Happy Birthday, Diana

Where do the years go? Only yesterday it seems, I went to St. Francis Hospital barely in labor but very pregnant. At that time, we didn't have ultrasounds so I had no idea if I were pregnant with a girl or a boy. I just knew I was very pregnant with a baby that had been due on June 16 and that I was still carrying around on June 27. I had felt bad all day but around midnight, I felt like we should go on to the hospital to be checked out. Pretty soon after I arrived at the hospital, I was given an injection that knocked me "out like a light." I obviously went right out and was in labor but knew nothing of it. Diana was born at around 4:30 a.m. after a relatively short time in labor. At 9:30 a.m. the next morning (June 28, 1967) I awakened to the sound of someone cleaning my room. I opened my eyes at the same time I reached down with my hands to feel my tummy. I looked at the custodian and said, "have I had my baby and was it a boy or a girl?" She said, "I don't know but I"ll go find out." She came back in shortly and told me that the nurse would be bringing my baby to me in a few minutes. Around 9:45 a.m. on June 28, 2008, I met the love of my life. I'd never before had a feeling like I had when I first saw my first child. She was beautiful; she was screaming; she was mine. What a feeling of love and wonder when I first saw her.

Diana couldn't take warm milk...always took a bottle right out of the fridge. She never drank formula...always drank whole milk. She didn't have hair until she was 2 years old and when it did come in it was so white blonde that you still couldn't tell she had hair on her bald head. She loved her passy...gave it up when she threw it out the car window to a "big truck" the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and never took one again. She loved going to the golf course with her daddy and being pulled around the course in her red wagon while Don played 9 holes. She loved swinging and playing in the sand box. She loved her friends, Anne Marie and Christine, Happy and Sherwood, and Chet and Leigh Ann. She loved swimming and learned to swim by the time she turned 3 years old.

It thrills me to look at her now, the wife and mother she has become and I hope it's not too prideful to say I am proud of her. She loves her husband and is so supportive of him in his ministry. She loves her children as is evidenced by the fact that she's ALWAYS sitting on the 3rd baseline cheering them on. It is such a joy to see the woman she has become. I am so proud of you, Diana...proud to have you as a daughter. May God continue to bless you as a wife of a pastor and as a mother of Krissy and Drew. I don't know anybody who could do it better. I love you and hope you have a great birthday weekend.