BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant, a beloved children’s book by Rhoald Dahl that Indy loves. But last night, the BFG stood for our Big Friendly Girl Indiana, and she turned nine…
Indy loves the story of a little orphan girl named Sophie who is befriended by a kind giant who takes her back to giant country and teaches her how to catch dreams. The book is funny and a little bit scary at times, but mostly it’s as sweet as the big friendly giant is. So when we started thinking about Indy’s upcoming 9th birthday party, she said she wanted to have a a BFG birthday.
On Friday night in the concert hall, lots of the little ones Indy goes to school with, along with some of Indy’s other friends (along with their parents) gathered to celebrate Indy’s big day by eating Snauzcumbers (hotdogs), Frobscottle (sparkly water), and a special BFG cake that Chrissy from Dotted Lime made. After they ate, the kids made their own dream catcher’s, then had cake and opened gifts and then after all that was done, Papa had his own very special gift for Indy…
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Indy and I are in the middle of a year-long hiatus from the internet, along with movies, etc… but for her special day, I surprised her by turning on the big LED wall on the stage and letting her watch one special movie, the BFG, with her friends, the way we used to do in the Hall a couple of years ago. She was so excited.
The next day, we loaded up and headed to Knoxville for a birthday gift she had known about for a couple of weeks and had been most excited about: to see the Broadway play ‘Hamilton’. Over the last few years, her teacher Ms Rebecca had played a few of the songs for Indy, and in time, she has learned every word to them. And so getting to go see the play and getting to hear the songs come to life, was a dream come true. I had of course heard of the play, but didn’t know anything about the music, the play itself, or even Alexander Hamilton’s story.
Since it was about the revolutionary war and was being held at the beautiful historic Tennesee Theater and I’m a big history buff, but I’m not much of a hip-hop fan… I was interested in finding out if I was going to like the show at all. It turned out we all loved it. Especially Indiana.
While in Knoxville, we spent an afternoon with some wonderful friends, Barry and Aliceson Bales, who own a farm in a little town an hour east of there. They made burgers from the beef they raise and we had a wonderful lunch and visit outside overlooking the valley below. Barry is a well-known upright bass player (he plays with Allison Krauss, Dolly and a number of other folks) and is going to be playing this year at the Homestead Festival here at our farm. And since their both homesteaders and have lots of experience to share, his wife Aliceson is going to be a speaker. She’s also a a tremendous cook. We have her cookbook here at home and have made her Apple Pie’ recipe a dozen times in the last year. (Cookbook link.)
It’s been such a wonderful birthday weekend for Indy. We’re back at home now. The farmhouse is a mess and a big pile of new books, Barbies and toys (along with a couple of gifts that she hasn’t even got to yet), fill the living room, which is tough on me, because I have been working hard to simplify and have less here at home this past year. I’m not sure what to do with all the generous gifts given to our little one who already has way more than she can play with. I think for awhile, I’ll just let her have fun and concentrate on how blessed and grateful we are to have these problems.
Thank you for everyone who came to the party. Who sent a card or gift, or who has prayed for, or rooted for our little girl in the past nine years. She’s such a blessing and doing so well. We so appreciate your love.
- rory
