Happy Birthday Seth and Colin - Giving Thanks

Have you ever wondered how two little smiles can lighten your day? Or how the sound of a babies cry just seems to make the would seem a bit more precious somehow, even with all of the nastiness around us. For some people, those same smiles and cries bring tears instead of joy because they cannot carry a child, have lost a child before, or cannot even get pregnant to be blessed with a child.

So why write this post, with birthday card? Well, because of two little boys in Ethiopia, the wonderful orphanage taking care of them, and the mother that made the painful decision to give them up for a better life because she could not feed them or support them with the other children she had after their father died.

My niece & her husband are adopting these two beautiful boys as soon as the Ethiopian court signs off on their application; so I cannot publish their pictures or their Ethiopian names at this time. Even though, the boys first names with be American, they will also be keeping their Ethiopian names as their middle names. One of the Ethiopian names means "to replace" and is so appropriate because my niece has had two ectopic pregnancies and cannot have any babies of her own. Both of these children will be replacing the ones she has lost physically, even though in her heart she will always still remember those babies as well.

Both Seth and Colin celebrated a birthday recently, so my husband and I wanted to send them a birthday card and welcome them to the family even though they are not physically here yet. Colin, is the youngest and just turned 2years old, so I thought it appropriate to have a card that was younger looking and this was accomplished using stamps from CC Designs.

Seth, just turned 3 years old, so I thought having a card that had some "African" animals, or lions, would be appropriate for him. This was accomplished using GinaK stamps.

Now since both of these cards would be belated birthday cards, I didn't want anything "mushy" inside and decided to keep everything semi-cute for Seth as well.

A koala bear on the inside with a saying on a tri-fold card, with a snake on the other part of the tri-fold did the trick.

Both of these little guys have made me realize just how much God meant with the scripture "He gives to the broken hearted" and "He is the Father to the fatherless". He has been protecting both Seth & Colin for my niece and her husband all of this time, just waiting for them to be ready for their children, the children He has given to them, to come home to their arms.

Thanks be to God, for He is good!

Stamps: CC Designs, GinaK Designs

Cardstock: Stampin Up! Garden Green, More Mustard, White, Green Galore, Gable Green, Glorious Green

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! More Mustard, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Old Olive

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Watercolor Pencils, Brads, Dimensionals, Stipple Brush, Brads