The Birthday Party Dilemma

So, for the past month I've been back and forth, back and forth, and then again, back and forth on the ubiquitous, ever-looming, "FIRST BIRTHDAY" and whether to party or not to party.

I have great reasons both ways. Josh had a huge first birthday party -- that he doesn't remember, but I do and we have photos. Will Ellie think she was less special because I didn't have her a large first birthday party?

Ellie has only been home four, almost five months. We've had parties and been given gifts and been showered with love. It's pretty soon for more "invites" from us.

Just thinking about the "standards" that would be expected for the first birthday party of "The Princess" is really draining me. It's honestly more than I think I can do right now since I feel like we are still "settling" into our new family AND recovering from everyone being sick the last several weeks.

Ellie needs nothing. We have more toys than we can walk around. Regular readers KNOW she has clothes until she's like three. What fun is it for partygoers to buy diapers and formula? Yeah, right -- none. We have actually told some folks who have asked that we'd like people who want to, to donate to John Wright's (a missionary in Krygyzstan) "Simple Dream" campaign to fund birthday parties for children who may never have one. If you'd like more information on that, click here. If you'd like to donate to that in honor of Ellie in lieu of a gift, I know that it would mean SO MUCH to her in years to come, but more so, to those children there. Visit the site, get the information and see if your heart asks you to do that -- we are not all called for the same missions in life. John has lots of dreams on this site that need to be filled. Browse around.

But, back to the dilemma, it's her first birthday and she's home and that should be celebrated. I've actually had people ask me to send them an invitation -- it's a sweet honor to know that people want to celebrate with us and that they love her so much, and I'd LOVE to, but my heart tells me that it's just not the right thing for her or us right now.

So, there you have it. Yes/no over and over again and still nothing has been decided. I did check into a location to have it and decided, to be real honest, I didn't want to spend $150 to rent a place. There is so much more good I could do with that amount of money. So, yes, we could have it at the house, but if you invite one then it calls for another and pretty soon, I've just outgrown the number of people the house will hold.

So, again, what to do. Everytime I think I have my mind made up -- I get more confused about it.

Ellie is really fond of Farmer Jason from NPT and he's going to be at the Belcourt Theatre on March 28 at 10. thought about asking a couple of her friends and their moms if they wanted to make a trip out for that and then maybe just having family and "the girls" over on Saturday evening for cake and ice cream. I'm leaning that way. I think I would rather wait until she's two to have a "larger" party. I want to "savor" and really enjoy her first birthday -- with just us and a very small group of family/friends so we all don't feel overwhelmed. She won't remember it. She would most certainly enjoy a bigger party next year.

So, please, don't be offended if you think we've left you out of the party invites. We truly have not, I just think we are "going small" for the first one. Stay tuned!