Happy 1st birthday Solomon!

One year ago today, our rainbow baby Solomon was born.  One year and nine months ago, our sweet Lilly passed away.  What a gift Solomon has been in bringing healing to our broken hearts.  To filling our arms back up.  To bringing more amazement back into our lives.  I thank the Lord for him every day, as I do for our other children.  Believe me, I do not take any child for granted.

I've purposely delayed giving Solomon grains of any kind, so when it came time to think "birthday cake" I wasn't sure what to do.  Hunter pointed out that Solomon's favorite food is bananas so he suggested a banana cake.  So that's what I made.  I had no idea if he would eat it, but figured we needed a photo if nothing else!:

Solomon wasn't sure what to do with it:

But he found he enjoyed hitting the cake with his spoon and then throwing bits onto the floor:

Solomon thought eating wrapping paper was much more tasty:

Yesterday I made Solomon his birthday t-shirt.  Of course it was huge on him today, but I know it will fit a bit better each birthday to come:

After supper, I gave Solomon a piece of "Lilly chocolate" to try.  He decided that was a birthday treat much more to his liking:

(You can see Lilly eating her chocolate here. )

"O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!"  - 1 Chronicles 16:8

Happy 5 years Hunter!

Hunter celebrated his 5th birthday today with a glazed donut.  (This was his request instead of a cake.)  Blowing out the candles:

All summer long, Hunter has had one request for a present.  His own digital camera.  Here it is:

Several years ago, wrote the names of each of our children on a size large white t-shirt.  Each year on their birthday, I take a picture of them in their shirt and put the picture in a little album.  It's fun to see how they fill out the shirt a little better each year.

I keep the t-shirts in the top of my closet.  Finding Lilly's birthday t-shirt made me smile today.  She got to wear it once.  She looks like she is swimming in the shirt!

This afternoon I made up the goats' dewormer balls.  (They get them once a week as a preventative.  Since they're herbal, they don't build up in their system and stop working like the regular ones do.)  I call them "Goaty Delight."  (For some reason I think of "Turkish Delight" in the Narnia series.)  All the goats love to see me coming with them, except Daisy.  I have to force them into her mouth.  Herbs, slippery elm bark, and molasses.  Wanna try it?

After feeding the goats, I popped into the chicken coop to check for eggs.  We still haven't found any yet, but we should be any day now.  Taffeta (the "Trisomy 18 chick") was relaxing under the nesting boxes:

Then I noticed a patch of tall yellow flowers in a clearing, that I had not noticed before.  Tabby and Dixie came to see them with me:

It often feels like Christmas living here.  So many surprises pop up here and there.  I brought some of the surprise yellow flowers inside with me:

"All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." - John 1:3