A Letter From Your Daddy

This is a letter written the other night when your Daddy couldn't sleep.

My Dear Isabella,

I'm writing to you as I wait for you to come into this world. Your entire family is awaiting your arrival more than you will ever know. By the time you read this, you will hopefully be a healthy, vibrant young lady. But just ten months ago, your Mother and I thought we might never see you.

While you may have already heard from us how hard it was to conceive you, words cannot express the pain and sorrow we had in our hearts. It took so long to conceive you-almost two and a half years-that your Mother gave up almost all hope. It took a team of doctors eleven months to find out how to conceive you. Most parents never go through that, and I hope that when you grow up, you'll never go through it, either.

You can only imagine the joy in our hearts when we woke up Thanksgiving morning to find out your Mom was pregnant! Since then, you have had so many people rooting for you. Your family, many of our friends, people we work with, and even random people who heard our story started praying for you. They all prayed that you would make it safe and sound, nine months later, into this world.

That's why we named you "Isabella Joy." When we first decided to name you, the name "Isabella" came to mind because we found that it means "God's Promise." We gave you the middle name "Joy" because of the joy you have brought to our family.

However, Isabella can also mean "Consecrated to God," and I pray that you will be consecrated to the Lord. Rephrasing Samuel 1:27-28, "We prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted us what we asked of Him. So now, we give you to the Lord. For your whole life, you will be given over to the Lord." You  are a special child, Isabella, and every day we will hope and pray that you will grow up not only loving the Lord, but serving Him as well.

Someday soon, we'll tell you the whole story of everything it took to bring you into this world, but for now, we hope that you understand that your Heavenly Father wanted you so much that He waited until now for you to be born. He could have given us a child much sooner, but then we would never have had you, and you will always be special in our hearts. 

May you always know that you are loved,
And that you learn how to share God's love with others.
May you always know that you are blessed,
And one day, bless others in His name.
May you always know that you are God's gift to us,
And one day, give unto others as He has given to you.

Signed,

Your Earthly Father