Red is White: Faithful & Stylish

At 7:01AM on March 17th, I watched as my little baby girl came into this world. Avery Jae Paterson was 6 pounds, 13 ounces and 19.25 inches long. Her left ear was folded over where it should have been curved, and she needed a little help to breathe, but she was perfect. She is perfect.

Avery is my first child, and I am certainly a proud new daddy. She pretty much does nothing, except for when she's crying, pooping, eating and sleeping. But that nothing is the most wonderful thing in the world. I stare at her doing nothing. I take pictures of her doing nothing. I even shoot little videos of her doing nothing. And then I show it all off to everyone I meet.

When I'm not obsessing about every little thing that she does, the birth of my daughter has certainly got me thinking a lot about the miracle of life and love. It would be impossible to do justice to all that God has taught me in the last 8 days, but the one thing I've been overwhelmed with is this: Avery doesn't love me (yet). But I love her unconditionally.

There's not a single thing that she could do (or that anyone could do) that would make me not love her, and all she does is lay there and do nothing (and poop). And as I pray that one day she loves me back, I feel like I get a real-life example of how God loves me, even when I so often do nothing.

I think I got a little preachy there... but I just had a kid, so I feel like I'm entitled.