Letter to David

Dear David,

Any day now you'll be making your appearance after nine months of hiddenness. When the time arrives, I want to be sure there are certain things you know without any doubts.

First, you are loved. God loves you, and made you in love; and your father and I, living His love, participated in making you with love. I know that words won't be able to impart this understanding for a long time, but my deepest hope is that we can teach you, right from the start, to know in your heart what you cannot yet know with words. You are very loved, very wanted, and very, very eagerly awaited.

There will be times, little one, when despite our love for you, we will fail you. There will be times, too, when we forget to show our love for each other and for the rest of the people in our family. Have patience, David, and know that love is one of God's perfection, a perfection we have not yet attained. We will sometimes forget to live it, but it does not mean we have stopped loving. For your sake, I know we will try harder to reflect God in our behavior toward one another.

You will find yourself, too, tempted and pulled away at times from right behavior. We will never stop loving you if you make mistakes, but will try to remember, even when we have to respond to your errors, that we have also made errors. You are coming into a good family, son, and one of our strengths is that we help each other to learn and grow. Please, when you feel weak, do not push us away.

I can't promise perfection, my child; but I do promise to try. I promise to pray for you every day. I promise to love you unconditionally, and to take care of your needs to the best of my ability. I promise to discipline you when you need it, too, because that will be one of your needs when you get older... but I will try to temper every lesson with love and mercy, as well. I promise to share my faith with you and teach you about the love of Jesus Christ. I promise to try to model His love. And I promise that our love for you is forever, not just a duty that ends when your childhood ends.

David, my sweet son, we can't wait to meet you. Hurry, love. We have many hugs waiting for you.