A Letter to our Granddaughter on Her 6th Birthday!!!!

Look who likes getting wet!

Dear Wonderful Granddaughter…

I can’t believe you are a big six-year-old now and ready to go into 1st Grade! Oh, My. Goodness! You are so beautiful, so smart, so full of life, so vivacious, so – if I can borrow a word I often use to describe your mother – ebullient.

Your grandmama and I had such a great time at your birthday bash. Busch Gardens was the perfect choice and we loved watching you have so much fun! The way you stood on the bridge and let the “Tidal Wave” wash over you, and the way you were so brave to ride the log flume over the waterfall.

And the way you smile! Did you know that you smile all the way from the tips of your ears to the bottom of your toes? Some people smile with their mouth. Some people smile with their eyes. Our Beks smiles with her entire body!

So here’s what we want you to know for this year, as you quickly – too fast – grow through six on your way to seven. We want you to know how much we love you, and how much joy it gives us to watch you grow into someone who knows how to love too.

We can love this much, this big, only because God loves us so completely, and so enthusiastically. We want you to understand more and more how wonderful it is to live in that kind of love and to love others with that kind of love.

No matter what else happens in this world, even when other people forget to show God’s kind of love, even when we get disappointed or sad, we can rest in the unconditional, unavoidable, uncompromising Love that God has for us.

You see, Beks, we are all God’s children and God loves us so much. All Jesus wants is for us to love God back and to love each other in the same way.

So happy Big Number Six, Beks. We love you love you love you.

Your Grandaddy, DEREK