Happy Birthday to Lindsay!!!

I, Lindsay, am officially 25 years old, a quarter of a century. And, as strange as it sounds, I really do feel a year older. Maybe that's because when I turned 24, I had never lived alone with my husband, and therefore never really had to take care of a house, and I had no children. How much has changed in one year!!! Well, I had told Andre a few weeks earlier that because this was my first birthday in Ukraine, I wanted it to be really really special. He definitely delivered. Here's how the day went:

It all started after I was done feeding Noah at about 5:30 in the morning. I went into the kitchen and was surprised to see signs that Andre had made for me.

I got tears in my eyes when I saw them, because it reminded me of how thoughtful Andre is. He knew that I'd be awake with Noah in the middle of the night, so he made these before he went to bed and hung them up for me to be surprised!

Once I woke up for the day and fed Noah, Andre, Nikita and I checked my email to find lots of e-cards and emails wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was fun being remembered by those across the ocean. After I fed Noah again, (If you can't tell already, our day was broken up into parts depending on when Noah needed to be fed. :) we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant here in town with the whole family. It was so much fun to be there and as a whole family, all four of us, was a huge treat! Noah was hungry again! After that, we got in the car again, and we went downtown. We got out of the car, and Andre told me that I had this much money and 15 minutes to spend it! I was shocked at first, but then I sprung into action! I found these awesome brown dress shoes that I've wanted forever! They were right there! Yeah!

Andre told me that we would have had more time to shop, but one of his friends was having a problem with family or something and really wanted Andre and the pastor to talk to him. So, Andre said we needed to go to the church. I thought there might be something up, but then I rebuked myself for being so selfish. This guy was having a hard time, and I could only think of myself. Well, I was right! We got to church, and there was a surprise party there for me! It was so much fun. It was super funny, because Noah was literally passed around the circle from one girl to the next to be held and cooed at. He loved it! There's a picture of our friend Sergey and two Tanya's.

After the party, we went to Valya's house (Andre's grandma), and she had made cake for us to eat! Here's a picture of her, Noah and Nikita. (By the way, we went to the doctor today, and Noah weighs 13.6 lbs!!! Wooh, that's a big boy. He's not even 8 weeks old yet.)

It was such an amazing day. I don't think that I will ever forget it. I am so grateful to God for giving me a husband like Andre, family and friends that make me feel so loved!