I know you won’t read this until you are older and it may be even longer until you appreciate it, but I think it’s important for you to know how blessed we are. I am so thankful that you get to grow up seeing such a strong example of what marriage should be…thanks to how amazing your daddy is. I hope you’ll make sure, when choosing a husband, to look for someone who treats you the way daddy treats me. On Valentine’s Day the world tells us that love is flowers, or chocolate, or jewelry. There is nothing wrong with those things and they sure can be fun, but do you want to know what real love is? Love is all the hundreds of little things daddy does to take care of us:

• Getting up long before dawn to go work hard at a job that provides for us.
• Taking off of work for your big events: preschool Christmas recitals, the first day of school, kindergarten graduation….He always makes sure he’s there.
• Taking more than his fair share of getting up in the middle of the night when you were little, or sick.
• Changing diapers
• Getting up early with you on the weekends so I can rest a little longer.
• Regularly telling me he loves being married to me and regularly telling you how much he loves being your daddy.
• picking up pizza when he knows you and I had a rough day.
• Putting you to bed early and making dinner for me when the babysitter canceled on our date night.
• Telling me he knows how hard my job is and how much he appreciates all the thankless, repetitive tasks I take care of for us.
• Doing dishes with me (or kicking me out of the kitchen when it’s been a long day!), taking out the trash, helping with end of day straightening around the house (not glamorous things but he never just comes home from work and puts his feet up!)
• Getting you girls ready for church in the morning so I can take an uninterrupted shower.
• Disciplining you girls when you need it. I know that one doesn’t feel like love when you’re little, but I promise it is! He cares about helping you learn to make good choices in life and making sure you grow to be responsible and respectful of others. He is especially intolerant of you being disrespectful towards me in any way.
• Pancake Sundays
• Dancing like a fool with his girls.
• Making us laugh – daily!
• Daddy-daughter dates
• Writing love notes and sticking them by the kitchen window.
• Stopping to pray with me when I am stressed out or upset.
• Making our marriage his first priority and parenting second. Trust me, it’s the formula that makes for the happiest families and the most well adjusted children.

There are so many more…All these seemingly little things add up to something much greater. He regularly puts our needs ahead of his own. He is generous with his time and resources and takes care of us so well. He makes a point of showing and telling myself and both of you girls how special we are and how much he loves us. So, on this day when the world tells you the most important thing is how much a man spends on this one day, I’m telling you: It’s the little things that are actually the biggest. Does he make you the most important thing in his life on a day to day basis? Do you see that put that into action in countless ways each day? Then he’s a keeper! Don’t settle for less…but make sure he doesn’t have to either. Find your own ways to put him first in your life. I love you both and pray that you will be as blessed in your marriages as I am in mine.