I am wishing her Happy Birthday in every possible online way today! I am shouting it from the mountaintops of Colorado: I love you, mom. Happy Birthday!
First thing this morning, just after breakfast, my yard was noisy with the sounds of summer. The sun was shining bright, the grandbebes were jumping on the squeaky trampoline, the sky was a brilliant blue, the flowers were blooming and the weed whacker was buzzing loudly while the dog tried to entice me into a game of throw and fetch and then I have to chase her to get it back (Sandy has never understood the rules of this game). And the day is perfect. Almost. Wish you were here.
Gavin is the first grandchild I ever got and what a gift! He changed my whole life forever – ten whole years ago this week. I had no idea I’d be one of “those” grandmothers, thrilled with these darlings, my children’s-children, my very own, once-removed flesh and blood.
I looked down at Gavin in my arms, the first day of his life. I had no idea who he was or how this would go.
But wow-o-wow. I love my Little Man. Red hair, freckles, bright eyes, always looking for something new, something wonderful. He works hard (seriously loves hard work!), he protects his little sisters, he is sweet to animals, kind in general and a respectful, honoring grandson. I am so blessed to be his Nonna!
So, my sweet, Gavin – allow me to tell you TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU on the occasion of the continued celebration of your birth~
1. I love that you started gardening alongside me when you were just a toddler.
2. I love that even this year, you asked for tomato plants for your birthday (they are on your list every year) and that just yesterday at the Garden Center, you told me that even though you wanted to try growing all sorts of different things in your gardens each year of your life, you would always and forever have tomato plants, no matter what. Are you my boy, or what?!?
And you have to know you melted my heart when you told me, after we had wandered through one garden place and then another, “I really like visiting garden centers and seeing all the plants they have. I like doing this every year.” It is our annual date and joy of my June-heart! I love you for loving it because I love it, too.
3. You are so focused and goal-oriented. I love that you saved up and worked to earn money to buy your own iPod and that you will now sell it and work some more to upgrade with your eye on an iPad. Your parents are teaching you well. You have business savvy, Little Man!
4. You are such a good brother to your sisters. I know they can get on your nerves at times, little girls that they are, but last week your mom shot of pic of you, school out, sitting with Gemma, teaching her to read and write. What a wonderful big brother you are.
5. And you’re a great example as the oldest of the cousins, too. You love the babies, watch over the tiny ones and generally are considered the coolest guy to follow!
6. Sandy-the-dog loves you so much. Because no matter how busy you are, you always take time to pet her and give her the attention she needs. I love you for loving the old family dog!
7. I so love how you apply yourself to learning. You are a skateboarder and gamer and a gardener and a musician and you make time to practice and perfect those things and find out more about everything. You’re such a savvy, intuitive smartie-pants, which I mean in the sweetest way!
8. Which speaks to another thing I love about you: you have been full of wonder since you were a baby. When you were even just a few months old, I noticed you were interested in everything around you. And I love that you carry that trait on. You are never bored, never expecting anyone to entertain you or cure monotony. You look around and find fascination in everything life has to offer, in each circumstance and all situations. What a wonderful attribute. It will will make living amazing for you!
9. You’re still so considerate about giving your Nonna big hugs and kisses when we meet up and when we part. They are worth millions of dollars to me – more, really. I’m so lucky, so blessed to be your Nonna.
10. And I love what an honoring son you are to your parents. Do you know why I love that? Because the Bible promises this:
“’Honor your father and mother’ is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, ‘so you will live well and have a long life.’” Ephesians 6, The Message
And because I LOVE YOU sooooooo much and want {life} to go really well for you {really well}, and I want you to have a particularly spectacular life doing legendary, world-changing things for many, many {joyous and healthy} years ~ well, then, for this reason, I love that you honor your parents, who, by the way, are raising an extraordinary son. Keep it up, kiddo!
You, my dear boy {the original grandbebe}, made me a “Nonna,” the greatest honor of my life.
I love you, Gav. You know I do, right? Please never forget. xxxooo {Nonni}
Amelie and her baby “Emily” in Estes Park, Memorial Day Weekend
True story: So, two little girls run in to see their Nonni~
A beautiful morning in May, two little darlings come bounding through the house and into the kitchen, breathless with excitement.
