One look changed everything — your fisted hand, your pinched up, wailing face, your quivering body pressed between ours. We wept as the doctor declared you healthy and whole. 

Unforeseen emotion swelled from within. Fierce protectiveness pulsed through my veins. Selflessness gripped my heart. And the hours became days, and the days became weeks. The weeks became months, and the months became years. 

I still cannot believe you are mine. 

I do for you all that my mother did for me, finally understanding her limitless love. Your dad’s unconditional love will, God willing, illustrate the unconditional love of your heavenly Father. 

You don’t yet know the Lord as well as you one day will. Like so many things, you might not appreciate Him in these early, easy years, but you will when your path gets harder. 

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart. 

JEREMIAH 24:7 NIV 45