Dessy, Dessa, Tre-Tre, Dessy-Pooh-Pie – all names for the exotic, dark haired beauty who arrived just days before a most lovely summer in 1983.  You were christened and accessorized in a  wardrobe of sunshine-yellow and an earlier, milder form of Jeanie-green to set you apart, I suppose, from the lots-of-pink we already had in the family.  You were baby-girl-number-three (thus, Tre) and I knew from the first moment I had alone with you, something very different, quite extraordinary and alluring lay there in my arms.  The eyes, even at birth, showed an intensity of spirit; yet there seemed to reside in you, even as a tiny bundle, a quiescent repose, a knowing restfulness.

Everything about you has proven these inklings to be so.  You excel in so much, baby-girl.  The time God spent knitting you together in my womb, was a favor I cannot hope to comprehend.  So lucky you are mine.

You were born to…

We were kids.  You arrived before our second anniversary.  Dad was playing church softball and I was involved in women’s ministeries and of course youth group with dad.  There were family walks and bicycles-around-the-block.  1106 S Armstrong in Kokomo, so much love and ice cream in the charcoal-colored house.  So much togetherness.  Garage sales with Miss Faye and dressing you so cute with intense colors because your hair and complexion were sufficient for them.  Playing in the pool in the backyard.  Hot summer days and sweet nights with our little family.  You arrived to happiness and love and gratefulnes that you came.

Words for your birthday

This is your “birthday card” from your mama who loves you and really couldn’t fit all the words I want to say in a whole album of photos of you.  Love you, sweet-pea.  I hope this birthday is the best you have ever had…yet.

Tredessa Rhoades on her birthday

PS to Ryan ~ Do you realize how blessed you are to see what you see?  To know her as you do?  You must be very special to God, indeed.  You have found treasure!

YOU made me a Nonna!  You were the first of all the grandbebes.  And you are oh-so-wonderful in every way.

You have brought me joy and happiness every single day of your life!!  How many people can really say that?

I think you are wonderful.  I love you with my whole heart.  You make me smile, over and over again.

You deserve LOTS of good things your whole life through and I pray that very thing for you – blessing!  xxxooo

I love you – yes, I do!  A  bushel and peck and a hug around the neck.  For almost your entire life, from such a young, young age, you’ve been a songstress, a singer, a psalmist.  You were the choreographing, twirling, flowing-fabric, scarf-dancing music track of the family ~ just skipping down the happy hallways of life.  Everything got a little more colorful and a little more ebullient when you came along.

Yes, I cropped Stormie (the other half of the trend-setting www.MayDae.com.  It Is not her birthday!  *smile

You were born to 

Heavy-with-flowers lilac bushes, your sister learning to wear “slip-slops” when she came to see you for the first time at the hospital,  purple irises lining established streets in Kokomo, a little charcoal gray house and a month with which you’re joined by name.   You were more than 5 weeks early and may have arrived because of a crazy carnival ride and took your first post-hospital nap atop an old pulpit in the corner of the fellowship hall while I taught a VBS class.  You were like a china doll, I was afraid to make noise.  We sewed and created and worked hard to prepare your space, we wanted everything to be just right –  and in that tiny pink and lace bassinet, you looked like a miniature. 

The rainbow-girl

God heals.  He is the Healer.  That is the blazing-across-the-skymessage of your life, Steph.  And the adversary gets no points in the battle for our baby girl.  With God’s blessing-kiss on the love between your dad and me, with your big sister praying to have a little sister all her own - you were sent.  But you know the enemy, he always tries to stop a miracle at its birth.  You live in the ranks of Moses, Jesus, even, with spiritual war- decrees against their very lives: Stop the miracle before it can begin to change the course of everything…

But God, who is faithful, healed you wholly and fully.  Breath.  That is what He gave you.  Unlike others who never had to struggle for air, you, like Adam, had to have a supernatural miracle of the very Ruach, the breath of God {the actual very Spirit of the Living God} breathed in to you.

And so, though I now see the miraculous in every day and can look back at the faithfulness of the One who created me and all the times He was saving me from myself and certain disaster, you were the very first miracle I ever really knew I needed.  And in the quiet, dark night following your birth, when your life hung precariously in a balance I didn’t even comprehend, when they’d taken you to James Whitcomb Riley Hospital in Indianapolis and you were not in my arms – I cried out for your life, and the Faithful One heard me and graciously granted my petition.

And though so much could have gone wrong, there could have been so many problems, later, He, by the driving force of His very breath in you, instilled so much color, so much texture and pattern and creativity and gifting and vivaciousness and animation.  His very Spirit filled your lungs and your heart and soul and personality and every rainbow has symbolized you since.

