November 13th,1997

Fifteen years ago today, God presented us with our first daughter, Leighlyn Nevae Blau.  What a joy she has been even before she was born. Every day since, the blessings have just grown.

Stan and I were married on May 2nd, 1981. Almost immediately, we wanted a baby.   In 1983, we discovered that we were pregnant. Oh, we were sooo happy!  We just couldn't wait for our bundle of joy to arrive.  But soon after we found out we were pregnant, I miscarried.  For the next 14 years, I was angry.  Whenever I saw a pregnant woman whom I didn't think deserved a child, my blood pressure elevated. I just didn't understand why God had not allowed OUR baby to be born.

In 1989, a representative of Kansas' child protection services, SRS, came to our house and asked Stan and I if we would be interested in becoming foster parents.  At the same time that Stan was saying "yes", I was saying "no".  Stan and the social worker were both surprised at my reply.  I explained to them that I was not the kind of person who could handle watching a child who had been through one kind of hell or another, being taken out of our loving home and sent back to a family who may abuse him/her all over again.  It was at that time, that the social worker told us that she had a 10-year-old boy whom she needed a home for.  And...that same boy would be going up for ADOPTION.  Now that word got my attention!  It wasn't long after that, we accepted.  Within a couple of weeks, that little boy moved in to his forever home with us.  He entered our home with the first two names of Adam John.  But by the time we were ready to finalize his adoption, he told us that he wanted to be named after my father, Pat Duane Elder.  Adam Pat did not sound good so we changed his name to Adam Duane Blau.  Ever since we first met Adam, he has been an amazing addition to our family.  Today, he is 33-years-old and very happily married.

But even though we had such an outstanding son, we still wanted more children.  We assumed that we would have to adopt again.  But before we had even begun a search for a child, I began having a few health problems.  I went to the doctor to get some medication to solve it.  A series of blood tests were done.  To my complete surprise (and my doctor's), two of the tests revealed that I was 4 1/2 weeks pregnant!!!  W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!!!

I was all by myself when the news was given to me.  I was about to explode.  I could hardly wait to share the news with my family!  I went straight to Stan's mom and told her.  Like me, she could hardly believe it.  Since we already knew that I  had epilepsy and that some of my seizures are caused by good and bad excitement, we decided that she would drive me to the country where Stan and Adam were both working.  Neither of them believed that I was really pregnant. They refused to get excited until after the upcoming sonogram backed up the blood tests.

My mom, two sisters and two nephews had gone to Scott City before my doctor's appointment.  Back then, none of us had cellphones.  Given the fact that I have no patience, I headed over to Scott City to find them.  I found them shopping at a store.  All of us were simply overjoyed.  We celebrated by eating lunch at Pizza Hut.

The following week, the sonogram revealed that I was barely pregnant.  I had a wonderful pregnancy.  For the first trimester, I had some morning sickness but I didn't mind it a bit.  I was just thrilled to finally be having my very own baby!  Because I am bi-polar, my doctor recommended that I have a c-section.  He had seen too many bi-polar women have major problems during childbirth.  Eventually, November 13th was penciled into our calendar as the day that our daughter would be born.

What a day it was!  My mom, sisters and their families, Stan's parents, uncles, aunts and many friends came to the hospital to welcome our Leighlyn into our own little world.

We are asked all of the time where we got her name.  Maybe you want to know the answer to that question also?  Daddy was orphaned by the age of 5.  From then on, his older sisters took turns raising him.  He spent most of his youth living with my Uncle Lee and Aunt Neva Kiefer.  They were always much more like grandparents to us.  Uncle Lee passed away.  Eventually, Aunt Neva married Leland Duncan who became another grandfather to us.  Sadly, he passed away just 3 days before we learned that we were pregnant.  My sister, Lona Sue, suggested that we name her Leighlyn after him.  We loved the idea!  Her middle name, Nevae, is in honor of my Aunt Neva.  Awesome name for such an awesome girl.

Leighlyn has brought us such joy, love and pride throughout her life.  She just becomes more and more wonderful with each passing day.  I always knew that it was up to parents to teach their children about life.  What I never expected was that my daughter would teach me how to be a better person.  (I still have a long way to go!)

Leighlyn Nevae is a VERY special young lady.  If you know her, you know that she is special to everyone who has the opportunity to know her.

On April 17th, 2002, God blessed us yet again with our beautiful Daughter, Abigayle Joy Patrice Blau. More on her in April.

Remember how I mentioned that I didn't know why God did not allow us to become parents in 1983?  I know the answer now.  We were not yet ready to be the proper parents that I believe our children deserve.  We were still very immature back then.  Never would we have realized just how blessed we would have been to have had children.  Adam, Leighlyn and Abigayle are the true blessings that we have today.

Happy Birthday, Leighlyn!!!  I love you!!!

Mommy