The Christensen's Chaos: Happy Birthday Papa!

To say yesterday was an emotional day would be an understatement. I had convinced myself that Bobby needed to come to make the day a little easier on everyone. However, in true Papa fashion, he never arrived on time, let alone early, so what was I thinking? We tried a long walk, pushing on my pressure points, doing yoga, etc. Bobby would start to give me some contractions and signs of hope, but would stop after a few. However, in the end, I know I wouldn't have wanted to miss the amazing birthday celebration we had for my dad. My sister, Heather, did an amazing job of planning not only a delicious meal, but also a great celebration of our dad's life and loves. His family, his hats, BBQ, laughter, love, and of course, a few mishaps to keep us giggling when it got hard. Heather had a bunch of my dad's old hats that he had given her. We wore his hats as we sang an emotional happy birthday and then, we each wrote a note to send to Papa in heaven. I am so glad I was there to be a part of that memorable moment. We had a lot of laughs at some of his hats, as well as when the balloons got stuck in the trees, we know it was Papa making us laugh when we were getting too sad. At 11:30pm last night, I had a really bad contraction, looked at the clock and thought to myself, "You have got to be kidding me Dad, I can't get him out in a half hour. " But again, my dad's humor shining though. :) I keep reminding myself that things happen for reasons out of our control and that God knows better than I do and knows when the time is right. Just like when we were trying to get pregnant before my dad passed away to be able to share the news with him and it wasn't happening, but a week after his funeral, we found out we were pregnant. We try so hard to control anything and everything in our lives, but so much of it is out of our control. If only I could remember more often to stress less about things out of my control and focus more on the things that I can control and being more present. One of lives great dilemmas. Now, we will continue to wait on yet another thing that is out of our control...Bobby's arrival. We can't wait to meet him and I cannot believe we are at 39 weeks...eek! School will be over in the blink of an eye and I will be a mom of TWO! Wowzer! Life can be hard, heart breaking, and emotional, but it can also be good and blessed. I know Papa will remain with us forever and that our family will continue to share his love and laughter together for ever. We love you Papa and miss you so, I sure hope you had a fantastic birthday and enjoyed our party for you. I'll have to send you my note another day since it fell off. :)