birthday back as a 34 year old mother of two? I am always excited for the packages I anticipate getting but the age thing always changes the mood, why does that have to be? We all sit around eating the peanuts that Stephanie slaved in the kitchen to make so that we all felt that "cowgirl" setting for the perfect party, and as I look around at the children playing together for this long anticipated day I realize that the sound of laughter is more than I could ask ever ask for. We wheel out the PB&J brown bag lunches to make sure we have full bellies before the excitement that overwhelms us and before the life of the party arrives...The horse because could you really have a "cowgirl" party without a horse to ride? As a mom of a newly turned 4 year old I'm thinking "NO". I am not sure if we were all just hungry or those were the best sandwiches I have had in a long time...The sun beating down who could have ask for a more wonderful day? With the 90 degree weather we decided to sing and eat cake inside..."Happy Birthday dear Emma Belle, Happy Birthday to you...and many more". Blowing our four candles?? when just yesterday she was sticking her head face first in the cake seems like a great big accomplishment and I again am overwhelmed with emotion...thank God for the little girl I prayed so many days and nights for she is so worth it!!! "The horse is here" seemed to be the next thing out of my mouth and all the children gathered around to have a turn but wait the birthday girl goes first...the responsibility of being a big sister kicked in and from the horse trailer in the front yard here comes big sister Emma Belle and little brother Slade...she shared her turn. That is one of the times today I realized she really is 4 and growing right before my very eyes! As mommy and daddy watch we realize maybe she really does hear us when I talk anyway I was and am SO proud! Thank God for all of my family and friends who came to share this very special day of a 4 year old and make this day the best birthday ever!!! I realize today unlike when I was 4 that the most important things in life are the relationships you have and the memories you make because they will always carry you when you just don't want to walk... as will God the giver of all.
Today... how to I even begin to describe the emotions of today...my baby girl turned 4! To be quite honest most days lately I am wishing for she and Slade to be able to do so many things on their own...but can you take all those wishes back? Today I am realizing that time does fly by and she is going to always be my little girl but she is not always going to be that little 6lb baby that I hardly remember bringing home for the hospital just a few short years ago. I want to be able to remember and savor but everyday it seems I forget more than I remember and I feel overwhelmed with all these emotions of being a great mom.
As the tears fall from my cheeks I am watching her sleep and it seems she is growing up before my eyes. As her mother I can see all the things so vivid in my mind that I want for her to become and turn into. Thankful that God is working on her, I realize that he already has it figured out...what an amazing work of miracles she is. She is my little 4 year old cowgirl today and I slow down and realize that I want to be able to enjoy it and take time to appreciate more than I do how blessed I am... "Happy birthday dear Emma Belle, Happy Birthday to you!!!"
