Daddy Daughter Day

So this past Friday was my second Daddy Daughter Day! I have a work schedule that allows me to be off every other Friday which allows me to spend the entire day by myself with my lovely daughter Claire.

This day was definitely a special one, a day that moved my heart! To me, the below picture confirms the importance of the role God has blessed me with in my daughter's life. Simply stated, this role is to BE her Dad. To be her protector, to be her knight in shining armor, to be THE example of what she looks for in a boy she dates (30 years from now of course :-).

Holding the mirror on her play mat, my phone, and getting both of us in the picture took bit of work!

As God's timing is always perfect, at church last week I got to hear a great message on parenting. I've heard parenting messages before but had never taken notes as I could not directly apply what I had heard to my life (probably a mistake in hindsight). Well you can bet I was taking notes now and this time many of these concepts I had heard before took on a whole new level of meaning.

I am writing these down now to not only share them with you (and with Claire when she is old enough to read them) but to also hold myself accountable to them.

• Continually tell Claire that I love her because she is mine. Although I will praise her for many things in her life, she needs to know that my love for her is because she is mine.
• Let Claire know often that I love being her Daddy.
• Teach Claire to guard her heart!
• "Don't bail, let her fail". I know this is going to be a hard one but my goal here will be to accept that she will not be successful in everything she does and to let her learn about herself and life through this process.
• Being organic with Claire in the pursuit of loving people and reaching out to those that do not know Jesus Christ.