Jul 3, 2023

Our Rainbow Baby's 1st Birthday!

On June 24th we got to celebrate our Josie's 1st Birthday! Our Sweet Rainbow baby! Where did the year go?? I can't believe my baby girl is already one! This year flew by and we have been so incredibly blessed to experience all the "firsts" with our sweet girl!

To celebrate Josies Birthday we decided to throw a pool party with family and a couple of friends. My goal with parties is always to keep it small and simple but since both of our families are so large that is hard to do. So "small" for us means about 40 people, which is exactly how many we had. It was a blast and we were so thankful that those who have walked with us through these last couple of years were able to join us and celebrate!

CELEBRATE. Oh man... I have been waiting to do that with one of our kids for a long time. For years I used to tell JD how I was looking forward to celebrating one of our children one day instead of mourning... and celebrating our Josie girl was the greatest gift and answer to prayer! Thank you Jesus!!!

Before planning her party I decided to go with the rainbow theme. In the story of Noah in Genesis, the rainbow is a symbol of God's promises and faithfulness after walking through the storm. Emma was not our storm but losing her was the greatest storm our family has ever walked through. And Josie has been our rainbow since the day she came. She is such a reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness even after walking through such hardship. Babies born after loss are normally called "rainbow babies" for this very reason. I was excited to incorporate rainbows in Josie's birthday theme.

I got most of her rainbow decorations for the party at both Hobby Lobby and Amazon. I will link those below!

At her birthday party, we prayed, ate some great Mexican food, swam, and watched Josie break into her first cake! It was a wonderful celebration and everything we could have hoped for! Josie was surrounded by about 16 cousins who came to celebrate with her! And her grandparents, aunties, uncles, and good family friends were there too. She was so loved!

Here are some pictures of her day!

I want to thank YOU all too for loving on our sweet girl this last year! Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your love for both her and us as we navigate parenthood with one here and one in heaven. I am so incredibly thankful for this community and how you love our family so well! I can't wait for many more days of celebration in our future!!!