Tag Archives: stephanie kelley

A Prayer for My Grown Children

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A prayer for my 5 grown children

This is from an email I sent them in 2012. Tara, Stephanie, Tredessa, Rocky & Stormie… 

the rhoades kids

May you each {within your own homes and families, now} live full and exciting lives, marked by sheer delight and pure joy, along with the surging Holy-Spirit-strength that comes from that!  And I pray you will have many good conversations with the people who matter the most and will enjoy experiences and memories that warm your heart at the end of each day along the way.

I pray that you will be blessed with work, the life-giving kind of service and labor that comes from knowing you are doing the good things God actually created you to do way before anyone else even knew there would be a you (see Ephesians 2.10). I speak grace to you, over your lives. I shake heaven’s gates praying you will have the grace to be everything God created you to be and the grace to accomplish everything He created you to accomplish!

I pray you will press in to know the One who loves you most (Hosea 6.3), and that you will zealously, and with consecrated energy, live for the praise of His glory! I urge you to break off the chains of the quotidian existence sometimes imposed by the times and our culture in its’ pursuit of amassing things, gaining impressive status or careers with fancy titles.  And  I pray and declare that you’ll live, really live, in the hope for which God has called you.

Make every effort to enter into the rest of God (Hebrews 4.11), my sweets. Jesus paid it all, so don’t bother trying to earn your place in Him. He has got you covered.

Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost – that is Kingdom of God, the doors-wide-open welcoming House of the Lord. This is where we live, in the Household of Faith. There is bread in His house, you’ll never lack for His provision. Come, eat, my beloved children. Don’t go hungry when the feast has been spread.

I pray you’ll sleep sweetly through all your nights (Proverbs 3.24) under the moon and stars hung by your loving Father, having lived your days without regret and shame. And I pray you’ll drop into bed in sheer exhaustion, but that it will always be that “good kind of tired.”

I never even hoped to dream I’d have children like you. You were made for me. And I was made for you. I love you all very much and am wholly honored that God chose me to be your mom. And I am, you know…And I pray for you!

These are not just a random selection of nice thoughts for these who came from me. They are actually dedicated, targeted prayers for wholeness (and healing, too as it is needed) for a few of my weak areas – places where I may have (probably) failed them. Thank God He can redeem and restore and His grace is greater!

Wheels of Love Go ‘Round*

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Mi Familia…

Happy 57th Anniversary, Mom and Dad

Wheels of love go ’round
Love go ’round
Love go ’round
A joyful sound*

ross and norma moslander august 2014

Ross and Norma Moslander (also known as my mamala and pappasan), married August 24, 1957. They are my parents, the two people I adore and most admire in the universe. Like most kids, I suppose, there were so many things I was going to do differently as a parent. Then I didn’t. Or I did and found out their way was better, anyway. They are both amazing and flawed, both extraordinary and just plain human. But their trajectory has always been headed towards heaven, walking with Jesus, being guided by the Holy Spirit and the closer they get to their goal, the more perfect they become.

My mom thanks me each Mother’s Day and on my birthday for making her a mommy – everything she had ever wanted. I love them! And I’m so blessed to have them as mine!

He ain’t got a penny 
For Cotton Jenny to spend
But then
Wheels go ’round*

Another grandbebe is on the way!

eva 8 months plus sibling announcement

That’s right: you heard me. GRANDbebe #10 is due at the end of February 2015. He or she will be Tredessa and Ryan’s second child. Eight-month-old, Evangeline Lilly made the announcement at church wearing a shirt that said, “Only Child, expires February 2015.”

eva's announcement 1

Singing through the Decades

Tara (my firstborn) and her husband Dave are back with a concert follow-up to the wildly successful, sold-out show they did for Valentine’s Day at the Mad Cap Theater in Westminster.

This concert is called Decades, where, rumor has it, they will sing some of the best love songs from various , you guessed it, decades in the past. They are pulling out some of my favorites and I don’t know if I am suppose to tell, but one is a very sexy version of “Let’s Stay Together,” and **maybe-maybe-maybe** even “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” one of my mom’s all-time fav songs (she wants me to make a video of pictures of my dad and add that song as a soundtrack – how cute is that???).

dave and tara powers decades concert poster

Anyway – the concert is at the historic Armory Center for Performing Arts up north and you can get tickets at  dtp.eventbrite.com. It WILL be sold out, so buy early. I get a pass ‘cuz I am their mom! :)

Rocky @Rez.org & other places

rocky rhoades big tent revival

Rocky just started a new phase of life and ministry at Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland. He’ll be leading worship a couple of weekends a month and engineering sound in a super-cool exposed brick office with a full-blown recording set-up. He is a little bit in heaven.

