Happy Birthday Denise Noe'lani

I am celebrating the 40th anniversary of the birth of my daughter today!!

I am not sure where the past 40 years have gone. However, I can honestly say Denise has brought great joy to my life. I like to say she is the sunshine in my life. Even during the dark days of when she and I were by ourselves, the mere mention of her name or to look at her dear face, gave me the assurance that everything would be alright.

Her father wanted a boy and was convinced that I was going to have a boy. I prayed for a girl. I remember I started crying when Dr. Shean told me I had a girl. My heart was filled with thanksgiving that God had answered my prayer.

After she was cleaned up and brought to me, I couldn't believe my eyes -- she was beautiful!! She had light skin, dark brown hair and lots of it. The nurses had combed her hair into a beautiful wave and there were blond streaks through the wave. It looked like someone had taken a paint brush and painted the streaks in her hair. In fact, I asked the nurses who had done that and I was assured it was natural! She also had blue eyes. My prayer had been for a girl with dark hair, fair complexion and blue eyes!!

As Denise got older, her hair turned to a beautiful auburn color. When she was about 5 years old, I took her to my hairdresser for a hair cut. I asked my hairdresser what color would Denise's hair be called. She told me it was like spun gold, it had a lot of red in it and highlights of blond. She said it was a color that couldn't be gotten from a bottle.

Today, Denise and her husband are ministering in Enterprise, AL. They have a coffee shop called Boldly Going and have a Calvary Chapel fellowship going on. She keeps herself busy with making all kinds of yummy home baked goods for the coffee shop. About a month ago she shared some news with me.

About June 7th of next year, she and Stephen will welcome another child to their family. Yes, she is expecting another child!! This was exciting news to receive. Just when we thought there would be no more grandchildren, Denise gives me this news. Her children are 22, 19 and 16, so it will be starting all over pretty much. She is doing good, just tired and a little morning sickness.

So to my sweet daughter, a very Happy Birthday to you. Your voice this morning brought a smile to my face. I am so thankful God answered my prayer and gave you to me to enjoy for a while. Words can not express how blessed I feel to say you are my gift! May God continue to bless your life and give you the desires of your heart. I will forever love you!! Your mother.

Memories

From about the 6th of November through the 11th, every year, I do a lot remembering. Why, you ask?

Well, because my due date to deliver my baby was November 6th. It was a Thursday and I didn't want to deliver on that date. I wanted to deliver on November 11th because it was a Tuesday. I was born on a Tuesday, I conceived on a Tuesday so Tuesday had to be the date. My then husband wanted November 10th, the Marine Corp birthday (he's a Marine).

Labor pains began sometime on the Saturday. They weren't very intense and in fact, I don't think I really knew what they were. My mother had come to stay and help me. It had been so long ago for her, she didn't remember what labor pains were like. Then on Sunday the pains became stronger and more intense. My neighbor and dear friend came over and we started to time the pains. They subsided and I felt okay. Mom had fixed a fantastic dinner of shoyu chicken. It was so good. The pains started up again, a bit stronger and were close together.

We lived 6 blocks from the hospital. I had been in contact with my doctor and I called him again about 9 pm that night. He told me to go to the hospital and he would meet me there. I was checked and unfortunately, the pains had stopped. They decided to go ahead and admit me. I heard one nurse saying "she seems very frightened, let's just keep her and see what happens". The pains were off and on through the night.

The next morning after my doctor saw me, he told me that if I wasn't in active labor by lunch time, they were going to induce labor. That was started after lunch. Labor began in earnest, however nothing was happening. I wasn't progressing. The doctor was quite concerned when he checked on me that evening.

Finally, about midnight when nothing had changed, the doctor decided to do a C-section. I had in labor some 30 plus hours. He had told me early in my pregnancy that if my baby was more than 7 lbs, I may have problems. I had a very narrow cervix and he wasn't sure I would be able to have a natural delivery. I took fertility pills (Clomid) to conceive. I was the first patient in North San Diego County to take the drug. I also had to have a hormone shot each month so I wouldn't miscarry. Towards the end of my pregnancy I had a shot weekly. Sometimes I had to have two shots because my backside was so punctured, the serum would just run out. So I was a high risk patient.

So finally, at 2:47 am on November 11th, a Tuesday, I delivered by C-section my beautiful daughter.

This was 40 years ago.

Yesterday

We spent a quiet anniversary yesterday. Gerry went to church in the morning. He's been going to Trinity church which is about two blocks from us. Its Pentecostal and a rather large church. More on this later.

We were going to go to Outback to eat. Gerry has a $50 gift certificate, however he couldn't find it. We went to The Elephant Bar instead. They were very busy and so we had to wait for a bit. I had short ribs in a Char Sui BBQ sauce. It was very good and I ate them all. Gerry had Jambalaya We came home after eating to rest for a little bit.

We then went to a Singspiration that Trinity Church was having. As I mentioned, the church itself is huge. The sanctuary holds up to 2400 people. The attendance is around 800. As what happens with a lot of churches, they went through some changes. They lost their pastor and the numbers dwindled. Two years ago they called Glen Cole out of retirement to be their pastor. Glen Cole pastored Capital Christian another mega Pentecostal church that is located in Rancho Cordova off of Highway 50. When he retired, his son took over the leadership of Capital Christian. In the two years that he's been at Trinity, the church has made substantial growth. I have not been feeling well so have yet to attend worship services there with Gerry.

Along with a singspiration time, they had a brass band performing. They are from the Redding area and are very good. The music played and sung were the old hymns of the church. It was very good and glad we went. I was very tired by the time we got home. Gerry put a DVD on after we got home and after it was over, I went to bed.

So, no big celebrations for us. I guess it is a sign that we are getting older. :))

Happy 29th Anniversary

Today, November 1, 2009, at 2:22 pm in Sacramento, CA, Gerry and I have been married for 29 years. It was a dreary Saturday 29 years ago. I was surprised at the turnout for our wedding since Denise and I had not lived in Sacramento very long. Most of the guests were church family and friends of Gerry. A friend, Larry Bowler told Gerry after the ceremony that we were pronounced man and wife by Gerry's dad at 2:22 pm. Through the years I have been reminded of the precise time in numerous ways.

I remembered it was a very busy morning. All of Denise and my belongings were moved to Gerry's apartment that morning. Then I had to get things set up for the reception and in the church besides getting 5 girls dressed. Gerry had the responsibility of making sure 3 boys got dressed.

A friend, Rita, made our cake for us and got it set up. She was a big help in helping me to get what was necessary for the ceremony and reception.

We were married at Arden Church of the Nazarene, Gerry's dad performed the ceremony and our eight children were the wedding party. It was quite a task finding outfits for 7 of them. Our oldest son got his own suit. Gerry found a 3 piece cordoroy suit at Sears in a rust color and so Erik got a beige one. Our colors were peach, rust and ivory. I found a really nice peach colored gown at a bridal shop in Town and Country that needed very little alterations. The four youngest girls dresses were found at Sears. Surprisely enough we were able to find sizes to fit them all. They were ivory and our oldest daughter wore a long ivory colored gown. I think we found it at JC Penney's. Matching shoes was another story. I had to go to the Naturalizer store to get Denise's shoes. The other girls shoes were bought at Sears. The two boys wore khaki pants with a printed western style shirt.

The ages of the children were 19 years to 9 years.

It is hard to believe that 29 years have passed.