Birthday Preview: Invites, Presents, and Giving Back

Keisha will be 6 years old this Thursday, July 17th. She was also born on a Thursday. I'm reminded that, every 6 years, the date and the day of the week are the same. This phenomenon makes sense when you consider that there is a leap year during that time; otherwise it would be 7 years.

We've been planning a party for next Saturday, the 19th. It will be a "Spy Kids 2" movie party. Ever since Keisha and I went to see the movie at the theatre back in January, she's talked about having a "Spy Kids" birthday party:

Keisha's inviting friends from school and from church. She's got a terrific memory. The bus that would pick her and her schoolmates up for preschool would stop directly in front of the kids' homes. She's been wanting to invite a boy named Vernon, but we didn't know exactly where he lived. Keisha knew where he lived, so today we drove to the apartment complex, and she pointed out his apartment building. No one was home, so I left a note, indicating that Keisha was inviting him to her birthday party and to call us for more information.

She also wants to invite her former teacher, Miss Jean.

Jennie has printed up tickets for the kids to have, and she bought the DVD from Wal*Mart last week. She'd never seen it, so we'd planned for her to watch it before the birthday party so that she could have a clearer idea of what it was about.

We agreed that Keisha could get the movie today, and we all could watch it tonight. Here's how I went about doing it.

We originally planned to preview without her knowing about it, so I unwrapped the DVD and placed it high on the bookshelf, inside a boardgame box lid. We told her that she could have one of her birthday presents tonight, but she'd have to find it. So, I led her outside, in various rooms of the house, to search for this present. We even gave her a hint by describing what shape and size it was, but we didn't tell her it was the movie.

I knew that she would not be able to find out where I'd originally hid the movie without some intervention. When she went to the laundry room to look, I took it from its hiding place and put it atop of her bookshelf, which is situated close to the stairs.

She returned from the laundry room, stating that she couldn't find it. I told her that maybe it was upstairs, and we headed up the stairs. I hesitated and turned back to her bookshelf. "Did we look everywhere down here, Keisha?" She saw where I was looking and this excited, giggle-happy expression came over her face. I handed her the DVD, and we went upstairs to watch the movie.

After the movie, while I was watching the special features (a ritual I always have to perform when watching a DVD for the first time), Keisha came to me and said that she'd made a card for me. She told me I'd need to find it. It was basically going to be a similar hide-and-seek game like we played when she found her movie.

Imagine my surprise to find that she'd made, not just one, but TWO cards for me!

God has truly given us a gift in Keisha.