Madelyn's 6th Birthday

Madelyn turned 6 on March 30-and last Saturday she had her first "big" birthday party.
She has been planning this bowling party in her mind for months, she invited all the girls in her class and a good friend from church.
I don't really get it-I've been bowling maybe a handful of times in my life (and most of them have been in the last year) and I just don't get the big appeal to bowl (maybe it's because I'm awful at bowling-I'm not sure). But Madelyn seems to LOVE it and she's actually quite good at it so good for you Madelyn.

some of the girls in Madelyns class

Sophie, Olivia and Madelyn right before her friends arrived-side note to remember-Olivia was very concerned for all the "little girls" to hold their own bowling balls because one of her friends at school went bowling with her family and her little sister dropped the bowling ball on her foot and broke it, so consequently Olivia was trying to carry all the girls bowling balls which actually caused MANY balls to be dropped and of course one was dropped on a toe in a fight between Liv and Sophie. Olivia could be a mom today-I swear it!

We awoke on Madelyn's birthday to this-a winter wonderland. Since Madelyns birth 6 years ago, we have yet to see a nice sunny March 30-always snow, always-even the day she was born it snowed.

Partying at home on her actual birthday day-it snowed outside but she's wearing a swimsuit and cover up-go figure

opening packages from Grandparents

just had to get Sophie's face during the opening of presents

Madelyn, Paige and Sophie
Madelyn didn't want a cake-she wanted fried ice cream. Completely fine by me-I love fried ice cream as much as her.
I wanted to write a little about Madelyn's sweet spirit and attitude-our family has been going through what can at times be quite a difficult situation. In January we were called by our bishop and relief society president and asked to help a family in need. They were/are the grandparents of 3 young children whose mother is a drug addict and father is in prison and they(the grandparents) were unable to care for the children at that time. Our family was asked to take in the oldest child, a little 6 year old girl named Paige. We were granted temporary guardianship for 6 months which allowed us to put her into school with our children and make decisions on her behalf. Paige is a sweet girl but she can be very difficult at times which can and should be expected considering where she has been. Day after day of dealing with this situation and all the drama that comes along with it(regarding the extended family) all of us get tired and annoyed. I tried at first to have Olivia and Paige share a room, that did not work. So we put her in Madelyn's room the second week-Madelyn has been simply amazing with her. I don't know if it's her age and simple acceptance, but Madelyn has such patience and love for her. So many times I have come to points when I feel I just can't deal with it anymore and I don't want these problems anymore-then I see how Madelyn- a little 5/6 year old just shrugs her shoulders and tells Paige that she loves her and all of us love her-this comes after Paige's screams of hating it here and her wanting to leave. Madelyn has by physical example reminded me countless times of why we are doing this-Paige is a child of God and needs to be loved. Someone needs to help her and why not us. Trent and I have been trained since little children to be Christlike and this is the opportunity of a lifetime it seems, to be Christlike. Then why can it be soo hard for me and so simple and easy for Madelyn? There are so many complicated issues involved in this that could never be explained in a blog post, but my point in writing this is to illustrate on Madelyn's birthday post her great potential and Christlike behavior. I hope and pray she always has such tolerance and love for people different from her. She truly is a blessed girl.