Happy Birthday Samuel!!!

God has blessed our dear Samuel with 8 years of life...and He has seen fit that, out of those 8 years we have, for the last 8 months (and for always), had the privilege of calling him our son! So, today, April 7th, we celebrated Samuel's first birthday as a Pichura.

He started out the day going with Dad for a birthday doughnut before school! Gotta love having a Tim Horton's 2 minutes away.:) All the kids were hoping that I would call today a "holiday" and that there would be no school...they were sorely disappointed!:)
We had one of our pastor's families over to celebrate at lunch...gotta love the flexibility of homeschooling! Samuel was so excited to play mini stick hockey with his brothers and friends...and he loved his cake...which blessed my heart because I am not an artist by any means! You should see the cake that my sister in law, Michelle just made for a neighbor boy! He also had another friend stop by to wish him a Happy Birthday. By the end of the day, he was sporting more "Canucks" gear than most B.C. Canadians! From socks, to a hat (yes...the wrap job was all Bryan!) to a poster of Luongo, the Canuck's goalie and a hockey arm pad...he was smiling big!

Samuel, you are a precious gift from God...hand picked before the foundation of the world to be apart of our family. Every day of your life has been planned out by God and God knit you together so beautifully in your Ethiopia mommy's womb just has He knit our hearts to you and your brother in the most beautiful way! Samuel, we can't imagine our life without you. God has given you such a tender spirit. You truly do weep when other's weep and rejoice when they rejoice. We were reminded of that tender spirit in the way you cried last night for Papa because he needed to get his appendix out and you didn't want him to be in pain. We see your tender spirit when you give of what you have because someone else doesn't have it. You, so often, consider others more important than yourself...and, in that, we see Jesus in you.

You are such a hard worker at school...finishing kindergarten mid way through the school year and not giving up even though the words are getting harder and you still don't understand what all the words even mean. You love life...sometimes a little too much :) and, yet, you are growing in self control! We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for you...and we pray that He will grow you up to be a man who loves Jesus with all of his heart!! We love you dear son!
PS...my dad decided that it would be fun to be a bit more like his daughter :)...so he had his appendix removed, too. He is doing great...but going to have to take it easy for a couple of weeks. Lord willing, he will be going home tomorrow!