Happy Birthday Dear Ri-Ri!
April 11 was a great day for the Burwells. it was Rihanna's fourth birthday, which is special enough, but it was also her first birthday as a Bird-a-well, and so we felt especially happy!
Around our house, we turn birth-days into birthday week, and we celebrate the Birthday Girl (or Boy, as the case may be) for several days. In hindsight, this may not be the best idea we ever had, considering the amount of creativity and money that is required, but oh well, the kids love it!
Over the course of Rihanna's birthday week, we had all kinds of fun. We had an afternoon at Monkey Joe's, a pizza dinner with the family, a cupcake feast, a trip to Athens for the UGA spring football game, and a big party at Ocee Park, complete with lots of friends and a beautiful and dee-lish Dora birthday cake.
Rihanna felt so loved; we could see it in her eyes! (and in her behavior!) She had such fun opening all of her gifts and remembering who had come to her party.
This week marks one year since our caseworker called us and said, "Okay, we have the green light; Rihanna is moving in to the Burwell family." I cannot believe the difference that a year has made in this little girl. She is a "new" child. She was fatherless, and God kept his promise to be a "Father to the fatherless". He has given her a family and a home and food and a brother and two sisters. He has brought her into our family, and thus (as we say at our church), into the "covenant of grace". She has learned who God is, who Jesus is. She knows so many songs and Bible verses about the Lord. She often just breaks into song, praising God!
Today I sneaked in her room during rest time, just to check on her. She was sitting on her bed, with two dolls in her lap, one Caucasian and one African-american. Her doll-daughters were fighting and she was trying to help them to be kind and forgive each other. She was teaching them how to say, "I'm sorry; will you forgive me?" Ah, I just wanted to CRY as I thought about how far she had come. All credit to the Lord and MUCH thanks to so many of you who have come alongside of us this year to help us. We could not have done it without Him or you.