Happy birthday!

Around here it's pretty much always someone's birthday or half-birthday or name day or whatnot. Today it's our youngest child's turn - she turns five today. Here's my wife:

My baby is five! That's right. Today Quinta, my youngest child, turns five years old. I spent six months on bedrest to get this child full-term. She was worth every minute. I had a caesarean section to deliver her. She was worth every anxiety. There were complications with her delivery and I ended up with a hysterectomy. She is greater than my wishes for more children.

This sweet child on her fifth birthday is a bright shining jewel: a tremendous blessing from God. She fills our lives with laughter and dancing. I am more grateful than she can know for her very being and her being in OUR family. I love you, Sugar. Happy Birthday, Baby!

She's requested a chocolate heart-shaped cake with pink icing (to be delivered by Mamaw), and a birthday menu: oatmeal for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch, and biscuits and sausage gravy for supper. Her favorite Sodor engine, Hiro, is among her gifts and Mamaw and Papaw are on their way have arrived from Indiana.