What a difference a decade makes!!!

The picture on the left was taken today, August 24, 2006, almost 10 years to the day from the one above, when Hunter was starting Kindergarten. Any similarity in their poses is strictly coincidental. Now Hunter has just started the 10th grade and Sierra has started 6th! Crazy huh?

In an act of blatant disregard for my parental authority....

....Sierra has turned 12!

[Some background info: When she turned 4, I told her that this would be her last birthday and that she would no longer be allowed to age. From that day forward her age would be referred to as "4+". ]

However, as an act of goodwill, I have composed a somewhat non-traditional birthday blessing for her:


To My Little Puddin' Pop,
To you this is an exciting day where you are pampered and given gifts in honor of turning 12. But to me, it's soooo much more. Today is the 12th anniversary of the day that God proved to me that He still is very much in the business of hearing our prayers and answering them. It was August 8, 1994, and the doctor had told us that you had cysts on your brain and could quite possibly be a Down Syndrome baby. At one point, they even wanted to know if we would still want you if that turned out to be true. Can you believe that? Of course we wanted you and would take you any way God would give you to us. But we (and a lot of other people) began praying that your little brain would not only be cyst-free, but would be one that glorified Him and brought Him joy. So on this day back in 1994, I was holding my breath. And apparently you were, too, because it took an agonizing 30 seconds or so (seemed a lot longer than that) after you were born before you realized you were out in the cold world "on your own" and started crying about it. At that moment, you were here and you were mine, and I don't remember being even the least bit curious at that time if those cysts were still there are not. I remember just being so thankful for this new gift to our family. It was a while before the doctor came in, having seen the new and improved, God-revised version of the x-rays, and told us that those cysts were "just gone"! If I had had a fatted calf, I would have sacrificed it! Or some pigeons - I would have released 'em! But instead all any of us could do was stand there and cry and give glory to our Great Healer! My prayer for you would be that on this day for the rest of your life, long after I am gone and can no longer remind you, you will remember that the Creator of the universe cared so much for you and our family on that day that He reached out His hand and touched you because we asked Him to. His answers won't ALWAYS be the ones WE want, but on that day, it most definitely was.
So on this 8th day of August, 2006, the birthday blessing is....YOU!
I love you!
Daddy