I was so proud of myself when I took this picture of you at 1 1/2 years old. But I did have to chase you around the yard for an hour as you excitedly explored the garden before I got this! You make me smile! Oh, yes, you do!
Hey, my sweet birthday girl~
The day we all did our make-up. :)
Happy-hApPy-delightful-delirious-joyful-head-over-heels-laughing-dancing-rejoicing-fun-FUN-fun-gladhearted-jumping-jelly-beans-cartwheels- & -kisses Birthday, Little Miss Averi!
Oh your Nonna loves you, girl. You know that, right? You’re funny and sweet and wry and so-very-mature and insightful. You’re considerate and thoughtful and every bit the perfect firstborn, and big-sister. I just don’t know what we ever did without you! You make life sweeter and neater and so much more beautiful! Every time I think of you, I smile. When I get to see you, well, I just go a little bonkers with happiness!
I thank God for you, Averi Jadyn! I think He outdid Himself in creating you! I thank Him and I add my blessing. I bless your days and all your ways. I bless those piercing, liquid-blue eyes. I bless those oh-so-kissable cheeks.
I bless you as a big sister and a good cousin. I bless you as the perfect niece and a wonderful granddaughter {we’re so lucky to have you}.
You were 4 or 5 months here and so scrumptious I could just eat you up!
I bless the things you’ll see, that you may see them with God’s eyes. I bless your hands, those beautiful, graceful little hands, that they’ll be applied to good works God prepared ahead of time for you to do – even before you were born.
I bless you as an honoring daughter – knowing that as you honor your mommy and daddy, the Bible promises it will go well for you and you’ll live long on the earth! What will go well? LIFE! The life Jesus came to give you, abundant and wondrous and free from any kind of captivity! I bless your life. May you always be in Christ. May you find your most treasured identity and home in Him!
You’re becoming more beautiful by the day because it is coming from the inside. As I see you growing up, 7 going on 17, I see a deep radiance, a caring girl. It is lighting you up from the inside out. And oh, how your Nonna loves you and is blessed by you. I know God is pleased by you, too. I sense His joy in you!
Someday, when you need reminding about what I have always thought of you and maybe you’ll need to know how much God loves you, I hope you’ll remember to come to this blog and read these words again and know that Nonna is shaking heaven’s gates for you, praying for your life, for good things for you. And I am reminding God over and over that I want Him to be with you always and make His face to shine right on you and to surround you with His favor like a shield and to give you grace to be all He created you to be and to do all He calls you to do.
And you what? He has already promised that He will do and be all these things to you in His Word! All the wonderful secrets are there – in your Bible! But I will keep on praying for you and reminding Him for you, anyway. And I will agree with His good plans for your life and shout AMEN! Yes, Lord! Let it be!
Happy Birth~week, my sweet! You are a good girl. And I’m so proud of you!
Oh, sweet girl, how did almost 3 months pass before I got to this post? Life has been a whirlwind, yes? And YOU had a birthday, and moved a little too far away for my heart – all at once {October 31st}. In the middle of so many good and wonderful gifts from above, a whirlwind of exciting living – we breathlessly paused and celebrated. And thanked God for you, again.
As birthday posts go, I have never been later. And this one has been sitting in the drafts folder, not quite finished far too long. But know this, at least: as daughter-in-loves go, there is none more cherished or delightful! And I still thank God for you, birthday or any day and everyday of your life and mine!
I love you, Jovan Marie Rhoades! And I bless the day you were born, born to a future that included marrying Rocky and to giving me three of the most adorable little grand-girlies in the world…so far, anyway! :)
We’ve known you for half your life!
It is really strange to imagine our family without you, having known you now since you were 14 years old. And when you came into our lives (fourteen years ago, to be exact), you just fit. You were easy to know, easy to have in the room. You hung out with Stormie, sometimes spending the night at our houses and then got up and did chores, like any of our kids.
Who is this amazing girl, I wondered? I must remember to thank her parents!*
I love that his heart is safe with you.
And you befriended Rocky, too. You admired him and respected him and looked up to him ( a whole 2 years older, right?) and I liked how I saw you looking at my son. I thought that Rocky choosing you was one of the greatest things he could ever have done. I still think so. And I love that even before we knew you, during the years you were growing up with your two sisters and godly parents, long before we were ready to think of our only son ever even getting married – you were being equipped to be Rocky’s. God was at work in your heart and life, and he was at work in our son. He alone knew what the two of you could be together, as one. So mysterious and beautiful. It makes me wonder why I ever worried over my kids at all – the way God so carefully orchestrates adventure and life and love and goodness and mercy over you all.
So, even though I thought I had all the daughters I could handle, with the four incredible beauties I birthed myself, it turns out, getting to have just one more {YOU} has been a blessing of mammoth proportions! You have been a sweetness and grace, a reward to me for getting through the years of raising 5 children! Ha!
I do thank God for you, Jovan. I was so happy to get to tell Averi and Amelie recently, as we were “doing hair and make-up,” what I have told you many times before: I grew up saying I intended to have 8 sons, eight! It sounded fun. But then I had 3 daughters, finally a son and in an attempt to get one more – another daughter! But wow-Rocky was an energetic handful of rambunctious-ness and I later realized I would have fallen dead from exhaustion if I had actually birthed 8 little Rocky-types. Haha. Oh, how I love that little boy and the man he has become for the ways he has challenged me! LOVE him.
So, I was glad to tell your daughters, my cute grandbebes, how delighted I was to find scripture that fit us, you and me, so perfectly. It’s Naomi’s friends talking to her about her devoted daughter-in-law, Ruth:
“And may [your grandchild] be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne [this child].” Ruth 4
There it is! And I will always be able to tell your children with my whole heart: your mommy, who gave me you, is better to me than seven more sons would have been. So even though I didn’t get the 8 baby boys I always thought I’d have, I got you, and I got a daughter-in-love who has my heart for always.
Averi said, “I’ve heard that story!” And I hope she’ll never forget.
A Birthday Blessing for my Jovan, the world’s best daughter-in-law:
So, today, I bless you. I bless your heart and soul and your thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams. I bless the family you are building with Rocky and the your days with the beautiful Presence of God. I pray all you give out will come back to you many times. I bless you with the deep love in marriage and the honor of your children and with the long life that goes so-very-well for you because of how you honor your parents. I bless your days, your hours and minutes – may they be lived fully and colorfully, and may they be fruitful and accomplish much to the glory of God. I pray you will flourish, become deeper rooted, and all your gifting and talents will be received with great fanfare and welcome whenever and wherever they begin to show up. I speak against any enemy lies or assignments on your life and agree for any chain that tries to hold you down to be broken and left in a heap while you go from glory to glory, strength to strength, fully shining like the bright joy you are! Yes! In Jesus’ Name! {{*AMEN.*}}
You were born to be one of us, Jovan. My thanks to your parents for raising such a lovely young woman. My thanks to Rocky for having the good sense to make you his standard of beauty and desire, his wife and one flesh. And my thanks to God for His grace on all of us, through you. {mom}
*P.S. Speaking of Jovan’s wonderful parents –
Today is Jo’s birthday! I finally got Jovan’s birthday blessing posted on her mom’s birthday! I mean there would be no Jovan without Jo! Happy Birthday, Jo!
