Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

Your dad and I don't yet know what your name will be. Sure, we have picked what we think are the perfect names for if you are a little lady or a gentleman. But we won't know for a while which name we will use. You dad is sure you will be his "daddy's little girl", while I think you will be a bouncing baby boy. No matter what you are, there are some things I want you to know.

You are already so incredibly loved, beyond what you can imagine. We know basically nothing about you yet, and we like it that way! And even though we don't know what parts you will have or what name we will call you for sure, we know that you are a part of both of us and a precious miracle from God. I am fully aware that you will keep me up for many nights creating pure exhaustion in both your daddy and I. You will cause me to get wrinkles from worry at my young age of twenty-five and you will test my patience daily. Will I be so emotional and frustrated once you arrive that I can't help but sob? Absolutely! But when I feel you kick and wiggle around inside of me, I really could care less about all of that. We prayed for you for a long time and we have so many dreams and plans for how we will spend our lives with you by our side! I want to make you some promises while you are still in my womb, it's always good to get these things in writing ;)

First, your daddy and I promise that we will raise you in a house that is full of God's love. You may not know much about God right now, but he is your dad and I's number one priority! Not only will we teach you Bible stories, songs and take you to church but we will try to model God's love in our home daily. In everything we do. Are we great at following Jesus all the time? No. We stumble and fall and will continue to do so, but in our daily walk with God we want you to see those moments, because you will have them too someday. We will strive to teach you about grace. What a beautiful gift we are given daily from our Heavenly Father, a gift that none of us deserve. Sweet baby, we promise we will make this the utmost importance in our home, no matter what roof we live under.

Precious little one, because we have the love of Jesus in our hearts our home will be so full of love! I promise that you will not go a day without hearing "I love you" from both your daddy and I. We don't want you to ever forget just how special you are to us. You are quite literally a gift from God and we will never stop telling him "Thank you" for your presence in our lives!

I promise that you will also always hear your daddy and I say how much we love each other. What does this have to do with you? Everything! You were created out of love and we want you to be raised in that same love your whole life. Someday we hope you grow up and will find a special someone to love, marry and start a family with. We want to give you the best example of a family that we can. In the beginning you might be jealous of daddy and my kisses and hugs for each other, then you will grow to be repulsed by them. But that won't make us stop, because someday you will appreciate the example we were setting in those little moments.

You won't understand this one right now and will later probably hate us for it for a time, but oh how important it is. Sweet child, I promise that we will discipline you! We will not make empty threats when you misbehave (and misbehave you will!), when we tell you to "stop or else" we will mean it! We will do this not because we want you to be unhappy and be denied your every heart's little desire. We will do it because we want you to learn respect, self-control and to not be entitled. We are preparing you to grow up and live in this harsh world. In all honesty, the rules and expectations we have will be because we love you so fiercely, and truly want to help you grow into the best little human you possibly can!

I also promise that we will not be perfect parents. We will make so many mistakes, especially with you since you're our first. Mistakes help us learn and we want you to learn that lesson too. And even though we will make mistakes, we will never stop trying to be the best we can be for you each and every day.

Oh little one, there are so many more promises I could make to you and as you grow and change through each new season, some of these promises will become more important. Just know sweet bebe, that God placed you in our care for a reason. He has big plans for our little family and you are the beginning of that! We love you so much peanut! Keep growing big and strong, we can't wait to meet you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy