Happy Birthday to my baby!

Happy 31st Birthday - Dr Dan! I remember very well the night you were born. You were my shortest and easiest labor. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was ready, I argued with her, because I did not think I was ready, but as you can guess she was right! Back in that day we did not have sonograms unless they were worried about something, so we did not know if you were a boy or a girl. I swore all 9 months that you were a girl, but again, I was wrong! We took a couple days to come up with your name. I wish I could say you were named after Daniel in the Bible - the young Jewish man, who when taken into captivity into Babylon made the statement that I would quote to you guys in your teen years. Daniel was one of the chosen young men that were to be treated specially because they wanted to train them in the ways of the Babylonians. Daniel believed God and followed Him closely, in Daniel 1:8 it says "Daniel purposed in his heart he would not defile himself." He decided he would continue to live Gods way and not accept all the Babylonian world had to give him. I always told you guys that you needed to decide where you drew the lines in your behavior before you got into a tough situation, it is too hard to make the right choice when you are being pressured by other people, so I would say "you need to decide now what your decisions will be in any situation and then when the time comes you will already know your answer.",... But as I said, you were not named after him - we were not very spiritual people when you were born. The song Daniel by Elton John was famous then, and we both liked the name, so that is how you got your first name. Your middle name is my father's first name. A family name handed down through 4 generations (my brother is Alton Fay Conrad IV). No other grandchild had my fathers name, so we decided we would give you his name. Most people want to pronounce it like "allton", but it is actually pronounced like Elton Johns name, my brothers nick name is "Al".

Even though you were not originally named after Daniel in the Bible according to us, I think God led us to that name, because certainly in your life you have chosen the same path as Daniel. You chose to follow the Lord at an early age, and have not wavered, and as Daniel - many came to know of the Lord and praise the Lord because of Daniel's witness - and so the same could be said of you. Happy Birthday son, I love you, I pray you have a great day!