He just got back from The Big Tent Revival in Butte, MT where he led worship and just a day before  that from a Rez trip to Lake Providence, Louisiana where they were raising money for a ball field there and he was thrilled to get to meet Uncle Si and some other Duck-Dynasty family. This was an explanation of the event CLICK HERE. I think there were follow-up news stories, but I live in Colorado, people.

rocky rhoades at the big tent revival butte, mt

Image from The Big Tent Revival, Photographer Tom Curry, copyrighted

Jovan is going to home school Averi this year as they transition, prepare to sell their house and move to Loveland (which, while only 45 miles from us, will still make them seem quite a ways away compared to now, which has been 15 miles). They are having an exciting year.

Stormie was at The Big Tent Revival, too

Crazy girl plays bass and sings. She uses her vacation time to travel wherever she is invited to glorify God. We like her very much!

stormie rhoades at big tent revival butte, mt

Image from The Big Tent Revival, Photographer Tom Curry, copyrighted

You have been following Beat a Day, haven’t you? You haven’t??? What?!

Stephanie and Tristan are movers and shakers and are always doing something new that wows all of us. And they are both wildly popular on Instagram. Is that such a mom thing to say? It is! :) But it is still true! Steph is an extraordinary photo stylist, see here.

stephanie_may on instagram

Tristan started posting a 15-second “Beat a Day” drum vids to Instagram {he is the BEST drummer in the world}} and everybody is talking about it! You MUST check it out!  :)  You totally have to watch the 100th beat that has exactly 100 hots played at  100 beats per minute! So cool! Also lots of beats at TristanKelley.com

So-this is just a little bit of what is happening with my people around here –

All the result of Ross and Norma saying I do 57 years ago this week!

*”Wheels of love go ’round” are lyrics from the song, “Cotton Jenny” written by Gordon Lightfoot. But it was the first song I ever heard by Anne Murray. I was 12. I loved her low voice and I still sing this song around the house! A lot!

 

Happy Birthday, Stephanie-born-in-May

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What do Broccoli Cheese Soup at the Big Wheel, birthing classes at Howard Community with the Loftises on Thursday nights, Princess Diana, a really ornery Tilt-a-Whirl operator at Indiana Beach Amusement Park (now fancily called a resort), the song “He Means More to Me Today Because of Yesterday” by the Sounds of Happyness, and a beautiful morning in May with the lilacs in full bloom have in common?

My Stephanie.  Second child, only preemie, the teeny-tiniest babe who caused faith to rise in my heart as I prayed to God for her in the dark night, me in the hospital in Kokomo – her fighting to breathe at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.  Thirty-one years ago.

If an old friend lets you down

And a true love can’t be found

Till the blue skies come around

I’ll be right by your side

You weren’t due until June, very late June, very-very late June.  But you came in May and it was beautiful and it was a surprise and it was meant to be.  And every May since, we are reminded of the blessing and miracle and joy and completion and maturity and faith you brought with you, and what it caused in us.

No don’t forget me now that we’re apart

Just open up that great big loving heart

And you’ll always be

You’ll always be

You’ll always be a part… of me…

The name.

As middle names go, May wasn’t even on “the list,” and was perhaps a little old-fashioned for the times.  But we named you Stephanie because of one our favorite actresses at the time (Stephanie Powers) and because one of my all-time greatest Bible heroes is Stephen (see Acts chapter 6).  And May was for the month, the merry merry month of May.  Because it was a magical, lovely time in our lives – all was right and beautiful and exciting and we anticipated your birth with great energy and expectancy. And yet, you were actually so unexpected on that Friday, 5 1/2 weeks before your “due date.”

Take your time to embrace romance

Teach your children how to sing and dance

Love may hurt but it’s worth the chance

I’ll be right by your side…

And haven’t you been so many unexpected things things since?  Haven’t you just always done and became and created and produced and added to and on and surprised and delighted and shined and sang and wrote and been successful and just grown up to be an unexpected bundle on wondrousness?  Haven’t you?  Yes, you have.

