Happy Birthday Lila Seanne!

My Sweet Four Year Old,
You are my precious daughter. I have prayed for you for the last seven years, since your Daddy and I got married and knew that one day we would love to have a family together. Little did I know then just how much God would answer that prayer by giving us our beautiful Lila Seanne four short years ago. You, sweet girl, have brought me more love, joy and happiness than I ever dreamed possible. Every single day I am blessed to be your mother is fun and exciting. Not only do I love you with every fiber of my soul, but I enjoy you. I love to be around you and your sweet, spunky spirit. Lately you have made Daddy and I laugh so hard we just can't hide it from you, but you just always laugh right along with us, "That was funny wasn't it Momma?" And then we all just laugh a little bit harder! You are so precious and certainly rank at the top of my 'bestest' friends list! It seems impossible that four years have flown by so quickly, but I have absolutely loved every single moment - the good, the bad and even the ugly - I am your mother and there isn't a temper tantrum too great to make me stop loving you!

Your Daddy, you, and your sister will forever be my greatest blessing and accomplishment until the day I finally find myself at Heaven's gate wrapped in my Father's arms. I pray that I can always be exactly what you need... your comforter, cheerleader, provider, protector, secret keeper, heartache healer, best friend, consistent and constant, your strength.. your mother. These are lofty aspirations and even though I will always do what is best for you, I know I will also fail you at times in your life. I am only human and we were put on this earth for a longing, a desire that can never be satisfied aside from Christ. So even though there will be times as your mother that I will unintentionally let you down, I know as much as I know anything, that your Heavenly Father never will. So as I sit tonight and think of you, I wish, I hope, I pray this year the same thing I did four years ago when you were placed in my arms that very first time, and every eve of your birthdays since.. as I sit and soak you in, grateful for the beautiful creature you are from the inside out, I pray that you will know the One who made you. The One who merely had to speak and everything from the earth, sea, sky, and all that they hold came to be. I want you to know Christ for exactly who He is.. your Creator, Sustainer, Shepherd, Comforter, Healer, your Redeemer. He was there at the beginning of time and will be there at the end. He is your Lord and your King. He is the only thing you need. Follow Him. Follow Him with faith and conviction.

My knowledge of God and His love and forgiveness was planted like a seed in me by your Grandparents and Great Grandparents as the same was done for them. Your Daddy and I pray every day that we will be that same example and influence you need to find and follow Christ. This world can be a scary place and believe me when I say that Satan is lurking, watching, and waiting with his hate and destruction, but with God's promises we have no need for fear. We were made to be unsatisfied here on earth Lila, so don't spend too much time trying to fit into this world. Set your eye on the prize and know with everything in you that one sweet day Jesus will come back for us and we will spend eternity with Him.

I hope you never tire of hearing me tell you about my Father and His unending story of love and redemption. You are so precious to me and of all the things I could ever give you, Jesus is the only gift you will ever really need. You already love Him and I pray daily that your love for Him continues to grow deeper and stronger until it becomes the most beautiful relationship you will ever have. He will always love you, even when you mess up and mistakes are made, much like your Momma, but with a love so much more stronger than any human is capable of. I feel so strongly that these words from my heart need to be written down so that you can read them over and over again and know without a doubt what your parent's want for you most in this world.

You are a delight and I love every bit of you. You bring me so much joy and I will always be proud of the sweet little girl that God gave me four years ago. I love you in a way that words could never get quite right. I carry your birth announcement in one of my most treasured things, my Bible, in a pocket in the front that I made so I can always keep a record of my two most beloved people in this world close by. I will never understand why God chose to bless me so immeasurably by giving you and sweet Emily to me, but I will continue to thank him each and every day for the rest of my life for the sheer, wonderful beauty of my precious, exquisite daughters. The verse Daddy and I chose for your announcement was James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above." And although this is a common verse for birth announcements, there is nothing common about how true, how accurate and precise these words are for describing the gift of my Lila Seanne. I couldn't have asked God for a more good and perfect gift. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! I love you to the moon and all the way back again. You are my Rooney and I will love you forever and ever! I hope you have the sweetest dreams tonight... for tomorrow you will wake up and be FOUR! I am so excited to watch you grow and experience new things, but my heart just has a hard time keeping up with the pace. You told me the other night as we were laying in your bed that you would stay my little girl forever and never leave me... as much as I would love to keep you small enough to fit in my lap and my tight embrace, I have to let you grow up and I'm excited to see the young lady that God has in store for you to become. So tomorrow we will celebrate with one more candle on the cake than last year, but yes, Lila, you will always be my little girl and I will carry the moments of so many of your firsts in my heart and treasure them always!
All My Love, Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy