Sheila Sims Iding
I never had a daughter. But I knew I was going to. I knew I would have 5 girls and name them all names that start with “M” or “S” or “A” or “E”. I came from 3 girls with all the same initials (SJS) and so it would be the same with my 5 daughters….maybe 6.
When Joey was born and NOT a daughter I was shocked. He was Sarah MaryJane my whole pregnancy with a few mentions of Joseph Jacques. But I knew he was a girl…because, remember I was going to have all daughters.
Well…turns out God knows more about these things than I do and He blessed me with 3 boys. Perhaps He didn’t see my “shopping list” of 5 girls. Perhaps He took me at my word when I prayed “thy will be done”. So God willed me 3 sons and no daughters.
So I never had a daughter but if I did I would will that she be like Kelly Lynn Schafer. Kelly Lynn is getting married tomorrow. She will be such a beautiful bride. And I have been thinking about her all day and reflecting on that little girl I was honored to watch grow up, I realized, more than ever, if I ever had a daughter I would want her to be like Kelly Lynn.
If you could go shopping for a daughter, you would want one just like her. She has the most beautiful smile but it doesn’t compare to the smile of her soul.
She appears to be dainty and fragile and she is…until you see her on a softball diamond fighting for a win.
She seems to be a bit quiet and reserved until you see her laughing and dancing with family and friends at a church corn roast on a warm summer night.
She has more friends than a facebook list might hold. I can’t keep all her friends straight but you can recognize them because they have that smile that many of us have when we are around Kelly Lynn. It’s easy to tell her friends mean the world to her…but her family IS her world.
She is such a family girl. Her cousins are her “siblings” almost as much as Mike and Kevin are. Her parents are her best friends and she seems so proud of that. (Her parents seem proud of that too.)
I’ve seen her laugh with her beloved grandpa Barrons and comfort her beloved grandma. I’ve seen fb posts of her spending the night with grandma as the two of them work on some project…but mostly projects of the heart.
I’ve watched her at her bridal shower scoot past friends and family just to give her Grandma Schafer a hug…another hug.
I watched her fall in love with her puppy and care for him with the same gentle heart she has for all living creatures.
Kelly Lynn loves life beyond measure. She is just at home in a fishing boat as she is in heels and a dress. Kelly doesn’t seize the day…she seizes moments.
She such a natural teacher it seems God planned that vocation for her from the beginning.. She has such command of her profession…of her lessons…of her classroom. But it is the command of her students’ hearts that makes it seem her teaching is a God-given gift…to her and to those blessed enough to call her “teacher”.
Kelly lives her faith. You don’t need to see a cross on her neck, or a Rosary in her hand or a crucifix on her wall. You see her faith as you witness her kind, Christian acts born from seeds of faith in her caring heart.
So as the list unfolds:
Beautiful smile
Gentle soul
Determined athlete
Fun loving
Friend loving
Family loving
Critter loving
Life loving
Natural teacher
Faith-filled Christian.
I think that was my daughter shopping list so many years ago. I think if I could have “ordered” a daughter those would have been the “product specifications”. I never had a daughter but from the time I held Kelly Lynn as a newborn baby I wished I did. Watching Kelly Lynn grow up has been such a beautiful honor and tomorrow when I watch her walk down the aisle as such a beautiful bride, I will be reminded again that I never had a daughter…but Kelly Lynn will always make me wish I did.
Happy Wedding Eve, Kelly Lynn. You are so special. You are so loved.