Happy Birthday Julene

Thirty Five years ago this weekend,
I woke up on due date morning and remember being disappointed at the thought
 that now our baby would be late. They don't come on due date, do they?
Well, you did.



You were happy and content from the very beginning.
I don't know what I would have done otherwise, you being our first.
It was almost like you knew my inexperience and decided to make me like having a baby.
As a toddler you loved singing and pretending  (let's 'tend) or
hide and seek and riding your tricycle.
You loved pretty things, such as jewelry, especially rings and flowers.

Birthday morning breakfast time has always been the time to open gifts,
a tradition we began with you.
Then, later on the same day, if possible, there'd be a special cake and a
party with friends and cousins.



Kindergarten . . . what was not to love about that?

 

By Grade five you had six years of violin lessons behind you and
it was becoming a part of who you are today . . . a violinist.
Recently I looked through your box of school notebooks and projects
 and saw again how you loved to put your best effort into your work,
especially title pages.
I'm sure you made many a teacher smile at your intricate artwork.



In high school you got involved in numerous choir and choral groups

and acting became one of your favorite pastimes.
As busy as these years were,
I loved them too.

High School grad - we could not have been more proud of you!
Our first goodbye came the following fall when we drove you to Prairie Bible College.
It was the first time I experienced part of my heart doing life away from home.
A year later you returned to attend university near home.

There was a young man whom you  met at Prairie who just could not forget you
and sometime later began calling, eventually moving to be near by.
Wedding bells rang soon thereafter.

Graduation from university with a Bachelor of Arts and then Education
were what you aspired to and achieved . . . your goal to teach children overseas.

Motherhood came right at the heels of grad . . .
along with other preparation for mission work.

 

With a two-year-old and a two-month-old, all your basic worldly goods were packed
into crates to go to Indonesia.

You learned to speak Indonesian . . .  to drive on the left side of the road . . .
to shop at markets and corner store warungs . . .
to cook with limited supplies . . . to care for your family in a foreign environment . . .
and to show your neighbors that you loved them with the love of Jesus.

 

I saw you hurting and I saw you happy . . . feeling used and feeling useful.

You felt weak and yet strong.

How does one put into words, the metamorphis one goes through in

a foreign country?

I saw you use your artistic gifts and your love for teaching . . .

and it did my heart good to see.

 

Not so long ago you came back as a family of five . . .

we thought to stay . . .

I hope.

 

 

 There is one thing we know for sure. The Lord has given you a sensitive spirit to discern.
A genuine heart to please and serve. A gift to give away in service . . .
be it near or far. May He lead you.

A verse for you with love and best wishes
from Mom and Dad

For You created my inmost being;
    You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139: 13, 14a