“I have something for you, Nonna. I have money for you,” the big sister tells me.
“What? You have money for me? What’s this?” I ask them with complete surprise and total awe at their cuteness.
“I have money for you, too,” the little one exclaims.
The first 5 grandbebes on the patio at a family celebration, mid-May
They both open their bags and pull out tiny coin purses, whereupon the older sister beamingly presents me with 10 pennies, lined up one by one, and tiny girl carefully adds her 4 pennies, as well.
“This money is for you, Nonna!”
They repack their bags and set off on their merry way. They are so generous, so loving, so sweet. And I am rich! The interest is compounding daily. I am loaded with benefits and treasure. I have 8 grandbebes and I am made of this stuff. :)
I love May.
Every May without fail, Tara has a birthday, Stephanie has a birthday and Gemma May does, too. The grandbebes have lots of cute school programs, there is Mother’s Day and usually some one is pregnant (this year that is Tredessa). The final frost date finally arrives in May and you can go into a gardening frenzy. The skies seem unusually blue this fifth month of each year and of course the green is that intoxicating shade of “spring” as new leaves unfurl and floofy, wildly-hued prom dresses get packed away while flowers in every dazzling color from here to heaven and back take their places and begin to bud and blossom with abandon.
May is sunny. May is new leaves fluttering in gentle breezes, really enthusiastic rains washing away the meandering Colorado winters, rainbows, crazy-gorgeous clouds quickly moving by, colorful sunsets that rival Maui and the beginning of lemonade season.
Cornhole! Happy Birthday, Tara! Amelie loves it!
May is a soft shade of yellow and a bright-sky blue. It is lush, sky-watered grass and all the windows and doors flung wide. It is kids counting the days until school is out and then wanting to go back to play in the school yard when it is out. No rules! It’s hearing the neighbors you didn’t hear all winter and graduations and weddings and baseball in full swing.
May is for expressing possibilities {I just may do that} and relishing long days that you thought had actually been swallowed up by long nights. But here they are again, May days.
I was strolling through the park one day
In the merry-merry month of May
I was taken by surpise by a pair of roguish eyes
In that moment my heart was stolen away
Warning {roguish eye picture ahead}
The black eye is pretty much gone now. I have lots more wrinkles there from all the swelling. I hope they will go away. Seriously. But I shall always remember I had my first (hopefully last) real shiner in May 2013.
Cousins.
Oh, May, how I hate to see you go. Thank-you for the the green, the new life, the sunshine, the rain, the hope, the promise and the lovely month, year after year. Good-bye, merry-merry month of May.
Hard year for my treasured friend, Marilyn. But for all the love and generosity and hospitality and long-suffering and patience and gifts and kisses and joy and friendship she has ever sown into the garden of life, I know she is about to see a harvest for it all.
I asked God to give me a word in season for her and this line just popped out.
one day she looked around and realized she was surrounded by all the love she had ever given away
I think God wants her to know this is truth about her and it’s a line from her life story. Today is your day, Marilyn!
What a busy social season little Gemma May is having at the ripe old age of 6!
She has been to party after party recently, including one where all the girls dressed in pink and rode around in a pink Hummer limo. She had a party at her house with her school friends, too. Throw in end-of-year activities and a field trip to the zoo – and just the other day, she had her Kindergarten graduation, well, she is happy-busy! One exciting thing after another and she is still only at the beginning.
Oh, Gemma May – I miss that seemingly endless time with you back in our days of pre-school and hanging out. Everything was a squeal of delight, sparkly and happy. You entered the room like a shining star every single time I saw you, golden-red-haired curls bouncing and a smile so big it filled the house. You lived your toddler years on a perpetual-virtual red carpet, blowing kisses to the fans, a family who has adored you always.
Now, having graduated so beautifully from your Kindergarten year, I see a girl as lovely as a spring day, just like the morning of the day in May when you were born. You are a little more contemplative, more graceful and grown up. Your hair swings like light beams behind you, your eyes curl playfully as you tell me a fascinating story, your contagious giggle would disarm a London Guard.
