Birthday Reflections and Future Directions

Another of my daughters is having her birthday. I wondered how much different are our desires as we get older. How different is it to have a birthday when you are twenty nine than it is when you are nine. I asked her. What would make your birthday a great birthday?

Her sweet response :-
To do a fun outdoor activity
To have yummy things to eat
To be pampered with love and smiles
To be with friends and family
To have some time alone for reflection and dreaming of the future
To start recording my journey

Have a read of my blogs about my nine year old's birthday wishes. When you really look at it closely, there are heaps of similarities. Whether you are nine or twenty nine there are still some things that remain common….A desire for fun, food, family, friends.

What changes as we get older is our desire for meaning and purpose in our life. It is important that we seek out our reason for being. Knowing our reason for being gives meaning to our life. Once this is discovered it affects our future decisions.

Reflection on our journey so far helps refine for us what we have enjoyed and what we would sooner do without. It helps us see what we have been good at and what we need to work on, what we have achieved and gained and what we have lost. Reminiscing helps get our talents and motivations in clearer perspective.

Using our talents for meaningful pursuit give light, depth, perspective, color, movement, emotion and fragrance to our life. Just like a beautiful painting.

Learning that my reason for being was to commune with my Heavenly Father and grow to know Him intimately radically changed my perspective on my life. Know Him better day by day and you discover that He is like a candle in the darkness …a gentle light that powerfully overcomes the darkness… the darkness in me and the darkness around. Know Him and you gain an understanding that he desires all of us to know Him and the warmth and light you experience you cannot help but share with those you love and those you encounter.

Reflection can be painful as well as a source of growth and maturity. Our pains and sufferings take on different meaning when you, first, have your real reason for being.

Taking our new found relationship with our Maker and Heavenly Father, the learnings and signposts from our reflections and our talents (now yielded to Him for His purposes), everything is different
- Our Darkness is turned to Light
- Our Confusion is turned to Peace
- Our Loneliness is turned to Comfort
- Our Sadness is turned to Joy
- Our Mourning is turned into dancing
- Our Wanderings are turned to a Straight Path
- His strength is made perfect in our weakness

Find your reason for living and your life will be the most beautiful painting anyone has ever laid eyes on.

The Best Birthday of My Life

At the end of her special day, my daughter said "This has been the best birthday of my life". She got the day off school and was allowed to sleep in....but of course it was a fun day so she awoke very early. Her desire for a pet was ...well ....almost met ....with her present being a Red Tamagottchi virtual pet...Since she totally loves computers, and always wanted a tamagotchi these 2 loves joined together in one. She was very excited and felt very grown up.

We had a family day together. We visited the Ginger Factory...took a boat ride following the gingerbread man all around the world and back again....then we took a train ride around the magnificent tropical gardens and saw some very beautiful ginger flowers. A visit to Santa's workshop and a spectacular marionatte display of elves working on all sorts of projects culminated in a free photo (just because it was her birthday) with Santa.

Swimming was on her favorites list too and so off to the beach it was.... what a great time boogie boarding the waves! On the way back from the beach we encountered some fabulous markets where she told every one who would listen that it was her birthday and she was very excited about it. You would be amazed at how many freebies she was given as her excitment caught on with the market vendors....she even received a huge very fragrant mango (of course she loves mangos..

On return everyone busied around the kitchen making a gourmet spaghetti bolognaise (her favorite food) with fresh homecooked bread (a garlic and olive loaf) and italian garden salad.

We all settled to watch a movie with intermission being another of her favorites...Chocolate mud cake, red strawberries and cream..... and of course the ceremonial candle blowing..... what a smile! She had just had the best day of her life.... and I am sure it was not about the things, but about the time spent making her day special with her favorite things and her favorite people...family.

Making Birthdays Special - Out of the mouth of Babes

Well here is the result of the first round of brainstorming. My nine year old daughter says... a birthday with all her favorite things would be a good day. She wrote me a list of all her favourite things. Her favorite color is red, favorite animal is a horse or a dog, her favorite toy is a stuffed toy dog, favorite card game is snap, favorite board game is Risk, favorite outdoor thing is swimming with the whole family, favorite meal is Spaghetti Bolognaise, favorite dessert is creamy icecream and peaches and dont forget the chocolate! So, what a list we have to work with!
Will keep you posted!

Are Birthdays about expensive gifts?

Whether you are 9 or 90 years old, birthdays should be meaningful and fun.

They may be celebrated differently but the idea is the same. To celebrate and to make one person feel special on the anniversary of their birthday. How easy it is to yeild to the "presents mentality" and buy the most expensive present we can afford every year....and very often it is not being used in a month's time.

Our kids can grow up with the expectation of high material gain on their birthday. So what then happens when the family hits rough times? Does the person still feel special when they dont receive a big expensive gift? It is a good thing to cultivate other ways of making our loved ones feel special on every birthday regardless of the money spent. Then their focus is right and they are prepared for a time when you may not be able to lavish them with gifts.

This week we have 2 daughters having birthdays but in two different continents....and well, things are very lean right now with all resources spent on building our new business....so we are brainstorming for ideas on making ther birthdays special.

Will keep you posted!