Madison Turns 4!

Last Thursday was Madison's fourth birthday. I had big hopes of doing a lovely post about my precious middle child that day, but alas, the internet was not to cooperate with my plans.

No biggie, it just meant I got to spend more time with the birthday girl and less time writing about her!

But I have to tell you about my Madison now that I can.

She's the middle child and for some reason, it appears that being the middle child is synonymous with being a wild little clown. She's a handful and always has been. But what I love about Madison is that she loves a good joke and she's not afraid to turn any situation into a comedic event. I honestly can't repeat many of her jokes here, but suffice it to say, she's very in tune with her body...and everybody else's. I'm glad she's not a boy. It could be worse - or so I hear. This girl has got potty humor down to a science.

Madison is also, somehow, even more talkative than her big sister. Sometimes, we'll pick her up from her preschool and she will talk non-stop all the way home. We never really have to ask her about her day - she tells it all in far more detail than maybe we'd even like sometimes!

Madison loves to pray. She prays loooong prayers but they are so sweet and simple and thoughtful. She almost always prays for pets we left behind and asks God to keep them from getting sick (in addition to all the humans she prays for daily)!

Every morning, Maddie goes to a preschool run by some Indonesian believers. She loves her "Teacher Sonni." The other day she was telling me all about how she loves Sonni and how she doesn't want to play with any of the other teachers because she doesn't know them. When I suggested she try to play with some of the other teachers to get to know them, she balked. "But, then, who would play with Teacher Sonni?!"

Madison's favorite song is "A Greater Song" by Paul Baloche. Actually, her favorite part is where it repeats, "Hallelujah, we want to lift You higher." She sings it at the top of her lungs...most of the time. Maddie has the whole preschool singing along with her, including Teacher Sonni. When she hears the calls to prayer from the mosque down the street she joins right in - singing "Hallelujah, we wanna lift You higher." When the ballet class is stretching, she sings it. When she's playing outside, she sings it. When she takes a bath, she sings it. When we start singing any song at all, she sings hers. She sang that song in the car on the day we left our home in Colorado and weaved our way through canyons and over mountain passes toward Idaho. She sang it on the airplane over the Pacific. She sang it our first morning in Jakarta. I don't think I can express how much it blesses me to hear her repeat that special song. I never grow tired of hearing that sweet little voice really, truly, enthusiastically worshiping the Lord in any and every circumstance.

It was so fun celebrating Madison's birthday this year. She was thrilled with every little nuance of her special day. From the presents, to the cake; from the Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast to the cookies to share at preschool, Madison was enthralled. She smiled from ear to ear all day long! It was so cute.

When she woke up the next morning and saw that the decorations I had put up were still hanging on the wall, she announced, "My birthday's not over! It's still my birthday, Mommy, look! The decorations are still up!"

Maddie and her dolly wearing their new, special birthday outfits before heading off to school!