dear emma grace,

as you’ve been getting older…and spending more time in that bathroom…it’s got me to thinkin’…

and i just want to be sure that you know…

that i like your fashion “sense”…the way you mix and match your clothes…

and i like the shades and hues that you use…the mood they create on your face…

and i like the amazing things that you do with your hair…i was only ever barely able to get your one pony set straight!

but even more…i need to be sure that you know…

really to know…

that the you beneath all of those stitches to “define” and hues to “enhance”…

the you…He made…in His image…

the most immeasurably…exquisitely…beautiful One…

is the you i love most!

and nothing you do could ever truly improve upon what He thought to be already perfect…

His placing this right there…and that just so…

just the way He thought you most…best…

and it’s really your sweetness…and compassion…and grace…that truly enhance and amaze and draw others to you…

only all the deep-beneath-the-skin stuff that’s truly most beautiful…

and it’s all that true inner “pretty” that’s sure to peek out…through the simplest of embellishments, really…

that beautiful smile on your face!

very sincerely,
me (your loving-the-you-you’re-becoming mama)

– emmie’s inner pretty peaking right out!  (summer, 2000)