Celebrating Our Daddy

We just love celebrating our wonderful daddy any way we can.  Of course, the boys and I think he is the best.  This article from the Huffington Post from Father's Day was so right when it said that most media portrayal of fathers these days shows them very negatively as "disconnected, bumbling and incompetent."  Our daddy is none of those things.  As most of the dads who the article asked described themselves, we think our dad is definitely "caring and loving."  The video of the commercial in the link was a wonderful attempt by a big company to portray dads in a more accurate way.  As my pastor has recently preached, not having caring, loving, and Christian fathers these days has actually been one of the biggest causes of the downfall of our society and the family.  Fatherhood is one of the most important of God's callings, arguably more important than motherhood.  Although God selected Mary to be the mother of Jesus, he also made a special choice in choosing Joseph to be his father.  Fathers are entrusted with the important tasks of leading and guiding their families.  Fathers also represent the image of God's love for us all.  There is a reason why the Bible and Jesus portrayed God as "Father."  If fathers fail to give this love and guidance, it can affect a child's image of God.  We can look at the past of many of the world's most notorious villains like Hitler and Stalin and find that they lacked a loving and caring father-figure in their lives.  Both disclaimed a relationship with God as well.  Of course, there is hope for children and mothers who have been abandoned by their fathers.  God is that hope!  He wants to be the loving father that your children do not know.  I know it is a very tough job performing the roles of both mother and father, but I hope that you will look to God for your comfort and hope.  He can provide the love and care that even the best earthly father can never achieve.

I fell in love with Eddie pretty quickly when we first met and started dating, but I definitely never knew how deep that love could go until the first time I saw him holding our beautiful children.  The way he looked at each of them with so much love just filled my heart to overflowing.  I have always thought he had the most beautiful daddy hands of any man I have ever seen as he holds his children.

Our daddy meeting his babies for the first time.

This year, we celebrated our daddy in a pretty simple way.  We went to lunch at T.G.I.Friday's and then made a big grocery shopping trip to Super Target.  What a wonderful example of a caring father to go grocery shopping on his special day.  Of course, the boys had to wear matching outfits for some pictures too.

At first, Brody just wanted to pout. 

So Daddy tried to coax him into smiling with tickles. 

Quite possibly my favorite!

Then he tried to force a real smile.  

And finally, our efforts were rewarded with this. You just have to work for it a little bit with kids, but the rewards are worth it!

And then, Brody got to operate the camera and take a picture of Daddy and brother with a little help from Mommy. Yes, that was the main reason for his pouting before. 

And then one with Mommy just to show she was present. 

One of the special things Daddy received this year was this little questionnaire from both boys.  Yep, Brody answered one too.

Evan's was pretty accurate and well-written, of course.

But oh the lessons we learned from Brody.  Apparently, when you ask a 3 year old a question about others, they are only capable of answering about themselves.  Young children are truly "self-centered" and only focused on themselves.  Daddy is 3.  Daddy is a doggy because he was watching Mickey on TV and saw Pluto.  Everything these days is blue...Brody's favorite color.  I do not know where chicken leg came from, but it cracked me up.  I think it was because he had eaten one the day before.  For the last one, he actually said Mommy and "Edah" but I had to coax him to add the me.  Haha!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!  I hope you truly know how much we all love you!