Letter from My Husband to Our Daughters

Dear Girls,

Remember all the things we’ve read in the Bible about heaven?  I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is all true!  It’s even better than we thought it would be!   And I want you to know that it was worth it all when I saw Jesus!  It was worth it ALL!

You girls were the greatest gifts that God gave to me beside your mother.  As each one of you came into my life, you blessed me and the more of you that there were, the more I was blessed.

Leah, remember all those math lessons and how you cried when I was trying to teach you?  That wasn’t fun for me either,  but look at you now!  You are homeschooling my grandchildren and teaching them math in much better ways than I knew how to teach you.  I am so proud of the woman that you have become.  Thank you for helping your mother and I through those last 6 months of my life.  All we had to do was call you and you were there for us.  Thank you for that, Leah.  Thank you for loving me.  I love you so much!

Annissa, I was so proud of your talent on the piano.  It gave me so much joy to hear you play.  We had great fun watching sports together, too.  You were the only one that enjoyed them as much as I did.  Thank you for coming to spend all those weeks with me during my last 4 months, Anna.  Thank you for giving me those shots at home when your mother just couldn’t do it.  Thank you for being so matter of fact about everything.  It helped bring things into perspective.  Thank you for loving me, Annissa.  I love you so much!

Charity, I loved to hear you sing!  I wasn’t a music person, but you always touched my heart when you sang.  It meant so much to me and I was so proud of you.  Thank you for sitting in the hospital with me and for bringing the boys up to see me on Halloween so that I could see them and give them some candy.  Thank you for that last song that I heard you sing via the internet.  It meant so much to me for I could see God in your face and hear Him in your voice.  Thank you for loving me, Charity.  I love you so much!

Tshanina, you were always the sunshine in my life.  You light up a room whenever you walk into it and you always made me feel better when you were around.   I was so proud of you when you faced some very difficult heartbreaking times in your life.  You were such a strong young woman to get through that with God’s help.  You didn’t turn your back on Him and I was so glad that you didn’t.  Thank you for all those nights you spent in the hospital with me trying to get me to play games and just smile.  You were so good to me.  Thank you for loving me, Tshanina.  I love you so much!

All of you girls are so loving and faithful to your husbands and the ones of you who have children are such good mothers.  You are all such good money managers and don’t truly realize what a relief and blessing that is to your husbands.  You are such good examples not only to your family but to others.

You girls are all beautiful not only on the outside, but more importantly,  you are beautiful on the inside because of your relationship with the Lord.  Always take time to cultivate and nurture that relationship because when it comes right down to where the rubber meets the road, your relationship with the Lord is all that you have in this world.  Nothing else matters.  NOTHING else matters.  THAT is THE most important thing in your life.  I can testify to that.

When it came down to the end of this life for me, God was there.  He showed Himself to me there at the end, took me by the hand, and introduced me to heaven.  OH, what a glorious thing that was!

So, give it all you’ve got.  Raise your children to really KNOW God.  I know it’s a decision that they each have to make on their own, but do all that you know how to do to point them in the right direction.

Be there for your mom.  She’s having such a hard time right now and you’ve been so good to her.  I knew that I could count on you all to take care of her and I left her in your very capable hands.  You are being so patient with her.  You are listening to her and encouraging her in her journey alone now without me and her parents.  We didn’t all plan to leave her so closely together and this has been devastating for her.  Keep on loving her and being understanding.  Give her time to become the woman that God wants for her to become now.  Be there for her, girls.  Be there for her the best that you can.  It’s not your responsibility to be everything to her just like it wasn’t my responsibility to be everything for her.  But, be who God wants you to be in her life and He will bless you for that.

I love you, Leah, Annissa, Charity, and Tshanina!  I love you!  I’ll see you again soon and I guarantee you that when you get here, you, too, will see that it was worth it all!

Love,

Dad