A Letter to My Daughter

Dear Kaitlyn,

In the past year I have had the extreme privilege of being your father. I never would have believed that someone that couldn't speak could make me want to be a better man, but you have. You'll probably rarely see your old man shed a tear, but I want to let you know that the day you were born I weeped like a school girl that just skinned her knee. Those tears were tears of pride and Im not ashamed of them. It has been amazing in the short span of a year to see you go from rolling over to crawling and walking and talking. I am so proud of you and always will be. When you look me right in the eye and say "dada" and smile at me it absolutely melts my heart. I have had some things on my mind that I know if I explained them to you now it wouldn't make too much sense. So this is a letter of advice for when you get a little older:

Love the Lord. This is a vital piece of growing up. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be bombarded with advice that will point to the Bible being a hoax or trying to disprove religion. Stay strong in your faith. If you feel that your faith is slipping pray and study the Bible. The answers are there, sometimes we just have to look for them. Surround yourself with friends that are righteous and those friends will be your friends for life.

Love your Momma. I love seeing the way your mother interacts with you. The moment I think no one could love you more than me, I look over at your mom and realize there is someone in this world that loves you just as much as I do. She is an amazing woman and you are a lucky little girl to have her as your momma. I know that as you grow up you may not always see eye to eye with us on every subject, but I want you to know that we love you more that you will even able to comprehend until you too have children.

Give 100%. I don't know what you are going to be when you grow up. I cant wait to find out. Your mother and I have decided we are not going to push you toward any one thing. We want you to find out what you want to do. Once you do find your niche we want you to put everything that you have into it though. If you have given everything that you have into whatever you decide to do, that will be good enough for me. I could care less if you are the best or the worst as long as can honestly tell me you gave 100% that will be good enough for me.

Find a man that will treat you like the princess that you are. When you hit 35 or so, I believe I will let you start dating (don't worry thats a joke). My approval will be contingent on a few traits this man should possess. Does this guy love the Lord? How does he treat you? Does he strive to be a better man because of you? Does he make you happy? There may be more questions, but I illustrate these questions because they are questions that I try to be accountable for with your mother. She is my princess.

Live every day like it was your last. The unfortunate truth is we all have an expiration date. God did not mean for this to be our final destination. While we are here though, have some fun. Go traveling, be silly, do something adventurous. Dont sit around and watch life pass you by, go out and take it. you will be happy you did.

One last piece of advice and I will leave you alone (for now). Dont go to bed angry. If there is something on your mind that causes you not to be able to go to sleep, see if the issue can be resolved. Even if it cannot, at least you will know that you did everything that you could. This is an important lesson no matter how old you are.

As I am writing this I am still a fairly young man. I am sure I will have more wisdom to impart as we grow up together. I just need to figure out what it is first. I love ya Katie Lou and am so happy to call you my daughter.

Love,

Dad



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