My darling son

When your daddy and I brought you home almost a year ago, wrapped so tightly, I remember thinking that I would have forever before your first birthday came, and now it is upon us! I am amazed at how fast your first year has gone by! It is joyous and saddening all at the same time! As I make preparations for your birthday, I cannot help but think about how soon it will be a celebration for your becoming of a man, and then a wedding celebration. All these thoughts only increase the depth of the realization of how important my responsibility is to train you to be a man who knows and fears God. A man who is strong with the word of God against the powers of this world, a man who knows how to be a leader, to stand strong in the midst of a weak society who scoffs at the strong, a man who desires to be a husband, a father, and a leader, and who rules his home with a multi-generational vision. All this your father and I must teach you in the few years that you have been entrusted to us! What a wonderful and mighty calling! I love you, my son! I love, love, love you!!!!