Hey, Bo-bear. A belated Happy Birthday to my all-grown-up boy-child!
“It’s a boy,” they said, “you have a boy!”
There were already 3 adorable daughters. I figured baby #4 would be another little girl (and signal our final family addition). But no – a boy! I was in shock – happy, delirious shock. I thought they were just joking with me.
Rock and his cousins (Zach and Seth) at Zach’s wedding
I love you deeply, my son. I love you fully, handsome Rock-bo. I love you loudly, silly Bo-Bear. I love you a million times and ways. But since you’ve just turned 30, I’ll tell you 30 ways and whys about my love for you. And I’ll tuck in some prayers and blessings along the way. See here:
I love you. Because God trusted me to have a son, a boy! You get credit for this, even though it was God’s {total, complete, uttermost} blessing to me, on me. I love your drop-dead-gorgeous sisters, I do. And the girls would have been enough for a happy life and lovely familia. But I am so glad I got to observe the mystery of a man-in-the-making. It has been awe-inspiring!
You got your handsome dad’s coloring. You got those dimples, that brown skin, that head full of dark hair straight from your wholly-gorgeous dad. I have spent much of my life flanked by two unusually good-looking men!
You got my bold and fiery zeal and stubbornness And even though that has worried me at times, I think it looks really good on you. And watching you struggle to temper passion with life and love so gracefully has made me go easier on myself. I get your heart, Rocky Rhoades. I know how deeply authentic it is.
Which makes me realize how much I learn from you. You keep digging, you keep trying, you keep learning. You are relentless in pursuit of more knowledge and more understanding. No matter how skinned up your knees get, you jump straight back in to the fire of figuring things out. Keep at it, boy-of-my-heart. Get wisdom at all costs. It is the most important thing!
You get my heart. That is valuable to me. Sometimes you have called or popped in and just spoken a word in season to me, just been an encouragement. You have covered me in grace when my safe places have been plundered. You’ve been a friend when I have felt so unfriended and most unfriendly.
You smell so good. You were born smelling wonderful at 9:28 pm September 29, 1984 {{yes – I am a month late getting this posted}} and the combination of Baby Magic baby lotion and Millionaire cologne made you a magnet, even at a few weeks old. Now though, it’s that pleasing aroma, the one that makes God happy – as you share the knowledge of Him in the world. “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.” Genesis 27.27
You are so ornery. In pretty much the cutest way. Just remember this rule and we’ll get along fine: No tickling the mom, not ever! Got it?
As a little brother, you have achieved perfection. That is, if, in fact little brothers were created to torment, cajole, irritate and infuriate their big sisters. If that is the case, then you get the award. But oh my goodness, how those big sisters (Tara, Stephanie and Tredessa) love their little brother.
I made you a big brother, too. You’re welcome! And you took that teeny-tiny Stormie and led her on mad and dangerous roller-blading paths, into the workforce at far too young an age and up onto the worship stage. So you have been a really great big brother, too. She still looks up to you, and not just because you are taller.
I love how you always have something up your sleeve.You’re an idea-man, Chuck. And the thing is, no matter how far-fetched they might seem, you have the finagling-skills to bring a lot of them about. God just seems to meet you halfway on that stuff!
Like last year. You and I met at that little coffee shop to discuss and strategize how we could get you all new recording equipment and musical instruments. You laid it out for me that you needed new things, that you took good care of the items you had, but to get to the next level, new things were needed. Then, just a week or so later, the flood came in and washed away all your studio equipment. Then God put you in a place with state of the art recording equipment, a new office, new instruments, fresh opportunities. He likes your ideas, too.
You chose a good wife. I couldn’t ask for a more lovely daughter-in-law! Delight in her, Rock. Call her blessed, receive her love humbly, fully. She is a gift to you from God. That is the truth!
You have fathered 3 darling daughters. You are a blessed field (Genesis 27.27-20). Your quiver isn’t quite full yet (Psalm 127.3-5), but it is getting there. You are the handsome hero of their sweet little dreams, these three lively girls. You have fathered beauty, you have fathered power. {photo by Ashley Clark Haymore, thanks, Ashley!}
Your singing. You know I love your voice, I love to hear you sing. You’re one of my al-time favorites.
Your song. That is different. I am talking about the residual song of the Lord that echoes through the halls of your heart and draws people around you into the Presence. That’s your life. You were born for that. Let your song be heard, Rock-man. Let it bless the heart of God in His heaven and cause people here on earth to want to run to the Throne of Grace!
So let me bless you with my words, which are one of the most important things I can give to you: Be blessed, Rocky, in all you put your hand to this year, because this year is a building block to your bright, holy future. Be present in the now, in all the changes, new things, the learning curve, the challenges. For all that is to come will build on today. You will not be able to wholly, fully love and enjoy the “then and there” if you haven’t completely inhabited and embraced the “here and now.” Who said that? ME! This is true in all of life’s arenas: parenting, career, marriage, friendships, education…
Be blessed with courage, Bo-Bear. You are fully, completely able and were created to do things God thought up before time began. Your heart is beating – it is saying: Rocky has purpose! Don’t you doubt what God has decreed! You have been chosen by God, “….created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance” for you to do. (Ephesians 1:11-14; 2:8-10).
I bless you with God-given, more-than-we-could-think-or-ask opportunity! See it, seize it!
And may the LORD fill your new home with peace, joy and love, and make it a house of prayer that shines like a Kingdom-beacon in a dark, hopeless world. May all who enter the doors step smack-dab into the holy, joyous Presence of God and be awash in lightness and joy!
Your mommy loves you. I believe in you. I am here for you. “You are my son, chosen and marked by my love, the pride of my life” (Mark 1:11 MSG).
I am fully, head-first, completely willing to support you in the pursuit of your dreams and desires. I will clap and cheer, lend an ear, give advice, strategize (or as one motivational speaker referred to it: “hallucinate”) with you. Ha!
I pray that you will be firmly rooted and established in the love of the Lord – that you will really get how much He loves you, how high and how wide His love. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
And be filled, in Jesus Name, to the measure of ALL the fullness of God. All His fullness – in you! Can you even imagine? (same reference as above)
Be like Jesus, Rock-man. No one can find fault in Him. Grow in wisdom and stature, in favor with both God and man. (Luke 2:52)
May the Presence of the Lord go with you, work through you all of your days (Psalm 139:5-10)
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Number 6:24-26)
Be patient in all things, but eager, too. Wait on the Lord, but be ready when He calls.
Grace. Grace to you, Rocky! Grace as in “the empowering Presence of the Holy Spirit to be all God created you to be and to do all He created you to do!
And may you always find mercy in your time of need. I can tell you mercy is one of the most amazing things. Give it lots. Because over the course of our lives, we need so much of it!
