POP GOES THE POP-POP!

Tomorrow is Dad's birthday! His 60th! He found this rather appropriate cartoon yesterday from Drabble. So I guess you guys will have to leave the balloons behind for this one! All joking aside-- someone once said, "It doesn't take monumental feats to make the world a better place. It can be as simple as letting someone go ahead of you in a grocery line." That's your Dad. Late last night a scared new Daddy called from the hospital. His "girlfriend" was in labor and he desperately wanted to marry her and thought maybe the chaplain could make that happen! So Dad got out of bed got dressed and went to the hospital to talk to Anthony. You can just picture it can't you? Here's his young girlfriend in early labor and he's decided now is the time to get married. I'm sure that wasn't exactly what she had in mind at that moment! So your kind Dad sat with Anthony and shared the Lord with Him, encouraged Him, prayed with Him, and helped him see that his life needs to take a new direction. [By the way, at this writing, his girlfriend is still in labor! And, he couldn't have legally married them, no matter how willing he was.]

But that's the kind of man he is, willing. This morning, for example, he goes right over to Grammies to fix her message on her phone. Last night, even though he is on the cabbage soup diet (that's the kind of thing you do when you're almost to turn 60!), and had been running ALL day since 5:00 a.m. that morning, and was soooo tired, he put on his shoes and left to pick up a burger for me and put gas in my car. He's the kind of man that when visiting a lady from church one time, he got in his car and went to the store for her to pick up sanitary napkin pads. The kind of person that would take ANYONE to the airport at 4 in the morning! He's the kind who doesn't mind handing over every penny he's ever earned if it means it would bring pleasure to his kids or to me, and in spite of what he might need it for. And yes, he's also a "Disneyland Dad," he may not have taught his boys to change the oil in the car or trim a tree, but he did teach his kids how to enjoy life, how to play, how to sacrifice your time, your energy, and your very being for the needs of others. Dr. Dobson once said that "the greatest thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother." Nothing could be truer than this in my view. And Dad has done that in every imaginable way.

Aren't we blessed kids? Thank you my love, for having this special birthday, and being willing to share it with your kids this coming weekend in such a GRAND way! And thank you for loving me...

July 2006, 36 years married, 56 and 60 years young!