Day 230

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Day 230 - Malia turned five last Wednesday (10/20) and we celebrated with her today.  The first of many birthdays without Leigh.  Some pictures of our day...

Malia had a "Toy Story" theme for her party!

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Peggy!

 

Dumped a bunch of candy in Malia's room, packed it full of balloons, and then had a free for all!

Life is better with a 51" Toy Story ball!

Musical Chairs for the kiddos!

Musical Chairs for the adults!

Buzz and Barbie enjoying the fun!

People were too kind with all the presents!

Malia giving Barbie a ride on her new Barbie bike!

Having fun rolling down the hill!



I stayed busy throughout the party but now that things have died down I have time to look back and imagine Leigh with us today.   I can see her and her sister laughing at all the silly costumes.  I can see her fighting hard to win musical chairs!  I can see her helping Malia open all her gifts.  I can see her being so happy knowing some wonderful memories were being made.  Mostly, I can see her soaking up another time to be with with family and friends. 

It's been 230 days but it's not hard to imagine what today could have looked like.  Infact it's still so very easy.  We've done 10 birthdays for Caden together, 6 for Bailey, and 4 for Malia.  And Leigh acted the same for all of them - full of joy.  I'm confident Malia had a great time today but I hope she'll never forget the birthdays she had with her mom, albeit far too few.  I hope God allows her to keep a memory or two of her mom wishing her a Happy Birthday.  I hope God allows all of us to remember.

Prayer Requests:

- It took a small army to pull of today.  I praise God for the help.  Thank you to everyone who helped make today what it was.

- I'm preaching tomorrow.  Would appreciate any last minute prayers as my mind is not quite there right now.

"Father, thank You for a good day.  I don't know how many birthdays we have left without Leigh.  Maybe quite a few.  If that's the case then may we continue to depend on You for the strength to make them special.  I missed Leigh Ann today Father and it's just not the same without her.  May all of this make sense one day."