Harlee,

“May you live to see your children’s children – peace be on Israel.” Psalms 128:6 NIV

We have had a week. Your mom was approaching her due date, so we have been sort of waiting, sort of hoping, sort of anticipating. You cannot do anything to make time go faster, and that is probably a good thing. Soaking up every second is much better.

I am sitting here on a Friday afternoon. Our house is quiet. The window of the office at our house faces west. The sun is bright and blasting through the window. It sounds weird, but I like to pray facing the sun. If the sun isn’t up, I will point my eyes at a light. When you close your eyes you can still see brightness. It sort of reminds me that heaven is not dark. The glory of the Lord is there.

Your grandma is exhausted but now sleeping. She has been through a rough stretch all on her own. She is waiting to have back surgery. I wrote about it a week or two ago, but the surgery got delayed. Divine intervention if you ask me. There is no way on earth I would have convinced her to go under anesthesia with your mom in labor. This way, she will be holding you while resting after surgery. There is not a better therapy than that.

I picked your uncle Korbin up from school. His para told me that he has been worrying about a girl who got a splinter in class. His heart does not handle someone being hurt very well. Empathy is a very powerful force. For a young man on the spectrum who does not naturally consider the world around him, when someone is hurt, he does. I am proud of him for that. Once he heard his sister was in the hospital, he peppered us with “Aly?” and “Harlee?”. He just wanted to make sure you were okay.

Your mom calmly called us yesterday from her car. She is usually teaching at that time. “So, I think I am in labor.” That’s a pretty fun sentence to hear. Turns out she was right. I learned that my wife is not the only woman in our family who waits just a bit to actually go to the hospital. You were born last night. That’s a pretty fun sentence to write.

Telling people about you is great fun. No one can stop a new grandpa from showing them pictures of you. I showed our neighbor a picture of you today. She nearly went to the ground in tears. It may be one of the greatest reactions of pure joy I have ever seen. There are so many people who want to meet you. People have told me that I will enjoy having grandkids more than I enjoyed having kids. I do not know if that is possible, but it sure is going to be fun finding out.

The last text your mom sent us last night was to not tell everyone we knew yet. It was too late. We had already started prayer chains all over. By the time I read her text there had to be 50 people praying for you. It won’t mean much to you yet, but we know several people who literally stayed up to pray for you – all night. You have an army of prayer warriors at your disposal. Let’s use them when we need to. Let’s be there when they need it.

As I write this, I have not held you yet. The hospital has some limits on people coming in to see new babies. That’s understandable but it is making the anticipation of that first hug grow pretty strong. It’s probably weird that your grandpa writes to you in a way that others can see. I started writing because I saw your great grandpa Chester have his mind go gray. I wanted to make sure that my family knew what was inside my mind in case mine went gray too. At the time it never dawned on me that it may be a granddaughter who looks back at the old man in me. In case I ever don’t remember to tell you, you are one loved little girl.

Be like your mom. She is goofy – but fierce. She has made a path that has been uniquely her. She will help you figure out a way to dance even though you will go through some rough stuff. Everyone does.

Like your dad, be smart. Maybe you will understand some of his jokes – they are over my head. I think he can literally do anything and he will teach you to as well. He would cut the heart out of his own chest and hand it to you.

The challenge Harlee is to discover what God wants you to be in a world that is not always friendly to that idea. He designed you. He is letting us welcome you to a world full of some scary things, but also full of all the love you need. You already fill our lives with a joy we didn’t know we lacked.

Grandpa