Olivia's birthday

Tomorrow is Olivia's birthday...My firstborn. What a precious sweet gift she has been to me!! She was the perfect first child, the kind to make you want more. I thought she was the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen. People would stop us in the mall to look at her.

I cannot fathom where the time has gone...19 years. She's no longer a baby but a young woman in college who will be going to China one day to fulfill the call of God on her life, the call she's known since she was 12. I wish her dad were here to see the awesome person she's become. He'd be so proud. I know I am!!
 

Happy birthday, Olivia!!! I love you so much!!

My friends

I love my friends. They make me laugh. There have been times I don't think I would have made it without them.

My friend, Shelly, was my college roommate. She was the one who introduced me to my husband. She was the one who was with me when he died. I remember her telling me the day after he died, "I feel like I've failed you as your friend. I wish I could have helped prepare you for this." I looked at her and said, "How could you have done that?" "I don't know." We laughed. She helped me be able to laugh at a time all I wanted to do was cry. She continues to make me laugh.

There's Renee, my sister. We've always been close. The older we get, the closer we seem to be. She's a second mother to my girls. She's the one who understands the dysfunction that is our family!!

Diane is the one who speaks her mind. She's bold and passionate. She pushes me to be all God created me to be.

Girlfriends...Thank you, God, for the ones You've placed in my life!! I don't know what I'd do without them!!