Oh, it's so hard to do! Gracie's birthday is Sunday. For the last two weeks I've been trying to come up with some great idea for a birthday cake for her. She isn't really all that into anything in particular. Sawyer and Campbell have always had a "favorite" thing, so it's been easy to pick something for them. We've done everything from dragons and pirate ships to little chicks. Surely they enjoy these fun cakes as much as I do, right? And I'm sure that they'd be absolutely devestated if I bought them a cake instead of making one, in fact they'd probably be talking to their therapist about it someday..."my mom didn't bother to make me a cake, she just ordered one from the store. My cake looked just like every other kid's...boo hoo hoo..." Today, after much fretting (since her party is Sunday, and I still had no plans!), Ryan suggested I go to Costco and just order her a cake. WHAT!!! I CAN't do that! His response was "Isn't your time worth the money it would cost? And, it wouldn't take you away from us for several hours making it." It was then that I realized that He's right (yes, Honey, I said you're right). While my motivation may have been good (or was it me just pushing my idea of a good bithday pary onto my kids?!), time with my family will be remembered a lot longer than what cake they had for their birthdays. I've often heard our Pastor's wife ask the question "what has God put in your hands right now?" I've been trying really hard lately to focus on what God has put in my hands right now - four little people who desperately need Him - not fancy birthday cakes. Maybe someday I'll get to make them cakes again, but for now, it's off to Costco...(their cakes taste WAYYYYY better than mine anyway!)

Some anonymous person requested pictures of the decorated tree. I'll try to post some tomorrow!