You are Rainbow Bear.  Always have been.  And it was confirmed by the laying on of hands more than once.  There is so much there.  May you always know in all things that you were created to declare in the heavenlies that God keeps His promise.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie.  I put some words together so you will know how & why I celebrate your birth and your life!

Happy Birthday, sweetie-pie.  With love from your momma

Oh happy day.  You make me happy when skies are gray.  And all sorts of fun songs about love and joy.  To you.  For your birthday today.  Am I supposed to mention that you are 32?  Because I won’t if I shouldn’t.  You should not hate it.  Think of me – your mother!!  If you are 32, then I am….

You were born to…

A novice, a clueless girl.  A May day.  The lilacs in full, fragrant glory.  The sunshine.  Green grass.  No money.  Uncertain times.  A God who loved you and was already smiling at your life.

Fixed in the Galaxy

When you were a teenager, everything was stars.  They were your “motif,” and all around you were oodles of doodles of stars and star design on your clothes and belongings and in presents you got.  And you were nicknamed “Shooting Stara” and it was cute.  But it was part of youth.  It was part of a past and you have become a claassic woman of dignity, beauty, strength and grace now.  Save, perhaps for when you are competing with great zeal on the kickball field or during a volleyball game.  Becoming wise and deeply steadfast, though, has not changed or diminished your easy laugh and happy nature.  No, it has only deepened it and made your personality even richer with joy-bringing treasure.

For your birthday, I think of the hallmarks of who you are and what you have always been known for.  For me, of course, a gift.  Thus the Barbra Streisand song, “The best Gift,” that Bill Tull and Mary Tiller sang for your dedication. 

“Liquid joy,” Lisa Bierer called you,for you are a glass-is-half-full, big-smile, cheerleading, enCOURAGing, exhorting kind of person.  Everybody in the room feels more loved and more happy when you have arrived.

At the Heaven Fest dinner Saturday night in Loveland

But then, there was the whole “star” phase.  And as I thought about you and all you are and everything you are becoming and how, youthful and lighthearted as you remain,  you embody even now the personality you did at 3 or 4 years of age.  And as a teen.  So, I could not forget the star part.

But what is different now, sweet daughter?  Now, you need to know, you are not a shootingstar, just a brilliant flash of passing dazzle and fancy against a dark sky.  You are a star hung steadfastly in the firmament declaring God’s glory.  I still see the star in you (S)TARa.  I see it.  But now, it is as Daniel 12.3 says:

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

You have the wisdom of some years now.  You are not just a pretty girl.  You are a ravishing woman.  And you are leading many to righteousness, like a cool drink of water on a hot, dusty day, by your life, by your example, by everything God created you to be and to do.  That has given you a fixed place in the universe to shine.  You shine, baby girl.  You shine.

Happy Birthday, Tara.  Here are my words, a few of them, to say I love you and I thank God for you.

Photo by Ellie Pickett, www.lilacphotography.com Taken last fall.  It is the no-make-up session

Actually, ALL photos by www.lilacphotography.com    Ellie is great!

Then we had her family party and I couldn’t resist sharing this:

The cakes.

The cake for the guests was a 2-tier (3 layers each),  A 12″ triple-chocolate, chocolate-chip cake with Oreo-chocolate-chip mousse filling.  The top tier, a 9″ confetti cake with fluffy-whipped butter-crème filling.  Covered in a few pounds of fondant.

The number “1″ cake was just for the birthday girl.  Buttercream on confetti.

Great, great joy:  The grandbebes are hearing some wonderful oldies via these videos I am making for them.  They are learning the words and singing along.  I LOVE it!  That is joy!

Hunter and some of his cousins a couple of months ago

Suddenly the “little guy” in turning in to a big kid.  He is smart as a whip and will talk your ear right off.  He is organized and meticulous and precise.  He saus what he means and means what he says!  And he cracks me up on purpose and quite by accident.  His favorite snack at my house?  A cup full of parmesan cheese and a spoon while he watches a movie. 

Hunter-the Movie

Here is a little project Hunter and I did a couple of days ago.  He was in a dancing mood, but not so much a talkng mood, but still…he is Hunter!

Dear Hunter-Magoo,  You KNOW I love you and miss you when you’re gone on your ministry travels, but I love that you are learning to love the world for Jesus!  Happy Birthday, Star Wars Boy!  Hugs and a million-ga-ZILLION kisses from your Nonna!

My blog is almost 4 years old.  This is the 1000th post.  But there are over 30 posts in my drafts folder waiting…just…waiting.

I started blogging 1409 days ago (11.29.06) a.k.a. three years, ten months and nine days ago.

