The sweetest thing :Child #5

Taylor is my youngest daughter. She is one of the most purest and sweetest things. I’ve only had her in my life for a short time but in that time she has made another soft spot in my heart.

She has taught me several things about myself I didn’t know. Taylor isn’t my daughter by blood; she is one of my two children that were gifted to me in marriage. I’ve never been in a position to experience this before so I wasn’t sure how I would handle it. Would my love for her be as true as my own blood born children? Would I be fair in raising her without prejudice? I didn’t know. All I knew was she treated me as dad right away.

See, there was a void in both my children and Christie’s life. My children definitely needed a strong female role model- someone the girls can really get close to and someone the boys had as a buffer from dad. I‘m a nurturer at times but those are few and far between. I’m more of the disciplinary parent and the protector. I love them, I’ve just always been more on the rough and tough love side of parenting.

For example… if a kid falls, I tend to evaluate the situation, determine if it was a fall that warranted some consoling, and if I felt it wasn’t that bad, I would yell at them to shake it off and keep playing. (this isn’t something I’m proud of and am always working towards softening up).

As for Christie’s kids, they wanted to see mom happy, they wanted to know Dad would stick around- that dad would solidify their little family.

It was an almost perfect situation. We as parents filled the gaps that were missing in each others lives.

The goal is and will never be to replace their blood mother or father, but to give them the feeling of what a family can be. A mother and father working together for a dream- picking up the pieces of the past and making them complete again.

Since I haven’t had Taylor her whole life, there are things about dad she doesn’t know, sides of me that she will have to learn so she can know dad will protect her no matter what.

She recently came home telling us that some boy was bullying her. Not only bullying her but slapping her in the face. I think any parent would be upset to hear this. I wasn’t only upset, I couldn’t sleep. Taylor hasn’t been in the family long enough to do training like my other four. She hasn’t been taught to defend herself yet. That’s something I‘m to blame for. I simply ignored the idea she might need it since my other kids haven’t had issues in the past with bullying.

So now we’re starting training this week- a few days before my baby’s 8th birthday. She will learn how to protect herself in the event dad isn’t there.

Someday she will learn more about me. She will read stories and understand that while she was in my life, she was safe.
She will begin to understand that even though she doesn’t have my DNA, I will destroy the world around her if needed to keep her safe. She is my daughter.

Unconditional Love is just that…. Unconditional

Daddy LOVES you!