Father's Day

I fixed a meal consisting of some of Bruce's favorite dishes for his Father's Day meal. Fried chicken, green beans, deviled eggs, hand squashed biscuits, cheesy rice and broccoli casserole, and potato salad with chocolate cream pie for dessert. He enjoyed it so much!

Bruce is a terrific dad whose personality and discipline show in his children. I'll admit that when our children were younger I felt he was too hard on them, but I see how I was wrong and how it has paid off these past 16 years. He's a very strong disciplinarian, but he is also respected and loved by all three of his kids.

He's never been worried about being the children's friend at this time in their lives, but has stayed focused on being their dad first. He knows there will be plenty of time to be friends later, although friendships are developing between him and the children with each passing day.

He has given them sound, godly advice, and has taught them at least three things in life:

*Knowledge is power

*If you want to be trusted, tell the truth

*The choices we make dictate the life we lead.

He has demonstrated faithfulness to his children by being faithful to the Lord through devotions, his prayer life, and being committed to the house of God.

He has shown them the importance of hard work by being a hard worker himself and that any job you do should be done to the best of your ability.

He stands for the right, no matter the cost or whose feathers it ruffles.

He has shown his sons how to treat a lady by being loving to his wife and has shown his daughter how she should expect to be treated by a true gentleman.

He is a practical joker with his children. When they were very small they weren't sure how to take their daddy, but as they have grown older, his wit and silliness has grown on them and I can honestly say to each of them, "You are just like your daddy!"

I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day, honey. I love you.

Happy Father's Day!

Walk a little slower

Walk a little slower, Daddy,

Said a little child so small.

I'm following in your footsteps

And I don't want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,

Sometimes they are hard to see;

So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

For you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up,

You're what I want to be;

Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,

And know that I was true;

So walk a little slower, Daddy,

For I must follow you.

My Two Favorite Dads

Happy Father's Day to two of the GREATEST dads I know!

First, to my own dad. He has taught me through example the importance of living a life guided by the Lord and Him alone. The importance of raising my children to love the Lord and laying up treasures in Heaven. To always walk so that others will see, not just me as his daughter, but me as a daughter of the King.

Daddy is a graduate of Bob Jones University. He left everything he knew in Ohio, his job and his family, to follow the Lord's leading into the ministry. Whatever that would be. With him, he took his wife and three small children to unchartered territory and a very unknown future. During those years of attending BJU, he was the youth Pastor, choir leader, and whatever else he was needed to be. But first and foremost, he was always my daddy.

After graduation, he would once again pack up his family and move to North Carolina to be the youth pastor of Carson Memorial Baptist Church and later a Gaston County Police Officer. If he wasn't patrolling the streets, he was planning youth activities that noone would ever forget.

The Lord called him to Liberty Baptist Church where he continued to be a Youth Pastor, Choir Director, Sunday School teacher, and "Preacher with a gun." It was here that he became my own Youth Pastor. I remember youth conferences, Teen Olympics with crazy obstacle courses, Hay mazes at the Crosby farm, Gaston Gallops, and "The Four 'L's." Though busy planning activities and studying sermons, he still found time to be my daddy.

Upon retirement from the Gaston County Police Department, he underwent open heart surgery, was diagnosed with diabetes, takes dialysis three days a week, and was a tower of strength when he buried his firstborn son. All the while, still teaching Sunday School at Faith Baptist Church, playing in the church orchestra, being a friend and mentor to children who need him in their lives, and is an active member of our church. All the while, still finding time to be my daddy.

Thank you, dad, for always being there. For teaching me things that noone else could. And I promise.................I'll pay ya back! ;)

The next dad in my life, is my children's dad. My sweetie, Bruce.

I met Bruce when I was seventeen, working at the local Harris Teeter. I was a junior in highschool, and he was on his way to becoming a United States Airman.

It didn't take him long to woo me. However, our young hearts would grow fonder as the distance between NC and Texas lay before us. During that time, the US Postal Service made a killing on stamps that would be placed on letters to my sweetie. Letters that even now, have found their way to a box in our attic to read, if the mood to reminisce should ever crop up within.

We weren't given a lot of time to spend with each other, but we did enjoy our letters back and forth and everytime the phone would ring, my heart would skip a beat, in hopes it would be my sweetie.

When he returned home from Tech school in Mississippi, he proposed at the top of a mountain, next to a monument at the Kings Mountain Battleground, on a beautiful winter afternoon. I accepted, and a few days later, he was gone again. This time, across the ocean to Germany.

We were left with letters and phone calls one more time. I didn't see him again until he came home from Germany nine months later on the 20th of Dec. I married my sweetie two days later at the Faith Baptist Church of Simpsonville, SC. What a wonderfully good day that was.

It was hard to see my new husband leave again, but I knew it wouldn't be long and I would be making the same flight to an unknown country to be by his side. My sweetie found us our first home, and sent for me. This is where we would start our family. Where I would become a mother. And he would become a father.

