Missing Dad

Maybe it's the time of year that makes me think of him daily and miss him even more than usual, after all, Christmas was dad's favorite time of the year. I wait, earnestly, for the day I get to see him again. It will be an amazing day because it will be the day I get to see Jesus too.


I was just reading a tribute I wrote about my dad four years ago just a couple days after he died and it goes like this.............

  
My dad was the most thoughtful, loving, caring, generous man I have ever known. His heart was bigger than the sun. There was nothing he wouldn't do for those he loved. 

     

I have always known my dad was brave, strong, determined and very courageous, but I never knew how much until after his aneurysm nine years ago. He proved the doctors wrong when he worked hard and became a strong healthy man again. Even though he lived the last nine years in a body that only worked half way, he NEVER complained and it didn't stop him from accomplishing so many things. My dad has been a true inspiration to me and so many others. 

     

For someone who said he couldn't talk, he sure got his point across well. We would talk for hours and so would many others. He even led people to the Lord! Praise God! He could hardly speak, yet, he was leading people to God. That is a miracle!

     

I have watched my dad's relationship with the Lord grow so strong these past nine years. God was always by his side and always knew what he was saying. My dad found great comfort in the Lord. In the end, when my dad became very confused, I noticed he never once forgot to pray before he ate. My dad was always praying. In the end, he prayed not for himself, but for his family to be okay through all of this. He was always thinking of his family.

    

This picture of my dad was taken driving to his last radiation treatment. I arrived to his house that morning to find him sore and exhausted, his hair coming out by the handfuls. Yet, as you can see, he never let it get him down. We joked about his hair on the way, and I said I had to get a picture, he laughed and gave me a huge smile. He was never angry about the cancer; it seemed to make him praise God even more. He said he was thankful to God for giving him nine borrowed years to get to see all his grandchildren and make memories with them. He went to be with the Lord two weeks after this picture was taken.

    

We are so happy for him now. He has a new body and is sooo happy, but we will miss him terribly. We will miss his great sense of humor and we will, especially, miss hearing him say his catch phrase:  "Ooohhh, well!"

     

I would like to thank my mother for the loving care she gave my dad. She made the last nine years wonderful for him, and I will be forever grateful. She is truly an angel. My dad loved her so much. 

    

I will try every day to be just like my dad. He has changed the lives of so many and will continue to do so for years to come.

Thank you dad. I love you. 

Your daughter, 

Nicki 

The Art Of Riding

I have mastered the art of riding
by learning how to fall.

I have fallen on the concrete
and fallen in the grass;
there was even the time
I thought I broke my a##.

I've been closelined by a tree
and landed head first in the dirt
when my horse startled from a bee.

I've gone face first in the snow
when she slipped on ice;
making the time I fell off in the water
actually kind of nice.

Each of these experiences made me stop and think....
If I can't stay in the saddle...
If I can't land on my feet....
Tuck and roll is the answer that I seek.

haha - corny, I know. I wrote it in just a few minutes. Just sitting here thinking about all my follies riding horse. By the way, all those things really did happen to me and more. There were the times I got bucked off, the time my horse spooked and jumped and I went off the back, the time I got ran into a fence, and lets not forget about the head butting, biting and the numerous times I've been stepped on. Ohhhh, I LOVE horses!! haha - I really do! They're my favorite thing in the world besides my sons. The follies are remembered as funny and the good times are remembered as even better!  

CLEANING DAY

Cleaning up after 5 boys can be challenging and scary. For instance, you learn to NEVER reach blindly into their jeans pockets, but rather fold them inside out and dump them, unless you like grabbing crusted frogs, fresh worms or other unidentifiable things.

Today is my only day off work so I decide to get the cleaning done. I start in my 7 & 8 year old, Gabriel and Asher's room. After tossing a few choice words around at yet another hole in the wall I decide to vacuum. Grrr - Micah, my oldest son, used the vacuum last and the tube is now packed so tight nothing will suck up. How many times do I tell them to pick the big stuff up. You can't vacuum everything! A half hour later I finally get it unplugged, but when I arrive back to the bedroom I find our dog, Woody, has pulled the, very full, vacuum bag off and tore it up all over the room. Wait, it gets better. I go to the kitchen to get another bag aannnd we're out!

Next, laundry. I decide I'll go get the laundry I dried last night and fold it. I arrive in the laundry room to find that my son, Jonah, wanted to use the dryer for his clothes so he just threw my clothes out onto the dirty floor. Oh Lord, help me.

Onto the frig. Other than finding some pretty scary things way in the back it went without a hitch.

Here was my main mission of the day. Finding out where all these flies are coming from. I've never before had flies in the house in DECEMBER! Upon arriving to my son Jude's room, the mystery was solved. His room had MANY flies. The culprit? The guinea pig. So gross. After I disinfected the entire cage, surroundings and his room....... I  called it a day.

Sometimes cleaning up after 5 boys you don't get very far. It's a slow, never ending process of just taking care of the of the immediate needs of the house, like, today was the flies. Tomorrow? Who knows, could be anything, and I do mean ANYTHING!