Tea Party...

Ever since we found out we were having a third son, we were on our knees asking the Lord for a little girl. No, not because the boys were that horrible... :-) I have just always wanted a daughter.

Just one.

I was the only daughter...and it was wonderful. My mom and I were and still are very close...and my dad, well.....let's just say he thinks I'm pretty special. So, when we found out we were pregnant with child #4, Joe and the boys prayed. They prayed for a little sister.

It has long been joked that God has a sense of humor. From the moment Julia was born, we saw His sense of humor in full and living color. Because while I always dreamed of that little pink bundle of joy that would smile and giggle, wear dresses and bows in her hair, what we got was a full-of-life sass-a-frass who will wrestle, wear pants with holes in the knees and would no more wear a bow in her hair than anything.

Our precious little angel has gotten more girly over the years, though. When she was a baby, we could not get her to smile. I have pictures of her just sitting there....totally unimpressed with the photographer and his (or my) attempts at getting her to show her pearly whites. Bows in her hair? Forget it. She would pull out and untie any attempt on my part to exemplify her feminine side. Now, though, she will do ponytails and braids and loves to have her picture taken.

But the biggest shock of all came yesterday, when she came to me and asked if we could have a tea party. Yes. A tea party. And she wanted to use the teacups that I have collected over the years from the times Joe was overseas. Ok. I said. Let's have a tea party.

So today....we had our tea party. Complete with cups made in Iraq, a strawberry cake made by Duncan Hines with vanilla icing and funfetti, ice cream made by Publix, hot tea from Lipton, our pinkies pointing up in the air, our elbows off the table and using fake British accents. Never before, have table manners been so apparent.

Sounds fun, doesn't it? It was. But it doesn't end there......

What made it even more special was the fact that her three older brothers....the very three brothers that prayed for this precious, handful of a little girl, wanted to come to the tea party, too.

And we had a great time.

I must say, Trey's fake British accent is frighteningly realistic.

God is so good.