July 1, 2001

Dear Brieanna,

This is my first letter to you, but not my last. I'm so glad you were able to find your web site. I've been think about you quite a bit these last few days; especially, since we passed through father's day recently. I am in good health, and am very happy.

I have some special news for you. You will have a new sibling soon. Melanie is pregnant again and this Christmas you will have yet another person in this world to love you. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl yet. We should know in another month. We are hoping for a girl, but are disputing about the name. Melanie likes the name Mia and I like the name Murielle. Melanie purposed the name years ago, and I've always thought it to be a beautiful name. I'm sure we will be able to make a decision, by the time the baby comes. Melanie feels like she is having twins because she feels so big, for being at the beginning of the pregnancy. Twins would be more than we could handle so this is something I don't ever hope for.

My father wrote me a very interesting letter a month ago. When my father was a young boy, his parents separated, and he stayed with his father, and his mother left and he lost track of her for 50 years. Recently, he hired a private detective to see if she could be found. Then he placed a picture of her and him as a boy that he had in the newspapers around Turkey. Amazingly, someone recognized the pictures and he was able to find her after this long time. He sent me a picture of him now and his mother. They both look very happy and content. His mother is your great grand mother. I hope to meet her someday.

Brieanna, if you think about, it there is a terrible chain in our family, where a child loses one of it's parents through no fault of his own. This happened to my father who lost his mother. It happened to me who lost my father. And now to you, who no fault of your own, has lost your father. On the optimistic side, each generation has eventually been reunited. This will happen to us someday. I have an assuredness in my heart that we will be united. I hope that you will be wise in who you marry, so that your children will have access to both of their parents, and so that this chain will be broken.

Brieanna, one of the great concerns that I have with you growing up alone, is that you have been isolated from church as well. I don't know if you mother has taken it upon herself to ensure that you have this in your life. I know that you mother has given you some great opportunities with activities such as soccer, and swimming. These are good activities, because they teach you to work in a team, and give you the opportunity to have friends. However, they can not replace what you will learn at church. When you were in Utah, as you recall, we had you over on each Sunday, so that we could make sure that you made it to church. I also read you the bible each night before I put you to bed. We were able to make it through the children's bible before you were taken from us. I was also able to baptize you when you turned 8 years old. I was able to teach you to pray, as well.

Brieanna, because you have been isolated and are alone it is so very important that you know of God and his love for you. I grew up in the same circumstances as you, and my relationship with God was critical in helping me to know that I was loved, and to keep me from harms way. Because, I knew of God, I was able to stay away from things that could hurt me such as cigarettes, and alcohol and drugs. I also was able to learn that my body was sacred, and that I should not harm it with tattoos. I learned that I should wait until I got married to have intimate relations with the opposite sex.

Brieanna, I know that your mother in her own way loves you, but I worry that she is not teaching about God, and is not giving you the wise counsel that you need to avoid tragedy and heart ache in your life. Fathers and mothers provide different roles and teach their children different aspects about life. By not having my father in my life, I think I missed out on certain lessons, that would have prevented me from making bad choices. I do not wish that you grow up without fatherly advice, and not knowing of God.

As a result, these future letters will contain parts where I attempt to give you fatherly advice, so that you can learn, and not make mistakes as I have. I will also talk in great detail about God, as I understand him. Please, understand, that I'm not trying to be preachy, or sanctimonious. I will tell you these things because they are from my heart, and I believe that they will be of great use to you.

My goal is to write to you at least once per month, and hopefully weekly. It will very according to how busy, I am. It's ironic that when I have much to write about, I have little time to do it, and when I have much time, I have little to write about.

Brieanna, I love you. We are here waiting for you.

Sincerely,

Daddy.