My eldest daughter Lakeisha Deanne Pilt turns 20 today. I am a super proud dad. So I am going to post some of my favourite pics of her over the last 20 years. This blog is ridiculously personal and I am not really concerned if anyone reads it or not. One of my motives in blogging is to be a time capsule of my thoughts and opinions and I want part of that record to be that I loved both my daughters amazingly. I hope Lakeisha will look back at this post in many years to come, maybe even after I am gone, and smile when she sees how much her dad loved and valued her.

So if you are still reading, let me first tell you the story of her name.

Melanie and I had been married for 5 years (now 26) and we were having trouble falling pregnant. Around that same time we travelled to the Pensacola Revival (USA) as we were hungry for what the Holy Spirit was doing in the church over there in Florida. During one of the meetings, the Pastor, John Kilpatrick had a Word of Knowledge and said that there was a couple in the meeting that were trying for a baby but had had no success and that God was ‘fixing’ to do a miracle (Actual terminology). Melanie and I responded and went to the front for prayer. A Messianic Jewish couple called Dick and Deanne Ruben came to pray for us. Dick asked us what we were believing for, and we both said, a healthy baby. Dick said, God is asking you to be specific. Melanie and I looked at each other and at the same time, we would love a girl. Dick then said, as we joined hands in prayer, one little Australian girl coming up….I had no idea of the power of that statement or prayer.

Dick and Deanne then prayed for us. That was the 7th March 1997.

We then went out for dinner to a Waffle House in the Brownsville area. While we were there, a large African American lady served us and she had an unusual name and so I asked how does she pronounce her name. She said Lakeisha…. Both Melanie and I agreed that if we ever had a daughter, we would name her Lakeisha.

Several months later we found out we were pregnant and were amazed when the doctor told us the due date was the 7th March 1998. This was exactly 12 months from the day that Dick and Deanne prayed for us.

When Lakeisha was born, she was slightly earlier than the original date of the 7th of March, Dick and Deanne were actually in Australia, as I had brought them out to preach revival to Australia. Both Dick and Deanne visited Melanie and Lakeisha in Wollongong Hospital within 48 hours of Lakeisha being born.

It was then that we told Deanne that we had named Lakeisha, Lakeisha Deanne.

It was a decade and half later before we realised that Lakeisha is a very African American name. True story, Lakeisha was standing in the line of the Bomaderry Bowling Club waiting to order a meal, (In 2016) when the man behind her started a conversation. He was a an African American USA sailor on exercises in the Shoalhaven (as its a Navy Town). The said sailor asked for Lakeisha’s name. When she told him. He so did not believe her as the name Lakeisha is both black and American, so why would a clearly white young lady in Nowra be called Lakeisha. So Lakeisha went and got her license to prove the point. Love it.

Anyway here are some of my favourite pics of Lakeisha as she was growing up.

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Happy Birthday Beautiful Princess. Love from your dad….The proudest dad in the world. Love your smile.

Categories: Family

Tags: 20th Birthday, African American Names, Deanne Ruben, Dick Ruben, Fathers who are proud of their daughters, Lakeisha Deanne Pilt, Lakeisha Pilt, Melanie Pilt, Nowra, Pensacola Revival, Peter and Melanie Pilt, Peter Pilt, Proud Dad, Proud dad moment