Try to be the best you can

Show compassion to every man

And always take the higher ground

I’ll be right by your side

Journey far and travel safe

Make this world a better place

And keep that smile upon your face

I’ll be right by your side…

I wasn’t perfect this I would admit

I was always trying to make the pieces fit

Just know you’ll always be

You’ll always be

You’ll always be a part of me…

You’re a trailblazer and  a trendsetter. The family looks at you to confirm cool because if it isn’t, you’ll be the first to know.  Your children are awed by you, your husband reveres you.  Your siblings recognize your gifts and your parents are pleased with how you turned out and in seeing God’s favor and blessing on your life.

And so I bring you the gift of these words and my prayers and wishes for you.  The theme is this: I believe in you.  And I hope you will open that gift with fearlessness and abandon, knowing you’ll always be a part of me, the best part of me.

a birthday blessing for my daughter

Happy Birthday, Stephanie, amazing, blazing, sizzling daughter, strong woman and spirited girl.  Your life was ordained and has so much value.  I thank God for breathing into your lungs the breath of life, quickening your tiny mortal body 31 short years ago with the very power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead.  That healing will take you all the way to the end with great fire and presence.  Go get ’em, Steph! {love from your mom}

Don’t ask me how the time has gone

I’ve loved you since the minute you were born

So many times we have laughed and cried

I see you now it fills my heart with pride

You’ll always be

You’ll always be

You’ll always be a part… of me…*

*Pure Love, Rod Stewart

 

The grand-dog

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Tuppy-the-Puppy.

At only 11 weeks, Tuppy (Steph and the kids’ Christmas surprise from Tristan), has become a spokes-model for PetSmart and Martha Stewart products.  I am not sure if you will see anything cuter than this today.  Or for the rest of the week, for that matter.  Ay-yi-yi. CUTE!

And my daughter is pretty ravishing, herself.  Gorgeous and successful in everything she does.

 


See more at http://www.maydae.com/maydae-giveaway/tuppys-first-review-giveaway/ (comment to win!)
 

 

Plus-see a sneak peek from a Christian film in production right now.  Know anybody??

O wait. What is this?? Another one of my nerdy fly-over movies? Ok, yes. What about it??

{ B I G } MayDae SALE!

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I have such talented daughters!

These two got their red hair from their mom.  Yes, they did.  Do not even question it.

This is {Stephanie} MAY and {Stormie} DAE, who make up MayDae :: both a trend-setting blog and vintage and all things fun and interesting Etsy shop.

The blog :: www.MayDae.com

 

The Etsy shop :: CLICK  H E R E !

See {buy} things like this ::

Lucky you – everything is on sale!

 

Just wanted you to get in on the fun.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MayDae

Scarf Dancers

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Rainbow-bandana baby

When Stephanie was a little girl, any scarf or random piece of fabric would send her into joyful, swirling-twirling dancing. She would be delighted to get a stack of new bandanas in every color for birthdays.  We called her our “Scarf Dancer” before we even knew there had been such a thing way back when. She was entertaining and funny right out of the gate, graceful and animated.

One rather dreary afternoon last October, Tredessa and I hosted a tea party for Averi and Gemma and Guinivere. When the music started, the scarves came out. And in Gemma and Guini, Stephanie’s own little girls, I see Stephanie still – silly giggling and jumping and free, rainbow colors and fabric framing her tiny self, dancing merrily, making happy.

The music is Chaminade’s “Scarf Dance,” composed around 1887, perfomed by Eric Parkin.

The 5 Who Made Me…

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…a mom

You don’t just get to be a mom without the help of some pretty incredible people to help you out.  On Mother’s Day, I always think tribute should be given to the people who made you a mom.  I have never been one to need breakfast in bed or a dozen roses of thanks with a Hallmark card, really, though those are sweet things.  But I sure like being with the people who afforded me the privilege and title of “mom.”  Time.  Yes.  Loved them way back when (before I could even know who they would be but I just knew God had entrusted their tiny to-be-discovered little lives to me).  Love them more, and o-so-proud-of-them all, today.

I loved having babies, which is why I kept at it so vigorously for those, ya know, almost 7 years.  There was honestly something so regal in carrying a child within.  I sensed, very keenly, during pregnancy, the unbridled blessing of the Lord, the trust He had placed in me to carry destiny, to harbor safely within:  some one, a person, my heritage from Him – a baby who would grow up to be His.  At each child’s dedication, I solemnly renewed in my heart to honor the Lord by giving my babies to Him.  Write Your Name on their hearts, Lord, I would pray, knowing that more than they were mine, they were His.

