To My Daddykins!

My Daddykins means the world to me! I'm so happy that he can celebrate this Father's Day doing something he has deserved for a long time, a Hawaiian vacation...just him and my mom!

My dad is an amazing man. He is a man that I can look up to and admire. He is the ultimate father for a bunch of girls. I think that ALL three of us girls consider ourselves to be true daddy's girls. He always made us feel special. Here are a few things that sum up my dad.

1. Morning devotions in his office-I know that he sits there every morning, reads his Bible, and prays for all of us kids and many other people. My dad has taught me so much about faith in God. He is a true man of God and a man of complete integrity.

2. Notes on my door-my junior year I was going through a tough time and one day I woke up to a little note on a sticky stuck to my door. It made my day so much better that he started doing it every morning...I began to look forward to seeing what the next one would say. I must have hundreds of those little notes now. I took to leaving a little note in his watch on the kitchen table, knowing that every morning he would put it on and see my words to him. I still have all of those little notes saved in a box. They are cherished.

3. Riding on the arm of his seat in the combine/tractor-One of the best things to do in the summer was go out to the field and ride in the tractor with Dad. The John Deere brand always made it so that the arm of his seat could move down and become a sort of "mini-seat." I don't know how many hours I spent sitting on that seat, riding along. I'm sure that my jibber jabber was mindless and probably not that interesting, but my dad made me feel like I was the most important person in the world.

4. Carnations on Valentine's Day-My dad is the ultimate romantic. He was always surprising my mom with great dates or special gifts. Every year he used to buy her a beautiful dress for her birthday and she looked forward to it, knowing she would wear that dress on a romantic date. Every Valentine's Day he bought her flowers, gorgeous flowers. He didn't want his girls to feel left out, so he always bought each of us girls a few carnations and would leave each of us our own little vase and message on the table. Kev, you have my dad to thank for my love of flowers! He started me young!

5. Sweating eyes-My dad, well, he's a tough guy, you know? One thing that I love about him, though, is that he isn't afraid to cry. He always says his eyes are sweating, of course, but when I see his "perspiring eyes" I know it means that he is so overcome by emotion that he can't say anything else. I have seen those sweating eyes many times through the years: my graduation from high school, my first day of college, my graduation from college, my sister's wedding day, MY wedding day, the day that he and my mom drove away and left me in California-truly on my own for the very first time, the day we went to my Aunt Dottie's funeral, and countless other times. I think that a true man is not afraid to show those tears, and my dad is a real man.

6. Amazing Bear Hugs-Anyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE hugs! My dad is one of the best at giving them! Sometimes it is really hard for me to be so far away from him, because all I want is just ONE GREAT BIG HUG from my dad. There is nothing quite like it.

7. Date Nights- My dad used to take each of us girls out separately for a date night. We got to pick whatever restaurant we wanted and it would just be me and him. He would let me order anything I wanted from the menu and he would just talk to me about what was going on in my life and what he could do to help me. It was one of my favourite times!

8. Ice Cream-All of us kids are ice cream freaks...and we have my dad to blame. We used to beg and plead with him to make us a malt...no one could make them quite like Dad. Yumm...just thinking of it makes me want one!

9. Early Mornings-My dad was a farmer, so he was always up EARLY in the morning! Some mornings he was up before 5! As much as I grumbled and complained about it, some of my favourite times were going out in the fields with him in the mornings to help him irrigate the crops. The mornings were so still and we would drive along on the four wheeler from field to field. We had some good talks, enjoyed some amazing sunrises, and I learned everything I know about hard work from those moments with him.

10. Our "butt" chins!-My sisters used to tease me about my "butt" chin. You know, it has two little sides to it. I used to hate it, oh how I wanted a chin like my sisters. Then one day I think I was lamenting it to my mom and she said, "Well, your dad has the same one!" I realized that he did, and I became proud of it! I got something from my dad that no one else in my family had! It made me unique and now I LOVE my little "butt" chin! It makes my face look like it does, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Daddykins, I could go on and on about you. You are an amazing man. It was NEVER hard for me to look at God as a loving father figure, because you were such a good example of that to me. Thanks for the hours you spent sitting on bleachers at my games, thanks for all of my tears that you have wiped away, thanks for all of your kind and supportive words that got me through hard times, thanks for always showing me that I am special whether it is through a phone call, a special card in the mail, or a little flower in a vase. Daddykins, you are the reason that I ended up with such an amazing guy like Kevin. I knew, growing up and watching the way that you treated Mom, that I couldn't settle for anything less. Thank you for teaching me that I am worthy of that, and for instilling that in me. I love you Daddykins! Happy Father's Day!