We were given the blessing of a beautiful baby boy and had absolutely no idea what to do with him. My sweetie had a lot of learning to do, as all new fathers. But he learned quickly that if he trusted the Lord to guide him, he would be a successful father.

Fifteen years later of becoming a father, it still amazes me to see his faithfulness and dedication to the scripture and prayer every morning. I can tell you his routine of rising up to get ready for the day, making his way to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal or grits, and then sitting in "dad's spot" on the couch to have his time alone with his Lord.

Besides faithfulness and dedication to the Lord, he has taught our children three other important things:

*Remember your name. No matter where you go, you represent our family and, more importantly, our God.

*Knowldege is power. Never underestimate it. Never take it for granted.

*The choices you make dictate the life you lead.

Sweetie, you've been a wonderful father to our children and I am so proud of you. You've learned a lot. Taught a lot. And will no doubt reap many wonderful benefits through your children.

I love you.

Hannah's Father's Day Poem

I say it's her poem, but she actually copied it. Hannah loves to read poetry so I wasn't surprised that she found one on Fathers and wanted to share it with her Daddy for Father's Day. She found a typewriter in Justin's room that had been tucked away and exposed this weekend. She was curious as to how it worked. She quickly figured it out and said, "Mom, is it OK if I use this little machine to copy a poem for Dad?" I got so tickled at that. Have we come so far in technology that our children don't know what a typewriter is? Well, anyway, I thought that was cute. Here's the poem.

Fathers Are Wonderful People

Fathers are wonderful people

too little understood,

we do not sing their praises as often as we should.

For, somehow, father seems to be

the man who pays the bills,

while mother binds up little hurts,

and nurses all our ills.

And father struggles daily

to live up to his image.

As protector and provider,

and HERO of the scrimmage.

And perhaps that is the reason

we sometimes get the notion,

that fathers are not subject,

to the thing we call emotion.

But if you look inside Dad's heart,

where no one else can see,

you will find he's sentimental,

and as soft as he can be.

But he's so busy every day,

in the grueling race of life,

he leaves the sentimental stuff,

to his partner and his wife.

But fathers are just wonderful,

in a million different ways.

And like our Heavenly Father,

he's a guardian and guide,

someone we can count on

to be always by our side.

Father's Day Part 2

Bruce makes sockets for Craftsman tools and because of the season, he ended up working Saturday night. Well, anyway, the children were waiting for him on the front porch at 6:30 while I cooked breakfast for him. We had biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, livermush and bacon and milk. If you don't know what livermush is, it's a mushy breakfast meat made here in NC and mostly in these parts. It's so good. It sounds nasty, but when you fry it up right, it's delicious! Anyway, in this picture, Bruce was covering his face because he was crying. They were tears of thankfulness that he had a family that loves him and appreciates him. It was so sweet.

Laughing at a card that Hannah picked out for him. Without going into detail....it flushes.

Reading a card from the kids that had a litter of pups on the front that looked like Tipsy and of course her name was signed to it.

Reading the card from me. He didn't have anything to open because he wants me to take him shopping on his next day off. So, he got $$$. He was happy with that and I'm looking forward to going out with him to buy that special something.

Father's DayPart 1

My brother John putting together a fan for my parents. Daddy stays hot and even though the AC was on and five ceiling fans throughout the house, two of which are in the kitchen, he still went to Wal Mart after church and bought this fan for the kitchen. We all had icicles on our noses when we left.

Father's Day was also Justin's birthday so his brother and sister and cousin, Taylor decided to decorate him with silly string. They took him totally by surprise. He was just sitting in the corner and they came out of no where and started spraying him. It was so hilarious.

The decorated Birthday Boy!

Daddy with his Father's Day gift from my brother John and his family. This was the perfect size and in one of Daddy's favorite colors. We bought him a new duffle bag to carry all of his things back and forth to dialysis and also some snacks for his "rat's nest" next to his chair. :)

Harrison

My niece Taylor and my Mommy. Taylor is my brother Larry's daughter.

Hannah

Daddy reading a card from Mom. Mom bought him a new DVD player and two DVD's besides giving him $$$ to spend on himself.

My brother John
My sister in law, Jenny and her daughter, Amber
Justin playing guitar. At evening service, Pastor called all the teens who went to camp up on the platform and asked those who wanted to testify to please do so. There were around 20 that went this year. Justin was about the third teen up to speak and told the church that the Lord dealt with him Monday night about some things in his Christian life that he needed to get settled and that Brother RJ had talked with him about these things and prayed with him. Other teens testified that they didn't want to go but their parents made them and they cried during their testimony that if they had not gone, they would have missed what God had for just them that week. One teen said that the way the camp is set up, you have to carry your Bible every where you go because you're going to need it. They had fun, but the camp submerges them in scripture and what we saw last night during testimonies was a blessing. There were parents that stood up and said that their child didn't want to go and they didn't make them and now they're regretting it because their child missed out on a week of spiritual growth. It was a very moving service. Many people at the alter. Many people testifying. It was so good.