Happy Birthday Gabby! (Part 2)

Somehow after a night short on sleep we drove back to Utah, and managed to pull off Day Two of Gabby's birthday celebration.  Tonight she's one happy birthday girl!

Gabby chose Indian take-out instead of going to a restaurant "because I'm tired."  Tim and I went for take out and pulled together another birthday surprise for after dinner...which was delicious.  And was 100% consumed.

Then for the surprise.  Everyone was in on this one.  We wanted to surprise Gabby with her adoption date as part of her birthday, so we hid pieces of messages in balloons:

Hunting for balloons...

Popping balloons...

And more balloons.  Eleven total.

Putting the message together...

Two very important dates.

Adoption finalization and temple sealing.

(For more about temple sealing which unites families forever see here.)

Somehow we've been able to keep Gabby a little in the dark about the dates and it was fun to surprise her.  

A few years ago we did something similar for Joie, and Joie had a lot of fun helping me plan this surprise for Gabby.  Then after Gabby put the puzzle together, they shared a very sweet spontaneous moment that changed the mood in the room from one of excitement to quiet understanding.

Joie sat in front of Gabby and placed her hands on Gabby's shoulders and said, "Gabby, do you know what this means?  You'll be in this family forever!  I love that she couldn't contain her excitement for Gabby on this one, and without any planning at all, she told Gabby about what it means to be a forever family.  (Pass the tissues.  I needed a minute after that one.)  I love how Joie's own assurance of eternal families blesses all of us.

But Gabby was still wondering where her other present was.

So we had her wait again...

The anticipation...

Then the smile of recognition.

Wait...  It's short!

(Turns out I got the wrong one.)

A trip to the store and a lot of shopping around eventually resulted in a ripstik/scooter combination (and some crazy conversations...the things Joie and Gabby come up with!).

Miss Fix-It to the rescue.

And finally, the ride she was waiting for.

No sweat.  

Seriously?  How do they ride those?  

(She told me I shouldn't try or I might get broken.)  

Tonight Gabby said the day went too fast.  I agree.  Every day should be a birthday.