Graphomaniacal.  In a word.  And if I could always sum things up in one word, there would not be this blog…with 1000 posts.

Oh, and as it happens, today is the one-year anniversary of the day I turned 50.  Or as some negative-Nellies like to call it: turning 51.  Sigh….

Aka – 18,628 days old.

Tre took the photo of me,  Stormie added me to the Sesame Street gang.  Some one else had posted the original pic and “1000″ sentiment and I swiped it from Google-images.  Makes me happy. ;p

The most recent change to the blog is a new HOME MOVIES page.

“I do not believe that…birth makes people sisters and brothers. It makes them siblings. Gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood are conditions people have to work at. It’s a serious matter. You compromise, you give, you take, you stand firm, and you’re relentless…And it is an investment. Sisterhood means if you happen to be in Burma and I happen to be in San Diego and I’m married to someone who is very jealous and you’re married to somebody who is very possessive, if you call me in the middle of the night, I have to come.”

-Maya Angelou

S I S T E R S ~ A song I adore!  Dedicated to Tamara Dawn Moslander Ayento!

BTW – I am definitely the Rosemary Clooney (blue eyes/Bing Crosby) of this scenario, and Tami is Vera Ellen (brown eyes/Danny Kaye). ;p

The Preacher’s Wife

My little sister (both little at barely 5 feet AND younger by 6 years), Tami Ayento, is a preacher’s wife.  They recently took a pastorate in the heart of Chicago, so the neighborhood reminds you of the movie by the same name starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington (The Preacher’s Wife, 1996).  I think it is cruel and unusual punishment that I got her when I was almost 6 and we shared a room for many years and then suddenly, we both marry and move thousands of miles apart.  She knows my faults, my secrets, the worst of me.  And has yet to disown me.  She is and will always be the sister of my family heritage, and the sister of my heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SQUAMPI-DOODLES {a.k.a. Tami Ayento}

Ageless Beauty walking gently upon the Narrow Path

She runs, she glides, she rests, she makes the journey her home

Eyes roam in search of hidden truths to hold, to grasp and adorn

In never-ending pursuit of the knowledge that evades the apathetic

A solid foundation rooted in love, she unites her family

Her green touch hails life in the dead garden, now fresh and new

With tasks at hand to nurture, to provide, to advise

She shifts in form to embody the need of the moment

Watch on, watch long, wholehearted devotion you will observe

She has an audience in me, I listen and absorb

May I sit beside you, Seasoned Wisdom, on the narrow path?

What will you share?  What must I know?  What knowledge do I lack?

Speak the words that breathe life in the graveyards of my being

Then, permit the Undeserving to leave you with a wish

Hold no more the woes from seasons Time has now retired

Ageless Beauty, age in grace, grow in love, lie down in peace.

From Tredessa Christine Rhoades, (a very wonderful daughter) in watercolor and ink, on the occasion of my 5oth birthday.  At this point in life, you enjoy being described as ageless and timeless.  *smile…

Happy Birthday, sweet girl and amazing mommy.  Happy Birthday to the one daughter God gave me who was not a moment of work for me: just a gift!  Happy Birthday to the wife of my son’s youth, the daughter-in-law, who like Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth in the Bible, is better to me than seven more sons could ever have been.  I am blessed among women.  I am blessed that you are mine by the choice my son made.

I am so pleased with you, Jovan, so proud of the young woman you are becoming.  I know God chose you from way back when for Rocky.  And though I did not give you birth, you are my beloved daughter.  I thank God for you and I am so glad He chose you for our family.  I love that you say you wanted to marry Rocky since you were 14.  I love that the long, winding road of life brought that to pass.  I love that the two have you have brought us Averi and soon her sibling.  You are a life-giver in our midst!

In thinking about your birthday, I got to remembering that about 23 years ago I was asked to join this sweet group of people (the band, Parousia) as a vocalist.  They played at Catholic masses, community events and on college campuses around Nebraska.  The the first song I did with them was by Wayne Watson and it got a lot of play.  Rocky was just a little guy at the time.  He was climbing walls and sliding down banisters and making life exciting.  And I was asked to sing this song frequently and I think the reason it was very well received was because when I’d sing it, I would purpose singing it over my own children and it was a prayer of my heart.  So, in a way, before I ever knew you existed, I was singing this song over you, too:

Somewhere in the world today
A little girl is going out to play
She’s all dressed up in mama’s clothes
At least the way that I suppose it goes
Somewhere in the world tonight
Before she reaches to turn out the light
She’ll be praying from a tender heart
A simple prayer that’s a work of art

And I don’t even know her name
But I’m praying for her just the same
That the Lord will write His name upon her heart
Cause somewhere in the course of this life
A little boy will need a godly wife
So hold on to Jesus, baby, wherever you are

And often I’d change the words the last time through:

Cause somewhere in the course of his life
My little boy will need a godly wife
So hold on to Jesus, baby, wherever you are

And Jovanie?  I know for sure that God heard that prayer and began even then to prepare you for our family, to get you ready to be one of us.  You were born to be a Rhoades, sweet girl, my daughter and my friend.  And I love you so much.

