HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARA ELIZABETH!

Happy Birthday to my daughter, Sara Elizabeth. She is 20 today. I miss her. She is a part of me and always will be. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about her and pray for her. I hope she is happy in her life, but most importantly, I hope and pray that she is doing what God wants her to do. Because that is the only way that you can be happy in this life. She has been through a lot, but God wants to give her a happy life. He wants her to put aside her past and take on each day as a new challenge and as a clean slate. Each day is a gift from God. There is a reason that she is still here on this earth. She is here to bless someone else with her gifts and with her love, if she will open her heart to that. Someone will or does need her. I hope she had a wonderful day today on her birthday. I know every mom says that it seems like yesterday when their children were born and it does! She came out screaming and her skin was as pink as it is now-hence her nickname: Pinky. I immediately talked to her as they handed her to me at her birth and she calmed down at the sound of my voice. She was such a beautiful baby! So perfectly formed and so loved. I had picked her name out when I was about 14 or 15 years old. She was so active in my womb when I was carrying her that I was convinced she was a boy! Boy did she surprise me! She almost got named Otto Peter III : ) Family name, of course. She hasn't had an easy life. I divorced her father when she was very young because I saw no hope for our family. I gave up. It took a lot of years for the Lord to work on both of us so that we could get back together. I was one stubborn woman! Very unforgiving also, I might add. But God was working on my husband also. Back to Sara : ) I am very proud to call her my daughter. She has worked through some very difficult experiences and is seeking to better herself (as best as I can tell). She is trying, the best she can. I hope she will keep trying and be the Trettel that she is. She is not a Goad, but a Trettel. I hope she realizes that. Trettels do not quit easily and Trettels work through things. They are very faithful to their family. I, her mother, still have a LOT to learn and a LOT to unlearn. It will take time, but I hope and pray that she and her brother will be patient and realize that their father and I DO love them VERY much and want to be a part of their life. We don't want them to be dependent on us, as that is not healthy for a young adult, but to let us know how they are doing and what things make them happy.

Sara, if you read this, I LOVE YOU very much and NOTHING has ever changed that. I am not perfect and never will be. I WILL disappoint you because I am human, but God will not disappoint you if you open your heart to Him and learn to cry out to God for everything and about everything. God can take anything we "throw" His way, because He is God!