Happy Birthday, Lydia!

Today, 11 years ago, God blessed us with our Lydia Ann Arnold. Wade and I thought we were "done" after 2 kids, but God did a work in my life about the time Leah turned 2. Yes, we had a boy and a girl at the time, but I was longing for another child and a bigger family. It took Wade a few years to come along, but eventually he did.

However, God chose to test our faith. We got pregnant in 1996, but lost the baby at 12 weeks. It was devastating for me! I was sooooo sad and depressed, but that is another story for another day.

In 1997, the Lord blessed us with another pregnancy and Lydia Ann was born on June 11, 1998. We did find out what sex this child would be because I wanted to sew for the baby. I made a few dresses for her while waiting on her to be born.

Throughout the pregnancy, I wanted the baby to be named Anna Elizabeth. Wade didn't like Anna. He wanted something else, but he couldn't decide what. We tried many names, but couldn't come up with another one until the last minute. We decided (I thought) on Olivia after my father-in-law's sister who died young. However, when Lydia was born, Wade forgot about Olivia. He was so afraid that I was going to name the girl Anna that he quickly said, "She looks like a 'Lydia.' " Lydia was my second choice for a girl name when we had Leah. That's all he could remember. So she became Lydia Ann. I do love her name and after knowing her for 11 years, she is a "Lydia" not an "Anna."

Happy, happy birthday, sweet girl! You are so much like your mom! I am already praying for you, girl! You had made us laugh for many, many years and I look forward to many years of loving you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYDIA!