My dad, who is one of the most wonderful selfless men I know, is leaving us to go be with our Father in Heaven. My dad has been there for everyone, friends, family, strangers, you name it. When Mitch and I were both going to school and dirt poor, my dad came up with a solution for high rents and crappy apartments, he decided he would build me a house to rent. Sounds crazy right? Well, thats just what he did. From drawing the plans, to carpeting and tiling the floors and painting the walls, he did it all. ALL of it. Minus one or two things we finally convinced him to pay someone to help him with. Just as he did when building the home my mother and him shared with us kids and his parents, he worked tirelessly all day at his job at Workers Comp, and then came home and put in all the hours until dark he could fit on the house. His entire Saturdays were devoted to what big project he could finish on the house. For as long as I can remember, he was always like this. He fixed every car every time we had a problem, which was a lot, because he loved buying quick fix cars!
I think tomorrow I may post my entire talk I gave at his funeral for anyone who'd like to read it again. It's hard to believe he's been gone from this earthly life now for about a month and a half. I love that Benji still will point out "Papa" in a picture. It will break my heart when he forgets. We're getting ready to sell his boat soon. It hurts us all to do it, but we have no way to pull it and with all these little ones in our lives now, the boat isn't really something we can use too much right now.
I'm 10 weeks pregnant this week, and I constantly think about my dad watching over both my little ones. I know that he is and that he loves them so much. In life, he was extremely dedicated to his grandbabies. Maddy, Caden, and Benjamin were his best friends in the World next to my momma, of course. Lucas showed up a month before daddy left us and though my dad was very weak, the first time he held him you could see the love in his eyes as he stared down at that little newborn.
I love you and miss you dad.
