On the night before we were to go to the hospital, we wrote individual letters to our BABY that we will share with him/her when he/she is older.
LETTER 1 – July 17 . 2015
Lincoln,
When you were born your mother and I knew that you were a special gift from God that we would adore the rest of our lives. You have given us new life and a deeper respect of the bond between two parents and their son. Your mother and I love each other very much, but our love for you is much deeper and hold us all together. One day you will know this feeling and what it means to have a child of your own. To finally reach this moment as being parents is so rewarding, and is seen as a gift that is bestowed on your mother and me.
I am sad that you will never meet my real father, but he would have been so excited to see you and express his love towards you. My hope is to build the same strong bond he and I had with you. Not to worry, but he is watching over us and making sure you are given the most love that a grandfather can give to his grandson.
I pray that you will understand what our love means towards you and how we will do everything in our power to make you feel safe, and secure. We want you to be a gentleman and understand the responsibility of your role in life. You are an Angel from God and have special gifts that will someday impact other people in meaningful ways. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and realize that your talents are unique and make you who you are no matter what others may say. I know you will be an incredible young man and cannot wait to guide you through your journey.
Thank you son, for being a part of my life. Love you more than words can say.
DAD
LETTER 2 – July 17 . 2015
Dear BabyVass,
Tomorrow is a BIG DAY! It’s the day we finally get to meet you after all these years of hope, anticipation, preparation and prayers. The first few months of your life with me went by so very slow as we prayed that everything was progressing well. Once we hit the ½ way mark, I feel the time went into fast forward and once I could feel you kicks and punches, it was a lot of fun knowing you were with me each and every day. How lucky was I to have you as my little Buddy with me every minute. We sure had fun….I know you couldn’t see where we were but you will one day see those cities and places in person.
As it was determined you would be joining this BIG world tomorrow, all my emotions collided and all I could do was cry and smile, all at the same time! The cry was mixed with happiness and many levels of scared feelings as just like you are about to enter a NEW place you have never been, we as your parents are about to experience something we have never before as we grow instantly from a couple to a family of 3! But together the 3 of us can make it through life’s journey together. As you will see, your Mama was born with a larger supply of tears than others and I have happy tears and sad tears but they are usually out of my control as they come at any moment. Your Daddy will look at me and smile, laugh occasionally, and hold me tight when I am crying in joy. He obviously accepts and controls his feelings differently than your Mama which you will witness.
When you enter this BIG world, I want you to know that your Daddy and Mama promise you this:
- To be the best parents we can
- To give you all the love we can
- To take you on travels to beautiful cities
- To be your biggest supporters
- To be your biggest fans and to always cheer you on
- To show you unconditional love
- To provide you safe surroundings
- To let you grow and evolve with your talents
- To keep you safe in your surroundings
- To allow you to spread your wings and grow
- To give you courage
Daddy and I are over the moon excited to meet you. I know it will be my most exciting day next to the day I met your Daddy. The day I met him, I knew instantly that he was going to be my husband one day. I never knew if we were going to be the couple that dated for decades and never married but I did know that we both had a void before meeting each other. Once we were finally in the same city together, there grew another void…..it was the void of being a party of 3. Although our paths were set to do other things before that void became a reality. Your daddy and mama are at the older age of parents of infants, but we see that as advantageous for us:
- We have had many years to see a lot and to mature as adults
- We bring the stability of loving our jobs and can balance that with you
- We have had years of great travel, memories, and independence
- Our hearts have grown fuller with love we can share with you
- We have gained a lot of sensibility to help as make the best decisions we can
- We have formed a home that we hope you love as much as we do because we have a great room awaiting your arrival home
When I met your daddy, I quickly learned that he was the match for me and I grew quickly in love with his personality, his laughter, his extreme list of talents (that I pray you are born with that we see evolve), and his love for many similar things as me. He has an easy going personality that calms me when I get anxious and I have a sensible personality that organizes him. Together we are pretty easy going people on average, we love to travel and see new things, but we also love sitting in our family room with our feet kicked up relaxing. We hope you will love both as well! We love art and architecture, color and details, bright lights, lots of people but also love the outdoors, seeing stars and clouds and the quietness of the country and the waves of the ocean! We hope you see the joy in those things as well. We grew together in Chicago where we met and saw every site we could and we can’t wait to take you there!
From the time I first started babysitting in my younger teen years, I dreamed of being a parent one day. As I grew older, hit my 20s, hit my 30s and well….about to hit the next decade, I wasn’t sure if this was the path God had set for me. We prayed, we hoped, and we continued to love all that we had knowing it may not be what our lives were set to include. But we are the couple that truly loves children and babies. I always notice babies and they instantly put a smile to my face. And I am ready to let you put that 1st smile to my face! I think that may come instantly after a gallon of happy tears pour down my face. Oh sweetie, I love you so much and you haven’t even joined this BIG world!
Tomorrow is the day we get to meet our bundle of joy. We pray most importantly that you will enter this BIG world safely and you will be healthy. Those have been my 2 biggest wishes. So I know tonight I probably won’t get much sleep as I should as I will be dreaming about the 1st moment I see you and hear the doctors words.
We wonder if you will you be skinny or chunky, have lots of hair or be bald, what color will your hair be when you are born or your eye color….we know we will see what they are on your DAY 1, tomorrow. It is wonderful you will join us on our favorite day of the week, Saturday! It’s a day we typically relax, enjoy the moments of no rigid schedule, enjoy the hour of church at HPUMC Cornerstone with great music and an inspiring message that starts our week along with an enjoyable dinner out at our favorite restaurant, R&D Kitchen. The staff at R&D is anticipating your arrival and they are ready to see us return as a party of 3! If we are not in our home city, our Saturday is still typically an enjoyable day with friends, family or alone as a couple spent as a relaxed day at the beach in Florida, in a big city with friends or sightseeing on our own, or on the farm in Kansas!
I love you, my Baby!
Love, Mama
** We were not able to meet you on Saturday, instead you made your appearance on Sunday, July 19 . 2015. So all day Saturday, we were in the hospital waiting in anticipation and it was all well worth the wait!