And finally, my sweet boy, my honorable and honoring son who has my heart and soul for all times and seasons, I celebrate you on the occasion of the days and weeks and months that make up this 30th year of your existence. I agree with God for blessing and long life for you, for it to go well with you and for you to ENJOY the abundant life on the earth that Jesus came to give (Ephesians 6:2-3).
Happy Birthday, my Rocky~beloved son whom I love deeply.
Happy Birthday, Jovan’s Rocky~husband and protector, head of his home.
Happy Birthday, Averi, Amelie, and Bailey’s daddy~the fathering heart that will surround them all their days.
You’re 30 now. I watched God usher you in to manhood at the age of 18, ready and pure-hearted. Now, you are entering wisdom and a place spiritual fathering. God has given you a place in His courts (Psalm 84.10, Zechariah 3). It is fun to watch.
www.eldeenannette.com
Lots of words. Because. A month to think. Ha!
Happy {one-month late} Birthday, Rocky Rhoades. xoxo From the {mom}. :)
Ten years old! Ten. years. old! HAPPY {joyous-fun-laughing-adventureous-surprising-creative-loving} Birthday to you!!! {{Didn’t you just LOVE that surprise all-guy Risk party your sweet parents planned for you???}}
I have to tell you, I absolutely cannot fathom what life would be like without you. I can’t. You are my gentle-eyed, bold-and-strong, energetic, enthusiastic, diplomatic, affectionate, handsome and loving grand {really, truly, totally GRAND} boy. I thank God for you, I do!
When you arrived, I was madly zooming through life and over-working (as those of us who feel the need to prove ourselves often do) and you just fell like a star from heaven {three weeks early} to abruptly stop the madness and capture our full and complete attention and our hearts. lickety-split – just like that: BOOM! We were in love!
You when you were just a “little guy…” oh, I’ve loved you a long time!
Know what I love about you? I love the way your eyes crinkle when you laugh and smile. I love your sense of humor. I love your beautiful smile. I melt from your hugs – especially when you suddenly realize you have been so busy talking to lots of people when you come in to my house and then you make a big deal of zooming over to give your Nonna a “proper greeting.” Oh, my goodness – yes – that does me in! I love the way you pray for me. I love that when my heart was breaking, you got on the arm of the chair and wrapped your arms around me and whispered words of comfort. I knew God was using you to touch me. Oh how strong you were that day.
I also love that you like my ideas and that you and I have so many things we want to create and do and movies we want to produce and projects we wish to try. We will never run out of things to enjoy together, will we, Hunter-Magoo?
Now, of course, since you are such a blessing to me, I want to bless you back. And it is my pleasure and honor to do so. For all the years you have left in life (and for all the words I can pour out over you before I am gone), these spoken blessings will be here, things I am speaking over you now – heard in heaven, covenant words on your life! They are yours to keep, to live, to enjoy to fulfill and to believe. If you ever get lost and wonder what your Nonna and the God of the Universe agreed on about you as you turned ten with so much life ahead, you can return here and find more pieces of your story and pick them up and run with them (Habakkuk 2.2).
Happy Birthday to my second grandbebe (now more commonly known as my big guy), Hunter Douglas Powers. I bless you like this:
Oh wow – I just love you and I pray love in your life! I pray the love of God will surround you and work in you and through you and that His very love will be established in your heart and soul and that the perfection of this love will make you fearless in the face of the challenges in the world today. May you rise up mighty as a man of God – displaying His power and glory wherever you go. Be so permeated in the love of God that nothing can stop you, Hunter Magoo! L O V E – go get ’em!
Your days – oh, may they be numerous and long, and healthy and productive. I bless your days from when they began. I do so bless the day you were born, a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. You just couldn’t seem to wait to arrive. :) And you have been on a life of adventure ever since. You have filled your days and nights with travel and missions work and school and learning (science experiments – your constant request) and playing with cousins and friends and interacting with family of all the generations and so much more. You know how to pack a day with good stuff. So I pray over you that all your days will be filled with good and godly things and that as you keep on honoring your parents like you do, it will go soooo well for you and you will enjoy a long (really great and abundant) life on the earth (Ephesians 6.2-3).
Taken by Aunt Stormie outside the candy shop.
You are such an honoring son and grandson. You are a loving cousin and friend and you are an incredible big brother to Kai. So, may you find honor and love and good friends and brothers wherever you go in life. May you be surrounded with the people you need to do what you were created to do and be what you were created to be (Psalm 139).
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5.14-16
You are visible, Hunter. Your life is being observed. You are a city on a hill. You have an important place in the world for this day, this time, and this age. You cannot be hidden. So blaze bright, my grand-boy. Dazzle brilliantly and point the world to Jesus. This is why you were born.
I also just want to bless you back for the way you bless me: you warm my heart with your kindness. You accept me as your ‘Nonni,’ and you affirm my place in your life, heart and soul. I bless you back with those things a thousand times over. You have my devotion, you have my respect and acceptance of you as an incredible boy created by God almighty (oh, He did such a good job creating you) and you will ever and always be in my heart. When I leave this earth, all that will change is that I will brag you up and bless you like crazy from the halls of heaven!
I agree with God for all He thinks about you and all the plans He has for you. I agree with Him and will do whatever He asks of me to make sure you are blessed, whole and holy! Oh yes!
You, my Hunter-boy, do give light to all in the house!
You and me, Christmas 2012.
Happy Birthday and week and all the days. I celebrate you! {{LOVE! Nonna}}
Guinivere Eden arrived in the wee morning hours, the ones that still feel like night.
I was in some luxurious mountain hotel on a staff retreat and had barely gone to sleep in the room-sized bed when the call came: our first granddaughter would be arriving soon. Breathlessly I re-packed all the things I’d just unpacked. How exciting!
Zooming down the mountain and across the continental divide under a sky-full of stars we went. Down, down, down and straight to the hospital where, in the first light of a sunny, stunningly beautiful day we held her, her blond hair glistening as it caught the morning rays, grandbebe #3. Third time was most definitely a charm!
I tell Guini now, nine years later, I’d zoom down the mountain and cross great divides for her again. Anytime.
Her Indiana grandparents were on hand to help her celebrate turning 9 last week. Here she is with her older brother and younger sister, enjoying Starbucks.**
Guini is my “flower girl.” She doesn’t like tomatoes. Can you imagine that? MY granddaughter, flesh of my flesh and she doesn’t like tomatoes! But early on, she zeroed in on flowers. Barely able to talk, we’d roam the yard and she’d stop at each variety and ask, “What’s this?” And I’d tell her and she’d try to repeat it – cutest thing ever.
So when she came for a visit and found some small flowers from the garden center I hadn’t planted yet and grabbed a small table to set up her very own flower shop, well, I knew then, like the Cowsills sang,
I saw her sitting in the rain
Raindrops falling on her
She didn’t seem to care
She sat there and smiled at me
And I knew (I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew)
She could make me happy (happy, happy)
Flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere
I love the flower girl
Oh, I don’t know just why
She simply caught my eye
I love the flower girl she seemed so sweet and kind.
She crept into my mind.
How fitting for a girl whose middle name is “Eden,” a garden God Himself planted. I once made a video for Guini using that song (when she turned 5). See it {HERE}.
She recently worked on this art project in my living room. Guini meticulously watercolored each carefully chosen hue…Every coffee table should be used for something this wonderful.**
She is content in spirit. Her soft smile is authentic – not one given to outrageous enthusiasm nor dramatic meltdowns, she is as sweet as she looks. She’s a little quieter than many of my adorable grands, but oh the rich tales she has to tell.
Her wry sense of humor is so keenly developed, her ornery way of seeing things sharper than the average 9-year-old. She aces her school work without breaking a sweat and is such an incredible big sister to Gemma and a girl who admires and finds her older brother, Gavin, to be the most hilarious friend ever.
She came over in June to help me do a ballerina cake for her little sister. I thought her little arms would tire, but she was all to happy to pipe some shell trim and makes stars. She did the whole thing!
Just recently I’ve become aware that I’m seeing glimpses of a young woman emerge. Giggling with cousins one minute, then having thoughtful conversations with me about what she wants to do with her life next, and a slight turn of her head and did I just see the grown up Guini? Time doesn’t just pass, time flies with the speed of light.
I sure do love you, Guinivere!
So of course I need to pray some blessings on you! These are things I pray for you and words I speak as gifts for you straight from heaven. Long after I am gone, you’ll always have them to come back to. If ever you need to know what your life is about and what is being put together in heaven for your benefit on earth, you can come back to this little altar of remembrance, by faith, and know that these things are yours, in Jesus’s Name! :) Amen? Amen!
“The LORD God planted a garden, eastward, in Eden…” Genesis 2
I just know Isaiah 58:11 in a scripture for you, “The LORD will guide you always, He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your bones, and you’ll be like a well-watered garden. And like a spring of waters, whose waters just keep flowing” (paraphrased). Absolutely!
I pray your thoughtfulness and gentle spirit will be welcomed and received by good people who see you, really see you (and I hope I will always be one of those).
I pray that the fruitful garden of your life and love and joy will be shared by many and will feed and bless lots of people in this journey called life. Just like so many of us right now even are!
I bless you with increased creativity and ability to see beauty in the simple and the simple in the complex and I really pray you will have great prosperity (enough for yourself and much to share) in doing something you completely love in life! I hope you do get to have that cupcake business, or raise horses, or have a flower shop. Whatever you want to do, Guini-Poo, I know God can bless it and make it go well for you!
AND I pray that your 4th grade year will be the most fantastic and fun school year of your life. I pray that the classroom you’ll spend so much time in will feel good and that the teacher will be fair; that you’ll have at least 5 favorite friends, people who are nice and encouraging and that you can be the same back. I pray that this school year will open your eyes to fascinating things and that there’ll be plenty of celebrations and festivities along the way.
I bless you, my sweet. I bless your heart and smile and your love and your kindness. I bless your awesome sense of humor and every single one of your freckles. I bless you when you come to see your Nonna and when you go home again. I bless you as a granddaughter and a girl who cares about other people. I bless your taste and I bless your style and I don’t ever want you to forget how much you are LOVED! I love you, girlie. And may this Happy-Birthday-blessing go on and on…
To celebrate the anniversary of your birth, I have words…
Of course, I do. Many words. Still, some 12 years since we met, I am so grateful you married our daughter and became a son to us. She wasn’t the only deliriously happy person about that, you know. You were an answer to prayers and a fulfillment of hope and Tara’s dream come true. :)
If for no other reason than that you chose my firstborn and love her so deeply (and have blessed us with two spectacular grandsons), I’d think you were extraordinarily smart and wonderful.
But there are many reasons I love and admire you and my heart is tender towards you.
There have been incredible times since you became one of us, since the early days when we could suddenly be in the room with you: you, so well-liked, so sought after and admired and we could know, beaming with pride, he’s one of ours. You married the beautiful Tara and got the bunch of us, foibles and frailties and all. As mother-in-laws go, too many times, I haven’t been the one I had planned I’d be and for that, I apologize. I hope for all the times I have failed to encourage and bless you and for all the times I may still let you down in this winding path called life, you can find it possible to forgive me.
But I hope you do realize that I love and admire you and my heart is tender towards you.
Thinking about you turning 33 has had me reminiscing {of course}.
Three sweet memories on your 33rd birthday
1// I remember years ago, when your hair was longer, some person(s) started referring to you as a surfer-dude, which was a totally erroneous label just because you have the ability to adapt immediately to culturally distinct people groups, one after the other, rather effortlessly. But was a silly summation.
Because, like Paul the Apostle, you can be Greek to the Greeks and a Roman to the Romans, skater to the skaters, or mighty man of prayer among the intercessors. You are fluent in joy-speak and compassion-mixed-with-mercy is a native tongue for you. Because you’re able to adapt and flow as easily among Christian-magazine-produced minister’s meetings as you are with well-known rockers-saved-by-grace backstage at festivals, an old-timer mistakes you for merely a surfer-dude, with no offense to surfer-dudes.
It may have never bothered you a bit, but it irked me that you might be boxed in.
Because the point was and is – the apostolic anointing, the call. You fit. You have what it takes to be part of many groups and streams and situations. I so very much admire your courage and ability in this.
2// I was also remembering a late summer night in 2006 in a barn east of Brighton. It was a night of ordination, really, doors open wide and the warmth of God’s smile permeating the atmosphere. The sun dropped slowly giving way to twinkling stars signifying God’s good pleasure as rich worship rose heavenward. I watched as you and Tara, in almost a second wedding ceremony of sorts, the sacredness so palpable, became wholly united (one voice, one heart, one mission), stepping out from the safe into the holy wild. Worship and the Word Movement revealed.
And those of us in that barn that night, the small group of us privileged to stand on that holy straw-strewn ground, were witnesses to divine oil poured out from heaven. We were the yes and amen as we watched this man and this woman courageously say YES with everything they had and we stood in agreement and echoed from our hearts, yes, so be it, Lord.
You had already gathered the familia around your table a month earlier and we’d spoken blessing and prayed over you, then, for this movement-to-be. But the barn night, it was a night of nights, as we all watched you emerge, your voices blended, such power pulled from deep places of humility. You could practically hear a thunderous “This is my beloved Dave and Tara, in whom I am well-pleased.”
It was one of the most amazing and powerful nights I’ll live, I guess. I was so honored to get to be there, watching, pondering, treasuring the beauty of God’s call on you both, as one. So grateful I got to witness the birth of something of this magnitude, so full of favor.
Philippians 1:3-6 – “I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers…I always pray with joy…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
3// Then there was this festival we did together.
Man, those years meant so very much to me. In case I ever forgot to tell you or if time and circumstance has obscured the telling, thank-you for letting me be a part. I mean – God gave me something to share there, but how many men would be brave enough to let their mother-in-law be that close, anyway?