Jovan loves her sweets…and so does her daughter and her nieces and nephews (the five little monkeys)!

Twenty-three wishes for Jovan on her 23rd Birthday:

1. Look at the sun shining today!  It is for your birthday. It is so you can have a happy, happy day!
2. I wish for you to have a great pregnancy all the way until baby-number-two is born.  I hope these months will be full of fun and laughter and anticipation and your memories warm and happy of these days.  You are so cute pregnant, girl!
3. Enjoy crazy-romantic-love with your man.  These are baby-days and busy-days, but keep the fires burning.  May Rocky love you like a real man should and may you receive it with unabashed joy!
4. I wish for lots and lots of happy mommy-daughter times with Averi…Gilmore Girls reruns and Cinderella watching!
5. Jovanie, I pray for you to know Jesus in a closer way than you ever have.
6. Let this year be a year of discovery: finding out who God really created you to be and what He has really called you to.
7. I am wishing for a gazillion kids, but no multiple births, as you wish.  But you guys make beautiful babies!
8. May God enlrage your heart with an even greater capacity to love and be loved.
9. I am praying for deep relationships for you.  I am praying the connections and relationships you have, both friendships and family, will develop and grow and be life-giving and true.  And I pray God sends you many new friends and puts people in your path both to bless and be blessed by.
10. I wish sweet times of scrapbooking for you.  Those will be hard to come by right now, but I am going to wish for suprise pockets of time for it, anyway.  I know you love it.
11. My wish for you is to find your own beat and to be unapologetic about marching to it.
12. Jovan, I hope you will understand that you were called to us and will never be afraid to change us and impact us.  That is why you’re here!
13. I am believeing God for financial blessing.  They always say you can’t get rich in ministry, but the Lord is your Provider and you guys are rich, but I pray for sufficient funds for planning for the future and raising your family.
14. I want you to get the house you want, too!
15. May your creativity continue to blossom and sprinkle color and light and life on everything you touch as you create home and memories for your little family.
16. I wish for those traveling adventures that you and Rocky love so much to happen a lot over the next year.
17. I also wish for special days, holidays, holy days and romantic nights to be festive and memorable.
18. I pray you’ll find the ministry you were born to do and that the ministry things you and Rocky were created to do together will be fulfilling and sweet.
19. Girl, let me hang with your babies so you can go out without a diaper bag sometimes!  Shop.  Or whatever you want.  I love Averi!  Can’t wait for the new little bundle!
20. Happy Birthday, Jovanie.  May there be great and growing  joy-of-the-Lord in your heart.  It will be your strength!
21. I am wishing for long nights of sleep, and happy days of rejuvenating living for you.
22. I am praying for the enemy to have to flee as the perfect love of the Lord drives out all fear and trepidation in your life.  You are strong, Jovanie, in the Lord.   Don’t be afraid.
23. And? May heaven hear and answer your prayers as you call out to the God who loves you greatly.  You have His ear, my sweet.  He is attentive to your heart’s cries.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Jovan.  You know I love you, right?…Mom (Jeanie)

Chicken and dumplings at Jovan’s family party, her request.  Stef and Gemma, 2 pinkies in the pink and white decor; the pumpkin spice cake with 23 candles.

NOTE TO SELF:  Me.  Jovan.  Creating our legacy books with scissors-in-hand, tape and glue and piles and piles of photographs.

About the party from Facebook:

Tara Powers Status Update:  Truth or Dare for Jio’s bday tonight [using Rocky's I-Pod Touch]. Outcome=Rocky tasting soap, Dessa talking for 3 minutes straight, Steph trying to tell each person one good and one bad thing about themselves {editor’s note: she kinda chickened out – it was her great chance in life to really get us all and she couldn’t do it!}, Tristan speaking with an Italian accent, Jovan describing her first kiss with Rocky, Stormie wearing items from everyone, Mom acting out… Lion King, Me NOT sitting on Rocky’s lap, and Dave telling everyone who he would marry in the room..ME=)

Stephanie Rhoades Kelley: You forgot the best part – when Tristan HAD to kiss me – thank you Lord that I was sitting on his right and not someone else!  *smile…