Daddy's little girls.

I included this picture in Heather's birthday post from yesterday, but for some reason I just can't stop looking at it. In fact, it's set as my desktop background right now.

It was taken on my first day of kindergarten and Kristen's first day of 2nd grade.

I love this picture.

Here are a few of my favorite things about it:

1. Although you can't really see our dresses, we're wearing similarly smocked dresses made by my talented mom. I remember loving that dress and I think little girls should still wear smocked dresses to school. I'm pretty sure Mom also painted on both of our school bags, which Kristen is proudly showing off here. I'm convinced that Mom can do anything. Looking at this picture makes me realize how much TIME she put into making sure her girls were taken care of.

2. Heather is absolutely hilarious to me here. She's of course pouting because she isn't going to school and we are. I can see it now--Kristen and I were probably getting all of the attention as we were about to head to our first day of school. I'M SURE Heather (about 3 years old) was feeling left out, which explains the pouty face. PRECIOUS and very typical of her.

3. Look closely and you'll see that Heather is holding "Baby" very tightly. Yes, friends. This is the infamous Baby that still remains with her now. (Note: Trey won't allow her to sleep with Baby anymore, so she keeps her in her bedside table. She does, however, take Baby out of the drawer when Trey is out of town!).

4. My daddy! Look at him. My guess is that he's barely over 30 years old here (SO.YOUNG.). I don't think he looks much older now though!

I love my daddy.

I'm grateful everyday for being brought up by 2 wonderful people who taught us the important things in life and set an amazing example for the 3 of us.

There was a recent tragedy in our community. A senior in high school (only weeks away from graduation) was killed in a car accident this past weekend. I didn't know her personally, but I know of her and saw her often around town. For reasons I can't explain, I feel affected by this loss. I can't stop thinking about her family and friends, not even being able to FATHOM what they're going through right now. I couldn't even go to sleep the other night because I was so upset thinking about it.

I just don't understand why it had to happen.

I do know that it made me stop and realize that if, God forbid, this were to happen to anybody close to me, I wouldn't want there to be any question about my love for them.

I encourage you to take time and say "I love you" to those close to you. Sadly, you never really know when it will be their last day.

Perhaps that's why I've put so much thought into the picture above. I'm thankful for my Dad, knowing how much he has done for me; my Mom, whose love is demonstrated in that picture even though she can't be seen; and my sisters-to me, there are no 2 greater friends.

I apologize for the tone of this post. I was going to simply post the picture, but then, for some reason, I felt led to encourage YOU to stop what you're doing tell those around you how much they mean to you.

I'm doing the same thing right now.