Sad Hearts Transformed to Smiley Ones

Last night, we celebrated what would have been Chrissie’s 7th birthday.  I’ve got pictures to share below, but first, I’d like to remind you to help us spread the word about the online toy drive benefiting special needs orphans at Village of Hope in Guatemala, in memory of our princess. 

 

Click HERE to read more about that in case you missed it.  We absolutely cannot do this without your help and support.  We need you to help carry out Chrissie’s legacy here on earth.  Help us help orphans in memory of a very special princess who was once a Serbian orphan.

 

There’s lots of ways to help, and there’s even some fun party favors involved!  Read, pray, share, donate.  We’re so grateful for your help.

 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” –John 14:18

In case you didn’t know, Chrissie’s FAVORITE food in the whole wide world was BROWNIES, so, of course, we celebrated what would have been Chrissie’s 7th birthday with some ooey, gooey, chocolate-caramel overload brownies that Chrissie would have loved.  Yum!

We were blessed to have our precious friend, Rowan, join us for the celebration.  Rowan was recently released from the hospital after his 53rd surgery, with the most recent surgery being a massive brain surgery.  What a miracle to have him standing in our home on what would have been Chrissie’s 7th birthday!

 

Not only did Rowan bless us with a hand-drawn picture, roses, cupcakes, a princess balloon, a hand-made Chrissie bookmark for my Bible, and a beautiful card, but he also blessed us immeasurably by blowing out Chrissie’s candles (see video below).  Rowan is truly a hero, such an amazing inspiration and blessing to many, but such a special young man to our family.  Click HERE to read a little more about his amazing God-connection to Chrissie.

 

God always decorates for Chrissie’s parties.  Can’t beat this custom decoration—God painted the sky with a heart in the middle of the clouds, just above Chrissie’s grave (look at the blue heart shaped sky in the center of the clouds and use your cloud picture imagination to see it):

Chrissie’s horse, Navidad, joined us from the pasture.

After it got dark, we brought some fun glow-in-the-dark pink princess balloons to Chrissie’s grave.  It’s a tradition for us to release balloons in memory of Chrissie, but we’ve never released glow-in-the-dark balloons.  What fun!

The camera flash ruined the effect of capturing the glow of the balloons, but they were really awesome. :-)

We said a prayer, then sang happy birthday again to Chrissie, then released 7 balloons.  (It was really dark by this time, so the camera had a really hard time capturing the balloons.  The night setting on the camera made it look like there were more than 7 balloons in the sky, but there really were 7 glow-in-the-dark balloons released.)

Every single time that we’ve released balloons, there’s ALWAYS one balloon that doesn’t go up into the sky.  Always. 

 

We have a pond on our ranch that Chrissie named “Lake Palic”, after a beautiful lake in Serbia near the small town of Subotica, where Chrissie’s orphanage was.  There’s ALWAYS one balloon that hovers over our Lake Palic.  Always.

 

The three photos below capture the presence of this one pink glow-in-the-dark princess HELIUM balloon that hovered over our Lake Palic after its release.  It didn’t fly toward heaven with the rest of the balloons.  The photos below show the balloon with its reflection in the pond.

 

I LOVE how God sends us reminders of His presence.  When there’s no reason why this one balloon should have stayed around and hovered over our Lake Palic, we have no doubt that it’s God.  He gently whispers His presence to our hurting hearts and somehow turns that sad face to a smile.  He’s just so good at that!

 

And speaking of God’s smiles, here are a few snapshots of what Rowan and his mom brought us.

 

Rowan always draws the best pictures for Chrissie, and his explanations always turn a sad face into a smile. 

And, of course, Rowan’s mom knows how to bring smiles, too.  I love the card she chose for us, but I love the hand-quilted bookmark even more. 

 

God is good, and He displays much of His goodness through the actions of His hands and feet here on earth, the ones who serve Him by loving on others.

 

God is using all of you who have donated in memory of Chrissie to bring smiles to special needs orphans in Guatemala.  When these orphans play with the toys you’re donating to Village of Hope—Guatemala, in memory of Chrissie, the sadness in their hearts will feel the love of their Savior, turning sad faces into smiley ones.  Just as you’ve turned our sad hearts into smiley ones, these orphans will feel that same love.

 

Thank you so much for praying, sharing, and donating.  Keep up the awesome work!  We couldn’t do this without you!!!