Happy Birthday To Our Oldest!

Kaylee, your mother and I can't believe that you're twenty-five years old today. Now, I realize that your generation grows weary of hearing the people of our generation (and by that I mean us old people) say things like, "You know, it seems like yesterday when..." and then we proceed to fill in the blanks for you regarding what it is that we can still actually remember. I hear this remembering thing gets more difficult as we get older, which is really bad news for me because your mother reminds me constantly of things I've already forgotten. However, I won't forget that your younger sister told me that she's planning to put me in a nursing home someday once the oatmeal starts dribbling down my chin. Can you keep her from doing that as long as I'm actually able to wipe the oatmeal off my chin myself? Thanks, but I digress...

This is a day that I celebrate you and the amazing woman you've become. Truly, I am incredibly grateful for you, proud of you, and maybe even most notable of all, I respect you. Yes, as your father, you've earned my respect and admiration, even though you've always had my love. You've worked hard to be where you are in this life. You've not taken shortcuts, but have put your nose to the proverbial grindstone and have worked for everything that you've achieved thus far. Your mother and I admire what you've already accomplished, but more importantly, we appreciate that with all your success, you've remained kind, humble, and caring about the well-being of those around you.

My encouragement to you on your 25th birthday is to stay close to the Lord Jesus, love your wonderful husband with all your heart (you guys are welcome to have children anytime now, BTW. It will help me get the whole grandpa thing going with the oatmeal dribbling down the chin and all that), keep serving in your local church because it will keep you grounded and connected to others who will keep you humble, and watch how the Lord will continue to bless you and open up wonderful doors to you as the years unfold before you. You really are special and we're grateful to the Lord that He gave you to us.

Because we're so proud of you, I'm going to put a few links here in this blog post about you so that our friends can see for themselves some of the ways in which the Lord has blessed you with amazing opportunities. Yes, I'm bragging about you, but I'm also encouraging the readers of this, my humble little blog that nobody reads, to pray for you as they think of you. I do this because I love you, and yes, I respect you, my dear, beautiful, oldest daughter.

Kaylee on FOX NEWS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xFMMj6UU7c

Kaylee hosts an important discussion regarding school choice for The Heritage Foundation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sZNiCxQIbM&t=288s

Kaylee's latest articles for The Washington Examiner can be found here -  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/kaylee-mcghee

Love,

Your imperfect, but striving-to-be-like-Jesus, Dad