Father's Day

Father's Day is bittersweet this year. It is John's first one without his Dad and that is just hard. It still does not seem possible that he is gone. He left quite an imprint on all of us who knew him, but most of all on his children. I know that John is a faithful husband and amazing father largely because of his Dad and the example of love that he set for him. I am so thankful for that. My kids are blessed. I am blessed. John gives selflessly of himself day in and day out for our family and maintains a good attitude in the midst of the chaos that comes with five children. I don't know why God chose to give me such a great guy, but I am grateful.

I am also incredibly thankful for my Dad.  He has always been there for me and he may or may not have let me get away with a lot when I was little.  My mom was definitely the heavy in our house! 

Finally, I am thankful for Papa.  We miss him so much.

Yesterday, John went for a bike ride and this song by Wayne Watson came on his iPod just as he was arriving home.  Seems so appropriate...


Turning Into Dad

I guess I figured he would live forever
That I would always have a place to turn
A shoulder I could always lean on
And a teacher for those lessons yet unlearned

I will treasure the high
And the finer things within him
And I know as he would have it
I will lay aside the bad
Of all the things that I could still become
I could do a whole lot worse than turning into Dad

It was early on a springtime morning
The small hours of the twentieth day
I was shaken from my fitful sleeping
In the not so very merry month of May

I cannot explain it, I just knew it in my heart
That my hero had breathed his last and said goodbye
We are flesh and we are spirit
It’s appointed to us once to live… once to die

But good fathers, too, are only mortal
They long to rest in Jesus’ arms
They want to walk the golden streets of heaven
When the vanities of earth have lost their charm

So I will treasure the high
And the finer things within him
And I know as he would have it
I will lay aside the bad
Of all the things that I might yet become
I could do a whole lot worse than turning into Dad.
I could do a whole lot worse than turning into Dad.