I love how God prepared me ahead of time {I still love the memory of the surprise of it} and you had the discernment to recognize and receive that and welcome me there. I will ever be grateful for that. It was the time of my life.
A blessing for you as we celebrate your life and look ahead this year…
And now, let me bless you and pray over you a little and impart some things I want you to remember. Is that ok? Let me assure you: I have asked God to edit me and I promise to do my best on letting Him! ;)
“Dave, may the Lord bless and KEEP you. May He make His face SHINE upon you and BE GRACIOUS to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you PEACE.” (Numbers 6:24-26).
I bless your life, David Michael Powers. I bless the days He has planned for you and I thank God we get to be included in your fascinating so-many-cool-things-to-come story. How very wonderful for us! I bless the days we have known you so far {of course I do!} and all the ones we have left! You were uniquely crafted and specifically designed for God’s great purposes in these particular days on the earth. And to be in our familia. Now that is the coolest part!
I know God rejoiced when He was fashioning you in the secret place, and could not wait to celebrate and boast when you were born. Your parents both beam with delight when they are around you. I know they are soaking in the love of God in you, on you and through you! So I bless you to know {really know} the height, depth and breadth of His intense love for you – not for what you do or have done {as fantastic as it all is and will be}, but for who you are, as a man in his image and after His heart.
I bless your marriage to my lovely Tara-girl. She is the best thing I could ever give you. And we did so gladly present her to you at the front of that church as the setting sunbeams blazed through stained-glass windows but couldn’t hope to match the bright light of love passing between the two of you! There was not hesitation on our part in seeing her be joined to you, become one with you.
We raised Tara to be your wife, to love you, to walk in covenant with you. And we stood as witnesses that day to your marriage union and so we continue now to bless and pray protection over your marriage. We recognize what God has joined together and we pray that you are ever increased in love and oneness and laughter and mystery and discovery and romance and passion and friendship and rest. I pray that the wife of your youth will bring you joy and delight all the days of your life.
I bless you as a dad to the two magnificent grandsons you brought into my life {and God bless Hunter and Malakai!}. I pray that if there is any special grace or anointing or gift or heavenly blessing on my family of origin or me, that it be poured out on you and Tara and that through you it would be generationally passed on to Hunter-Magoo and Kai-Kai. Just the good stuff, though! :)
May each of your beautiful boys provide the opportunity for you to impart and teach and discipline and love and advise and find understanding about God’s heart towards you. And I pray you’ll have the wisdom to know how to bring them up, individually, to become the men God created them to be and that your ministry in your household will remain foremost in your heart.
And is it ok to say I am praying for increase and another blessed bundle of sweetness for you, too? Well, I am. Please do not refuse the gift of God in this area, and in fact: work for it! ;)
Worship. I bless your song, your music, your worship. I bless the psalmist in you that brings pleasure to the Father and Peace into the room. Your song opens many doors to many rooms and the song of the Lord, well, it is enemy-defeating, battle-winning treasure.
Word. I bless your leadership and pray you’ll be bold and humble and settled. I pray you’ll complete the things God started in you and through you. You have influence through your words of understanding. I remember seeing a glimpse in February 2003 and saying, “One day I’ll say ‘I knew him when..'” These are those days and I bless the work of your hands, the words of your mouth, and I pray that all the things you do and say in His name will bring God all the glory.
Movement. I bless you as a man of God, a man’s man, strong enough to be gentle. You have everything you need for the next step, the next rooms, everything. Hebrews 13:20-21 – “May the God of peace…equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Finally ~ May you live securely and have full supply (full!). And may you be filled with the measure of all the fullness of God (can you even fathom what that will look like?). I pray your joy is full as you walk the steps God has ordered for you, that you are satisfied and content. But also challenged and surprised!
I pray these things with abandon, I bless you with all I have which is so limited, but also by all He is and all His promises, which are so limitless.
2 Timothy 2:1 – “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
And the birthday guy sings…
He’s one of my all-time favorites. Ever!
I started cautiously liking you from the time we met (May 2002, Could he be for real, I wondered?). Then, very quickly, my admiration grew and I loved you deeply. I still do and my heart is very tender towards you. Always will be. On the occasion of the celebration of your birth {Happy Birthday!}, just wanted to say so. {mom}
So, this may be the latest I have ever been in posting a birthday blog, but the added days have only made me ever more grateful for you, the day you were born and all the days since…
I know, I know – I am always reminiscing about the days you kiddos were born and how those sacred, over-the-top-amazing moments changed my life forever. Maybe I see them through rose-colored glasses, but your arrivals were, to me, so monumental, so divinely, lightening-bolt powerful. Well, I mean they were like day six in the garden of Eden, the day God made man in His image. That’s a pretty big deal, I’d say.
And you own June, Tre-Tre. You own June days and purple irises and rose bushes in full bloom. You are the sound of cheering at church ball games and yellow layettes and a handmade diaper bag in dotted-swiss, Easter green, embroidered by Grandma with love. You are a hot summer and a headful of black hair with big, lacy barrettes that had plenty to hang on to. You are the baby girl who arrived to two of the sweetest, giggliest big sisters who mentioned you in their nightly prayers, calling you Twe-dessa-Christina (even though it should have been Tredessa Christine).
You were born in to love, a mommy and daddy who were still newlyweds, madly in love with each other and church life and our three little girls and afternoons splashing in the backyard wading pool while the radio played, “Never gonna let you go...”
You just slipped in unobtrusively and cuddled into a little corner of our lives and hearts and then we were 5, our little tribe. And 1983 is so special in my heart for your arrival. And June became a month I revere and romanticize for your birth. And you, my little mystery, were heaven-sent, without a doubt.
Happy Birthday to Tredessa Christine, my 3rd baby and the centerpiece of the little Rhoades familia.
Hey, Dessy-Pooh, you are an extraordinary woman, you are! I am still thanking God He sent you to us, He formed you and fashioned you in very interesting and distinct ways. You possess such strength, such deep-rooted fortitude, I’d put money on you over a tornado any day. Best of luck to the winds and waves that try to defy you, one who so deeply understands her place in God’s heart. They’d just as soon die down and whimper away than try to quench the fiery wall that is Dessa. Seriously.
Intrigue and espionage, power and war
You, my sweet (hasn’t the whole family always known?), could run America with your brain and mighty valorous heart, the wisdom of God and your anointed insight! The FBI or the CIA would be in good hands with you at the helm, if you decided against a bid for the White House, that is. :) I leave nothing outside the realm of possibility, for you, an Esther, a Rebekah, a Deborah, for sure – you are a viable leadership option for the healing of this nation in the hands of God. I for sure BELIVE that! Now if you can somehow miraculously do it without becoming a politician…
But that is the thing. You could and you will do amazing things in your life (because you have already started and accomplished so much), but your strength is that you are willing and always content to wait on God’s timing in your life, for your life. So few of us have mastered that or want to. The vision that speaks of the end (Habakkuk 2.3): Give it to me now, we demand. But not you, Dessy, you wait with a twinkle in your eye, a knowing in your heart, a calm spirit and determination in your step.