You are SIX now, Gemma-Loo! I am so pleased with what a lovely girl you are. I am so proud of you and what a wonderful daughter and little sister you are to your family. And I sure do love any Gemma-time I can get, what with your very popular and busy calendar. You really are both sugar and spice and really everything nice!
Your Nonni loves you, sweet-pea. I’ll be your biggest fan for-ever! Happy-happy-happy Birthday! See you at your party!
NOTE: All photos by her talented-photo-taking mama. See more at www.maydae.com
What do Broccoli Cheese Soup at the Big Wheel, birthing classes at Howard Community with the Loftises on Thursday nights, Princess Diana, a really ornery Tilt-a-Whirl operator at Indiana Beach Amusement Park (now fancily called a resort), the song “He Means More to Me Today Because of Yesterday” by the Sounds of Happyness, and a beautiful morning in May with the lilacs in full bloom have in common?
My Stephanie. Second child, only preemie, the teeny-tiniest babe who caused faith to rise in my heart as I prayed to God for her in the dark night, me in the hospital in Kokomo – her fighting to breathe at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital in Indianapolis. Thirty-one years ago.
If an old friend lets you down
And a true love can’t be found
Till the blue skies come around
I’ll be right by your side
You weren’t due until June, very late June, very-very late June. But you came in May and it was beautiful and it was a surprise and it was meant to be. And every May since, we are reminded of the blessing and miracle and joy and completion and maturity and faith you brought with you, and what it caused in us.
No don’t forget me now that we’re apart
Just open up that great big loving heart
And you’ll always be
You’ll always be
You’ll always be a part… of me…
The name.
As middle names go, May wasn’t even on “the list,” and was perhaps a little old-fashioned for the times. But we named you Stephanie because of one our favorite actresses at the time (Stephanie Powers) and because one of my all-time greatest Bible heroes is Stephen (see Acts chapter 6). And May was for the month, the merry merry month of May. Because it was a magical, lovely time in our lives – all was right and beautiful and exciting and we anticipated your birth with great energy and expectancy. And yet, you were actually so unexpected on that Friday, 5 1/2 weeks before your “due date.”
Take your time to embrace romance
Teach your children how to sing and dance
Love may hurt but it’s worth the chance
I’ll be right by your side…
And haven’t you been so many unexpected things things since? Haven’t you just always done and became and created and produced and added to and on and surprised and delighted and shined and sang and wrote and been successful and just grown up to be an unexpected bundle on wondrousness? Haven’t you? Yes, you have.
Try to be the best you can
Show compassion to every man
And always take the higher ground
I’ll be right by your side
Journey far and travel safe
Make this world a better place
And keep that smile upon your face
I’ll be right by your side…
I wasn’t perfect this I would admit
I was always trying to make the pieces fit
Just know you’ll always be
You’ll always be
You’ll always be a part of me…
You’re a trailblazer and a trendsetter. The family looks at you to confirm cool because if it isn’t, you’ll be the first to know. Your children are awed by you, your husband reveres you. Your siblings recognize your gifts and your parents are pleased with how you turned out and in seeing God’s favor and blessing on your life.
And so I bring you the gift of these words and my prayers and wishes for you. The theme is this: I believe in you. And I hope you will open that gift with fearlessness and abandon, knowing you’ll always be a part of me, the best part of me.
Happy Birthday, Stephanie, amazing, blazing, sizzling daughter, strong woman and spirited girl. Your life was ordained and has so much value. I thank God for breathing into your lungs the breath of life, quickening your tiny mortal body 31 short years ago with the very power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. That healing will take you all the way to the end with great fire and presence. Go get ’em, Steph! {love from your mom}
Oh, sweet mamala. You make me laugh. And cry, sometimes, too, from laughing so hard. But mostly you just make me smile, and feel loved! My whole lifelong I have had a most amazing mom, but I only really-really got to know her deeply after my kids were older and she was my current age (too busy in life). Then I finally got to see her heart and understand her soul and mind and how much I really finally began to hope-hope-hope to grow up to be just like her. It is my aim and deepest wish to somehow attain to become as wonderful as my mom, if that is even ever possible.
