To my nieces and/or nephews,
I found out about both of you on Christmas day.
You were a Christmas surprise to all of us, except your mama and daddy, and what a surprise you were.
Both of you are the best Christmas presents I’ve ever gotten in the first 30 years of my life, and I’m sure your grandparents don’t mind me telling you.
They were excited to find out about you, too, and even more excited when we found out there are two of you.
One of them cried. I won’t tell you which one, but I bet you’ll know by the time you’re old enough to read this.
Your whole family is already amazed by you.
Since your parents finally let us in on their big secret, there has been a lot of excitement. We’re all trying to figure out what we want you to call us and getting ready for you to arrive. We’ve been calling you a lot of names. My favorite is peanut butter and jelly, but your mama said it’s easier to call you M&Ms so M&Ms it is. We don’t know quite yet if you both are two boys, two girls or one of each, but we’ll find out soon.
I have been praying for you both since I found out about you.
It has taken almost a week for me to be able to come up with what I wanted to say to both of you, but it didn’t take any time at all for me to love you.
The second I heard about you, my life changed for the better. Both of you have changed the way I look at life. You’ve changed my outlook, and you’ve changed the way I look at the blessings I’ve been given.
I’ve always believed babies are blessings and miracles, but both of you have made me believe that in a way I never have before.
I’ve seen pictures of you. Your mama said I couldn’t post them, but they are amazing. Right now both of you are about the size of either limes or oranges, I can’t remember which. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to see how God is putting you both together, and I know He has great things in store for both of you when you are born.
You’ve been growing for almost three months. We’ve still got some time before we get to meet you in person, but I bought my plane ticket yesterday so I can come see you when you both decide to make your entrances into the world.
I hope you don’t rush, but there is a bunch of people waiting to meet you.
Your parents are great, and they’re already so proud and thankful you’re both on the way.
Your mama is my sister, and she is very special. I’ve known her all of my life. She has made me proud every step of the way, and I love her very much. I’m a few years older than she is, but she’s much more wise than me.
She is taking really good care of both of you already, and she loves both of you so much.
I’m very thankful God chose her to be your mama, because I know she will be an extraordinary one.
God chose a great daddy for both of you, too.
He works very hard and takes really good care of your mama. I couldn’t ask for a better person for my little sister to spend her life and raise her family with.
One day I hope both of you take as much or more of a stand for Jesus as your parents have. I hope you know He loves both of you. I hope you learn to love Him at an early age, and you live for Him the rest of your lives.
I’ll be sure I do my part to help you learn how. I’ll be sure to let you know how much I love both of you, and how much your whole family has loved both of you since before you were born.
Both of you are truly gifts.
I will see you next year.
Love,
Casey's Column 