ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Quite honestly it seems just a few weeks ago that I held 3 month old Iris on my chest, her cheek nestled gently on my bare skin, as I sang softly to her.  So much love and happiness has filled the years since, and tomorrow she turns 8 years old.  I did daycare for her three days per week for three years, while her mom went back to work.  There is a strong and special bond between this young girl and I, and I have been privileged to have been entrusted with her care.  

I know I took this venture with an utter and sever seriousness.  I so wanted to be worthy of being her care taker, that I spent the ensuing three months prior to my retirement in deep spiritual study.  

I love this child so much, and pray that I will be a good and honest model for her.  

(Needless to say I deeply love her younger sister, Elsa madly as well.)

Happy Birthday, Iris.

Each year I welcome the challenge of making the birthday cake of whatever choosing the girls want.  This year Iris wanted a Bunny cake, which when she told me, I thought it was the simplest of her requests, i.e., in the past a Conestoga Wagon, a dog, etc.  She wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, too.

 

The bunny cake....

She loved it.

(Iris shares her birthday with her Nina, Andy's mother, who was here for the celebration, too.)

A flannel nightie I made for her

and below is her birthday card.

This year I needle-felted her birthday card, as one of the gifts I was giving her was a needle-felting kit...

...so she can needle felt scenes of her own.

This child has adorned my life with such love and joy!  In some ways I regret that as I grow older, time seems to speed by so much faster then ever before.  Still it is good to slow down, hold each moment close and precious, and see how filled with eternity it really is.  I feel blessed beyond words, and being a grandmother is by far the greatest highlight of my older years.