Happy Day to all MOMS far and wide
I fear I’ll forget some important acknowledgements, but if I could just say to a FEW women I know…
Happy Mother’s Day to Heather, Amy Jo, Patrice, Candi, Pearly-Q and Marilyn. Your kids range from newborn to fully grown and I learn so much from you, time and again. But especially today, to my Marilyn. You raised 2 lovely, lovely children, who gave you more babies. A couple of months ago, you lost one – except that he isn’t lost, we know this. He has just gone on ahead. And today on Mother’s Day, since Jason isn’t here to join Kori in saying it, I know he knew and so I will say, You are one of the best moms on the planet and I know your children never ever have doubted your love and affection for them. So happy Mother’s Day, sweet Marilyn.
Dana, my sweet, you look at your children with such deep affection and reverence. I am inspired by your love for them and your capacity to love the children around the world. Your heart is big enough to do all God is calling you to, this is evident. So many children to come…
I also wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day to my little sister. Tami has not birthed any babies in the physical sense, but no one can deny the place she has held in the hearts of teenagers and kids everywhere as she and her husband have led youth groups and churches across the country. Everybody loves Tami and if anything had ever happened to us when my kids were little, she was going to have all 5 of mine! :) As an aunt, she is superb, and she’s carried my mommying burdens with me many times. So on this day, I recognize the nurturing gift and godly woman and mother figure she holds to many, many people looking for a spiritual mom. You are wonderful, Tami.
Stef – what an honor I have had to get to watch you become a mom when Sawyer was born, and to get to walk the halls with you for Wryder’s birth. The care and details you pour into these babies, how you invest in giving them a loving home and a wonderful life is amazing. I hope you can see that God trusts you with them – that you are the one He knew could do this. You are a lovely mama.
And my friend Stephanie, I have to say Happy Mother’s Day to her! Steph, you have proven that even though it is hard and there are battle wounds, you can blend and watch a family thrive. I love that you and your son joined yourselves to your handsome love and his children and are beating all odds. Yesterday to see the joy, the happiness, the this IS working for us, we are family: priceless! Well done, Stephanie!
Plus TWO nieces: My niece, Lori because she has LOTS of kids and never loses track of them or faith in them. And recently-lots of extra-mommying has been happening. Happy Mother’s Day, Lori. AND Elise-the-Niece gave birth to her baby boy, Blake Matthew, at 00:04 this morning. HAPPY Mother’s Day!
Happy Mother’s Day to My Daughters, Tara, Stephanie and Jovan
Tara was born just before Mother’s Day in 1979. I took her to church that morning, just 4 days old. I heard the Mother’s Day sermon and felt the awe of what had just been delivered to me. By God Himself! Beauty. These women – are so good at what they do, so far beyond what I ever was. I am constantly amazed as I watch them raise their own {8} lovely children.
And Happy Day to the ones who made me a mom: Tara, Stephanie, Dessa-Poo, Rocky and Stormie-kins~
Every Mother’s Day I think I should be thanking my 5 kids. Plus the ones who call me mom, now, the ones I did not have to labor over (blessed!).
To the 5: You are my trophies and my reward – heritage {!}, not for anything I could have or would have thought to do or be as a mom, but because God can only give amazing gifts, and oh, so He did! But you’re testaments to Him, He is so faithful and good and He knew I needed the ways each of you challenge me. I love watching your lives and seeing you become the glory of all God had in mind when he reached into my womb and created your little beings there. I love watching your families grow and seeing His faithfulness poured out over you, too.
Just recently got this photo in some of Dad Rhoades’s belongings after his death. I had never seen it.
Please give me all the way to the end to become the mom God has in mind and I promise I shall keep trying with all my might to get there. You are the proof that God is able to use feet of clay and everyday vessels. He is just so faithful. I am just so blessed.
Tara + Dave = Hunter and now Malakai, too (Doesn’t he just make this Mother’s Day all the more special?). Three men and a beautiful woman! Adoption, so amazing, so sweet. Our firstborn is blessed with a lovely family. I love you so.
Stephanie, you started the growing-family thing by marrying Tristan, then giving us our very first grandbebe, plus two more darlings: Gavin, Guinivere, and Gemma May. The Kelley family, head-turners and beautiful. I love you deeply.