It is a sobering realization

With the way I failed so many times, at being everything a good mom should be, the kind they speak of in songs and greeting cards, it amazes me still, that I was entrusted with so many and such an above-average group, at that.  I think I got points for making sure they had such a great daddy, or something?  Nonetheless, I was blessed, so blessed beyond deserving.

And I have often heard it said that God gives you the parents you needed, which, except in the case of parents who choose cruelty, who abandoned without thought the preciousness of the child placed in their care, this may be true.  But it seems more true that God gives you the child you need (with 5, I must have been very needy).  For they bring a piece of your heart, a part of everything you were born to be – when you didn’t even know it was missing.  And suddenly, you’re a mommy.  And though they grew there, nurtured in your womb, and then became their own, leaving that safe place, they somehow left you more whole than before.

So, on Mother’s Day, thank-you to Tara & Stephie, Dessa & Rocky and the baby, Storm-kins for making me a mom and for turning out so darn great in spite of me and maybe a little because of me.  I hope my deep love covers anything that needs it and will last in your heart way past the days I here to remind you of it – all the way to the end.

Tara – you taught me that God loved me and believed in me even when and especially when I did not deserve His mercy.  You were a gift straight from heaven for my heart, joy that I had never had, and a stamp of approval I was almost too embarrassed to receive.  Having you was my yes to God.  Yes to You for all times and all ways. This is when I knew I was in for keeps (I am my beloveds and He is mine) and not just because of who my parents were.  This is when I met the same God Hagar had discovered in a desolate place: the God who sees.  I saw Him.  And He saw me and placed love in my arms.  Joy-in-the-morning!

Stephanie –you taught me that God is a healer and that he hears us when we pray.  You were not just the only baby we actually “planned” to have ~ all the rest were delightful surprises and unexpected-but-cherished gifts.  But you, you were the one I had to fight the enemy for.  You were the baby that caused me to grow up and stand my ground against the thief. You were the one that introduced me to agonizing like Hannah before the Lord “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted my petition made to him.”  And He did, oh yes He did.  And you were worth it, Stephanie.  You are worth it…

Tredessa – everything about you, from your conception to your even-in-toddler-hood deep love for the Word and things of God when you could barely walk or talk caused awe and wonder in us.  You have challenged me to know Him more, to press in  no matter what.  Where I had been a strong-willed, hard-headed, bull-dozer of a kid to try to be heard, you came quietly, but with such a deep dignity and strength of spirit. Your reliance on the Lord has taken you around the world and keeps you close to home.  You are the wit and wisdom of your grandparents, the brains and ability of all who have come before you and deep treasure of the strong love of your parents for each other, for you.  You are all this and so much more…

Rocky –to us a child was born, a son was given.  You were such a surprise after 3 girls.  You carry the name of our family, of all we have been and yet are to be.  You got your dad’s good looks and my fire-y personality.  You carry your grandpa’s zeal and your great-grandpa’s strength of character.  You embody the strong work ethic from which you come and make us proud, so proud to call you son.  But you carry a song from the Holy Spirit, and a heart to give God praise and you are called by the One who has shared you with us for paths all your own, yet to be discovered, exciting for us to watch.  You are my beloved son, in whom I am so so so well pleased.

Stormie –you came in gentleness.  You are the heart of your daddy and you remind me so much of Jesus in John 13 when he was ina room full of disciples and no one would serve.  And because He knew who He was and where He had come from and where he was headed, He just tied the towel around His waist and washed their feet.  And baby girl, you have served the Lord and the people you love in selflessness and rich beauty and you are all the more ravishing for it.  It is your honor, your bejewelment, it is the dazzling beauty of who you are in the room.  You were the icing on my cake, the cherry on top, the greatest (the servant of all) for last…

The past couple of weeks

These are some photos and video from 2 or 3 “family times” these past couple of weeks.  This song and these images are a tiny, delicious slice of the great smile-pie of my life!  This is Dave + me + the five + their loves + 6 chubby-cheeked sweetie-pie honey-bunches-of-oats grandbebes.  Mi familia.  Because of a blessing-giving God…

 

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ME!

1 Samuel 1   “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord.

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted my petition made to Him.

Therefore I have given him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is given to the Lord. And they worshiped the Lord there.

Best thing I ever did as a mommy?

Give you back to the One who gave you to me.  As long as you live, you are in my heart, but you are His.

