Birthday Cake

We were soooo busy today, doing last minute errands and appointments before our trip.  The children, the dog, and I left the house before 8 A.M., hurrying off to get Hunter a couple of shots he needed before our trip.  Then it was off to the groomer's, to clip Hunter's nails.  I had just enough time take Hunter home, pay a few medical bills, and serving an early lunch before dropping the kids off to play with friends while I got a haircut.  Picking up the kids, we hurried off to turn in our library books and keep one more doctor's appointment, the last follow-up from my sinus surgery (everything looks great!).  Stops at Target, Kohl's and the mall were next.  A sudden downpour drenched us as we ran to our parked car.  We made it just before closing time to the tailor shop.  Somewhere in all that were two separate trips to ATM machines and a stop for gas.  Our final stop was at the grocery store, where we--dripping wet, all of us--picked out a birthday cake.

Because we weren't too busy to remember that today, July 15th, was the day we met Lily for the first time.  Her birthday!

You can read more about Lily in this post and this one.  She's our fourth baby.

Lily celebrated her first birthday just a few weeks before she died.  That birthday was one of our best days as a family, ever. 

In fact, it was so good, that we keep celebrating Lily's birthday, even though she's only with us in spirit, now.  I let Endeavor, Justone, and Superkid plan the parties.  They are good party planners.  Last year, we were in Utah with our cousins on Lily's birthday.  I don't remember the specifics of the party, but there were more helium balloons than we could handle.  Since we were so busy today, my event planners kept it simple this year, with a birthday dinner and cake.

Carrot cake, because Lily loved carrots. 

We lit three candles on the cake, because this would be Lily's third birthday.

Once, some well-meaning person asked if it was "appropriate" for us to keep celebrating Lily's birthday.  After all, they reasoned in hushed tones, "She passed away."

I flippantly answered that if we could celebrate the birthdays of dead presidents as national holidays, it was perfectly appropriate for our family to celebrate the birth of our Lily.  Honestly, some people just don't get it.

We, on the other hand, got Lily.  On July 15, 2007.  And though we may have only held her in our arms for a short time, she gave us so much love.  She taught us so many things.  She made us complete.  We are so grateful that Lily is a part of our forever family.  And we will be thrilled to see her again.

That will be a party!