A Letter to My New Nephew

10:03 AMHeather

Dear baby Will,

I can't believe you are here!  You see, I've somehow become like an old lady declaring such things like, "I've known your mom since she was a toddler!  Now she's a mom!"  Except it's true.  I've had the honor and privilege of watching your mama grow from a little girl with a bowl haircut who insisted she wore her pretend wedding gown and veil constantly to becoming a young lady with such drive and determination that it amazed me.  Then, we blinked, and off to college she went.  

She and I were walking near the lake where your great Uncle Craig lives.  She'd met a boy. She wanted to talk about it. And from the things she said, he was unlike any previous suitor.  This one was special.  There was just something about him.

Indeed there is.  He's your dad, of course.  Their love story began off at college where we didn't get to see much of what was happening.  But we knew it was good and meant to be.  We knew your parents were falling in love. Not just a fleeting love. A real love, built on respect and friendship and admiration.  Not just infatuation.  

Sure enough, their love story blossomed and just the year before last, we celebrated their wedding in grand fashion.  You were but a dream, yet here you are.

So fresh and tiny and brand new.  I think nothing brings hope and joy like a newborn baby does.  That's the gift you've already given us.  All of us.  The crazy mob of a family who surrounded the hospital nursery window like crazed paparazzi on the trail of some elusive celebrity.  Snapping approximiately 12 billion photos of your first moments of life.  Yes sir, little buddy.  You've caused quite a stir.  And I'm here to tell you that you are stuck with us.  All of us.  Forever.  Because we are family.  


You are blessed enough to have three fun aunties!  And I'll gladly take the role of the oldest, most mature auntie.  I have a couple decades on the other two, after all.  So, I can take my rightful place now and wax poetic and try to offer some wisdom as you start the journey of life.   

First, you must understand this.  You are a living breathing miracle.  You are!  God promises in Psalm 139 that He knits us together in our mother's wombs and every day of our lives were written in His book before one of them came to be.  You see, God is not bound by time.  He is here, He is in the past, and He is in the future.  So every single person is a miracle made perfectly by God's own hands.  But, you, my dear, came into this world with a bit of drama.  The last few moments before your birth were, to be honest, scary.  Your heart rate was dropping and there was talk of potential troubles.  So they whisked your sweet parents into the operating room for an emergency c-section.  (That's a surgery to help you be born, by the way). 

So we prayed.  We wanted you to be born healthy and happy and we wanted your mom to be well, too.  We sat, your big crazy family made up of both sets of grandparents with an assortment of aunts, uncles and cousins.  Anxiously awaiting.  Nearly holding our breath.  Willing that everything would be okay.  So afraid it might not be.

And there you were.  The picture of health.  A deep sigh of relief for us all.  Because it could have been a different story.  But, by God's grace, it wasn't. So, listen here, buddy.  Never lose sight of the fact that you are a miracle.

When kids say something mean (and they will) or when you feel like you don't measure up, remember.  You are a miracle!  There is no doubt.  You are a gift.  A treasure.  Perfectly made, with no mistakes.  And you are loved.  Remember?  That crowd clogging up the hallway to welcome you into the world?  Every single one of us love and adore you and are here for you always.  

And that's what is most important in life, by the way.  Love.  The love of a God who made you.  And made a way for you through His son Jesus.  The love of parents who would move heaven and earth to show their love and adoration of you.  Who loved you before you were ever you.  Who dreamed of a little someday boy or girl.  Who had their dreams fulfilled the day you were born.  The love of grandparents who waited anxiously as the minutes ticked off on the day you were born.  All four so eager to hold you and meet you.

The love of your aunts and uncles and cousins.  Who can be loud and crazy and maybe even obnoxious.  Who spent the day of your birth anxiously awaiting, too.  Because we all were so very eager to welcome you.  Family.  There's nothing like it.  You're sorta stuck with us all, I'm afraid.  But, I think you will see that there's nothing better in the world--nothing quite like family. An odd assortment of people, all so unique, woven together by blood or marriage.

So here we are, nephew.  You're already one day old!  And your life is a blank slate.  A book ready to be written.  Clean crisp pages that will be filled with laughter, tears, triumphs and challenges.  There's such hope there.  In what all might be.  I pray you never lose sight of that.  Not when you're ten or twenty or fifty.  A sense of hope and joy and anticipation.  A hope for better days during the hard ones.  A joy of the gifts in life that make it all worth it.  An anticipation of new chapters that constantly await you.  Oh the adventures to come!

But for now, rest in the arms of your mom and your dad.  Be patient with the rest of us as we fight over a turn to hold you.  Be confident in the miracle that you are.  Be mindful of the God who made you.  Be connected to the Savior who died for you.  Be assured of the love that surrounds you.  And be hopeful in the journey ahead!

With all my love,
Your adoring auntie Heather       

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