My Little Women

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My daughters are industrious, creative, gifted and talented Proverbs 31 women.  They all see to their households, as well as to the Household of Faith.  They give to the poor and assist anyone in need; they shop for the best yarns and cottons and enjoy knitting and sewing.  They organize their days and plant gardens with the money they have put aside.  They dress for work, roll up their sleeves and are always eager to get started because they understand the worth of their work.  They take good care of their families and dress in colorful linens and silks.  They design gowns and sell them and bring the sweaters they knit to the dress shops.  Facing the future with smiles, they always have something worthwhile and kind to say.  They outclass anyone in Hollywood or the magazines.  Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades, but my little women – these who are serving God with reverent respect? They are to be admired and praised!  (The Message, personalized)

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Stormie and Stephanie are MayDae &have an Etsy shop. 

www.MayDae.com  &  http://www.etsy.com/shop/MayDae 

 

My girlies, Stephie and Storms, are such creative women.  Each on their own, but when they get together, zowie!  Stormie works in the billboard-graphics field during her “day job,” and Stephanie mommies 3 of the most amazing little red-heads!  They have proven to have a “good eye” on finding vintage wares that people will love.  I love them bunches!

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Tredessa serves as the Director of Operations for a little ministry called Heaven Fest www.heavenfest.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The night Dessy let us make her into an 80’s glam girl.  Aaahhh….good times!

 

Tre directs a leadership team of 100 people, who utilized 2000 amazing volunteers this year!  Daniel Miles said, at the appreciation event at Elitch Gardens that Tredessa was the “captain,” of Heaven Fest and people cried as he said (and others chimed in, in agreemen)t, “We’ll follow you anywhere.”  She needed to know that – because it is true.

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Jovan has an Etsy shop, now, too! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/rockynrollin

This is granddaughter, Amelie Belle, modeling one of her mama’s creations.  Sweet baby girl!

 

Jovan makes the prettiest things for baby girls (her passion, imagine that) and for gifting.  Jovan is my sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice daughter who is woman enough to not be afraid of pink.  And a good wife to my baby boy!

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Tara leads an international ministry with her husband and very dedicatedly teaches their son at home!

www.worshipandtheword.com

 

Yes.  That IS Hunter’s KINDEGARTEN textbook.    I shudder to think what he’ll be doing by junior high?!

I wonder if Hunter can yet comprehend what an amazing and patient momma he has?  She is fully devoted to helping Hunter fulfill God’s call in his life in his generation.   Plus?  The woman writes songs and sings and lights up a room!  My firstborn, who walks in favor.

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Quotes I love from Little Women, the movie (1994)

Marmee:  I am going to write that man a letter.

Jo:  A letter!  That’ll show him.

Jo:  Now we are all family, as we always should have been.

Marmee: Feminine weaknesses and fainting spells are the direct result of our confining young girls to the house, bent over their needlework in restrictive corsets.

Marmee:  Oh, Jo. Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts; how can you expect to lead an ordinary life? You’re ready to go out and – and find a good use for your talent. Tho’ I don’t know what I shall do without my Jo. Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it.

And from the book by Louisa May Alcott:

“Money is a needful and precious thing,–and, when well used, a noble thing,–but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I’d rather see you poor men’s wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”

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May the LORD bless you and make His face to shine upon you.  May your lives, Tara and Stephanie, Tredessa and Stormie, and Jovan, be festooned with the praises you have earned for all you are and all you do.  And may the favor of God surround you and your marriages and babies and businesses and ministries like a shield.  I admire you all!  Much love and a zillion kisses…mom

Happy Birthday, Stephanie

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , , ,

Happy 27th Birthday, Stephanie May – as in  May-Day-baskets-of-lilacs-and-tulips-and-dancing-around-with-streamers-in-celebration-and-rejoicing!

easter-09-the-kelleys-copy

(picture taken by Tredessa at church on Easter Sunday…Guini-almost 4, Gavin almost-6, Gemma-almost 2, parents-still twenty-somethings)

A full 5-weeks early in your arrival, who could have known, as they pronounced a mere 30% chance of survival on you and your severely underdeveloped lungs – that you’d be home in 12 days?  That you’d defy the odds and in answer to our heart’s cries and the mercy of the Lord, you’d breathe in and out until you were whole?

