Aubrey Kate, you are beautiful...

Oh, precious girl!  Beautiful is not a big enough word for you.  When we look at you, we see a whole lot of Daddy, with my blue eyes and blonde hair that still has flecks of red like your Grandmother Evans.  Creamy skin with rosy cheeks and pink lips.  

There are moments when I look over and you simply take my breath away.  Amazed at how God picked each part of you.  Your button nose?  God picked it out.  The little freckle on your foot?  God put it there.  Your super long eye lashes?  Thank you, Lord!  

Sometimes I will catch myself daydreaming about what you will look like as you grow up too.  Not sure you'll be tall.  You might be wee like your Meme and GG.  You will, undoubtedly, be on the thin side. The entire Evans' clan is thin.  Will you have tiny feet like your Aunt Meredith?  Long fingers like your Grandmother Faulkner?  

Can't help but look at you and see bits and pieces of our family.    

All those pieces God selected and put together to make one very stunning little girl.

You will hear us tell you every day, "You are beautiful."  We do not do that to focus on your physical appearance but because, truth be told, the rest of the world will tell you otherwise.

I pray no one ever says something hurtful about your appearance.  Not another girl who whispers a mean comment to her friend.  Not a careless boy who wants only to hide his own feelings.  Life sure would be wonderful if you never heard a single word to contradict the truth of what Daddy and I tell you.

Because you are beautiful.

But even if you never hear it from your friends, there are plenty of messages in our culture to tell you.  

Those will relentlessly pursue you.  

Lies always do.  

It won't be impossible to shut out the lies.  It won't be possible to simply tune them out.  We know that. Instead, when you hear the lies and they start to turn your stomach, make you wonder if maybe there's a little truth in them, we want you to hear our voices telling you the truth.  

The truth of beauty.  The truth of your Grandmother Evans' strawberry blonde hair, your momma's blue eyes, maybe your Aunt Meredith's little feet, your Grandmother Faulkner's long fingers.  The truth of being the spitting image of your daddy.  

The truth of being beautifully crafted by The Creator.  Each and every piece lovingly knit together to create the amazingly stunning you.  

Aubrey Kate, you are beautiful.

"For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." 

~ Psalms 139:13