That was three years ago, about right now. Caroline Ruth came into this wild world, and my life has never been the same.
She turned 3 today, and is growing up so fast it’s hard to believe. Yeah, I know every parent says that, but there’s a reason: it’s true. Time flies.
It truly seems like yesterday I was wide-eyed with wonder at this gift of life. We were completely in awe, and so very thankful to God. For those of you that don’t know, there was a time we thought we’d never have a child. And three years ago tonight, exhausted yet fully hyped on adrenaline, we held this precious bundle of grace in our hands for the first time, finding it hard to believe she was really there.
Fast forward to 2009:
My little girl is 3 going on 10. She talks up a storm, goes full blast until she drops, and is as stubborn as her daddy.
And she is daddy’s girl.
And she knows it.
Words can’t express how much I love this kid. Yeah, she frustrates me (she’s 3, after all), but when she leaned over to me at lunch today (Chick-d-lay…her first choice for her birthday meal) and gave me a big kiss, all that is forgotten.
Three years. More like three seconds. My father-in-law is fond of saying “life is but a vapor”, and I realize it no better than when I see this girl growing up before my very eyes. And as I see it, I think of the charge I’m given as a parent (newly deposited this Sunday when we dedicated Hannah).
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
It’s my job to teach her to know and love God with everything she has within her. It’s my JOY to do so. Lord, as my little girl begins her third year on earth, bless her abundantly! Fill her with every blessing you have for her in Jesus, and draw her, by Your Spirt, to You. Help me to show her by my life and my words that You are the source and sum of all she ever could need and want. Help me love you fully, so that she can learn from me what matters most.
The Wading Pool 
