A Birthday at the Farm

We are finishing up a 12-day trip to Minnesota and back, and somewhere in the middle of it all we celebrated Kai's 5th birthday.  We had the privilege of being at the Horn family farm for the occasion, joined by Grandma and Grandpa Horn and the Horn cousins, and the Lord offered us a perfect fall day to get outside. 

I can scarcely believe this moose baby is now 5 years old!

We were coming from Duluth that day, so my mother-in-law helped a ton by getting the birthday stuff ready so all we had to do was show up.  Kai was adamant about having a construction machine party.  Of course.  I have never met a boy who loves digging in the dirt more than this kid!  He also was adamant about having a cake with a dump truck and digger on it.  That was not gonna be possible because of our travels, and it took a lot of convincing to assure him that cupcakes were totally cool but eventually he was on board.  It required getting edible construction machine toppers for the cupcakes, but that was a small sacrifice to make.  It's been really important to me that our boys have special birthdays this year, and Kai's birthday at the farm was perfect.

So we had pepperoni pizza for lunch followed by chocolate cupcakes with edible construction machine toppers.  And everyone was happy.

When Caleb turned 5 in Kenya, we gave him his first piggy bank.  He got 25 shillings every Sunday and put 10 shillings into the offering at church.  Since being in America he's continued getting an allowance and has been learning about American money, and Kai has been watching his brother put money into his piggy bank this whole time and has been so anxious to turn 5 and get a piggy bank for himself.  Well, his birthday finally arrived and he was ecstatic not only about getting a piggy bank, but about discovering that we'd found a dump truck piggy bank!  Can a dirt-loving boy be any more blessed?

After presents, the afternoon was filled with tractor rides and go-kart rides.  It was the most perfect fall day we could have hoped for.  Sometime in the middle of it all Kai summed up the whole day when he whispered in my ear, "Mama, I love this birthday!"

We were so thankful for such a wonderful celebration in the middle of this busy time of traveling and speaking.  

Kai is an adventurous kid, active and curious.  He loves to know how things work and spends time exploring everything from car doors to the dishwasher.  He can focus for a long time on things like puzzles and Legos, but he also can get a mean case of the wiggles.  He loves to snuggle with Mama and particularly enjoys "Special Mama/Kai Time" going to the store or donut shop or anywhere in between.  He's smart as a whip which is why we've put him in Kindergarten already - he's already done two years of preschool and a year of Kindergarten school work because he keeps up with big brother so well and has an academic mind.  He asks lots of questions and loves learning.  Kai will cry at the drop of a hat, but has a gentle spirit at the same time.  Last weekend, while attending the kids' class at a church where he knew no one, the teacher asked if anyone knew what it means to be baptized and our Kai guy raised his hand and said, "It's when God gives you a new heart" which shows not only that he is unafraid to speak up in a room full of strangers but also that he understands a lot about God at his young age, which makes us grateful and proud and humbled.  We love this boy more than we can say, and continually pray that he will live in God's strength as his name suggests.

Happy Birthday, Hezekiah!

We love you with a fierce love!