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Shantel, Happy ‘1st’
Birthday …
Daddy and Mommy have
been planning your birthday party for weeks. They even mailed
personalized party invitations with your picture on it. Uncle Leonard
helped plant beautiful multi-colored flowers in the back yard just for
your party! Daddy, with his own hands, made toys for you to play with.
Auntie Niiki and Mommy selected and created a spectacular array of
delicious foods, along with your first birthday cake. You even have a
pretty outfit and new shoes too! Shantel, Daddy and Mommy love, adore
you, and want to shower you with their love on this special occasion.
You see ‘Little Darlin,’ you are their miracle baby.
I remember your Daddy
ringing me on the phone one night, he said, “Hi Grandpa.” Oh, my heart
came alive when I heard those words! Daddy and Mommy just heard the
news that the “Baby Stork” was bringing you to them. They were
overwhelmed with excitement; just as I was when I knew the stork was
bringing your Daddy to me thirty years earlier.
Daddy called me first
with the news. I was so grateful and honored, and of course, very
excited! My wish of being a ‘Grandpa’ came true! I always loved being
your Daddy’s Dad and your Mommy’s ‘Pops,’ now I would be your Grandpa!
Ah, those were great days!
As the weeks and months
passed, you grew in Mommy’s tummy. Everyone could hardly wait to hear
your monthly doctor’s progress report. Along the way, Daddy called late
one night very scared and sad. He told me you may be sick and had to
take you and Mommy to the hospital. I started crying after talking with
Daddy, you see, I was scared I might lose you! Shortly after, I went to
be with Daddy and Mommy. I tried to be strong so they would feel
better, still, my heart was on fire and my spirit saddened.
When I returned home
late that night, I went in search of your Great Grandpa Shaw’s Bible.
Your Great-Great Grandparents gave it to him in the year nine-teen
thirty-six, when he was 13 years old. I held it over my heart, while
asking God to grant you good health. I even asked him to take me to
heaven if he would please let you have a healthy life. I cradled my
father’s bible as I cried myself to sleep. Every night until the stork
brought you to Mommy and Daddy I took the bible to bed and prayed for
you, placing it over my heart as I slept.
The doctors eventually
told Mommy she needed a complicated test, she and Daddy were nervous,
and so was I. Daddy and I went with Mommy that day. We all prayed for
good news. God answered our prayers. It was a welcome sigh of joy,
optimism and hope. You had all of us scared, yet, in the end, ‘The
Stork’ delivered you, a healthy baby girl. It is a day I will never
forget! Someday, when you are old enough to read this story and talk to
Daddy and Mommy, they will tell you more about of how your life began.
Shantel, in your first
year of life you remind me of your Daddy when he was your age. There is
a true story of a unique species of Bamboo that grows in a remote place
in China. It reminds me of you and him. As the story goes, Chinese
farmers plant tiny baby bamboo seeds in the earth’s rich soil. They are
watered, nurtured, fertilized and tended to every day for five years,
yet they do not sprout or even peak a hint of growth. Then, without
warning, they suddenly shoot through the fertile soil, and in the next
ninety-days grow skyward over nine feet. The reason I tell you this
story is that since the stork first told Mommy and Daddy you were
coming, and in your first year of living, they have nurtured you just
like the baby bamboo. You have blossomed because of their care and
love. I do not expect you will ever be nine feet tall, still, I know,
as you grow older and wiser your stature and greatness will far exceed
our wildest dreams.
You are probably
wondering what does this have to do with the picture of two salt-water
toffees with hearts in the middle of them. Well Shantel, when I first
saw “Kiss Kiss” I knew the artist created it especially for us. The
little red hearts in the middle of the taffy are yours and mine,
separate yet together. Every time I held that bible next to my heart and
prayed for you, our hearts miraculously connected, and that is what this
picture represents.
I have been saving
“Kiss Kiss” for your first birthday. Whenever you look at it remember, “Grandpa
loves Shantel.”
The following is a
prayer I really like. It makes me think how God, your parents,
grandparents and family love you and protect you.
“Please help us
protect our children, just as you protect all of us who are Your
children. Teach us to keep them safe from bodily and emotional harm,
and to celebrate the joy and dignity of knowing that with every step
they take in this hard, rough school of earth, Your Hand will never
leave theirs and Your Light will let them see the path ahead more
clearly, no matter how much it winds through the inevitable threatening
darkness. We are blessed by the very presence of Your smallest and
youngest arrivals among us, and it is our oath to You to care for them
as surely as if they were all our own. Amen.”
“Kiss Kiss” painting by Rachael Hart, 2001
Kiss Kiss is an original oil painting with
two vanilla salt-water taffy candies sitting side by side, both with a
red heart in the center. I purchased it and gave it to Shantel for her
1st birthday.
©Duane Shaw |
Re: A Special
Prayer, Machael Jordan Segal Hi,
Thanks for putting my story on your website. ya'll
are great. take care, keep hope alive,
Mike
Re:
Living with Ghosts, Ina Townsend Yount
I can't wait to read the next installment. Love it. Hurry up. Write
more. What did Mrs.. Greer do?
Dianne Chambers
Re: Church
Doctrine by Sharon Bryant
God bless Sharon Bryant for being brave
enough to stand by her convictions and not afraid to speak out. We need
more people like Sharon. Thank
you for sharing this
story with us.
Clara Wersterfer
Re: Joy to
the Power of Jen, by Joseph Walker
It was so perceptive and well written,
and I chuckled at the cute play on words.
Blessings,
Meg
Mary-Ellen Grisham
Re: Hank,
the Rescue Pup, by Kathy Baker
I love happy pet stories. My daughter had
a little blind schnauzer, Casey, that knew the sound of my truck and my
voice. She followed me everywhere when I visited.
Thanks
Mark Crider
Re: Allison,
by Barbara Elliott Carpenter
A real eye-opener and tear-jerker at the same time! God
bless the volunteers who work with these young women. Thanks for
sharing a story that should make all of us think twice when deciding who
we will/will not send donations to.
Kathy Baker
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