I have a ONE and FIVE year old this week!

The first week in November will always be a special time for our family.  We are privileged enough to celebrate two spiritual birthdays!

Abigail turned five on Monday....

Audrey An had her FIRST spiritual birthday on Tuesday!  Check out AA's adoption blog to read more about what happened in her life one year ago (November 24 post).

new prayer journals and bookmarks

We are SO grateful for these answers to prayers!  What a neat time, too, that their spiritual birthdays are very unique to them but are within one day of each other...just another special bond they will always have!

Yesterday, for me, started out with a sleepless night.  I tossed and turned. I finally got up and went to another room, read, prayed and....quite frankly, wept.  How the day turned for me though!  I was reading a new devotional book I had been given.  One of the many passages I looked up was Psalm 20-a familiar passage to me, but it had a very new meaning to me at 3:30 this morning.  You see, verse 6 stood out like it had headlights on it just for me.  It says, "Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand."

Two words stood out to me: victory and anointed.  Both powerful words.  The word anointed had special meaning to me because on Sunday the elders at my church prayed for me and they anointed my head with oil.  I have to say, I've never experienced being anointed with oil before- just something not done too much in the churches I've been in before.  It's biblical though so I was all over that.   So, in the middle of the night I was kinda glad (after the fact!) I couldn't sleep due to the pain and weakness, but my heart was encouraged.  VICTORY over this dreadful disease sounds fabulous!  It changed my perspective on the rest of our special family day.

I was able to share at breakfast with David and the girls about my eventful night.  Of course, David and I explained to the girls in even a different way THIS year that it's awesome we get to celebrate each member  having a spiritual birthday.  David also was able to bless the girls by exhorting them in areas of maturity we already see in each of their lives.  For Abigail, we think she has some wisdom beyond her years.  She blessed my socks off last week when we were having one of our "deep" talks.  We were talking about the challenges this past year brought to our entire family.  She said, "Maybe one reason HE brought us out here was to make us trust Him more."  WOW...pretty deep for a 10 year old (rather, a five year old!).    For Audrey An, she's our little prayer warrior.  She's so specific, grateful and longs to be the one who "gets" to pray.  How cool it will be to continue to see how the Lord will work out these gifts in each of their lives.  I love unplanned and unexpected blessings with my family!

It didn't end there though...because of the reason we were celebrating we were able to share with a very special person in our lives the reason of the "party" today.  So thankful!

Momma's girls...

or daddy's girls???

Either way...this mommy and daddy are grateful!

Happy birthday, sweet girls!

Abigail snapped this, and I thought it was such a great pic!

 Abigail surprised Audrey An with this super sweet card and devotional book she made on her own.


All in all...GREAT day (despite my major lack of sleep!).