HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!

I'm a little later getting this entry made than I'd intended, but alas! Most of the pictures I wanted to use had to be scanned before I could use them!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

31 years ago I was in the hospital in Philippi, West Virginia. I wasn’t in the best of shape, after having an emergency C-section and then developing some kind of reaction and running a fever. I didn’t feel good, but I felt GREAT! That contradiction, of course, was because although physically I didn’t feel well, emotionally I was on the proverbial Cloud 9, because I’d just given birth to my first son. At 9 pounds, he had a healthy start!

By the time Richard was a year old, we were living in Waterloo, Iowa. His Grandparents Boggs came to visit, and Grandma took this picture of Richard with the cake Mom (me of course!) made:
By the time Richard was 3 ½ and Jonathan was born, we’d lived in 3 different states.

This was taken in February 1980, soon after Jonathan was born, in Clarks Summit, PA.

Unfortunately, right after Jonathan turned a year old, Richard got sick. VERY sick. He was in the hospital for almost a month. We went from not knowing if he’d live, to thinking he’d have to have a lung removed, to not knowing how “normal” he’d be when recovered, to having a healthy 5 ½ year old. Praise God for that!

We moved to Ohio and then back to West Virginia, built a house in Eureka, and during the “Golden Years” as the kids called it, Richard attended Belmont Elementary School (the same school I went to as a kid), and was in Boy Scouts.

He did well all through school, with good grades and good friends. By the time he graduated we’d moved from Eureka, WV, to Wheeling, WV, and on to the Cleveland, Ohio, area, and then way down to Huntsville, AL. He graduated from high school in 1995.

Then, like many young people, he took a while to find himself. About the same time as he got on track, he also found someone else…
Here's a picture of Richard, Chrystie and Jonathan taken the first time Chrystie came to visit us here at the farm.

It wasn’t long before we were welcoming Chrystie into the family and attending a wedding in Canada!

The newlyweds lived in the Huntsville area for a while, but then Richard got a great job offer and they moved cross country to Dallas, Texas.

The next big event in Richard’s life was becoming a father March 15, 2005, when Ellise Florence K-B was born. She was premature and stayed in the hospital a long time. That's where the picture to the left was taken.

Richard also found out that becoming a father meant he got lots more visits from his and Chrystie’s parents!

Here’s the clan in January 2006 when we went for a visit.

A couple of months after that picture was taken, Richard and Chrystie took a heavy blow with the news that Ellie has Cerebral Palsy. It was a huge shock, of course, but they both continued being such great parents, and doing a fantastic job with the increased amount of care Ellie needs. She has lots of therapy, and much of it they have to do at home.

As you can see below from a picture taken while we were all in Minneapolis in May, Richard and Ellie have lots of fun together.

He’s a great dad, husband and son. I’m proud of all he’s achieved, and more importantly, of the kind of person he’s grown into.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD!!!