Fathers

I am so fortunate to have 6 earthly men in my life who I can honestly say are great fathers. I love them all and am so thankful for each of them and the lives they live before the Lord and other. Andy, Daddy (Dr. Harlan Willis), Dad (Jim Wood), Joel, Kyle, and Curtis I love you all and am so proud you are all in my life.

It is not easy being a dad. It's really not easy being a good dad. In fact it is down right hard. Everyday I have the opportunity to work with dads. Some of them take it very seriously, some just "go with it," others haven't a clue and don't want to have a clue.

Every child deserves a great father!

I had an amazing earthly father. He taught me so much about loving God and living that out on a daily basis. I know so few men who really do that. Secondly, I have been married to a man who not only wanted to be a great dad but who worked at it and was the best of fathers. I have said more times than I can count that Andy was by far the better parent of the two of us. He just was. Thirdly, my own son loves being a dad. He thinks it is the coolest thing and loovees, yes loves being a daddy (he's been at it almost a year now), it is so natural for him and he is great at it. Fourthly, I have two great son-in-laws who amaze me at their love and commitment to my grandchildren (did I mention that I am a Grammy? Well I am and...(yeah, that's for another post). Fifth and last but not least, I have a pretty great guy for a father-in-law. He may be mentioned last but I can guarantee he is far from last in my book. He has loved me for 29 plus years and I am SO thankful for him and for the great dad he was to his children.

So, this is what I think being a great dad looks like. Or at least it's a good start.

A good dad...

1. Loves God and works at a personal relationship with HIM. He points them to Jesus.
2. Loves and honors his wife and works at their relationship.
3. Wants to be a good dad.
4. Cares about and pursues things that make him a good dad.
5. Spends time with his kids...pursues after each individual one of them.
6. Is consistent with his children and life.
7. Appropriately disciplines his children.
8. Cares more about their outcome as adults than them liking him.
9. Teaches them.
10.Let's them learn on their own.
11.Let's them fail.
12.Rejoices when they succeed.
13.Tells them he loves them. Shows them.
14.Tells them he is thankful for them. Shows them.
15.Tells them he is proud of them. Shows them.
16.Provides for them physically, emotionally, and mentally.
17.Learns from them.
18.Laughs with them, for them, and teaches them to laugh too.
19.Teaches them to not take life too seriously.
20.Lets them go when they are adults.
21.Always always points them to God for the answers in life.

I love fathers. I especially love my Heavenly Father. I could not have made it through this journey we call life and parenting without Him and the personal relationship we have.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Birthday to ... ME!

Yep, it's that time of year. My favorite time, I LOVE my birthday. I love all the fun stuff, the presents, cake (with no guilt),my kids calling, seeing and hearing from folks I don't get to see near enough. Mostly I love celebrating the day God chose for me to enter the world.
Now anyone who knows me also knows that any day he chooses to take me home is fine with me. I can hardly wait to see Him face to face. Now that will be a day of celebrating. I just read the book "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo and I must say it stirred my heart. To know that the babies I lost are in heaven waiting to meet me, to see those who have gone before he, to meet and see the God of Creation absolutely stirs my heart.
What about you? How is your life here on planet earth going? Making a difference in anyone's life? What are you doing that brings glory to the God of heaven? How about that heaven thing? Do you know if you died today you would awake in HIS presence? If not...

Accepting Christ as Lord of your life - the only way you get to heaven. Just one way, accepting the gift that God gave us, that He sacrificed for you. Jesus came to cover your sin, seems too easy but the Bible tells us it's the only way to get to heaven and spend eternity with Him.

Making God Lord of your life, asking Him to forgive your sin and being willing to turn from sin, walk in an ongoing relationship with God; allowing Him to make your life choices instead of yourself.

What's the BEST part of Parenting?

I used to dream of the day when I would be a mother. I would imagine the kids coming home from school and I'd have hot baked homemade cookies waiting for them. I'm guessing my kids would tell you that happened maybe twice. I imagined us laying on pillows, reading books, playing dolls, and laughing. I'm thinking if you asked my kids they'd say that happened maybe - uh, never - or with their daddy. I would imagine helping get them ready for dates or proms ... Heads up they wanted to get ready by themselves - of course I did get to buy the dress and tux, but they got to pick it out and would have preferred with no opinions from me - ugh that didn't happen either.

The best part of being a parent - well I guess that depends on how you look at it. Seriously, the best part is that they all 3 turned out to be great adults. They are all happy and married, giving me Grandbabies like rabbits, and all love God. That's the best part.

So how'd we do it people ask? Well it was not because we were perfect parents. We were not by far. We made more mistakes than could be written in a blog post. But here are a few things that we, The Keeper of My Heart and I did right.

1.) We loved them. ALL OF THEM. Unconditionally. You ask them today whom "the favorite" is and they can give you an answer, their answer. The real answer-ALL OF THEM. We will talk about unconditional love in a later post. Crucial to raising healthy kids.

2.) Consistency - I must confess that Andy was so much better at this than I. He didn't care if they liked him, he wanted their obedience. I cared, I wanted them to like me. Guess who they showed the most respect to? Clue: it was not me. If he told them they were getting a spanking, they got a spanking. Three licks, with the belt. It worked to.
Appropriate discipline is essential to having healthy kids. Want to be a good parent - learn to discipline them.

3.) We communicated with them like they were people - not babies. Guess what? They were only babies for a short time.we were raising adults, not children (also for another post).

4.) We chose them over us. When life threw us curve balls, when there was more month than money, when our marriage was in trouble, we chose them. Selfishness does not belong in parenting. It's hard not to be selfish too. Really, let's face it, parenting is the second hardest thing you do in life. (I know you want to know what the hardest thing is? - stay tuned).

5.) SERIOUSLY, LOVE, really love God! Not religion, not a church. Love the God of heaven, the creator of the universe. Love God's only Son - Jesus. Grow in a personal relationship with him.

What's my VERY favorite, the VERY BEST part of being a parent. Knowing my kids love Jesus, will spend eternity with Him and that they get it, they really get the "Jesus thing". That's the best part of being a parent for me. It's why they have turned out to be great adults.