HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUREL!

December 16th is a very important day in our family.  First of all, it marks the day in 1965 that Howard and I were engaged at the Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon.  I had an English exam at the U of S the next day, but went out for supper with him anyway and there was no more studying that evening!  Lo and behold, our exam was postponed the next morning because the professor didn't think we were ready for it.  What are the chances of that happening??

Three years later our first baby and only daughter, Laurel Sandra, arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan just before midnight.  I was the only patient in the maternity ward.  Dr. Ingalls delivered her and no fathers were allowed in the delivery room! I was too excited to sleep that night and the song "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow" was going through my mind. I was in for the standard five days and we came home on December 21st.  It was very exciting to have a new baby for Christmas!  Mom, Dad and Sandra came from Frontier,  Ardis brought two girlfriends home from college in Grand Forks.  One was from British Guyana and the other from Taiwan.  Mom sewed a baptismal gown for Laurel and those two girls helped with the embroidery work on the front.

Laurel was baptized on Dec. 29th with Dave and Bea Bergum from Swift Current as her godparents.  Howard and I met at the Bergums on March 8, 1965.  The Sunday of the baptism was so cold and windy that we had Laurel baptized at home using the crystal bowl that my Grandma and Grandpa Erickson received for a wedding present in 1904.  Pastor Leon Gilbertson, formerly from Frontier, was the pastor.

The above picture is of Laurel and her daughter, Ashley Laura, who also wore Laurel's gown.  Grandma's crystal bowl was placed in the baptismal font at Trinity Lutheran in Torquay.  The Luther's Coat of Arms needlework that grandpa Horace Johnson stitched is hanging just to the right.

And now our first "baby" is forty-two.  Where did those years go?  I don't have many of those early year pictures on my computer but will share some more recent ones.

Laurel emailed me this one, that's Laurel on the left, Ashley on the right.  Both are wearing the dress that was a gift to Laurel from Grandpa Horace Johnson.  Being the oldest of six girl cousins, most of Laurel's baby clothes got passed on in the family so it was special for Ashley to wear this dress of her mom's.  Both are about one year old in these pictures.

Howard has one sister, Ardis Marilyn Johnson.  I have one, Sandra Helene Sanford.  Both were here in August for Howard's 75th birthday celebration.  Laurel made sure she had a picture taken of her and Ashley with these two special aunties.

Here is a picture of Laurel, Greg, Dawson (9), Eric (7) and Ashley (2 1/2) taken in August on the steps of Salem Lutheran Church just two miles north of our farm.  Laurel's birth made us parents and when Dawson was born we became grandparents.  

Psalm 127 (the Message version) says it best "Don't you see that children are God's best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warriors fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth.  Oh, how blessed are you parents with your quiver full of children."  

Truly we have been blessed, first with a daughter, then three sons and now three grandsons and four granddaughters. ( And there's room for more!!)

A father and daughter relationship is a special one, so I'll add this picture taken a couple years ago when they were on a crop tour with Clare.  

Have a very Happy Birthday, Laurel.  You are loved and cherished even more today than when you arrived to bless us with your presence forty-two years ago.  We are so thankful for the gift of YOU!