It's a Celebration - Happy 1st Birthday!

So, nothing worked out as planned for DearDaughter2's birthday, but we still enjoyed a festive celebration!!!

Our meeting time with DearDaughter2's little friend at Build A Bear was at 3:30pm. That's normally when DearDaughter2 is napping, but we originally scheduled it that way because after Build A Bear, our DearFriends were to come to our house for dinner and cake. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for our DearFriends. So, we decided to just meet at Build A Bear and still make our bears.

I used the morning time to change DearDaughter2's naptimes so that when we got to Build A Bear she'd be a happy camper and in between those naptimes I went to the dollar store and to Shoprite to prepare for our birthday celebration. (Even though we weren't having others over, I decided that we were still going to have a festive celebration.) Well, with all the running around I did in the morning, I forgot to make sure I had my Build A Bear coupons. It turned out that I forgot them at home and DearFriend suggested to just reschedule our Build A Bear date. So, we went to the food court and had a pretzel.

Oh, as a side note...Did you know that Build A Bear takes expired coupons? One of my coupons were expired and so I went on eBay to check if there were coupons up for auction. Someone was selling expired coupons and they mentioned that Build A Bear still takes them. So, I called Build A Bear myself and sure enough they answered in the affirmative! Cool!!!

Anyway, I called our other DearFriends who were scheduled to come for cake and they decided not to come because of DearDaughter1's condition with the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.

So, we went back home...Though I was a little sad, I thought back to what DearFriend Tah-Dah said to me earlier in the day, "At this age, Little C's not going to care what you do for her. Sometimes we plan things for our sake..." and thought how right she was and so I wasn't going to let my sad feelings affect our celebration.

As a result, we had a very fun time, as recorded by our pictures and videos.

As DearHubby and I settled for bed and talked about the day, I told him that the Lord taught me a good lesson about being content with what He gives us. Though it seemed like nothing we planned worked out, in the end it was still ALL good! In response, DearHubby said, "Yeah, there'll be days like that where things you plan will not work out...Sometimes weeks...Sometimes years...BUT we still have to trust that it is ALL good!"

One last lesson that I just thought about this morning is a lesson on extending grace. The Build A Bear mess up was the second time I messed up a plan with DearFriend J. The first time was when we made a pie recipe that I had never tried before. I felt really bad that DearFriend J drove all the way to come for our Build A Bear date and not even have anything to show for it. She extended much grace to me when she suggested to reschedule. She knew that I made a mistake and she gave me a second chance.

I often jump the gun with DearDaughter1 and discipline her because she's disobeying. However, how much of that disobedience is true disobedience or how much of it is just a mistake she's made because she's still only 2? I don't extend as much grace as I know I should and my big mistake and the grace that was extended to me really helped me see that.

So, yeah, though nothing we planned worked out, His plan did and it was ALL good!