A Teenager!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Banana!

Today is my beautiful baby's birthday and she is thirteen! It doesn't seem possible that all seven of my children have reached this great milestone...

... I once turned thirteen...

I was getting ready for school that second day of spring in 1977 when the telephone rang. It was for me. "Strange," I thought, "who would be calling me before school?" I can't recall much of the conversation that morning but the caller turned out to be a DJ, "Ferdinand Jay", from one of the local radio stations. Seems one of my friends had called in and let them know it was my big day. I wasn't sure whether to be pleased or thoroughly embarrassed at being on the radio before school, but I did leave home with a smile on my face. Even the Vice Principal's son had heard it on the radio. There was a mystery attached to that early morning call. Who was the friend that called the radio station in the first place? I had no clue and it wasn't until months later, maybe even a year, before I learned that it was my dear, Jehovah's Witness friend, Elena, who had made the call.

So anyway, Hannah is spending her second birthday in a row at OBC. She didn't mind turning twelve away from home and I'm sure she'll get plenty of attention today too. Bethany mailed her a package and her friend, Kara, who has celebrated almost all of Hannah's other birthdays with her, is also at camp. Today I am going to see if I can find her another yellow shirt like the one in the photograph. It's her favorite and somehow got spots on it in the wash. Dont'cha hate that?