Happy 16th Birthday Marc!

You've reached this wonderful milestone in your life!

Marc's birthday was split up a bit since his birthday landed on Wednesday this year. We had a wonderful day of school to start out with! ha ha Then we had a great time together that evening after our church service. Every year for their birthday I ask the kids what kind of cake and dinner they would like. This year was no surprise when Marc asked for Lasagna and Brownies instead of a cake.

Marc blowing out his 16 candles on his brownies :)

Then on Friday we let him invite all of his friends to go horseback riding! What a beautiful day the Lord gave us. They were all so excited. For most of them, this was the first time ever to ride a horse. I found out later that it had been a dream for a few of them. They all did wonderful and had so much fun. 

Marc

Since we were such a big group, we had to go in two different groups. Joshua and I ended up with the same horse. The one that they said liked to GO :) Had to hold him back a few times, but it was a lot of fun.

 (Thank you Bro. and Mrs. Childers for the horseback riding lessons while we were in the states. It sure did come in handy!)

Lena

Nastia

Mesha

Nelya

Sveta

Joshua

Katya

Natasha

Igor

Me 

Tonya

Katya

Well, after having the time of our lives on horseback, we loaded up in the van and headed to the house for Shosh-leak which Tony and Caleb were kind enough to be fixing, while we were gone. 

"Thank you for making my birthday party so cool. I love you bunches!" Marc

Happy Birthday to my Caleb!

 

What a day we had! We started out his birthday by going to the village, as Caleb wanted to share his birthday cake with the kids there. We had such a fun time. We had Bible time, singing time, game time, and then we ate birthday cake! Then we headed back to Simferopol for a fun filled day at the park with his friends, there! But sad to say, it turned out to be a very cool and wet day so the plans changed  from a Park Party  into a Hess Home Party! They were all a little disappointed about the change in activities, but when I told them that we would go to the park when it turned warm, They didn't seem to mind having Two Special Days! They played and played and played some more and then we had cake, cupcakes, and ice cream! You may think, why so much cake? ha ha Well, I made cupcakes thinking that it would be nicer for the park and make a cake for the village kids. Well, my husband, being the thoughtful man that he is, was out in town when I was baking, and came home with a cake to take to the village so I wouldn't have to bake 2.  But do you think we all minded? Not a bit!  The cake and cupcakes were all gone at the end of the day!