Dear Olivia,
When we first found out mommy was pregnant with you, I, like most fathers, wanted a son. We found out later our baby was going to be a girl. I wasn't upset at all, but thought it would have been nice to have a boy. It was 8 years ago today you blessed our lives by entering our family. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you! There is no way in the world I would trade you for anyone else, especially a boy. I am so happy you were given to us by God! In fact, you were so special to me, I was afraid of having another baby because I didn't think I could love another kid as much as I loved you. But, if we were going to have another kid, I wanted another one like you. That's right...I wanted another daughter! God blessed us again with your sister!
You are one special kid growing into a special young lady. You are incredibly fun, funny, loving, compassionate, loyal, kind, strong-willed, opinionated, competitive, smart, beautiful, crazy, etc. I am so proud of you in all that you do. I am so proud to call you my daughter and so thrilled you call me daddy!
I pray God protect you all your life, that you have a long life, that you come to know Jesus in a personal way early in life, that you continue to be a blessing to all that come in contact with you, and that I can know you for many, many years to come. I love you, my daughter, my first-born! Please always know I will love you always, no matter what. Happy Birthday!!
Daddy
Our kids (like all kids) love it when the ice cream truck comes through the neighborhood. However, we've always been a little leery as many of them look a little creepy! Last year, a new truck (and I mean new!) started coming once a week. The Kona Ice truck comes every Monday evening (weather permitting) and the kids really look forward to it! They both get small snow cones and add nearly every syrup flavor. However, I didn't know they looked forward to it this much!
A few years ago, Heather got me a telescope for Christmas (or was it birthday?). I've seen a lot of neat stuff since getting it, though I must admit I don't use it near enough. I am fascinated by space and love nearly all the Star Trek shows and the like. Heather is the same way. The neatest experience with the telescope was probably me finding Saturn. That was so cool to be able to see the rings! Now keep in mind, these aren't fancy images like you see from the Hubble Telescope, but it was pretty cool. Looked a little something like this.
On Saturday night, I got the scope out again to check out a bright "star" in the sky. Turns out, it was Jupiter with 4 of its moons in plain sight! It looked a lot like this (though I could see two distinct horizontal lines on the planet, like this, though I'll admit it wasn't quite that clear). Heather checked it out with me and was equally impressed that all four moons line up in a straight line.
Livvi is showing definite similar signs of nerd-dom that her mother and I share. She loves to check out the stars, too. On Sunday night, we checked out Jupiter and the moon. The detail in the moon was incredible (even better than this). With the moon being nearly full and so bright, we about blinded ourselves! Joie took one look in the scope at Jupiter and had had enough. She started complaining about being scared of the dark. Perhaps a couple more years and we'll try it again.
Here is a picture I took tonight of the moon and Jupiter (without the telescope):
Hey, NASA! When you are done with Hubble, can you set it up in my backyard? Thanks!
