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Embrace Your Daughter

Are you blessed with a daughter
who is your DollyWolly?
We are!
Today is her 54th birthday.
Happy Birthday, DeAna Laura Beekman Solioz!

Born August 29, 1967, DeAna was given her name
because it was as close as we could come to
having the DeAngeles (my maiden name) carried on.
Just drop the tail on the g and that’s how the spelling
of DeAna came to be.

Here she is with her brother Tyroneeee…
at about one month of age…
always sticking er tongue out!
DeAna and me when she was about 8 or 9 months
What a cute little button nose, huh?
Her second Christmas…
with Santa and brother Ty
I love this picture of her as a 1st or 2nd grader.
Sparkly eyes… healthy new front teeth…
and perky pony tails.
So cute!!
This is such a precious photo of
DeDe with her Grandma Beekman <3
One of my favorites –
– to show DeDe’s perky smile –
about 8th grade, I think.
Time flies!
And before you know it,
she was getting married –
and would soon move to Switzerland
to live her life there as DeAna Solioz.
But we were very blessed to be able to
put a bottle of our favorite
Runquist wine in our suitcase,
hop a plane, and
spend time in Switzerland with her
every other year
(until COVID)!
Within 6 or 7 years, De and Andre’ had three sons –
and watching Mike, Nick & Chris grow up
has been a wondrous opportunity…
(as they came here every other year
during the first decade of their lives).
DeAna has retained her best buddy
from her days at Downey High in Modesto, CA
(and we have claimed her as or Daughter #2)…
We treasure the times De returns to the states
and we are able to celebrate happy times
together with De and Laina.
(That picture was 2019 before COVID)
.

Recently DeAna had surgery…
and it was hard being a mom
with a daughter so far away
at a time like that.
But I sent her encouragement
and love – like this meme:

And she sent me pictures to reassure me
that she was doing OK.
Thank God for the internet, huh?
Now De and Andre’ have a new restaurant
and (God willing and the Delta variant doesn’t go crazy)
we are going to be able to go there
in October to see them and their place in person.
Happy Birthday, DollyWolly!
We are so grateful to God for
giving us such a wonderful daughter!

If you have the blessing of a daughter
who is a DollyWolly in your life,
embrace her once for me, wouldja?

And have a good night.
See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Hugs,
JanBeek

Comments on: "Embrace Your Daughter" (15)

  1. A lovely post

  2. Elaina Colby said:

    What a nice birthday blog about my best buddy and sister DeDeBee. I really enjoyed reading the origin story of her name and seeing her cute photos from the past.

  3. HI Jan,
    This is beautiful!
    Good luck with their new restaurant!
    Blessings! ♥♥

  4. Peter Martin said:

    The Hillsdale High School wrestling team remembers DeAna from all our meets and tournaments where she was present. It was nice having a little sister running around with us. I somehow can’t imagine that little girl is now 54. Happy birthday DeAna.

  5. Jan, thanks for sharing more of the blessings of being a parent and grandparent. I hope your October travel plans work out.

  6. Awwwww momma! I’m so sorry I’m only reading this now! I don’t know why your blog notifications don’t come in anymore. Grrrr! I do SO appreciate you sharing this! What a fun photo of me and Grandma Bee 🥰 I love you oh so much and can’t wait to squish on you in just a couple of weeks! ❤️❤️❤️

    • I’m so glad you took the time to see a few of my posts even if you’re not getting notifications. I will e-mail you when I post, ok? <3 (I do love that picture of you and LauraBelle, too!!) <3

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