David is 12 today

Today is David's 12th birthday. He has requested chicken pie and green bean casserole for his supper. We'll make garlic bread, too, because that's another favorite of his.

This morning his siblings gave him gifts and sang to him. Steve and I will give David our gift when Steve gets home tonight. David has asked to postpone his birthday celebration with his friends until March, because two of his friends also have their birthdays this week, and he doesn't want to conflict with their plans. (He's such a thoughtful boy - and a great example to the rest of us!) He wants Joan to make his birthday cake, but he wants to wait and have it when he has his friends over.

When David was born we lived in upstate New York. We planned to have his birth in a small Catholic hospital 45 miles from our home. There was one hospital that was closer (20 miles away), but that hospital did saline abortions and we wanted to be in a place where there were no abortions at all. As it turned out, snow was coming down and the roads were icy the morning that David was born. I woke up already in transition, and Steve and I feared we wouldn't make it to the hospital. So we put into effect our back-up plan. Steve drove to get two women friends of mine who lived only 4 miles away. (They were both Amish, so he couldn't call them on the phone and ask them to come over. They'd have had to come in their buggies, which would have been too slow.) Emma and Becky and Steve got to our house at 6:25 a.m. and David was born at 7:04 a.m.

It was such a peaceful, quiet, easy birth. After David was born Steve took him upstairs and let all the children see him. Then Steve, Becky, Emma and I sat around and talked for a couple of hours before Steve took them home. Mom brought me breakfast (it was a poached egg on pumpernickel bread and it was so delicious!), then David, Steve and I napped.

And we've thanked God for David every day!