"And she saw the world, not always as it was but perhaps as it could be, with just a little bit of magic." -Cinderella, 2015
The back story regarding the "theme" of her party: Back in December of 2016, while pregnant with Scout, I become dreadfully sick. Severe morning sickness combined with catching two separate gastrointestinal viruses, found me dehydrated and checking into a hospital. Scout was barely the size of a kumquat swimming in my womb that day.
As I was only 10 weeks along, they wouldn't admit me to the pre-natal wing of the hospital where I desperately wanted to be to get the best care available for my tiny babe. I couldn't shake the terror of our baby coming to harm because of how sick I was during those days. I kept requesting for the hospital nurses to use the hand-held doppler to check on our baby. To which they would apologize, saying they weren't familiar with using it and thus might be able to hear our baby. Despite them assuring me the baby was fine, my heart was wrung tight with fear.
I spent that night alone in the hospital, my first away from Behr. My IV became dislodged during the night and filled my hand with fluid. My body and mind were exhausted from the intensity of the last few days. Misery clung to me like wet leaves. I was so tired.
At last, I woke after a night of fitful sleep. My room was bright and quiet. I finally felt good enough to sit up, to sip liquids and actually rest. Our hospital had a small movie selection for patients to enjoy. I couldn't do anything but sit in my bed waiting for the doctor to check me out so I watched movies to pass the time. The last movie I watched before Jonathan came to pick me up was Cinderella (2015).
I can't tell you how much I needed to escape into a tale of kindness and goodness triumphing over darkness in that moment. Seeing Cinderella and Kit overcome grief and suffering with gentleness and courage lifted my head. Tears of relief and gratefulness splashed down my cheeks. God used the beauty of that story to work healing into my tired heart. The movie finished and I looked out the window to see snowflakes softly flitting against the cold concrete of the hospital walls. I felt hopeful again. "We'll be ok, baby." I remember saying with my palm on my barely-there-bump.
And we were.
Originally, I wanted the theme of her party to be "light" because that's what her middle name, Lucy, means. We even bought the perfect twinkle lights on sale after Christmas (yes, I think that far ahead, ha!) But once I connected the dots of her love of animals and the symbolism of Cinderella in our story, I knew we had to change the theme but could still combine it all in a sweet, meaningful way.
ps. Cinderella was also my favorite Disney princess as a girl. I didn't even like princess things but I did love that movie. The sparkly scene where the fairy-godmother transforms Cinderella's dress still enchants my childhood memories.
When Scout was nine months old, we randomly took her and Behr to a pet store. Scout went crazy over the French bulldog puppy they let us hold there. I had never seen my sweet-tempered, observant daughter "loose her cool" over anything. That's when we understood that her little heart beats for animals (just like mama!). So, when the place I originally wanted to host her party was booked, Jonathan discovered that this farm hosted parties. We were ecstatic to give our girl a day surrounded by, not only her family, but also all kinds of animal friends.
Each kid got to paint a flower pot (and plant flowers in it!), feed the sheep, ride the pony and take trip around the farm in the hay wagon pulled by the tractor. Although it was blazingly, swelteringly hot, we had the best time being together and celebrating our Scout.
(thanks to my sisters Melissa and Emily for helping me get the shots for this post!)
And finally, it was time to sing Happy Birthday and watch our girl get her first taste of birthday cake. She fussed and squirmed until she realized what was happening. Her frustration quickly absolved once we plopped that giant cake in front of her. She didn't smash it, but chose to pick daintily at the icing with her tiny fingers. There's my quiet girl.
I want her to look back on these images and see all the details. Her pinstriped laced, Cinderella-blue dress. Her tiny gold slippers. The animals on her cake that wearing the minuscule party hats that Daddy made. The string of square pictures that I had taken of her every week of her first year. How family from both sides showed up to cheer, clap and sing for her. I hope she sees how we all worked so hard to put it together so she would always know, "You are dearly loved, Lucy girl!
Happy 1st Birthday, Scout Lucy Arrow. You have surely brought magic into our world. Your light is brighter than we could have hoped for all those long months ago. We're honored to be the ones to watching you grow and pray that Jesus captures your heart the way you've captured ours.
"Lavender's green, dilly dilly. Lavender's blue. You must love me, dilly dilly. For I love you..."