I’m Blessed

What a weekend.  Silje had such a fun birthday, and we all enjoyed it!  I don’t think that we’ve ever thrown such a party, and I don’t think we intended to throw as big of a party as we ended up throwing, but it was so much fun I don’t regret it at all.

Silje had everything planned down to how the cake should go exactly.  She told me exactly how the frosting had to go, and which horses were to be placed where, and exactly what color sprinkles had to be used.  In fact, she was a little annoyed I didn’t just step aside and let her do the whole cake.  I’m old fashioned in the way where I think one shouldn’t make their own birthday cake.  I kept explaining this tradition to Silje.

A few hours before the party started, our friends the Roberts brought the horses.  When Knut was growing up in this house, they had 2 horses in the barn.  When we bought the house, we were both certain that we didn’t have the time necessary to properly take care of horses, so Knut’s parents re-homed Buster and Star to a family at our church.  They live about 45 minutes from our farm now, and those horses live in the lap  of luxury there with 2 other “retired” horses that the Roberts took in.  They get ridden all the time, brushed and combed and washed with care.  They’re probably over 20 years old now, which is pretty old in horse years, but I think behavior wise, they’ve never been better with all the attention they get.

Of course, the Roberts’ children are all grown now, so their heavily hinting they would like Knut and I to take them back at any point now.  We, however, were hoping to wait until Silje was at least 10 so she could help out a bit more.  We’ll see down the road…

Anyway, I can’t believe how much this family blessed us that day.  I don’t know if I thanked them enough, even though they probably heard me say it about 50 times.  They drove Buster and Star, and one of their other “retired” horses, “Rocky” way out to our farm, and the Dad, his son Wynn, and Wynn’s fiance Anna came out to help for the whole day.  By the time the horses got settled, and our kids got a super long ride, our party guests started showing up.

We invited more girls than usual this year, mostly because many from Silje’s list is from our homeschool group, and I was trying hard to make sure none of them in our little group was left out.  Since everyone’s thoughts were on the horses, we did some riding first.

 The Roberts family walked the girls around on the horses to their hearts content, and then we went inside for cake, “pin the tail on the horse” and presents.  The Roberts took a quick break and trotted around the “neighborhood”, but came back after presents, so the girls could all get one last ride before they went home.  There were some little brothers and sisters of our guests too who got in some last minute rides as well. 

The Roberts wouldn’t let us pay them for gas for driving all the way out to our place, but accepted only some supper at our table for walking with the girls and horses probably several miles worth of circles around our place.  I’m told they slept well that night.

Party time isn’t quite over, as we’re having some grandparents and cousins of Silje’s out tomorrow night for some more cake. 

I’m so grateful Knut had the day off to spend with us, and he was such a huge help to have around!  I’m so blessed with so many friends.  I’m blessed with so many exciting things in our future.  I get to go to another prenatal appointment today, which will be sort of a relaxing morning alone.  We moms take what we can get.  😉  My parents are flying in at the end of the week for their yearly visit.  Knut and I have gotten to have some great heart to heart talks lately after our fun date night last week.  It’s so good to bear one another’s burdens as a couple, and almost feels like a relief to do so.

Please share your heart in how God has blessed you this last week!  You can leave a link to your blog if you’re long winded like me, or just a comment below!  I love reading how God is working uniquely in each of our lives.