Birthday Cards for Cruz

I love getting things in the mail- always have.  I am finding that what I love more than getting things for myself is getting things for my children.  It makes me smile when we travel into Guatemala City and check our mail and there is something in there for them.  It makes Cruz smile too, haha.  I have enjoyed starting birthday traditions for him.  One of my favorite things about his first birthday was checking our mail and there being a large envelope filled with many birthday cards for him.  What we discovered was that the Baptist WMU office in our home State of Mississippi collects birthday cards for MK's (missionary kids) and then mails them out to them for their birthday.  We get one large envelope but it is filled with birthday cards and wishes from churches all over our great State.  People we do not even know write and say "Happy Birthday" and that they are praying for our child.  What they send to him are cards filled with love, but what it gives to the parents is a whole bunch of encouragement and gratitude that someone took the time to bless us all in such a simple way.  I am certain that this is something I will look forward to every year with both of my children.  I keep all of the cards, and make sure each one says where it is from.  He gets a couple of other cards from individuals as well and those are just as special!  I love birthdays and I love celebrating them big.

Last year I read through all the cards myself.  This year I had a little help opening them.  I read each card to Cruz and we would point out all the things on the pictures.  He had a fun time doing it.

Here he is with all of his birthday cards. 

He liked pretending to read them himself.

One card had a coloring page on it.  He immediately wanted to stop and color it.

One of his favorites came from a church from our hometown- First Baptist, Crystal Springs.  Not only did they send a card signed by many names that we recognized, but they filled it with a couple of balloons, some stickers, and book marks.  Cruz LOVED it.   It was a simple gesture but one that made our child very happy. 

We love that our State does this for the missionary kids and it is a tradition that we will look forward to every year.