SURPRISE PARTY!!!!!!

On Lucy's Birthday I was a little sad. I knew we were going to be throwing her a party on Saturday(today), but we hadn't done anything special to celebrate her on her birthday. I didn't want anything huge, just maybe a Happy Birthday song and a tender moment with David and Lucy reflecting on the wonderful year we have had with her. You know, something mushy only a Mom would enjoy! It was such a busy day, we didn't even have time to go buy her the toy we were planning to get her. We had to go to the immigration office with Dave's boss in the morning (which was sad because they said I could not get a working visa to do private tutoring, and if I did any private English tutoring it would be illegal) and then after a quick lunch, David left in a hurry for work and usually doesn't get home until after Lucy is asleep. I sat there alone with Lucy, wondering what I could do to make it special and really just feeling depressed over what a busy and boring day it was, filled with sad news. After about 10 minutes, I decided there was just no use being sad, said a humble prayer that I would be able to have a good attitude, and started thinking. After Lucy's nap, I went to go visit a friend I had recently made at the park. After a good visit, I was surprised by a call from Dave. It was only 8:00 p.m. and I was expecting him home around 10:00 p.m. "Where are you?" he asked, "I just got home to surprise you and you're not here!" Turns out, his last class, which is only 2 students (who happen to be the boss's children) had dentist appointments, so Dave was let off early for the first time ever! A coincidence that it happened to be on our daughter's birthday? I think not! The Lord is definitely working a lot of small miracles everyday for all of his children.

Soooo...quick let's plan a party! We biked to our favorite grocery store and bought Lucy her very own Pororo Push Toy! (Pororo is a famous Korean cartoon penguin) It was actually a gift from her Nana and Papa who gave us the money for it. (Thank you sooooooo much!) We strapped it to my back with a bunjee cord, so between that and the skirt I was wearing (yeah, I don't know what possessed me to wear a skirt on our bike ride) I looked pretty ridiculous (I really wanted a picture to capture the ridiculousness, but the camera was in the backpack under all of our groceries and after weighing the pros and cons, I decided against it). Anything for Lucy. I put a little cake together with our favorite Korean dessert, pronounced "duck" in Korean, which is sweet rice, mashed up into a sticky treat with different powders and beans on top or inside. We sang Happy Birthday right on the dot of her Birth time (7:53 a.m. September 4th in America, 10:53 p.m. September 4th in Korea). It was totally mushy, so I guess I got my wish! We let Lucy go for the cake, because duh, it's her birthday! Then we gave her the push toy and let her play for a little while (yes, we let her play at 11:00 p.m.). Our sweet little birthday girl loved it so much, but was so tired she would play with it and then lay down on the ground for a minute, get back up and play more. This was the first time I had a hard time taking her to bed because she was so involved in doing something. She seems older already, with her own set of distinct wants! It turned out to be a really special moment I will always remember. I love how situations in this life can change so quickly with a little prayer and a good attitude!Here is a picture of Lucy's "Duck" Cake
I love the expression on her face. It seems to say "It's my first birthday and this is all you could come up with?"She ended up liking it after allPushing her new push toy

As you can tell by that "Fall in Love with me" Lucy grin, she had a pretty fun night to say the least!