We survived!!!

Our daughter, Leighlyn, celebrated her even dozenth birthday on Friday, November 13th. I have absolutely NO idea where the time has gone...

As many of you know, Stan and I were married on May 2nd of 1981. After that, we suffered a miscarriage in 1983. We were devastated! Try as we did, God sent no children to us until 1990 when He sent us Adam, our first foster child, whom we ultimately adopted in 1993. By that time, Adam was already 13-years-old.

In February of 1997, we discovered that God was blessing us with our very own baby girl!!! The pregnancy drug on and on...Finally, Leighlyn was here!!! After seeing how quickly Adam had grown up, I feared that Leighlyn would grow too quickly also. My fears were correct. We went from Delivering her in Tribune to her first steps and words to preschool to ballet which she is still involved in to preschool to her first day of Kindergarten... You get the picture, I am quite sure. Time flys especially when you're having a great time!!!

To honor her, who is one of the two most special daughters of all time, we threw her a birthday party on Friday night at our house. Seventeen boys and girls were dropped by our house. Even though it was plenty cool enough, they insisted on playing outdoors. They played basketball and chase games. You talk about noise polution, the silence of our neighborhood was shattered with these screaming, giggling 6th graders who were having a blast!!! I loved it!!! Eventually, all of the boys were sent home and the girls remained for the slumber party.

The girls had a great time! They set up a SPA in our family room where a couple of girls applied make-up, a couple more girls showed how much talent they already possess in hairstyling. One girl painted fingernails. Two girls gave body massages. Everyone benefited from each and every "service" that was provided in the Blau Daughters' Spa.

While the boys were still here, we served hors duveurs which included a multitude of various cheeses, crackers, etc. They were followed by homemade Brownie Sheet Cake. I had forgotten how much food a pre-teen boy can put away! The girls held their own also! LOL!!! Originally, we had planned on serving spaghetti with all of the trimmings for dinner once the boys had left. Instead, the girls kept telling us that they were not interested in it until after the spa, etc. Eventually, no spaghetti was ever served. About 11:30 that night, the girls calmed down enough to request more cheese and crackers which we readily supplied to them!

Throughout the evening, we continued to turn our volume up on the living room TV as the girls went from one outburst of laughter to the next! It was GREAT!!!

Whenever you have seven girls spending the night together, you have to expect some drama along the way. For awhile, drama existed but not for long.

Abigayle is already 7-years-old. Before we know it, she will also be 12. It'll be fun too! She has already blessed us with so very much love and joy and laughter!!!

The first 12 years have been just wonderful! I am sure that the future promises even more joy...

VLE-B