Advice To My Son-In-Law

My son-in-law, Tim Williamson, is an amazing guy.  He is a great husband to our daughter and an awesome father to our grandsons.  Most importantly to Anita and me is the fact that Tim loves the Lord and gives spiritual leadership to his family!  He also is one of those self-sacrificing young men who serves in the U.S. Navy submarine service.  As a naval officer, he spends many hours away from all of us, defending our nation from those who would wish us harm and for that we are truly grateful.

However, Tim is about to enter the realms of Barbie dolls, tea parties and princesses!  In September, he will meet the newest addition to the family, a precious baby girl.  As a father who went through the same thing almost 32 years ago, I thought I might offer him some thoughts about what to expect.

First, be prepared to never own your heart again!  From the time you meet this little girl and she curls her tiny hand around your finger, through her first day at school, to her leaving home for college, all the way through walking her down the aisle at her wedding, she will carry your heart around with her.  She will be the only person in the world, besides your wife (my daughter...who still walks around with her daddy's heart) who can melt you with a smile, a look or a tear!  Furthermore, you will love every minute of it!

Second, remember to make as many memories with this little girl as you can.  Memories as simple as reading a bedtime story or taking her to get a snow cone or listening to her talk to her dolls, when she doesn't know you are there!  Remember how she looks when she plays dress-up.  Listen to her little girl giggles that sound like the music from the greatest symphony in the world.  Mostly, remember and cherish those times when she climbs into your lap or comes into a room just to give you a hug!

Third, make sure she knows how much you love her and that you will love her, no matter what.  She will need to understand that the love you have for her, no matter how great, is only a fraction of the love her Heavenly Father has for her.  Remember, that you will always be the first man in her life!

Finally (and this is the hard one!), remember that your job as her father is one of planned obsolescence!  You will begin working yourself out of a job, the day she is born!  I can tell you that every milestone she reaches, will be a bittersweet one to you.  When you see her take those first steps, when she walks from your car to the front door at kindergarten, when you drive away from her college dorm and when you walk her down that church aisle you will remember every moment you spent with her and be better for it.  I can tell you from experience, you will be proud of her, but you will also feel like you are losing a small part of her.  That's why I hope you make lots of special memories, because you will always have those!  It seems like only last month that we brought your wife and my little girl home from the hospital, and then, last week she went off to school and this week she has a family of her own, with you!  It has been a joy to watch her grow, but it sure seems like it went by too quickly!  That's the way time works, as the poet said, "Time waits for no man!"  However, our Father tells us to make the most of our time and to redeem those moments and memories and that is what I pray for you, Tim!

There is one more piece of advice I would offer...make sure you meet her first date, at the front door, with the shotgun you just happen to be cleaning!  I love you and can't wait to meet your daughter!

My First Letter to My New Granddaughter!

Dearest Little Girl,
Today has been an anxiously awaited day for our family. Today was to be the day that your Mommy went to the doctor for her official first sonogram and we were to find out whether you would be a little girl or a little boy. You cannot know how excited we have all been since we learned that you were to be born. We all wait for you to arrive in early September.

You are going to be born into a family that will love you more than you ever could imagine! The first people you will meet in our family are your Mommy and Daddy. They will take care of you and help you grow, but most importantly they will love you and tell you about how much God loves you. In fact, God loves you even more than your Mommy and Daddy and all the rest of you family! The next people you will meet will be your two big brothers, Mark Garrett and Luke Patton. They are both very excited to meet their new little sister and to help take care of you. In fact, since Mom and Dad told him that he was going to be a big brother again, Mark has insisted that you would be a "baby sister!" He was quite emphatic and would in fact, argue that you were a baby sister anytime someone would suggest otherwise. I guess he was right after all! Luke will be almost three years older than you and he is looking forward to teaching you all about Thomas and his friends. He will probably try to boss you, but remember he loves you very much!

The next person you meet will be a very special lady. She will be your Mimi. Mark and Luke can tell you how amazing she is, but you will get to find out yourself! She is a wise, godly and funny lady who will have tea parties with you and take you to see the spring flowers and who will always have books and toys for you. You will be Mimi's very first granddaughter and she will love you and take care of you.

Next, you will meet Uncle Mark and Aunt Meghan. Mark Garrett and Luke think that Uncle Mark is the coolest guy ever and they think Aunt Meghan is very special too. Aunt Meghan will read to you and tell you stories. They will both love you and are very excited to meet you! I'll bet that somehow, Uncle Mark will buy you your first camouflage baby clothes!

Now, let me tell you about myself. I am your Papaw. Your Mommy was my little girl. It will take you a little while, but you will quickly learn that Papaw is wrapped around your little finger. Mark and Luke will confirm that for you! I am very excited to meet you and to hold you and love on you. We will do fun things together, like read books, play games and pretty much anything else we can think of! As your big brother Mark would say, "It will be fun!"

Well, you have a few more months to grow inside of Mommy and then when you are ready, you will be born and we will all meet you then. I can't wait to hold you and sing to you and tell you the story of Jesus! I hope you know that you already have your Papaw's heart!

I love you,
Papaw

"I No Teach To Catch Flies!"

In our family, we have been very excited since Christmas when Alicia told us that she was expecting Baby Williamson #3. Mark Garrett has been very pleased with the prospect of being a big brother to a second sibling. He is pretty confident that he has done a great job with Luke and is ready for new challenge. He is also quite sure "it will be a baby sister!" We are not quite that confident, but we will find out soon! Luke has been a different story, however. He has been fairly uninterested in the concept of being a big brother! However, that may be changing!

At school this week, Alicia was talking to Luke's teacher, who told her about a book they had read. In the book, the mother of a young frog had a baby frog and apparently the story was about how the young frog was the big brother and how the frog taught his new sibling how to be a frog. After reading the story, Luke's teacher asked he would be a good big brother when his Mommy had her baby. Luke looked at her and calmly replied, "I no teach to catch flies (apparently that was a big part of the little frog's job!)"

We are pleased that Luke is now getting excited about his new sibling (that would be a baby sister for those of you who take Mark Garrett's side in this!)" However, we are even more pleased that we will not have to worry about Luke teaching the new baby how to catch flies! I love this kid!

He Knows The Answer!

Most people know that my youngest grandson, LP, has a pretty straightforward view of life. When you are tired, you take a nap; when you are hungry, you eat; when you are not sleepy or hungry, you play; and when you are hungry for marshmallows, you eat the whole bag! Last week, he revealed that he knows the answer to pretty much any question.

On Palm Sunday, my daughter and son-in-law were working in LP's Sunday School class. As the teacher had the children gathered around her for the Bible story, she asked, "Do you know what next Sunday is?" Before she could get the question out of her mouth, LP shouts, "God!" We all laughed about that story when my daughter told us and it was a cute story. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that LP was right. The answer to pretty much all of life's hard questions, is God! The most amazing part of the whole thing is that LP is only two-years old and yet, he knows and accepts what many adults refuse to acknowledge. Maybe that's why Jesus told His disciples that we would need to become like little children to inherit the Kingdom. My prayer for all of us, is that we would become more child-like in our faith and love for Jesus!

I love you, buddy!