Fathers

They say that a girl is likely to marry a man who is similar to her father.  I would say that this is true in my case, and it is becoming more and more evident as I see Christopher interact with his baby girl.  The way he looks at her with so much love is the way I've seen my daddy look at me.  The way I can see his pain when she is in pain - I've seen that in my daddy's eyes when I've been hurt.  When she does something for the first time and Chris is so proud, my daddy has looked at me with the same pride on his face.  And when I can't handle Brenna's crying for one more second, Chris patiently rocks and calms her.  I've been the crying, fit-throwing girl, who my mom I'm sure couldn't stand, but my dad came in and patiently calmed me down. 

My dad and I have always had a special bond - not just because I'm his only daughter, but because we understand each other and we speak the same love languages; words of affirmation and quality time.  It's so easy for me to feel loved by my daddy because he loves me exactly how I need to be.  I can see this bond forming between Brenna and Chris.  We can tell already that one of Brenna's love languages is touch...guess which love language is Chris' primary?  Yep, touch.

Being a mother changes everything, obviously, and one thing that has changed for me is my perspective.  I appreciate so much more about my childhood now that I have the responsibility to try to create that same opportunity for my child.  But, having an earthly father who, in so many ways, reflects our Heavenly Father is never a bad start.  I'm so beyond happy to know that my baby girl will grow up having such a loving, caring, patient, fun, level-headed daddy just the way I did.  I know that Christopher will be her constant.  He will be able to reach her when I cannot.  She will confide in him when she's mad at me.  She'll hear his cheer above everyone else.  He will be the first man that she falls in love with.  His hugs will be more special than any other hugs...until she marries a man like her daddy.  And when she has a baby of her own, she'll really understand how much her daddy loves her and how stinkin' awesome he is.

I love you, Dad.  I love you, Chris.  You're two really stellar dads.