Andy's 13th Birthday

 

So we decided to change Andy's birthday legally to June 4th when we adopted him because Ethiopia had just assigned him a random day for his birthday and we wanted a day that would bear significance.  Also, if we pushed it back a couple of months it would make him closer to a year younger than Eden instead of 9 months younger, but be 2 years behind her in school.  Plus, we held him back a school year, so it would appear a bit better.  Anyhow, after adopting him, we worked on the legal date change for a while, but it just wasn't working out.  There were various issues with it.  But we had already decided that was what we were going to do, had told our family that June 4th was going to be his birthday, and we had put June 4th as his birthday on the Church records.  About a year later, our lawyer told us that the date change was just not going to work due to some international immigration issues.  But we decided we would still go with our plan anyhow, even if it weren't the legal date.  And we would use the legal date only where it was absolutely legally necessary.  Well, this past Summer our Bishop made us change his birthday to April 17, the assigned Ethiopian one.  Long story, but we had to.  So at that point, we just bagged our whole idea and decided to just embrace the April 17th date.  

So this was our first year that we were going to use that date.  Andy was so excited!  We were too.  Well, unfortunately, the day before his birthday Charity was hospitalized.  And she was in the hospital for 4 days.  I felt really bad for him because we really wanted it to be great for him.  This was after all, only the 4th time this kid would get to be recognized on his birthday his entire life.  Well, the first night when Charity was sick, I did take Andy out on a date.  He had planned to do that anyhow for his birthday.  We went to eat and did a quick shopping trip and to the movies.  We saw the movie Mall Cop 2 that he wanted to see.  And I loved watching him laugh so hard through it. We had a good time.  

But on his birthday, Steve and I were totally absent.  It was the scariest day we had with Charity and just couldn't be there.  Fortunately, we had a bunch of Steve's family in town and they worked hard to make his day special and I really appreciated that!  They had cake and sang to him and gave him gifts.  

Since Charity got back from the hospital, we have been trying to make up for his bday even more.  I went and got him a cell phone.  That is what he had wanted for his birthday.  So he pooled all his birthday money together and I pitched in and went and got it today.  I also had him plan tonight's family dinner.  We had nachos, apple pie and ice cream.  All what he loves.  And we sang to him again.  He was pretty happy about that.

We sure love Andy and take so much pride in all the progress and growth he has had the last four years.  He is a great kid.  And we are proud of his special gifts and talents.  We love his kind heart and how sweet he is to his little brother Sam.  We love his strength and athleticism.  He is a remarkable boy.  He is so loved by us.