First Man

The first man in the life of a girl is her dad. I just want to devote this post to my dad who ALSO had a birthday in January, the 20th. It's sort of difficult to even write about my dad because he isn't in our lives right now. Eight years ago, right after we moved to Iceland he called me and told me that he had to "step out of our lives" and that it was "for the better." Of course it's complicated, but not too complicated for our God. We grieve, we send up loads of prayers, and we strive to remember all the positive things about him. I have such great memories like how he never missed a Christmas program, track meet, or spelling bee. He loved to take us fishing, oh, we were such naughty little girls and yet he still took us fishing! The kids love to hear about how he was a jokester, always making people laugh. He was a people person, over-the-top helpful and was really smart about a lot of different things. I type all of this and notice that I just typed in the past tense, like he's really gone. He is in a way, but we keep on hoping that one day he'll come back to us. My dream is that one day he'll take my kids fishing, they're not nearly as naughty. Happy birthday Dad! We miss you and love you.

I'll post this picture of him holding Drew as a baby. He was so excited to be a grandpa. And I'd just love it if you'd lift up a prayer for my dad, Lyle. I'll keep you posted as to what the Lord does with the power of everyone's prayers!

31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.