Stahlke Adoption

Birthday!

March 29, 2006
Kola's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. Because of after-school activities and Lenten services, the only time that all of us were together was before school. So we had birthday cake for breakfast! It was very emotional. The children were excited to be singing and eating cake, but when an innocent joke was taken wrong, one of them burst out crying. It was clear that underneath the birthday excitement was a great deal of grief and frustration.

March 29, 2007 blog post
Today is Kola's fourth birthday. It is important for our children that we mark such an important day, and we've planned a birthday celebration after school. We'll sing "Happy Birthday" to him and all blow out the candles on his cake.

Hopefully, next year at this time we can celebrate WITH Mikola.

March 29, 2008 blog post
Yesterday was Mikola's 5th birthday. Last year at this time, we thought he would be with us now. God, please grant us patience.

We will celebrate on Monday, when Ruslan returns from his trip to Texas. It will be the third time that our family will celebrate his birthday, but it's been longer for our five children. They last saw Kola when he was one year old--still a babe in arms.

We think about him a lot and pray for him every day.

March 29, 2009
Kola is HERE with us for his birthday! What joy!!

It's also interesting to watch him experience an American birthday for the first time. During coffee hour at church last Sunday, the entire group in the fellowship hall sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He looked shocked, even a little apprehensive, to have so many people singing just to him. Pastor leaned over to me and whispered, "Wonder what he thinks about these American customs!"

posted by Stahlkes @ 1:45 PM