We named you for one of my Biblical heroes (Stephen – a man of wisdom and grace,  full of the Holy Spirit) and because three of our favorite TV actresses back in the day had the name (Stepfanie Kramer aka Detective Sgt. Dee Dee McCall in “Hunter”; Stefanie Powers aka Jennifer Hart on “Hart to Hart”;  Stephanie Zimbalist aka Laura Holt in “Remington Steele”).  I am sure I read in the baby name book at the time that your name meant “crown, or garland, festooning” yet I couldn’t have comprehended then how true that would be about you.  We added “May” in the middle in celebration of the beautiful spring month in which you were born.  You were our tiniest baby with a big, long name. 

Then you grew.  And you were funny and a singer and had a helpful heart.  And you developed a very unique sense of style and you played basketball and now guitar and you worship and you married Tristan and produced these 3 adorable kids.  And you amaze me constantly.  I did not know what an incredible wife and mommy you’d be.  I didn’t know how much I’d learn from you about following Christ and serving my family.  You are the Proverbs 31 woman, Stephanie! In every way – you are!

“Many women have done wonderful things, but you’ve outclassed them all…The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.  Give her everything she deserves!  Festoon her life with praises!”  Proverbs 31, The Message

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Twenty-seven wishes for Stephanie on her 27th Birthday~

  1. I wish for you to be rewarded for the wonderful and wife and mommy you are – to receive the fruit of the seeds you have planted into your family’s lives.
  2. I want you to get the needed time to develop your May-Dae biz with Stormie.
  3. May the creativity flow in full force for all you put your hand to as you remain o-so-close to the Creative One.
  4. I wish and pray for the smile of the Lord to be on your life.
  5. I am asking the Lord to make you aware of how He sings and delights and dances over you, crowning you with His goodness.
  6. I pray those 3 children will receive everything you have to place in their hearts as their mommy.
  7. I pray Tristan will always be blessed by you, always ravished by your beauty, both inside and out.  And may the wild romance blossom profusely and continuously.
  8. May the song of the Lord pour from your heart and mouth and please Him.
  9. May the Holy Spirit instruct you in the song of the Lord (1 Chronicles 25.7) and may you become a highly skillful musician for His glory!
  10. I wish for this next year to be full of the joy of the Lord (your strength) and for it to start with the best summer you have ever enjoyed – fun times with the people you love.
  11. I wish for you to discover new abilities and skills as you Exec. Direct a whole “Pod’s” worth of people!  What an impact you are having!
  12. For all the times the Lord has miraculously healed you in both body and mind, I pray that you will lay hands on the sick and that they will recover and that your fervent and effective prayers will produce wonderful results and many healings!
  13. I wish for you to have peace on all sides, to have favor with both God and man.
  14. I wish friendships for you that were long-ago planned by God, to enrich you and bring encouragement.
  15. The new “old” house of your dreams – I am wishing that for you!  And all the antique-and-funky stuff to fill it you could ever desire (including the music studio!!).
  16. Songs – the ones you write…when do we get to hear some?
  17. I want your lilac bushes to bloom profusely!  Because they so remind me of you – all purple and deliciously-scented.  So they should..profusely…bloom!
  18. I wish for you to know your value in our family – that you are a crown to us.
  19. I pray that you will understand what a blessed representation of our love you were to us, that to guard your life and cherish it was a symbol of all that was to come.
  20. I want you to know how much I love you and admire you and how proud I am of you, not only for the woman you have become, for the person you have always been.
  21. I am praying you can receive the praises and festooning we are bestowing upon you on the occasion of the celebration of your birth because you deserve them, you do.
  22. Be courageous.  Don’t be afraid.
  23. Be bold.  Don’t hold things in.
  24. Be you.  That is a gift to us all.
  25. I wish you laughter daily and tears when you need a good cry.
  26. I wish for all your dreams (the ones we know and especially the ones we don’t) to come true.
  27. And I pray you will take your place – the one God had in mind for you before you were even one day old (Psalm 139),  take the place, the ministry, the arena, the position – God has called you to and don’t ever let self-doubt or man’s opinion stop you.  You are the crown.  You are the garland that celebrates and decorates the Head.

I festoon you with my love.  I festoon you with my praises.  Twenty-seven years ago today, I got to touch a miracle – and you remind me of God’s faithfulness everyday of your love-filled life.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie… Mom

NOTE TO SELF:  Am I blessed or what?  This girl is one of the most interesting, multi-faceted and surprising human beings on earth, the spice of my life.