Happy New Year Mara,
Today was a big day for you and me. I felt you move for the first time. It was so great. I guess you were pretty active today while mom was at work. She was so excited. Then, when she got home, we lay very still on our bed and I put my hand on her tummy. It didn’t take long before I felt you kick. I can’t tell you how happy I was. That was a moment I will never forget for as long as I live. After we got back from our New Year’s Eve party, I felt you move again. I doubt I will ever get tired of that. You are amazing.
This holiday season I thought about you so much. Christmas will be so much better with you. I kept imagining what next year would be like, when I would be able to hold you on Christmas morning. It will be so beautiful. By that time, I will be able to hold your sweet little hands and help you stand in my lap so we can look at each other. It will be wonderful to look into your eyes and watch you experience your first celebration of the birth of our hope. I just can’t wait. We will be at your grandmother’s house in Tennessee next Christmas. Maybe your first Christmas will be white. If it's not too cold, maybe I will take you up to the lake early in the morning to experience the melodic silence of God's creation. It's so pretty up there. You are going to love it.
I have been reading to you and talking to you a lot. You have been listening to The Silver Chair by CS Lewis. He is my favorite. I want so badly to pray for you when I am touching your mom’s tummy. I just don’t have the words to say. Nothing seems appropriate enough. I just silently ask God to read my heart. I can’t seem to express all of the things I am feeling for you. It’s just so much all at once. Mara, you are everything I have ever wished for. I am living for the first time I can feel your little hand wrap around my finger.
I love you Mara Meadow. May God already be forming your little heart, both spiritually and physically. See you soon.
Love,
Dad
