From time to time I want to share stories here about people and events that have impacted my life in various ways. This will include my parents, family, friends, school, church etc. Many times it is the little things that have happen that create the special memories in our lives. It is my hope that if in years to come my decendants will want to know what their ancestors were like they can look here on my blog and find some stories of things that have happened in the past. Today I want to share a bit about my Dad and I am sure much more will follow in the days to come. My Dad passed away in 2004 after a courageous battle with cancer. There are many life lessons we can learn from our parents, some of the lessons would be spoken words and others would just be from what we have observed from them over the years. Proverbs 1:8,9 says -
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
As I think about my Dad, I wonder how he became the gentle, kind and generous man that he was. I wonder if being a Dad to six little girls would help build those characteristics into a man. He loved my mother , he could make my mom's eyes twinkle beautifully like nothing else except his tender love ever could. He was fun to be around, joking around with us girls often times. But he was faithful to the calling of God on his life as a husband and father and a preacher of the gospel. We lived out in the country on a small farm milking cows and selling the cream and farming some land.
Now to start with a few special memories - I remember as a little girl oftentimes playing hair dressup with him. He would sit on the chair and allow me and my sister to give him a "hairdo". We would comb his hair anyway we wanted and pin it up with bobby pins. Usually we would end off the hairdressing session by adorning him with a kerchief just like my mother would always wear. That was so much fun for us. Or he would sit on a chair in the kitchen and stretch out his legs and we would use his legs as a slide. - Climb up onto his lap and slide down over and over. Also very fun. One day I remember we had company over and my Dad and his guest were in the basement visiting. I ( his little girl) decided to go downstairs also but I took a huge tumble down the stairs but guess what - Dad was right there at the bottom of the stairs ready to catch me before I got down too far and I didn't get hurt at all. One time my Mom had her ironing board out and had been ironing clothes. I didn't know that the iron was still hot and I placed my whole hand flat on the iron. Why I would do such is beyond me but as I remember my Dad spent the rest of the evening tending to my hand, helping me to cool it and keep me comfortable. That is just the kind of man he was - always thinking of others.
His tender spirit would show up from time to time. I can still see him in my mind sitting on his favorite chair in the livingroom listening to a record on the old record player. ( Now we have CDs but back then we had records and eight track cassettes) I can see him sitting there listening to his record of Jim Reeves singing the song "Daddy, my Daddy teach me how to pray" The song was about a little boy coming and asking his Dad to teach him how to pray. The lines went something like -"........ You've taught me lots today, You brought me home a brand new kite and taught me how to fly, there ain't no other kid whose Dad can knock a ball so high, I want to thank God for you, but I don't know what to say - So Daddy, my Daddy, teach me how to pray......." It was a really nice gentle song and I saw my Dad fight back the tears every time he would hear that song play. It seemed that it touched his heart as a Father in a special way.
More to come on "Dad" another day but the song sang by Jim Reeves holds true for me too as I think of my Dad - "I want to thank God for you"
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
As I think about my Dad, I wonder how he became the gentle, kind and generous man that he was. I wonder if being a Dad to six little girls would help build those characteristics into a man. He loved my mother , he could make my mom's eyes twinkle beautifully like nothing else except his tender love ever could. He was fun to be around, joking around with us girls often times. But he was faithful to the calling of God on his life as a husband and father and a preacher of the gospel. We lived out in the country on a small farm milking cows and selling the cream and farming some land.
Now to start with a few special memories - I remember as a little girl oftentimes playing hair dressup with him. He would sit on the chair and allow me and my sister to give him a "hairdo". We would comb his hair anyway we wanted and pin it up with bobby pins. Usually we would end off the hairdressing session by adorning him with a kerchief just like my mother would always wear. That was so much fun for us. Or he would sit on a chair in the kitchen and stretch out his legs and we would use his legs as a slide. - Climb up onto his lap and slide down over and over. Also very fun. One day I remember we had company over and my Dad and his guest were in the basement visiting. I ( his little girl) decided to go downstairs also but I took a huge tumble down the stairs but guess what - Dad was right there at the bottom of the stairs ready to catch me before I got down too far and I didn't get hurt at all. One time my Mom had her ironing board out and had been ironing clothes. I didn't know that the iron was still hot and I placed my whole hand flat on the iron. Why I would do such is beyond me but as I remember my Dad spent the rest of the evening tending to my hand, helping me to cool it and keep me comfortable. That is just the kind of man he was - always thinking of others.
His tender spirit would show up from time to time. I can still see him in my mind sitting on his favorite chair in the livingroom listening to a record on the old record player. ( Now we have CDs but back then we had records and eight track cassettes) I can see him sitting there listening to his record of Jim Reeves singing the song "Daddy, my Daddy teach me how to pray" The song was about a little boy coming and asking his Dad to teach him how to pray. The lines went something like -"........ You've taught me lots today, You brought me home a brand new kite and taught me how to fly, there ain't no other kid whose Dad can knock a ball so high, I want to thank God for you, but I don't know what to say - So Daddy, my Daddy, teach me how to pray......." It was a really nice gentle song and I saw my Dad fight back the tears every time he would hear that song play. It seemed that it touched his heart as a Father in a special way.
More to come on "Dad" another day but the song sang by Jim Reeves holds true for me too as I think of my Dad - "I want to thank God for you"
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