“For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Hab. 2.2-3
And you have a wisdom beyond your years and haven’t you used it to challenge my imprisonments, to bring enlightenment and yes, even some correction to your ol’ momma? You have. I will answer that for you, you little booger.;)And I take it from you.
But what else could I do from a daughter who has repeatedly, intentionally received the counsel of her mom and chosen to accept all God had for her through even me for her own life? I love that you know we were paired by God on purpose and that you have searched for the treasure in it, even when it has been hard to find at times! I appreciate you giving me credit for many of your wonderful attributes even though I know you far surpass me in most everything you put your hand to…perhaps just – everything!
I love that you still look for the things you can learn from me and call for baby advice when, like your sisters, you are a completely incredible mommy, so much smarter and better equipped at it than I ever was, but still, you ask me, “What did you do when...” and “How did you handle..?” And the years roll back – back – back and I am in 1983 again and just so grateful to God for the blessing of you that June day you were presented to me from Creator and for the blessing of you now.
So, let me speak this blessing and prayer over you as we celebrate the day you came and the life you are leading, woman of God, devoted daughter, admirable human being:
God make you righteous and strong and able. May your Creator deal with you as He does with the Daughter of Zion in His Word. His patience and loving care for His people is sure and He considers it an affront to Himself when the enemy threatens His royal offspring. And so I remind Him daily to guard and protect you the same way.
May God bless you and watch over you and keep you.
I pray that not only will He see you and notice you and hear you, but that you will know He does. I pray that not only will He hear your prayers and hear your heart’s cry and answer you in days of trouble, but that you will never forget to call out to Him.
You are quiet and not given to voicing every little thing, but at the faintest whisper from your lips, I pray God is watching and will attend to you, as He promised. May He bless you, spirit, soul, body, in fruitfulness, mothering, love and marriage, may He bless you.
I pray that you will prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. I bless you on the occasion of the celebration of your birth and life with the blessing of God and His watchfulness over you.
May God shine His face toward you and show you favor and great grace.
I know your light and life make God smile. They make me smile. So, I pray that the warmth and power of His outrageous love for you and Ryan and Evangeline and all the little Faalands-to-come will just radiate like fire in you, through you, around you and for you.
Write words that will change everything, Dess. Soak in the Word of God for all you’re worth and love it and live it and stand on it for your home and marriage and life and mommying and calling and walk worthy because you are {in Him}. Bring order to chaos, spread numbers on sheets and make accounts whole and holy (those things you do so very well) . Speak out what God tells you because your words bring life to the lifeless, hope to the hopeless, and courage for the battle.
May God be favorably disposed towards you, and may He grant you peace.
I pray God just face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball gives you His absolute approval and you have the courage and grace to just receive it and soak it in. So that all those dreams you and Ryan have – dreaming of ways you can support the things of the Kingdom, all the plans and aspirations that are bubbling up in both of you to change the world and make a place for the Presence – may you be courageous and bold and strong and take hold of them.
{Remember the little girl whose favorite worship song for many years was “Be bold, be strong, for the Lord thy God is with you! I am not afraid, I am not dismayed, for I’m walking in faith and victory, yes…”? I do! I believe her battle cry took root!}
And may you live in peace, peace with God and with man and may your household be a place of rest and joy, refreshment and grace.
Beloved daughter, treasured friend~
I couldn’t have dreamed you up. You are beyond anything I could have asked for or even thought a daughter should be. You have been a delight since I first laid eyes on you in Kokomo 31 years ago. You’re a peacemaker, a thoughtful friend and an honoring daughter. May you receive and reap the full benefit of all you have given and sown to be so. I love you truly, madly, deeply, my darling daughter, my girl-child. {With love from your oh-so-thankful mom}
Gavin turned 11. He also just got his 6th grade schedule, a different teacher for each subject – a middle-schooler. He has this big, authentic smile, a shock of the most amazing red hair, a sprinkling of freckles and an emerging sense of humor. He erupts into giggles over things I didn’t know he would get and it doubles my joy, triples my fun, quadruples my absolute love for him, this all-American boy.
He was my first grandbebe, my first oh-good-grief-I-am-undone feeling. I never thought I’d be one of “those” grandmothers – effusing and gushing, feverishly, wild-eyed in-love with some small child not even my own.
I mean – I loved my little munchkins, the five children I birthed. I thought they were just unusually talented and amazing and they brought Dave and I so much joy. Then they grew up and they became the people I most admire in this world. But I wasn’t really mentally expecting grandparenting to be that big of a deal.
But then Gavin arrived and – GEEZ-LOUISE!!! He was breathtaking. He was astonishingly beautiful (well, he has beautiful parents, so…), a magnificent tiny being, so impressively smart from the start and his smiles thrilling beyond belief. He .changed. everything . with his bright eyes and full-of-wonder curiosity. He really did. He altered my identity by adding this whole new generational dimension and infused our familia with new wonder and excitement.
The Harry Potter I made for him for his 11th birthday
Gavin-L-K // YOU are amazing!
So, of course, I MUST bless your life and thank God for you. I must tell you that I speak words of blessing over you and I speak kindness and good wishes over your life because I love you deeply and want it to go well with you. I want you blessed in the city and in the country and I want all you put your hands to and all the things you attempt to do and to be to prosper and be over-the-top successful.
I pray for you to be strong, not just physically, but in your heart and mind and to be a young man of courage and conviction – to stand up for holy things and protect people around you who can’t protect themselves. I pray you will right wrongs and be a generous giver to people in need.
So I share this scripture with you on the occasion of your 11th birthday and I like it because it was originally delivered to a regular man named Gideon who was just working hard threshing some wheat in a winepress. I am not sure what that means exactly, but I know God’s people were in trouble and they needed a leader, a Judge – some one to help them battle out of the oppression they were living in, some one to answer their cries for help. And here was Gideon just doing what was right, day in and day out. And because Gideon was faithful when no one was watching (except God), He chose Gideon to lead the armies, to save His people.
I can see you as a Gideon…And so the angel appeared with God’s message to Gideon, and I speak it to you, over you,
“The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” Judges 6.13
Really, Gavin, you can do anything. You will be amazing in your life. The sky is the limit, my Gav – if love is the fuel that powers your plane, then between God and your parents and your Gramps and me, your plane will fly to infinity and beyond and never come down.
He loves to garden and eat tomatoes as much as me. The kid is a genius, I tell you!
I cannot remember life before you-
In all the world, no matter what happens, my heart for you will always and ever be partially, at least, pinned to your sleeve, hanging on for dear life – never letting you go. I am so pleased with the person you are, so proud of the young man you are becoming, so excited to know the blessing of God on you because you are such a parent-honoring kid! I just think you’re pretty cool.
