My best 22nd birthday ever...

Well August 30th was my 22nd birthday and this was the first year I've been away from my family on my birthday. But I was blessed enough to be spending my birthday with the cutest kids in all of China. We had a big day planned for my kiddo's and I was so excited to be able to "throw" a party for the babies on my special day. So the day started with blowing up tons of balloons.

 -Completely random fact: Chinese balloons taste AWFUL. We were blowing them up and I promise I could feel the toxins filling my lungs. 

And one of the things I wanted to do on my birthday was focus on the babies. So we decided we would buy a few painting canvas' and paints in fun colors and have the kids paint the canvas' with their little feet or hands. And then we would hang the painting in the baby apartment. And surprisingly enough the kids actually didn't mind their little feet being painted! Which was wonderful news because the last thing I wanted to do was torture them with this project. But God was gracious and we only had a few screamers. haha

My little man, Cameron was excited to have his little feet painted blue. 

He looks so handsome in the color blue, don't you think?

We have 3 other volunteers staying at Starfish right now with Julee and I so we had a lot of help getting this project completed. They were a wonderful help and everyone was really excited to be doing a fun art project with the babies!

I think it took us around 2.5 hours to get all 25+ babies feet prints on our 4 canvas', but we finally finished. And I think we were all thrilled with the outcomes of the paintings.

The final product!

So after the big painting project we got ready for the ball pit madness. 

Julee and I went out and bought a kiddy swimming pool and a ton of little balls like you would find in a play place in the states.

All of the babies in the Cleft Home are starting to walk/crawl/scoot/run through the house and get into all kinds of trouble so we knew that they would be thrilled to be able to play in the ball pit! And to our delight we were right, the babies were so funny playing in the kiddy pool. Within a matter of 5 minutes every ball in the pool had at least 2 kids drool on it but that's just how we roll at Starfish. We are a family of drooling/fun loving babies!

Tim- (in the bottom right corner) decided he wanted to have an afternoon snack as well as play in the ball pit. So that's exactly what he did, he climbed into the ball pit and drank his bottle! Their little personalities keep us constantly laughing and entertained!

Little Mr Thomas (we always call him our little old man) but he was so cute, because he sat quietly outside the craziness of the ball pit and collected all of the loose balls that would make their way on to the floor. He made his auntie Chrissy proud because he was practicing his "frugal" little old man ways already.

The fun chaos surrounding the kiddy pool

I couldn't resist trying to have fun in the kiddy pool with the babies but unfortunately for me, and fortunately for them- I'm to big to play in the kiddy pool. So I'm afraid I will only be able to enjoy it from the outside.

So needless to say I had an amazing birthday. I missed my family but I couldn't have been more blessed by my babies. I was so excited to be focusing on the babies for my birthday instead of myself. They make my daily life a huge blessing and I was so thrilled to be able to make them smile and giggle. The entire day I kept thinking "why have I not done this before?" It was truly the biggest blessing to be able to focus on their little hearts on my special day. 

I love each and everyone of them so much. They make my heart leap in my chest. Their little personalities constantly remind me that every single child is a blessing and a gift from our Father. They bless me daily while I have the privilege and blessing of caring for them in this time of my life and theirs.