Matthew and Bob...and Spiderman...and Lightning McQueen...and Scooby Doo

This sweet little boy is now 4! We are so blessed to live life with him and be his parents. Birthdays in our house are times of reflection as well as celebration. Since both of our children are adopted, there are more "layers" to their days of births than those of more traditional families. Matthew's birthmother was rushed to the hospital in what the Russian's told us was a "medical emergency". She died shortly thereafter and Matthew was brought into the world 7 weeks early. Although his preemie birth has resulted in several health concerns (including heart surgery), he couldn't be more perfect in our eyes! His entry into the world wasn't all that it should've been but his daily life now is full of love and overflowing joy. We couldn't be more thankful for Matthew and his birthday makes us reflect on the debt of gratitude we have to his birth mother for giving her life for him and to God for letting us be his parents. He makes us laugh (and roll our eyes) every single day!


On a lighter note, Matthew has been planning out his birthday party since the beginning of January...when we started planning Jordan's party. The difference is that Jordan's party was over and done with two weeks later and Matthew has had 4 months to perfect his plans...and to discuss them DAILY! Fortunately for me, his plans were pretty simple and low key and they all revolved around Bob the Builder and his cousin Bridget. We had construction hats, a life-size Bob balloon and if I do say so myself, an amazing Bob cake. I worked on this cake for an entire afternoon and was quite proud of how it turned out until Jordan took one look at it and said, "that doesn't look anything like Bob". She was banned from cake consumption and possibly from my kitchen for at least a decade...or at least until she's tall enough to unload and put away everything from the dishwasher.


Two days before his party, Matthew let me in on his latest plans...his next party will be Spiderman, the one after that will be Cars, the one after that will be Scooby Doo and after that he'd like to have Bob again. That's the next 4 years worth of parties he's planning out! Those of you who know Matthew can attest that he is not exactly the "planner" type of personality...not even close. However, he holds parties in very high regard. Apparently parties are worthy of a higher level of brain "attention" than anything else in life...I can appreciate that. Normally I wouldn't expect him to remember next week (let alone next year) that Spiderman is next on the list, but....he has been single-focused on Bob for over 4 months. So, guess I'll tackle a spiderman cake next, I just won't let Jordan look at it without tape on her mouth first!