Hoping all your wishes come true on your 11th birthday and the whole year through! I love YOU! {nonna}
NOTE: All photos by his mom, whose beautiful work can be seen at MayDae.com
Oh, Stephanie, Happy Birthday…I am thinking of the day you came and all the days you have changed our lives…
I was browsing through your baby book and 1st year calendar, neither of which I kept well at all, I am sad to say. But I saw enough to stir intoxicating memories of really treasured times in the early 80s with a little girl who won my heart as I reached through the small opening in your “incubator” and you wrapped your tiny fingers around my pinky.
Everything about your impending birth, from the life-and-church filled, busy days leading up to your almost 6-week early arrival to the months that followed were just amazing light-filled, Technicolor, fun, happy, frazzled and most cherished days.
You were born to one big sister and some young, energetic, wildly-in-love parents who were over the moon about every single part of the pregnancy and expectancy of you. Our Thursday night birth classes were highly romantic date nights to us. We’d drive home in a buzz, planning and dreaming, the radio playing Chicago or Air Supply!
It’s odd to think that when you were born, boy or girl? was still a surprise! That, coupled with your early arrival {which was a real surprise}, left us pretty unprepared for what was happening. We thought maybe we’d have a boy and name you after your dad, or maybe name you Christopher Michael, or Tristan (yes, “Tristan” was a name on the short list).
So when the administrator came to ask your name, we were a bit befuddled. We hadn’t much time to choose and so your name came, heaven-sent, I think now.
So it was Stephanie (“crowned one,” “victorious crown,” “crowned in victory”). Stephanie May (for the merry-merry month in which you so delightfully arrived). And from that moment, we were a household of children, multiples of babies and little girls and dolls and stuffed animals and chatter {oh, the chatter} and heart-warming conversations. You started a party, you and your sister, that was so much fun we could barely call a halt.
But you were so tiny, your lungs undeveloped…
And when I was too stupid to even understand how very grave the situation surrounding your entry was, when I should have insisted on going to Indianapolis in the life-ambulance with you back in the days before they knew what damage might be caused by ripping a baby from her mommy minutes after birth and saying, “Stay put,” I am so glad God gave you to me and kept you safe.
I am so grateful there was no distance ever in my heart from my tiny, tiny girl-baby, with me at Howard Community in Kokomo, you at James Whitcomb Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. I promise you, Stephie, I got there as fast as I could. My heart was beating with yours, my love never once let you go. There was much we didn’t know back then, but I know God went with you and He held you until I could.
It was years before I realized, after reading preemie studies, that as much as my empty arms were missing you in those first hours and days, as much as my longing was breaking my heart, you had to be wondering where I’d gone, too – the sound of my heart and my blood pulsing nearby… I am so glad they understand these things better now.
But you were always passionately burned into my heart and soul. I fought my first bloody battle with the enemy for you. For this child I prayed… I hope your tiny little center-of-being somehow knew it was so.
It was all a whirlwind after that. God healed your lungs – poof – breath of life into them. You thrived, you developed, you healed so quickly it surprised the medical teams. But no wonder there: you were anticipated, received, welcomed, adored, sung to, kissed, snuggled and loved, all 4 pounds, 8 ounces of the baby we brought home just 12 days after being told it would be “months.” Like a movie scene going fast forward on the DVR, I remember a wisp of a baby girl in a yellow carrier/car seat (so dangerous by todays standards I can’t even find a picture of one on Google). I can see a very small baby girl whose eyes would search the room, taking in details, cheeks full and kissable. A little night owl she was, from her earliest days. Like her daddy.
Mixed up days and nights, tiny appetite, staying tiny, wearing doll dresses…
The baby girl “catches” up to growth statistics at one and becomes a toddler in a teal-blue Martha Miniature dress, and at once her humor is notable, her conversations with Sunday School teachers get replayed for the awwwww-factor.
She giggles and sings. Oh my goodness, the singing! She falls asleep with a song and wakes up in melody…
Her hair, like silk, grows thick and shiny, her rosy cheeks and pink lips the stuff Hollywood pays big money to obtain. Laughter and utter hilarity reign nightly in the yellow room of three sisters on Armstrong Street. She chases and teases her big sister. Soon she is leading younger siblings about, teaching them everything she knows (which is a lot).
And there is a gentleness behind her eyes, a knowing, something deep taking place in the middle of a big, noisy familia.
She goes to school and becomes a thoughtful friend, a bright student, a girl who cares for issues and the earth and animals and other’s hearts and feelings. People comment, “Stephanie is special,” I swell inside. “Stephanie is a rainbow, a multi-faceted, colorful girl.” “Oh, look at her,” I often heard when sharing photographs, “she is just beautiful.”
Years speed by and she is smack-dab in the middle of silliness and mayhem, but also close and soft-hearted {mystically sweet}, a hand-holder.
Her hair gets curly at puberty, just like her mommie’s did and her humor becomes sharper, her wit more keenly developed. And while traditional, public school methods (not to mention home school) could not capture her brightest shine or contain her unique genius, it also could not dull the quantum creativity, the kaleidoscope of sparkling treasure and color emanating from her brilliant, astute and observant mind.
Girl becomes beauty becomes alluring becomes woman becomes Tristan’s fascinating wife and then a mommy herself.
And even still, Stephanie {my second-born and much-beloved daughter}, so accomplished and courageous, so influential and efficacious, stands at the youthful brink, just hitting her stride, just beginning to be all and do all she will, all for which she was created and healed to be and do.
Because the breath of life is so wholly, fully strong in her, the healing so complete – she will create Gardens of Edens, and place brilliant stars in night skies and build cities of ideas with long-awaited answers to mysteries. She will and she has and she is, already.
Oh my goodness, Stephanie. You are an amazing spring of crystal clarity and rich depth mixed with unstoppable determination. I sensed from the time you were very small that you thought deeply and felt keenly and understood beyond your years. You’re surely one of the smartest, most intelligent people I have ever met.
And so I bless you, I bless your life…
I recognize and publicly receive the full beauty of God’s work in you, in your heart and life and teaching and leading and creating and informing and helping people. You were formed perfectly with great purpose and I just concur with the God of the Universe that what He has seen and planned and prepared for you is good and far-reaching. I recognize His iconoclastic call on you (to change the landscape for the better), His stamp of extreme approval and His delight in you and I thank Him for trusting me to be your mommy, then your mom, then a woman who admires and loves you deeply.
Like anyone else who is ever near you for even the shortest time, I have learned so much from you, received your grace and forgiveness so many times and been the joyful recipient of your humor and creativity, your thoughtful gifts {you’ve been especially gifted to give good gifts} and wealth of insight and knowledge on the world in general. I am so grateful to get to be near these things.
And so I bless you back and pray that all you have given comes back to you by the armfuls. I pray that the result of you helping hundreds, if not thousands of people toward renewed health returns to you in supernatural vitality and God-given strength (May the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead quicken and strengthen your mortal body, just as it did when you were born). I pray increased love and joy in your heart, total peace and all the wisdom you need, when you need it. I pray you’ll prosper and find success in every area you put your hand to and continued favor from the God who sees.
