My Daddy

Daddy

Father's Day Weekend

2009

Again it is Father's Day.  Every year I struggle with knowing just what to buy for Daddy.  My sisters are no help, they're struggling right alongside me!  What do you give a man who has given his all to you since the day you were born?  How can you possibly BUY him anything that can begin to tell him how precious he is to you?

This year, we decided to make him a photo album of our years together.  We started with his childhood and worked our way forward to the present.  It was no easy task!  However, we managed to compress all those years into 20 pages of photos and memories.  We are so excited to give it to him!  I have no idea if he will like it or not, but we had a ball putting it together and remembering.  So, perhaps it's more a gift for us than for him?!  We'll find out in a few hours, I suppose!

Daddy was never the 'touchy-feely' type of Daddy.  He didn't play with us a lot or tell us he loved us often, but we always knew he did.  He worked hard every day of his life to provide for our family, working both in a factory and on the farm.  In the very early years of my life, he was not a Christian.  However, once he became a Christian, he was totally devoted to the Lord and to our church.  Our family was in church at least three times every week; no excuses allowed.

Over the years, he softened and is now a precious man who tells us he loves us often, almost every time I speak to him.  He hugs us and is gentle with us in a way he never was before.  Since Momma went home to be with Jesus, he has become much more dependant on us.  He worries that he's too much trouble on us and says so often.  The three of us just want to give back to him what he has given to us all of our lives....love, devotion, security and never-ending support.

Next week, he comes to live with me full time.  He's not terribly excited about it because it means leaving the house where he and Momma raised us.  However, he is so agreeable about it and has only said that he doesn't want to be trouble on me.  I have to admit that I'm just a little bit anxious about it.  I've never taken care of him full time before.  However, I know we will be fine.  He loves me and I love him and we'll make whatever adjustments need to be made in order to make it work.

I just want to honor him because he deserves it.  He has never thought it was too much trouble to give me what I needed, no matter what that was.  He stepped aside gracefully when I fell in love with Terry and was a supportive father-in-law.  He never inserted himself into our marriage or offered advice that wasn't first asked for.  Terry often said that he was so thankful to have had him as a father-in-law because he filled some of the gaps left within Terry from having grown up without his own father in his life.  Terry often went to Daddy for advice and was always so thankful he could do so.

So, today is Father's Day and again I am speechless.  I don't have words to express how much I love Daddy or how thankful I am that the Lord made me his daughter.  I am so beyond blessed to have him in my life.  The time will come when Jesus calls him home.  I'm so grateful the Lord let me have him for this long.  He is a blessing that will always exert influence in my life.  I will always love him and be thankful for all he has taught me.

I love you, Daddy.  Happy Father's Day!