Tredessa loves Ryan and we love him, too. And they are a family (we pray for many children for them in the future!). You are a joy and delight as you have always been. Love you lots!
Rocky and Jovan and all their little women, Averi-J, Amelie Belle and baby-Bailey fill the world with frills and fun. Rock-bo, you’re blessed and surrounded by love and respect, including mine.
Stormie, our sweet baby girl ~ favorite auntie and love of our lives. You are the final flourish, the grand finale, the ‘ta-da.’ Love you like crazy, baby girl.
Oh, and one more thing~
Ryan and Tredessa are pregnant! They told us a few weeks ago and were going to make us stay silent for another month but they couldn’t wait either! Bebe is due in mid- December and we are so happy. :) So, Happy Mother’s Day to you, too, Tre-Tre!
To the girl who was deemed Liquid Joy {or Joy-bear} while she was growing up~
As the music at the banquet
As the wine before the meal
It was 5:55 a.m. The sun had just broken through bright and I felt the earth move. Actually, probably less the earth moving than having that first, distinct contraction – that sign for which I had waited, wondering if I’d even know when you’d be coming. But there it was – a new sensation, so marked and unambiguous, I knew everything was about to change forever. I drank in the sun as it rose through my window. I looked at the clock and my heart palpitated with wild excitement.
Today is the day. This child for whom I have prepared and waited would arrive. Today – this baby that had caused me to exercise daily and eat so many vegetables for its’ health – now we would see.
Boy or girl? I didn’t know, but I was praying for a baby girl with blond hair and rosy cheeks (like the baby of one of my college Bible teachers). I had a vision in mind…
No one but Grandma and I even knew. It was our happy little secret all day as we went here or there. I wrote down contraction times and when asked by friends and church family, “When are you going to have that baby?” “Oh, maybe today, I’d tell them,” smiling so big inside about the best secret in the world.
5:55 a.m. and the clock spun wildly around until 5:55 p.m. when I told Grandma, “I need to go to the hospital now.” I am not sure how I knew it except that I was packing my bag and when a contraction would come, I’d have to stop what I was doing to breath through it. I was giddy with anticipation, feeling out of control.
But grandpa. He wanted us to wait and drop him at the church. So we left at 6:15 and drove {the almost opposite direction} to drop him at his office around 6:30 p.m. and then we were off to the hospital. Okay-maybe I am being dramatic, as it was only about a 10 mile trip, but when you are in transition…
We pulled up to the doors at emergency so my mom could drop me off and I was met with a wheel chair at 6:48 p.m. As we went over the bumpy grate going in, I said to my wheelchair-pusher, “Could you stop for a minute? I am having a contraction and need to breathe.”
“Oh, honey,” she said with great disdain. “You are never going to make it. This is your first baby and you will be in labor for at least 20 hours and if you are acting like this now, you will never make it.” I figured she was the expert and I thought if what she was telling me was true I would never be able to do this for 20 more hours. I was not going to make it.
But I also kind of wanted to hit her.
She delivered me to labor and delivery and you were born at 7:16 p.m. – just 28 minutes after my mom had delivered me to the door. I have never gotten over the fact that I didn’t get to smack that wheelchair pusher. I just never have.
As the firelight in the night
So are you to me
At two
And like so many other things in your life
You surprised me and showed right up and it was beautiful and mysterious and awe-inspiring and magical and spiritual and breath-taking and it was you and me, just us. And you looked at me, and I couldn’t quit looking at you and though we’d only just met, I felt so at home with your warm, fuzzy head. The smell of you, the contour of your face in the barely-lit room: proof of God’s love for me. A gift straight from heaven! I knew I was undeserving. I knew no one, no one, but God could have, would have entrusted you to me.
At three
As the ruby in the setting
As the fruit upon the tree
Oh, love story of love stories – my baby, my own, a sweet tiny, pink-bundled girl. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, joy of joys. I wondered if I was actually allowed to feel this happy – because I was sure some one would take you away if they knew.
