Thursday, July 4, 2013

Dear Emily, Love Papa

July 2, 2013
Dear Emily,
 Today I saw you for the first time. The first thing I noticed about you Emily was how comfortable and cuddly you were with your mom. I can tell that you will have a special relationship with her. I know that she loves you so much. She has carried you for the last 9 months and has suffered a lot in order to see you this day. We are so grateful that you are here. The next thing I noticed was how calm and sweet you are. You calmed down the moment I held you and seemed to respond to my voice in a way that showed you trusted me and knew that everything was going to be all right because you have a family here on earth. Emily, we will try to be so good to you.
I want you to learn everything that I know. I want us to have stimulating intellectual conversations. I want to have pretend tea parties with you and your dolls. I want to teach you how to ride a bike. I want to come to all of your music recitals and sports performances. I want you to talk to me about the boys you like and the man you will want to marry. I want  to drop you off at college (hopefully BYU) and make sure you are all settled in and I hope you like your roommates and don’t feel too homesick, but also that you still miss us and want to talk to us every Sunday. I want to hold you in the middle of the night when you had a bad dream and are scared. I want to eat hot fudge sundaes for dessert after family home evening (you can show me how you like to make it). I want you to come home from your first day at a job and tell me all about it. I want to play hide and seek with you and your big sister and maybe a little brother. I want to hear you practicing the piano and learn a duet with you that we can perform at a recital.
 I hope you get excited when I come home from work and run into my open arms. I hope you know that I will always love you no matter what you do or say or think. I hope you are spared all of my bad genes and can be healthy both physically and emotionally. I hope that you like reading good books and watching good shows. I hope that you create your own preferences and tastes. I hope that you can gain a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and their love for you. I hope that you will read the Book of Mormon and receive a witness from the Holy Ghost as I have that it is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I hope that I can be a good example to you and won’t ever let you down. I hope that you learn how to deal with adversity in a mature and noble way. I hope that you are kind and humble, that you treat others as you would like to be treated. I hope that you have friends from all different backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles. I hope that you can be tolerant while maintaining your own standards of faith and virtue. I hope that you are happy and successful and live a life full of meaning and service.
I love you Emily. I consider myself very lucky to be your dad. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. Thanks for making my day!
See you tomorrow,

Papa

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