Happy Birthday, Kate!

 Kate turned 7 on Monday, May 16.  Ever since she first joined our family, we knew she was a pretty special kid.  Her curiosity, energy, smiles, and laughter add bright spots to any day.  We have been so glad to be a part of her life.

In the last year, Kate has mastered reading and riding her bike.  She has taken an interest in learning how to play the piano, but our home lessons are kind of hit and miss.  She still loves her brother and her sister very much.  She is a very kind friend to others and has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of her self-confidence.  If you ask Kate what she wants to be when she grows up, she will tell you that she wants to be a scientist, more specifically that she wants to study oceans.

Monday started with Kate opening cards and gifts from the family.  When I asked her last week what she wanted for her breakfast on her birthday, she told me that she would like a hard boiled egg ... Kate has never had a hard boiled egg, but I guess she thought they'd be good.  She tried one out on Sunday, decided that she really did like them, so had a hard boiled egg, a smoothie, and a piece of toast for breakfast :)

Ethan and I were able to join Kate at school for lunch and recess.  Kate was a wonderful big sister taking Ethan around to all of the different playground pieces.  At the end of recess, she asked him if he would like to come and play with her at recess again sometime.  Of course, Ethan said yes.

After school Kate played with the gifts her siblings gave her.  We had found a cool lego set of female scientists at the local used toy store, so that was Anna's gift to Kate.  Even though the age listed on the box was for kids ages 10 and up, Kate did a great job putting together all of the pieces, including the lego dinosaur skeleton.

For dinner, Kate requested sausage pizza, cucumbers, and ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Gotta love this kid :)

We are so blessed to call Kate a member of our family.  We hope that we can continue to help her learn, grow, and mature into the amazing person she has the potential to be.

Prayers for Kate - These are actually the same as last year, but they still hold true today.

Thanksgiving
Please give thanks that Kate is a happy, healthy 7 year old.
Please thank God for all of Kate's gifts: her smile, her laughter, her sense of humor, her intelligence and insight, her quiet leadership, her physical abilities, her empathy, and her faith, among other things.
Please give thanks that Anna and Ethan have been able to have Kate as their sister; she is an incredible blessing to them both.

Requests
Please pray that God continues to watch over Kate and lead her as she grows and matures.
Please pray that Kate will continue to develop her self-confidence so that she can weather the trials of growing up in a "different" family.
Please ask God to give us wisdom and insight as Kate's parents so we can help her reach her potential.