And now, joy-child, beautiful woman with two sons of your own {I learn so much from watching you mother them, love them} – it is a day to celebrate your birth, to remember and recall that day thirty-four years ago with gratefulness and thankfulness to a loving God who drew my heart to His with the most loving-kindess imaginable in the form of a girl, tender and sweet, now a woman – wise and lovely. I do thank God for you. I do. So I wish for you (a prayer-wish, of course):
As the wind blows over the plains
So are you to me
So are you to me
Happy Birthday, firstborn and namesake. Happy Birthday, daughter and friend. I love you.
I am a WEEK late posting your birthday blog. But…I gave you Wryder for your birthday. :)
Well, actually Stefane and Wrex gave you Wryder and Stefane was the one who REALLY gave you Wryder, but I was there at the time and so happy he arrived to celebrate your birth – April 15 is now a wonderful day {x} two. Take that, IRS!
In rather a similar year, you were born in a Sioux City spring – one that had been hot already and nice and included play days for your siblings in the wading pool, but then: pow! A big wintry blast from the north caused an ice storm and that is when you decided to arrive.
Job 30.22 You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you have dissolved me in the roar of the storm.
And though advisories were issued saying no one should be out on the roads unless absolutely necessary, you were in every way, {absolutely necessary} and so worth any and every possible risk (even though we only had to drive 3 blocks so it wasn’t wholly challenging for us – but had it been, we’d have taken it!). You have been a joy every single day of your life.
Proverbs 10. 25 When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away…
I love the baby you were, the chubby little recipient of the love of three sisters and a big brother. As a little girl, your heart couldn’t have been sweeter (“Be-member, mommy, we like to shnuggle“). As a young woman, you are admirable and lovely in all possible ways. You are a loving sister and auntie, everyone in the family will agree, a servant among the saints and an honoring daughter to your father and me.
And on that, I must wholeheartedly call down the covenant blessing of the LORD upon you, for the honoring, because the fifth commandment comes with a promise {reward} and I agree with the Word of God in Ephesians 6
“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: That all may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”
May you live long and may it go very {very} well for you, my sweet.
I pray you’ll find true, lasting (and wildly intoxicating} love and have a fabulous wedding outshone only by the madly devoted and playful romance of a marriage that lasts with zealous passion forever. I cannot wait for you to be fruitful, filling the earth with talented and godly children, creative little bebes who are the joy and delight of their aged grandparents {hint, hint}. May your spirit, soul and body be sanctified through and through by God Himself, the God of Peace. 1 Thess. 5.23-24. I pray you live and reign in the spiritual Kingdom of God, yes – may that go well ~ righteousness/peace/joy in the Holy Ghost! And in times of tears, may it go well for you and may you know the Comforter intimately. May it be well with you in being filled when you’re hungry and refreshed when you’re thirsty and I totally think you should inherit the earth (and let’s throw in making your name great in the earth – why not?). Your purity of heart will intensify your ability to see God and I hope all your mercy comes back to you by the truckloads. May it go well with you, Stormkins – in creativity and design and ideas and use of your talents, in your singing and playing for the worship of the Lord; may it go well in your life in all the tasks and jobs you put your hand to and favor with God and men; I speak the promised well-ness over your property and your resources and your heart to be generous to the poor and the orphan and I pray the dreams I know about and the ones none of have ever heard, but have been heard by heaven, come to pass. And I pray all this, knowing it is now released into the halls of heaven and will reverbate in your life long after I am gone. The words are out there, now. Can’t take them back. You are BLESSED! Live long on the earth – live well.
I love you, baby girl. You were the last because we could not in any way have improved on the five we got. We had to stop while we were ahead. You were the completion of the first phase of the family God was building. And I thank God for you, sweet girl. Do you know how much you’re in my heart? Soooooo much.
Dave is having a bunch of people over for an ‘ask the author” for Road Rage tonight. He is so humbled and appreciative to have people who want to talk about it and get questions answered! I cannot attend since I haven’t read it yet, but I have heard great things about it from many people.
Plus I have made out with the author. Numerous times. But I won’t kiss and tell.
The day he got the first copy delivered in December
I am wishing her Happy Birthday in every possible online way today! I am shouting it from the mountaintops of Colorado: I love you, mom. Happy Birthday!
