Marvelly is 5.

Marvelly celebrated turning the big 5 here last month. She is officially a whole hand's worth of age. Her birthday was technically on a Monday,  but we had her party and celebration on the Saturday before. She woke up bright and early that Saturday morning, came into my room and stood next to my bed and told me today was her birthday. I playfully shoo'd her back off to bed again telling her I had to get her surprise ready. So off she ran back under her nets to wait....

...moments later we carried in her breakfast tray with cereal and mango juice and her family gifts. She lay perfectly still pretending to be sleeping to make the surprise more authentic. At once me, Isaak and Sydaleigh burst into our traditional Happy Birthday wake up song and she sits straight up and smiles from ear to her with her beautiful crooked Marvelly smile.

She has been eagerly counting down the days until she turned five. Last year on her birthday we had just arrived in D.C. so we celebrated her turning 4 sitting on the floor around a rubber maid container for a table, with a cake Isaak picked up last minute from the Commissary. No friends. No party. Sadly no homemade cake. Just a very modest gathering with the four of us.

This year we have been discussing back and forth for a while what she would like to do. At first she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake party, so I bought some S.S. decorations (including a pinata that still hasn't come.) Then she changed and wanted a cat party. Then she wanted a mermaid party. In the end we compromised on a Strawberry Shortcake Cat party. Really all that consisted of was a few S.S. banners I hung in our patio and a cat cake. Luckily there is a cat named Custard in Strawberry Shortcake, so I fashioned my cake after her.

Each night before the girls birthday, after they go to bed, I stay up late finishing their cakes to surprise them in the morning. I have very limited talent when it comes to making cakes, but it has become a little tradition for me to make their cakes anyways...just like my mom did for me for so many years. I love that it doesn't have to be perfectly made, it just tickles their heart knowing that I made it for them. And mine too.

And then we invited all her little friends from church and the embassy over for swimming and slip n' slide!

She had a great time.

She loved celebrating with so many of her favorite people.

And after her party was done most of us walked down to the Rec Center just a few blocks from our house for their annual Carnival party.

How fun that is was also on the day of Marvelly's party because the kids got to go play games and have a horse ride! Not a bad way to spend your birthday!

Still can't believe my Marvi girl is five years old. She has got the most interesting personality....

-She is feisty. 
-And emotional. She can go from happy to screaming sad in two seconds flat. But she has a very quick recovery time. If she is angry or upset about something, she can go back to being happy again in two seconds flat too! She's quick to give into her emotions but just as quick to recover from them. She is a deep feeler this one.
-She is quick to offer apologies and quick to extend forgiveness.
-She still, never stops moving.
-She seeks out my lap whenever I am in a ten foot radius of her. If we are sitting on the floor together coloring, within about 5 seconds she will have scooted onto of my legs. I love that my lap is still, her first preferable place to be. Close contact is definitely very very important to her.
-She is learning to draw people now.
-Her imagination is more alive than ever.
-She is singing all the time.
-She copies Sydaleigh and mimics her phrases and tone of voice without even knowing it.
-Her favorite game right now is when I "copy" her.  So everyday we play the "Moooommmmy, will you copy me?" game.
-She thinks she is really funny and is always laughing at herself.
-She is really into burping right now. She likes to drink water just so she can make herself burp. And then she laughs at herself.
-She loves to color, that's another one of her things right now and is quite good at it.
-She will still make believe a family out of anything. I can find her with sticks, rocks, marbles, you name it...and they will be imagined as a family.
-She is very reluctant to learn french or talk to anyone who speaks french. The biggest adjustment for Marvelly since moving to Burkina has definitely been the language difference. But despite her reluctance to speak it she has an incredible memory to retain what she hears and learns. Including Mooré. Every now and then she'll bust out a word in French or Mooré that she has heard and it just makes me smile. I pray that one day she will be more open to wanting to use the new languages and not resist it so much.
-Her hair is as crazy as ever. It is growing quite long and is almost to the bottom of her back, though you wouldn't know it because I frequently have to pull it back to keep the crazy out of her face.
-She is still my mini me. Every week I still have people come up to me and tell me how much we resemble each other.
-Despite her growing maturity she still has her two year old voice. It sounds so cute listening to her speak in a more mature way but having it sound so young still.
-She still loves on her pink blanket every night and puts it over her mouth and nose like she did as a baby. She is getting less attached to it though, every now and then telling me she doesn't need or want it. It is then that I thrust it upon her and say "You have to have your blankie!!!" Just kidding. Deep down I'm doing that. I'm not ready for her to not want her blanket anymore.
-Burkina's pure mango juice is her favorite drink.
-She has finally taken a liking to cheese pizza. 
-She has finally learned how to take her own shirts off!
-She likes to wear socks to bed at night.
-Marvelly is learning to read and has a growing number of words that she can pick out in our story times and her handwriting is improving every day.
Sydaleigh is by far her favorite person, even though they fight like cats sometimes they love each other deeply.
-Her favorite night is "Friday night" when her and Sydaleigh get to have a sleep over in Sydaleigh's bed.
-She is always asking questions about Jesus, and heaven and Satan. She is very intrigued with Satan right now and frequently discusses how he hates us and God and how he used to be an angel in Heaven but only wants to trick us now. She is a deep thinker. Loves to talk. Especially about matters pertaining to the Bible....and princesses.
-She is learning how to serve kids younger than her. With Marvelly being the youngest there has never been anyone in the house younger than her to take care of. She has pretty much always been the one taken care of. But now that she is serving at the orphanage with me she is having to learn how to take care of others.
-She still gets car sick requiring us to not leave home without her "throw up" cup still.
-She loves to wear her hair "high" on her head like our friend Miss Megan.
-only eats the frosting off the top of her cupcakes
-talks about getting married almost daily.
....and of course so much more that could never be fully written down.

She is special. So perfectly unique. We love what her life has added to our family. I love watching her grow though it pains me to see her getting older. She will always be my little moonchka (some totally random and weird nickname I started calling her a long time ago). Just love that kid so stinkin' much.