We've been looking through old photos and videos. Days of moments. Years of memories. I often say that parenting is one day at a time. You don't jump from raising a five year old to walking her down the aisle, but I can now understand why the older generations always say that "time flies".
Tehya Bethanne. I wanted a little girl, and when Dad accidently named you "Tehya" I was so happy. Precious and Gracious Dwelling of God.
You went right along with us as we prepped for life overseas, travelling around between Abbotsford and Guelph and Redlands and Victoria and Hatzic. You were only two when we moved to Indonesia. How brave you were in that new culture, hanging out with Ibu Yenni and Ibu Deti. You and Paet became best buds and your preschool days in Palangka Raya were filled with coloring, playing on Papa's playground, wandering in our yard, yellow daisies, homeschooling, and big trips across the ocean. You courageously moved with us from Bandung to Palangka Raya to Tarakan and then back again to Canada. When we decided to go back overseas and move to Papua, you again embraced that new life -- adventuring along with us, caring for your friends and family, getting baptized, being a light, and pulling friends out of pits. You excelled in art, wrote music, went kiteboarding and scuba diving, embraced that crazy life, and were sensitive to the culture in which you found yourself in. When your Indonesian life abruptly ended in 2020, you quickly agreed to leave your beloved home, dear Tehya, and moved to the foreign land of Canada. You introduced yourself to Quest friends as "from Papua".
Our dear eldest girl, oh how we love you and are proud of you. I see the photos and videos and see that all is well. We are so gifted by the LORD through you and through the man you have chosen.
Today marks the third most important moment of your life. You have been born, then born again, and now you have been renamed: Tehya Wiebe.
We have loved raising you.
Before you were born, I had a dream that a baby fell from a bridge above into our arms below. And really isn't that what parenting is? A gift from Above, to hold for a time, before releasing into someone else's arms. And that is what we have done today: given you over to Rahul, to have and to hold from this day forward, until death do you part.
We raise our glasses to you, Tehya Bethanne, for the honor and pleasure of raising you, and to you, Rahul David, the man who has her heart.
Cheers, Bubby!