Happy Birthday Mom !

Today is a very special day, it's our lovely Mum's birthday, so we want to look our best.

Luckily, Mum helped us and made a very beautiful hat for us.

Look, she bought a hat base, covered it in tulle and added some feathers and rosettes :

Yes and it fits me too, it goes very well with my bow tie, don't you think ?

I'm not sure which dress it goes best with though...

And I'm not sure which hat fits me best...

All these are important questions, but we must not forget one thing :

And what's that dear Bella ?

There's going to be a some yummy food !

Happy birthday Mum, I love you !

And me too !

For her birthday she got some beautiful gifts for her craft, a lovely ring, some decoration for our lovely home and a book called 'Tucked in : for everyone having a doona day', which shows you how to use your time in bed to explore your creativity and heal your soul - sounds good to us !

But the best thing about her birthday celebration is that she buys presents for everyone in the family to say how much she loves us, isn't that sweet ?

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Our lovely Mum Isabella would like to share the special story of her birthday with you :

When Isabella’s Mum was expecting her, she was abandoned by Isabella’s Dad but also but her own family who urged her to abandon the baby. She tried everything she could do to be able to keep Isabella; when she left her at the orphanage, she told her she would come back, but despite all her efforts she had to formally abandon her at six weeks, hoping that she would have a good life.

Our Mum knows this about her story because it was recorded at the social department and given to her when she sought to find where she came from. She also knows her mother was Spanish and her dad of “mixed origin”, but because of the law in France guarantees the mother’s anonymity, she was not given her name even though it was in the file. Unfortunately when Isabella asked the social department if they could contact her to find out if she would agree for Isabella to see her or contact her, they lost her trace, probably because she went back to Spain.

Isabella spent 18 months at the orphanage before she was adopted. Her adoptive parents did not give here all the love she deserved; instead, they abused her emotionally, making her live a life of feeling guilty and unworthy.

But because our Mum is resilient, courageous and loving, she is not at all bitter about her story; instead, she lives a life of loving, caring, faith and gratitude, bringing joy happiness and sunshine everywhere she goes – even when it’s difficult for her. In fact she has never taken “the easy way” : when life in France was getting unbearable because of the violence where the family was living, she took the opportunity to come to Australia and faced all the challenges that it entailed, learning a new language, bearing all the insults that her adoptive parents threw at her. Now the family is happy here and we are part of this happy family ! What is wonderful here is to be close to Dad's parents, his sister Flo and aunty Mimi (her birthday was last week, Happy Birthday sweet Mimi !) and a lovely friend Linda.

Isabella always sees the best in people and the positive side of every moment of her life. She is very creative and loves all sorts of craft - this is something that heals her and it makes us very happy to see her creations and to see all her happiness shine through.

The only problem is that she is so selfless, she does not think about herself enough ! So we are always there (along with Dad, Amelie, Anais, Amelie and Matthew) to look after her and tell her how much she means to us and how much we love her.

If this story touches you or if you want to share your own story, please contact us, Mum would love to have a pen pal !

What a lovely story...

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True love doesn't consist of holding hands, it consists of holding hearts

A house is made of walls and beams
A home is built with love and dreams

Take care my friends and have a great week !