Happy Birthday Daddy!

I am so excited!  Today is my dad's birthday!  My dad is my hero.  He's been there for me through so many things.  He has done a fantastic job as a spiritual leader in our household, even now when my siblings and I are growing our own families. 

I remember when I was in high school, I went to some speech competitions...and although I did horribly bad both times I was there, he gave me wonderful words of encouragement.  He's always been there for me.  When I had my first break up with a boyfriend, he was there to encourage me.  When there was a death of a fellow student, he comforted me.

He taught me how to saddle and ride a horse.  He would allow me to drive up to some land we had behind our house and feed our horse.  I felt so big and important when that happened.

I still remember the smell of our garage when I was growing up.  I love that smell....it had my dad written all over it.  I remember him taking us to the local creek to swim and trying to teach me how to swim.  I always had a fear of water and he tried to help me with it, but I'm still scared to death.

We would have the most amazing conversations in his old black truck.  I always looked forward to the times when it was just me and him going to church on a Sunday night.  I would talk to him about anything, and he was always good about explaining things.

I remember one conversation I had with him about God being our father.  Back then I was too young to understand the full meaning off all that, and I thought he meant that God was my real father.  I was so heartbroken to "think" my dad wasn't my real dad.  But I GET IT NOW! 

All in all, my dad has always been there for me and I know I'm incredibly blessed.

Love you DAD!

Daily lessons with my kids!

This morning I started out trying to keep things in order around my house....CRAZY, I KNOW!  Anyway!  I kept asking my sons to take out the trash and let the dogs out for their morning break.  It just didn't seem to be working.  Finally my younger son did both jobs for me because my oldest was still too groggy to come out of his room yet. 
I started to have my usual "conversation" with him about getting up earlier and being polite and helping out, and he started to give me his usual  glazed over look (Just like his dad:)).  At first I was a little frustrated, but God gave me the strength to calm down and realize this was a teachable moment. 
He reminded me how his brother never wants to do things for him, so why should he have to do anything for him?  And my response was "We should do things for others whether they do things for us or not.  I'm not getting onto you.  I've realized our entire family has done this in the past.  But we all need to work on being kind no matter what."
At that point all the things in the past that have happened between me and my husband were rubbing off on our kids.  For a period of time, I was so tired  of the way things were going, my attitude was "Why should I do it when he doesn't?".  Obviously that was the wrong attitude and it rubbed off on my kids. 
Now I'm trying to make up for all the wrong I did in my marriage and trying to teach my kids the way God wants things done, not the way the world says to handle things.  And it's working out pretty well!  I've been doing nice things for my husband, and he's responding with kindness!
God is awesome!!!