Daughters.....

This weekend was full of fun at our house as we celebrated Megan's graduation. It was a busy weekend with not much time for me to process what was really taking place and I am sure that was just how it needed to be. Today however I had a few hours alone in the car and the reality of this past weekend became very real. As I was driving the song "Daughters" by John Mayer came on the radio. I found myself crying as I sang along:

Fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

I reflected on the good days where I was the mom I desired to be and looked back at those moments that I wish I could replay where I was not. I thought about the days of rocking my sweet first born and the days of teaching her to read. The moments where I held her as she cried because others had hurt her feelings or left her out. The hard days of her trying to be all grown up yet feeling like a little girl who just wanted to play. The moments where I was frustrated by her rolling her eyes or having to ask her for the millionth time to pick up after herself. The nights of butterfly kisses and being tucked in just right after we read devotions. The talks about growing up. Us crying together when she saw other friends walking down a path that she knew she did not want to walk. A semester of her being here at home with me as her teacher. The college visits where she was more stressed out than I was if that was even possible.  Each memory seemed to lead to another.


Then I thought of her today. She decided that for Lemi's birthday she wanted to spend a day alone with him. She planned a very special day that would be full of first for him. She decided that a day at Carowinds riding rides and playing at the water park would be a place that they could make some fun memories and so she made it happen. I am sure that today has been one of the best days of Lemi's life and Megan helped to create that fun for him.


This morning as I  watched her pack a backpack full of snacks, towels and tickets that she purchased I found myself in awe of what an amazing lady she has become. This surely didn't happen overnight yet to me as her mom it seems as if it did. I then thought about my Kaylee who is currently in Florida serving a large group of kids this week. I thought about the excitement and anticipation she has had the past few weeks to get to camp to serve and love on kids.

As I sang along to John Mayer today I thought about those words- Father, be good to your daughters. Daughter's will love like you do. I thought of the amazing father that my girls have and how he has taught them to love so well. How he has always made the time to be present in their lives and put their needs before his own. He has loved me in front of them in a way that they know what a man's love should look like. Today I reread the letter that David wrote to Megan on her sixteenth birthday (http://hendersonpartyofeight.blogspot.com/2012/01/fathers-love.html) and I realized that my girls were loving others because they were first loved and loved well.

I thought about the years ahead for both of them and how much too soon they will fall in love. (It really as amazed me that I see other girls seek the love and attention of boys my girls are content to wait.) As a mom I know that four guys have some pretty big shoes to fill when it comes to stepping in and loving my girls well. David has set the bar high and for that I am so thankful. This is only because he was loved first- With a father's love.

I know that God willing my girls long to be mothers one day and I know that just as this song says, "Girls become lovers that turn into mothers."  I pray that God's love has poured from my life into the lives of my girls. I long for the day that I get to watch them pour this great love into their own children. I am in awe that God has used me to raise two amazing girls and I know that they are who they are because of His great love for them. He filled in the gaps in my weaknesses, He has protected them from harm, and He loves them more than I do.

It is a bitter-sweet feeling to watch my girls at this stage of the journey. I know that Megan is stepping from one season of life into another and Kaylee is right behind her. A season where some of the biggest decisions of her life will be made- She will decide on a career, she will find a very best friend who will become her husband, and she will trust the Lord as she steps into places that He has set out for her. I am thrilled to watch it all unfold but there is a longing in my heart to have one more night where my five year old and four year old giggly girls give me butterfly kisses as I tuck them in just right.........Trusting Him with them again tonight and praying for the men and children that will be added to our family in the years ahead. Thankful that he saw fit for me to mother these amazing young ladies.

Happy early Father's Day David- Thanks for being an amazing example of Christ love to our girls!