The Mad Hatter - Maddie's "I'm 13 Again" Birthday!

February 3rd was a BIG day in the Mansell family! First, Maddie felt God calling her to make her decision for Christ public and walked the isle of our church sanctuary! It was soooo exciting to watch her make this independent step of faith! She is the first of our six adopted children to make her faith public. This was answered prayer! Our prayer before adopting was, "God, please bring us children who will come to a saving knowledge of You and make a difference for Your kingdom." God brought an extra blessing in that it was Maddie's 13th birthday! God brought an extra, extra blessing by allowing it to be our good friend Vince's birthday as well. Vince is the missions pastor at our church and was a vehicle God used to help provide funds for our adoption. Our church has a new adoption ministry and Maddie was the first adopted child to be adopted twice, the goal of the ministry, into our heavenly family. A special thanks goes to Grami and Grandaddy who came to visit at such a special time as well.

Maddie's birth certificate from Ethiopia shows that she was thirteen and this should be her fourteenth birthday, however, Maddie did not want to be fourteen yet for a number of reasons. We decided she would be "13 again" and could adjust her age in the future if desired. With ten children, 6 from Ethiopia, well...birth dates aren't that big of a deal. Ethiopia is not big on correct birthdates so most of the ones we have are or were off anyway!

Since it was a "special" birthday being that she turned 13 again, we took her to A L'il Peace of Heaven Tea House in Port Royal, SC. Her birthday request was a tea set for entertaining her friends. A special "sorry" to my friends whom I have served with paper plates and what ever glass was clean over the years! Mark and I have decided that we are taking each child out on their birthday to have one on one time with them and to discuss their upcoming year. The above are a few pictures from the event. Note: When you enter the tea house you must choose a hat to wear.