Sunday, October 18, 2009

Dear Baby Doll,

Forgive me for calling you by the name that I endearingly used every time I changed a diaper or rocked you to sleep. I know you are now 13 and think you are on your way to "adulthood," not really wanting to be associated with the word "baby" at all. But in this mom's eyes you will ALWAYS be my precious little one, my blond, blue eyed "baby doll."


I watch you growing and changing and my heart has beams of pride shining through the tears of sadness. I am at constant battle with myself these days. I am excited to see what the Lord has planned for my little girl, but I am oh, so sad that you are growing up at all. I want to keep you close, holding on to you forever. I know I have to let you find your wings and fly. I know I have to allow you to try new things and find out what kind of person you are. I know that we will disagree on many things in the years ahead, where neither of us might be wrong. You are going to find your own style, set your own goals and have your own dreams.


I can't promise you that there won't be days when I embarrass you, correct you, lose my patience or seem totally "unfair." There will be moments when you feel you might just "hate" me and I will want to waver under the stress of that.


What I will promise you is that as long as God allows, I will be that momma bird watching over her nest, teaching her little one to fly. Your name will be on my lips in prayer every morning as I wake up and every night as I close my eyes for bed. A day will not go by that I will not speak the words "I love you, Kayla." I will try my hardest to be patient, understanding, a good listener and full of forgiveness and grace. I pray I can be the example of Christ, that my own mom was for me. I pray we will have that fun friendship that every girl wants, yet I hope to provide the guidance and structure that every girl needs.

I pray that everyday you will realize how beautiful you really are. I know I'm your mom and "moms are suppose to say that," but you ARE beautiful. Beauty is more than a flawless face, size "0" jeans and a gorgeous tan. Beauty comes from deep inside. It is displayed in your character, honesty, friendship and love. It is wrapped in how you treat others, the joy you have for life and the way you treasure God's creation. It is about your love for learning, your need to be creative and the way you have a song for every occasion. Beauty is in your relationship with our Saviour and the spark in your eyes when you read or learn something new in that pretty Bible of yours.


I love you. You are one of the most precious gifts God has ever given me. I am humbled everyday that He thought me worthy enough to be YOUR mom. I believe with all my heart that He has special plans for you. Hang in there, baby doll, being a teenager is rough. Mom is here for you, but more important, God has a hand on your shoulder at all times.

Love,
Mom


Tonight I started a journey with a group of ladies from my church. For six weeks we will be meeting to discuss, learn and support each other in this adventure we call motherhood. We are going through Vicki Courtney's study "5 Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter." If you have a daughter and have not read this study, I suggest you think about it. Our babies are faced with so much in this crazy world of ours. We need to keep the communication with our "baby dolls" going. Please pray for me and my friends as we strive to be the mothers God called us each to be...godly.

I will probably share my heart every Sunday night about what I have learned in my study. So for the next six weeks be warned. If you would like me to pray for you and your own little girls, please feel free to leave me a note. We moms have to stick together and fight for our daughters.

Quote for the night:

"God is looking for IMPERFECT mothers raising IMPERFECT daughters in an IMPERFECT world who are desperately dependent on a PERFECT God for results." - Vicki Courtney

19 comments:

Loren said...

This sounds so good! What age is this geared towards?? My daughter is 17 and my other is 23 and married (already a momma herself!)

I did bible studies with our 17 yr old and her friends for years; a group of them would come over 1 day every week during the school year and then we taught youth in our home until a couple of months ago. I love working with youth and am so blessed by them!

Let me know about the age of this book ~ thanks so much!!

Kristin said...

That's a beautiful letter to your daughter, Mich. :)

Greg C said...

My son asked me to speak to my wife about not calling him by one of those pet names. I think it is more of a motherly thing. I asked her not to do it but I know she slips from time to time.

Congrats on being the Blog of the week. I loved your answers and it was nice getting to know you more.

Joyce said...

I just hopped over from Kats blog...that is such a sweet letter to your daughter. I'm the mom of daughters too, they are now 19 and 21...I know we hear alot of bad about the teenage years but I loved them with my girls. They are not without challenges for sure but thankfully God has a way of preparing us for every season with our children.

I enjoyed visiting here and will come back...Have a great week!

Deborah Ann said...

What a beautiful tribute to your daughter! She is blessed to have your for a mom.

really.truly said...

Very sweet.

Motherhood is an adventure :)

~*Michelle*~ said...

Oh Mich.....what a beautiful letter to your daughter....how blessed she is to call you mom. (can I tell you I was sniffling?)

And thank you so much for this suggestion of the bible study! Where would I find it? (you can email me at michelle [at]ct.metrocast [dot] net)

You are a great person, Mich.....God is smiling and so proud of you! (just incase you needed to hear that today)

christy rose said...

What an awesome post Mich!! I think I will look into that. I have 3 daughters heading into those years. I could use all the Godly wisdom that is available out there.

Kendra Lee said...

My girls are right behind yours at 11 and 9... Might just look up that study!! I'm at a loss more often than I ever imagined...

Tiffany said...

What a beautiful letter from your heart for your daughter. I know that in a blink my four year old daughter will be turning thirteen, too. {sigh} Sounds lika really great Bible study! I really like that idea!

Tiffany said...

PS. LOVE that quote. I am going to write it down! Thanks for sharing!!

Billy Coffey said...

What a wonderful letter! And I for one plan on calling my daughter Baby Doll forever.

Anonymous said...

Daughters are precious! My daughters are always looking out for me as much as I am looking out for them. They comfort me when I am sad always ready to lend an understanding ear.

Our daughters indeed need our prayers in this uncertain world where so many people will try to tell them how to act and think. Balancing strength to deal with this world and meekness to be the beautiful woman God created them to be becomes a mammoth task. They need God’s abundant grace.

I hope you are richly blessed though your meetings with fellow mothers.
♥Hope

Mimmy said...

Mich, I found your blog from reading your interview with Kat at Heart2Heart. It is wonderful. I really couldn't stop reading. I too am a preacher's daughter, although I am not married to a preacher at this time I was MUCH earlier in my life. Unfortuneately, he did not remain faithful to our Father and as a result of sin in his life I was forced to end the marriage after 18 years. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who is a deacon in our local congregation. It never ceases to amaze me when God takes the lemons in my life and makes the most wonderful lemonade I've ever tasted. I'm adding you to my list of blots and will be "seeing" you as often as possible. Prayers for you and your daughter will go up from my heart. You are going to be a great blessing in my life and hopefully I will be able to, through my Father, bless you too.

God Bless,
Mimmy

He & Me + 3 said...

Mich,

What a sweet letter to Kayla. I would so love to look into this study. I have two daughters...that quote at the bottom I can so relate too.

Sharon Sloan said...

Hi, Mich!

Happy Serendipity!

Can you please contact me with your mailing address??

Beautiful post! And I have heard that book is terrific! Looking forward to following you along in your journey!

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Vicki is great. I can't wait to read her book as my daughter grows older. She's only 7, but tonight we had some tender moments of tears and prayers as she expressed a deep felt need in her heart.

I can tell that she's cut from a very familiar cloth; that being said, I've got some days ahead of me!

peace~elaine

Joyeful said...

This was so beautiful, Mich. My heart just squeezes at the thought of my own little "baby doll" growing into womanhood. This letter to your daughter is so inspiring and something I'm sure she will treasure always! What a wonderful love between a mother and daughter!

E @ Scottsville said...

OH Mich, it won't be long at all before my sweet little ten year old hits that pre-teen age...and then the TEENAGE years. I sure hope she will still love and respect me through it all.