Merry Christmas! When mom reads this message to you it will be Christmas Eve. I can only imagine how excited you must be and how much fun you will have today. I hope you have a great and special day. I wish so bad I could be there with you. I miss you guys a lot.
Since I won’t be home this Christmas, I wanted to make sure you had a little note from your daddy. Every kid deserves to hear from their daddy on Christmas. Some kids don’t get to, so I feel blessed that even though I am very far away, I still get to say hi to my favorite people in the whole wide world today. I love you guys...A LOT! I have been given a lot of presents in my life; however, the five best presents I have ever received are my Susie, Abbie, Ellie, Eden and Ammon. Thanks for being the best kids a daddy could ever have.
I especially wanted to tell you how grateful I am that you are willing to ask Santa to give some of your Christmas presents to the boys and girls of Afghanistan. Yesterday, I put a picture on my blog of a little boy who is probably only a year or two older than Abbie. This poor boy was standing outside in the cold with no socks on. Can you imagine going outside in the cold and not having any socks on your feet? I bet your little toes would get cold pretty fast. Every day I see kids who don’t have warm clothes to wear or who don’t have enough to eat. Other kids don’t have any paper to write on or crayons to color with when they go to school. Tomorrow, you will get to open a lot of presents and will get a lot of fun things. I am sure you will have HUGE smiles on your faces in the morning as you sit around the Christmas tree looking at your presents. Try to think of the HUGE smiles that will be on the faces of the kids here in Afghanistan when in a few weeks they open up the presents that you are sending them. I am proud of your decision to share. Sometimes it is hard to share...but in the end it always makes you feel happier and blesses those whom you share with.
A long time ago, on the first Christmas morning, Heavenly Father shared his Son, Jesus Christ with the world. I’m sure it was hard for Heavenly Father to send His Son so far away. However, he did it because He knew that His sacrifice would bless all of His children. This year, our family is being asked to sacrifice--we are being asked to be apart. It isn’t easy. We sometimes feel sad. Sometimes we feel like crying. However, I know that soon we will be back together. Just like our Father in Heaven, we are sacrificing to bless the lives of other people. It is hard, but someday we will look back and be glad we made the sacrifice.
I love you guys. I miss you so much. I wish I could somehow pull you through my computer and give you a big hug and a kiss. Know that I am thinking of you on this Christmas day. I can’t wait until the next one, when we will all be together again.
Love,
Dad
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing that wonderful letter to your children with all of us, Justin. I wish we could pull you through the computer for just one day, but know that you are with all of us in our hearts. We love and appreciate you!
Well, that was the first time in a month that all 4 kids were quiet and listening...at the same time. They loved your letter. So did I. You never cease to amaze me. I love you so very much. Merry Christmas!
Post a Comment