THANK YOU, LORD, for loving me first.
MY DEAREST HAYDEN, you are the gift your father and I prayed for and God blessed us with the one who is best for us: YOU. I have loved you since before you were born and I will love you well beyond my dying day. You are so smart, funny, and beautiful. You are innocent, honest, and good. My life’s mission is to serve Christ and be your mother. Proverbs 31:30 tells us “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Your character counts and beauty comes from your heart. Hayden, you have just one life. Make it matter, my precious child.
TO WILL, THANK you for teaching me to value life. Our wedding weekend was wonderful, but nothing will ever compare to the weekend of fulfillment we experienced on Friday, November 6, 2015. When you handed me our daughter, Hayden DuBose Proctor, my life changed for the better. Thank you for your support, memories, and joy. You have given me wonderful gifts, but my favorite will forever be motherhood.
THANK YOU TO my family. I am so blessed to have each of you in my life. We have mostly had the best of times, but even in my worst of times . . . I had you holding me up. Your love, loyalty, and support have never wavered and I thank God for putting us together. I know He has placed me in a unique position, but that doesn’t make my job more important than yours. We each have different roles, but we are a team bonded together by blood and nothing will ever tear us apart.
THANK YOU TO Fox News executives and coworkers for allowing me to be myself, for being my New York family, for giving me a chance and a platform to change lives and our country for the better.
RUPERT MURDOCH, THANK you for starting the Fox News Channel, making all my dreams come true, and giving me a chance. I am forever grateful.
Suzanne Scott, you have been there for me through my life’s major ups and downs, all of them happening in New York—the city where God shaped me the most. You’re a beautiful mother, strong leader, and compassionate friend.
DIANNE BRANDI, THANK you for being so generous to me and always looking out for my best interests.
SEAN HANNITY, THANK you for launching my career and being my mentor.
Lauren Petterson and Gavin Hadden—you are the beautiful brains behind Fox & Friends—always letting us get the credit, when you deserve the recognition. There’s an old saying for a producer, “Know your anchors.” Thank you for knowing our passions and allowing us to be ourselves on air. Your jobs never end and go well beyond delivering the news. You make an indelible difference in my life, in Steve’s and Brian’s, and in the millions who wake up to Fox & Friends every morning. They choose us because of you!
To my coanchors, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy: thank you for teaching me so much on a daily basis, always having my back, and not taking life too seriously. I can honestly say, waking up at three A.M. is never a dread because each day is fun and exciting!
LIZ NAIFEH, YOU are so special. Fox News made you my assistant, but God made you my “sister.” Your precious mother took her last breath when you were just a baby. I can’t imagine her grief as she suffered her sickness and had to say goodbye to three little ones. But she married a good man and he did an outstanding job! I know you’ll be reunited with your mom again and she will tell you, just as God will, “Well done!”
MARK TABB, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your valiant efforts in making this book come together. I knew from the beginning you were the one I was supposed to choose to help me write The Light Within Me. Thank you for being a good example and dedicating everything you do to the Lord. Thank you for being so cooperative and helping me condense the pages of my life into nineteen chapters.
TO THE HARPERCOLLINS team, thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving me the opportunity to share my faith in these pages. I truly believe God is using all of us to share His love.
Thank you Brian Murray, Jonathan Burnham, Tina Andreadis, Rachel Elinsky, Alieza Schwimer, and Stephanie Cooper.
Matt Harper and Lisa Sharkey, I won’t ever be able to thank you enough. Your compassion and understanding throughout this process is most appreciated.
THANK YOU, OLIVIA Metzger, for believing in me and never underestimating me. You are a good friend, mother, and agent!
TO CAIT HOYT for giving me a new title—author. My parents’ words of wisdom and God’s mighty works have been shared because of you. Thank you for putting their advice in bookstores, homes, and hands all around the world.
TO NEW YORK, thank you for teaching me how to dream.
TO PARIS, THANK you for teaching me how to live.