My Baby

This is our Baby Daughter. Kaki. She named herself, by answering with "Kaki" when asked at age one what her name was. Later she called herself "Kaki Kangaroo." There remains a collection of kangaroos in a bedroom where she lived. One year I made a kangaroo costume, complete with wire in the tail so it would stay curved and flat. She was quite a picture in that costume. Her most famous kangaroo antic was producing her hand-clap-activated hopping kangaroo as the object of Pastor Tom's spontaneous children's sermon one Sunday. He did his best, but the subject of the sermon eludes me.

The photograph below is almost 25 years old. We went to our church the first time only two weeks before she was born. My pregnant self was producing too much relaxant hormone which caused pain in my hip joints in my last trimester. So we could attend either church service or Sunday School, because I could only sit for about an hour or slightly longer. We visited the service two weeks before Kaki was born and the SS class the week before her birth. Then on the day before Thanksgiving she was born, and we took her to church the following Sunday. After Christmas we had a formal dedication service for her, pictured in this photo. CB, Boo, and Joybear played "Oh How I Love Jesus" for the service. Church members still comment on that music. The girls played very well, but most of all, I remember how much they already loved their baby sister and wanted to bless her. In our dedication services the family promises to nurture and love the child in the church and in God's Word, and the congregation promises to faithfully support the parents and extended family in that discipline. I can report truthfully that our church family did fulfill those promises, and continues to pray for our children and grandchildren, and to inquire about their well being in body, soul, and spirit.

In back from left to right: Nannie, Dubbie, Marmee, Muffin holding Kaki, Aunt Tracie, Nana and Papaw. In front, from the left: CB age 9, Joybear age 4 (almost 5), Boo age 6.