HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KARI!

Tomorrow is the 41st anniversary of me becoming a mother for the first time, the most important job I have ever held. We were living in Maine where DH was stationed with the Air Force. Having been there for only a few months, we knew very few people, just those that worked in the same area as DH did. So when we brought Kari home from the hospital and DH went back to work, it was just me and a brand new baby in the house! Our parents and other relatives were all half way across the country. I was scared to death.

Somehow we made it. Fortunately Kari was a very good baby which made me look like a good mother. She was all girl. When she was old enough to voice her opinion she picked out her clothes every day, and it was always a dress. As she grew older, she took great pride in her hair and makeup, rising before anyone else in the family so she could have the shower first and then have plenty of time to dry and curl her long hair. She was a beautiful young woman, inside and out and when she charmed Mike and brought him home to meet the family, we knew this was it. She wanted to get married and have babies.

Now, over twenty years later, this beautiful baby girl is the mother of six children and is the most amazing woman I know. Kari is intelligent, passionate about her family and her work, and is the most beautiful Christian woman that I know, always putting others before herself. She and Mike have shared their home and their love with over 75 foster children through the years, strongly believing the Bible verse that admonishes us to take of the widows, the fatherless and the orphans. She hates injustice and when she sees a wrong she tries to right it and she is not afraid to speak the truth even if it is an uncomfortable subject.

Kari, you can't begin to know how proud I am of you! It it a privilege and an honor to call you daughter and I thank God for for you. I wish you a happy birthday and pray God's richest blessings on you.