Happy Birthday, Jessi!  

When I was deciding if we should have a third baby, I had to make sure in my mind it was a BABY I wanted and not a GIRL baby.  I really really did not have a preference when I became pregnant with Dennis, since they were going to be so close in age, I knew that having a boy would be so good for the two of them.  And I was so right on that!  They became the best of friends, which wasn’t always the greatest thing for you to endure.  Anyway, hidden deep in my heart, I knew that with this pregnancy, it would be so awesome if I had my perfect two boys topped off with a girl.  We didn’t have ultrasounds to tell us for sure what sex the baby was, but I had my Dr. Neilson.  He had predicted the boys by their heartbeats and he started telling me ‘it’ was a girl.  I started getting my hopes up.  I talked to you and secretly told you all the girl things we were going to do.  As the pregnancy proceeded, I started to ask God to prepare me if I was wrong.  I didn’t want to be disappointed.  I wanted to accept fully what God gave me.  Well, the very next doctor visit, he told me that it now sounded like a boys’ heartbeat!  I left there so amazed at God’s answer to my prayer. (so I thought!) I mentally prepared that I was going to be the mother of three boys.  I was more than OK with that. Then came the delivery day.  As soon as you were born, they said ‘it’ was a girl.  I didn’t believe them.  I had been told by GOD that you were going to be a boy!  I asked your Dad so many times to tell me again.  When they finally put you in my arms, I had to make sure and undress you to make sure.  Yep!  You were a GIRL!  And what a girl you were!  The final topping to my blessed family. 

You loved wearing dresses and pink and playing with your dolls.  You loved helping me cook and helping your Dad work in the yard. You were a great match for those two brothers of yours.  You held your own around them, you were tough and as your Dad said…solid! I loved every moment of being your Mommy.  From the time you were a toddler on I knew that you were going to be a nurse and for sure a Mommy of a zillion kids. You loved it when one of us got sick so you could play nurse on us.  You always had the guts and ambition to try something new, even if you were afraid, you charged on ahead, whether it be learning to drive a stick shift, volunteering as a Special Olympics coach, Candy Striper at the hospital, taking off across the country for nursing school or learning a foreign language in a strange land all by yourself.  Sometimes I think I lived out some of my own dreams through what you were actually doing. 

I have seen you go through some hard times, but through them all you knew that God was in control and didn’t let it dim your joy for life! I have been so inspired to see you stand by your beliefs to make the toughest decisions a person could make. You have a loving heart, confidence, determination and a faith in God to get you through it all. These things not only make you the perfect nurse but the perfect mother, daughter and friend!  So proud of the woman you have become and proud you are MY daughter!