August 5, 2024

Dear Eloise,

Every two weeks offers a window into the life of our future daughter, you. It’s a splendid reminder of all God's blessings: a complex little human being inside the womb of my beautifully made wife. It’s a wonder to see it at a glance, even more so in my wife’s eyes as she gazes upon the updated news we receive every other week. Iris uses an app called What to Expect, which tracks the due date, the baby's growth, and a whole plethora of baby-related info and resources. In a playful way, the app shows us your size each time by comparing you with an item like a vegetable or fruit: this week, you were the size of a spaghetti squash.

Interestingly enough, as you might already be reading this at an older age, this is how you were originally nicknamed "Poppy"—because you were first compared to a poppy seed, the first physical representation of you in your mother's womb. It was simple yet perfectly adequate, and thus we adopted it.

As someone who was skeptical of apps I had never imagined using, I can state that it changed my life in many ways. It's not just that it changed my life, but it transformed my perception of life—how life is made and the complex design involved in making it possible. In a broader sense, it has helped me grasp the magnitude of my great God, in whom all things are made, and, most importantly, beautifully made. Eloise, even though I have yet to see you in the flesh, I know you have been beautifully made in every single way.

Your father,

Aaron Johnson.