To my beloved children,
Though I have yet to see your
beautiful faces with my own eyes or hold you in my arms, I wanted you to know
how much I have loved you and prayed for you every day for as long as I can
remember. I know that although your mother and I have longed to have you with
us, we both know that God has a plan for each of you and has already touched
each of your lives with His love and that He will give you to us when the time
is right. We take heart in this but at the same time we both have moments where
we cannot help but be overwhelmed by a deep desire to already know each of you
and see you every day. I find myself daydreaming about you, what you will look
like, whose personality you will have more of (Heaven help me if all of you
have your mother’s!), if you will you share my joy of sports or outdoors, about
hearing your laughter filling our home, hunting or going to ball games with my
son, walking my girl down the aisle, how I get to watch you all grow up to be
mothers and fathers of your own one day. And most importantly how the Lord will
one day use you for his kingdom. I cannot wait to see how each of you develops
your own unique gifts and talents and how each of you will touch the people
around you. I also pray that I never let a day go by that I don’t let any of
you know how much I love and treasure you. That you never have any doubt that
your father cares for you and loves you with all his heart. I know I will have
my moments of frustration that I will say or do things that I instantly regret,
but please know it will never be my intention to hurt you. I vow to protect
you, to clothe you, feed you and soothe you when you are sad or sick. Most
importantly, I promise to set the example of what a Godly husband and father
should be. This I promise you all. Until all of this transpires, I will
continue to wait patiently for you to explode suddenly into our lives and
completely turn our world upside. I can’t wait for the sleepless nights, the
dirty diapers and of course the daily messes made around the house (sorry you
got an OCD neat freak dad). I can’t wait for the muddy feet, scraped knees, the
yelling at you for picking on your siblings, Christmas morning chaos, seeing
you harvest your first deer, making you do your homework, conversations around
the dinner table, Sunday mornings scrambling to make it to church on time,
shooting hoops or playing catch with you, holding your hand when a boy breaks
your heart at school, Baptisms, shopping for dresses, teaching you to read,
sharing our love for animals, watching you serve in youth groups, birthday
parties, Easter egg hunts, food courts and mall walking with the girls,
practices, games, Texans games we go home hoarse from, graduations,
homecomings, proms, and weddings. You are all so loved, more than you can know,
and before you have even arrived. You are the treasures of my heart. I believe
that God delayed your arrival because he saw your parents in need of
preparation for you. To be the best parents we could be so that you grow up in
home that fills you with a love and a desire for Jesus, in a home that inspires
you to go out into the world and do good for His kingdom. The changes He has
made in our lives the last few years are beyond anything we could ever have
dreamt. I know that the time is coming soon when I get to meet you because of
the things He has put in place… but until then, know that your father loves you
so very much. See you all very soon!!!
Love,
Your father – Travis
Easter, March 31, 2013
Oh. My. Goodness. Watching the Passion of the Christ, reading Kayla's letter and now yours. I'm a complete and total mess over here. A grateful kinda mess. We all know I'm not good with words but you know my heart. We are very blessed to have y'all in our life and family. Reading both y'alls letter makes me want to be a better mom. That's what I love about our friendship, God is at the center and we help each other along through the good, bad and straight up ugly.
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