Of all the things I ever gotten to be part of, of all the days God planned for me, of all the people in the universe to get to know, getting to be your mommy and know you now are the best things I can think of, more than I ever would have hoped or dreamed.
“you’re my first born child, and the person who first showed me the miracle of this love a mother has for her child. ” ~Elizabeth Noble, Things I Want My Daughters to Know
EldeenAnnette.com
I know where I was at this exact minute, on this day in history in 1979. I know how I spent the day. I remember everything leading up to its’ culmination at 7:16 pm from my waking thought at exactly 5:55 am, just before the alarm would go off.
What was that? Am I in labor? Eyes widen, fully awake!
Thirty-five years ago at this exact time, I was being born.Me – this mother, now grandmother part of me was laboring to be, to become. I was shedding the skin of childhood and girlishness and self-focus and passing through the purifying pain of labor and delivery. I was walking a pathway to an unknown and unknowable destination. I was giddy and excited, scared and alone. I trembled with each deep, slow breath.
A girl woke up alone at 5:55 am, pregnant, filled with life {potential}. At 7:16 pm, she was born – a mommy, a full-grown woman. They placed this perfectly round-shaped, blond-fuzzy-headed baby girl into her arms, the fruit of her labors, a tiny baby girl was born {potential}, too. Now they were two.
“when — naked, soaked in sweat and blood, and a heart thumping from a marathon — you are squeezing onto your bosom ‘the whole universe wrapped in harmony with your soul’ and realize that this is the tiny body of your own baby. Mytyr, Mana, Mater, Muter, Madre, Mother, Mamma, you are the circle of life; heaven and earth pass through you.” (Eleftheria Mantzouka)
Yes. Today is Tara’s birthday.
Thirty-five years she has walked this earth, which is hard to believe when you look at her, overwhelmingly stunning, her spontaneous smiles so youthful, so nineteen! It’s the celebration of Tara, it’s her birthday! Her arrival changed everything! The entire course of my existence was altered right there on the spot. This is a bit of her story, her glorious entry, as I recall it.
When I’d arrived at the hospital, just 30 minutes before she was born, I was {quite unknowingly} in deep, transitional labor, my entire focus on cooperating, breathing, bringing my baby forth. I asked the ER attendant to wait before wheeling me upstairs.
“Oh honey. You’re never gonna make it, ” the sassy girl said. “You’re going to be in labor for at least 20 hours and if you’re acting like this now, you’re never going to make it.”
I had never wanted to hit some one so badly in my life (transition!), but I was on a mission to birth a baby. I closed my eyes to shut her pointless babble out and breathed, {inhale} in through my nose, slowly, to maintain some control, {exhale} out through my trembling lips.
She rolled me onto the elevator and her negativity became a drone, the sound of the “adults” on Peanuts cartoon specials, like unseen teachers talking to Charlie Brown, “Wah-wah-wah-WAH-wah-wahhh.”
Could she not see that I was bringing forth perfection – and soon?
In their defense, apparently hospitals work with first-time moms who freak a little too soon in the game, but I’d been laboring, working hard for this since 5:55 am.
I was wheeled into the laboring room at about 6:50-something, given one of those magnificent gowns to don and left to my devices. I swayed, I breathed, I called this baby (boy? girl – my secret dream?) forth. I braced myself for 20 hours of this hard work, my reasonable service.
When nurses returned a few minutes later, they were surprised to find that my royal child, this gift of God, was ‘crowning.”
MayDae.com
Tara was born.
“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”
She was born at 7:16 pm, just about a half hour after we’d pulled up to the hospital doors and no one there really had anything to do with it. It was me, my baby and the God of the Universe. The Creator – He was there, having just applied the finishing touches on a life so uniquely formed and perfect, His own (full and complete) delight splashed all over her, perfuming the air with His very Presence, His absolute love. I inhaled the scent of the heavenlies from the top of her tiny head.
Alone with my baby a little later in a dimly lit room, this exquisite girl-child and me, she slowly opened and closed fawn-shaped eyes. The holiness of the moment, of the realization of the redemptive work of God and His total love lie swaddled securely in my arms, as irrefutable proof of Him. He was here – He was with me, for me. Proof!
Tara was a gift to me from God Himself. To me.
I’d awoken a girl, filled with questions and wonder and trepidations. I was going to sleep, having been ushered through the courtyards of the Lord, arms and heart filled, into motherhood. A daughter!
I am ashamed to admit I still sometimes struggle to truly, really, wholly trust God. That is terrible. Especially because He has actually completely shown His trust in me – 5 times!
Do I even need to tell you that a gift from God is good? That He gives beauty for ashes, a garment of praise instead of a spirit if despair? Do I need to remind you? And He sent the healing oil of joy for mourning. Our good friend once called Tara, “Liquid joy.” And it’s true, because oil is poured out and nothing it touches is ever the same.
The enemy tried to take her from me once {from God’s great plan for her life}, but the full-force of heaven stood with a mom, born that day, May 9, 1979, who said, “Give. my daughter. back!” And what could hell do but whimper sheepishly away?
MayDae.com
So, Happy Birthday, Tara, and happy {joyful} day you made me a mom
You have grown up to become a compassionate, loving woman. People are drawn to your smile, your sincerity, and your gentleness powered by strength. You are a star in the darkest of nights and a voice for your generation. You’re a wonderful mommy, the fun-nest kind and such a devoted wife. Your house, all interesting and textural and colorful and serene absolutely looks like you. The lyrics are in you, the melody pours forth sweetly, and you, my most darling and beloved first-born, are such treasure on the earth, let alone to me.
And baby girl, I can tell you this about God’s gift of you to me, for these words could not be truer in any situation,
“Now to Him Who, by the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).” Ephesians 3.20-21 Amp.
And so, as your momma, you need to understand how desperately I pray this for you. And how deeply I KNOW God is hearing you and your heart’s cry.
And because I witnessed your birth, felt you emerge straight from the hidden place where the Hands knitting you together delivered you into my arms and into your bright-light existence, because I understood His delight and joy in having created you and written your story, I KNOW He hears you now and that this same God, His power at work in you (in your heart, in your body, in your womb, in your reproductive system) is able and will carry out His purpose so far beyond anything you even dare to ask or think or imagine or wish or hope.
Beyond your highest and most powerful prayers or your wildest dreams, infinitely more than you may even have the courage to ask or think, God can do anything, anything.
It’s not too late, my Tara-girl. And I once fought hell over you. So believe me when I tell you, I am believing, petitioning, agonizing, asking, reminding and staying put before the throne for you, for your life, for your deepest, wildest dreams to come true. Because I was born that day, too. And this is what mommies do.
God has given you so much love in three adoring fellas. From you to them, from them to you. But you have more to give, more love, more joy. So sing, sing in the Spirit and with the understanding. I’m joining in your song {Tara’s song}. Let’s see what will happen. :)
