Dear Samuel,

I pray that this is the first of many letters that I get to write to you. I hope there are Birthday letters, a baptism letter, college letters, and special letters on special days that I don’t even know about yet.

The truth is I have been writing letters to another baby these past two years. . . A baby named Ellis Grace who you will join one day in heaven. She is your sister and will always be regarded as Gods Greatest Kindness to our family. You will grow to love her memory and her place in our family as much as your brothers who got to hold her here on earth.

My letters to her I liken to sending a message in a bottle – – the exercise is full of love and mystery but the delivery is unknown and possibly never happens. It is a heart exercise to an unknown address with no guaranteed delivery.

And that , my boy, is where a significant difference lies. For you are all about deliverance. Ellis was my promise but you are the deliverance of those promises we continue to stand on today. And you will always be regarded as Gods Greatest Remembrance of Our Family. He remembered our hurt. He kept holding our hearts. He never forgot we were in the palm of His Hand. . . And it is with that Kindness, Faithfulness, and Assurance that He will now place you in the palm of our hands.

Your name, Samuel , means God has heard. God has heard our cries, has seen our need, and has gone before us in His perfect ways carrying out a His perfect plans. . . It is a perfect plan from a perfect Father that has brought you to our family.

And your middle name, Ransom, means rescue or deliverance. . . A price paid for freedom. . . God has heard our cry for deliverance and He has answered with your name.

Samuel Ransom Holliday, you make us sure of what we cannot see,

Grateful for what we did not ask for . . .

And blessed beyond our hearts deepest dreams. God started sending me feathers as soon as your ordained days began. The feathers are love notes indicating you are covered by His mighty wings- that we are all cradled by His mighty hands. . . Both here on earth and the parts of us that live forever in heaven. You are a new Mercy and new beginning that I am very grateful for. You will not have the youngest mom but rather, the most grateful.

We cannot wait to let the Great Author God start our new chapter with you, little one. For you we have prayed, and God has granted us the desires of our heart.

Come and take your place among the royal princes disguised as Dirty Farmers. Among the great man disguised as a fun daddy who will hold his breath until you have taken your very first one. . .

And when you hear me singing you can know that not only are you home where you belong. . . But so are we.

We Love You,

Mommy, Daddy, Jackson, Gage, Grayson

And from her heavenly perch- – Ellis Grace