Good morning, Sunshine. Today is your birthday! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Sunshine, happy birthday to you. I can’t believe you are one already!
You don’t know who I am, but I know you. Your daddy is my son. He used to let us see you sometimes, so though you don’t remember, we have spent time together. I have some really sweet pictures of you with me and your Papa (and your daddy), but I’ll keep those private until I can give them to you some day.
I remember very well the day you were born. Your daddy was living with us. He couldn’t be there while you were being born and was worried out of his mind. He was so worried that he was sick and couldn’t even eat. I stuck right there with him all those hours, supporting him that night as he paced back and forth, while I prayed that you would be born safely and healthy. The house was just too small to hold all his worry, so he had to go outside sometimes. He loved you so much! More than once he almost drove to the birthing center, which was just a couple of miles from our house. The only reason he didn’t go was because of you. He didn’t want to cause any trouble that would impact you. It was a terrible night for him because he so badly wanted to meet you and couldn’t. I know. I was there. Always know that he would have been there if he could. I promise. I will never lie to you by telling you a falsehood, by bending the truth, or by twisting the truth. What you will get from me is pure truth, and you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
In January I wrote about you on my blog and included a picture of you and your daddy. He left this comment for you:
She is very special, that’s for sure. She’s a happy little girl. We are “snuggle-buddies”. 
There are so many things I wish for you. I wish I could give you a birthday present today. I wish I could sing the song to you that I sing to my other grandchildren–You Are My Sunshine. (I call all of you my Sunshines.) I wish I could play “match pitches” with you. I have perfect pitch and like to teach my Sunshines how to listen to music tones. I wish I could teach you how to bake cookies with Nana. (That’s my name.) I wish you could meet the Nananator. She’s pretty fun. I wish you could meet your great-grandparents. They are very special people. I wish we could get up early, before dawn, and go sit in the backyard in the swing, watching the sun rise and sharing our hearts. I wish you could play with your Papa. He is our Sunshines’ favorite toy! I wish you could play Knock-You-Over with him. I wish we could read you stories. Bible stories. Bedtime stores. Silly stories. Papa is a champion story-reader. And me, I’m a pretty darn good teacher. There are so many things I could teach you….I tell you the truth–you are missing a LOT by not being allowed to be part of our lives! I wish I could see your smile. You have the most beautiful smile. The few times I got to be with you, you were so full of smiles. I wish I could tell you stories about your daddy when he was a little boy. I am the keeper of his history, and you won’t get that from anyone else.
Though your Papa and I don’t get to see you, you are still part of us, and we love you so very much. I know you won’t see this greeting on the Internet, but I will preserve a copy for you. I am keeping a journal for you so some day you will know me and will know how much you are loved. Papa keeps a journal too. There are gifts that we have bought you. We will keep them for you; no matter how old you are when you finally get them, you’ll know you were loved and that people have been praying for you in the background. We have all this love to give you with no place to put it, so we are doing our best to leave it for you in other ways.
We have something else to give you that can never be taken away–our prayers and the prayers of your great-grandparents who love you so much. More than anything else, I pray that you will know God as your Heavenly Father, your best friend, your shelter in the time of need, your rock in times of trouble. There is no telling what you will face in your life and who will disappoint you. But GOD is always there, never changing, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He wants to have a personal relationship with you. Our prayer is that He will put you in places as you grow where you can learn the truth about Him and that you will accept Jesus as your personal Savior. I want us all to go to Heaven some day and spend eternity together. Our family has been so very blessed in many ways through the years, and I pray God’s blessing on you.
I love you, Sunshine. I love you. Happy birthday.
Your Nana
