Leah's 13th Birthday

January 10, 1997 was a cold wintry day.  The day and night before had been stormy. We travelled to the hospital early in the morning, just as the plows were setting out to clear driveways and parking lots.  The roads had been cleared, and with few other people using them, we made it in record time.  We received our third daughter from the hands of the Lord that morning.  Leah was an easy baby right from the start.  She loved to sleep - still needs lots of it. When she was around 18 months old she would stand by her crib, fingers in her mouth, Bun-bun in her hand, just waiting for me to come and put her in her crib for a nap. When she was just two years old she could dress herself completely.  She loved clothes already then and was very particular about what she wore - it had to be pretty, it had to match, and it could not have any holes.  She would not even touch clothing that had tears or rips. One time she got a new shirt and wanted to wear it but had nothing to match except a pair of jeans that had a tear in the knee.  Her love for new clothes overrode her abhorrence of holes, so she put the jeans on - but backwards so that she could not see the hole. That's our Leah. :)

This year for for birthdays each child gets to go out for breakfast with either Gerald or me - their choice.  Leah didn't know who to pick, so she put our names on pieces of paper and picked one - mine. :)  Since her birthday fell on the Lord's day this year, we did the breakfast thing on Saturday.  And because Sundays are pretty busy she got to open her presents on Saturday, in the evening.

The kids usually come up with something for each other - a hand-made card and sometimes a little gift as well.  Emily, Warren and Brent got together to make a card, and signed it on Nadia's behalf.

Sunday dawned cold but strikingly beautiful, with frost coating every suface outdoors.

The birthday celebration continued on Sunday when Grandpa and Grandma joined us in the evening for birthday cake.