Rachel Turns 11

Once upon a time,  about 11 years and 5 days ago, I was pregnant and very sick and went to the hospital because I was so sick, even though it was 3 weeks before my due date and one week before our first wedding anniversary.  Twelve hours later I had a new baby and was on some serious meds due to out of control blood pressure that wouldn’t be fixed until a few weeks after I was finally released from the hospital the day before our anniversary.

Rachel waiting to blow out the candles before her siblings beat her to it.
Rachel waiting to blow out the candles before her siblings beat her to it.

And this last week my first born turned 11, 8 days before our 12th wedding anniversary. She got all sorts of surprises, including a visit from our dear friends who live 5 hours away and braved the snow to visit us, a portable  dvd player which God provided through Freecycle so she can watch movies at Grandparents houses and not get sick, a replacement for the Eee pc she got for Christmas and which didn’t work (Best Buy finally made it right but it meant braving a snow storm to get it bu also meant she got to go with grandma and me to Barnes and Noble and buy her new favorite book ever), and ice skates and consistently  cold enough weather to ice skate on the pond.  And so I present my newly 11 year old with the birthday cake she designed and baked herself  from a Cherrybrook cake mix (which other than Trader Joes is the best cake mix EVER).