What do you think?????

Tomorrow is the deadline for Hope's senior ad for the yearbook. I spent over 2 hours tonight looking through picture albums and trying to decide which pictures to include. Doug and I decided on a 1/2 page ad and we were allowed 6 photos and a message. The message wasn't that hard but choosing only 6 photos was very difficult.

I couldn't help but smile at some, giggle at others, and tear up at some of the photos because they weren't just an image of our oldest daughter.....they were memories. There was one of her when she was just about a year old with a mint green jogging suit and a pink hat with a fuzzy ball on top and she is in my arms; it is one of my favorite pictures of us. There was another of her and her daddy and Hannah, one on each side of him with their faces pressed onto one another with a huge grin. The girls were wearing their snoopy Christmas sweat shirts that Shela Rose gave them. It is really a sweet photo.

The photos covered almost 18 years of her life. Wow....where does the time go? She was once just a little blond fuzzy headed toothless baby and now she is a beautiful brunette with the straightest teeth and prettiest smile you've ever seen! (After about $7,000.00 worth of orthodontic work...lol) And now she isn't just in love with her family she's totally head over heals for a 20 year old young man named Ben Minter.

I couldn't help but think of now if you showed the kids at school her baby pictures and asked them to guess who it was they would probably not have a clue that it was Hope, but I would. I'd know her anywhere at any age....that's because she's mine. That's how God is. We may change in appearance from the time we became his child but he always knows it is us. He knows our voice, He knows our features and mannerisms, and I think He cherishes each memory he has of us. Max Lucado said "If God had a refrigerator our picture would be on it and if he carried a wallet our picture would be in it." God is God...He knows all and doesn't need a physical album full of pictures to remember all the good times, but I can't help but think that my father is proud of us and our growth just like Doug and I are of Hope's. You see, we've seen her work so hard, and struggle at times, feel rejection, experience loss, enjoy triumph and it makes us proud of who she is and how she is growing up to be a wonderful, amazing young woman. God's never missed a moment of our spiritual growth; not one tear, not one struggle, not one victory....he's seen it all and I know as a father He is proud of us.

The last part of what I wrote in Hope's ad says "We will be watching you with joy and excitement as you enter college and the adventures that life will bring in the days ahead, and we will always be here with open arms of love and words of encouragement any time you need them." Don't you know Jesus will do the same for you!