A Legacy

Where do I come from?

I love this picture of my parents. It is so them..not planned or perfect, resting in the shadows, a loving embrace, and real.

Ok so my family...they have their quirks (just as my children will say about me, i have embraced this-kinda). They are well...my family. Take it or leave it God gave me to them and vice versa. This is where he wants me; he is sovereign. Well i happen to be very blessed.

For Christmas my dad spent NUMEROUS hours (much to my mother's delight) in the garage building the most incredible gift you could give boys...guns and some sort of "machine type mounted shooting device that attaches to our fort" carved out of wood with their initials on it. I know - amazing if you have boys you know what i mean. This is better than summer camp and a week alone with KG- they have lived in the back yard and spent hours (being on the same team) fighting the pirates, bad guys, cowboy thieves, and shooting grizzly bears named Chili and Rio (our labs)...you name it they have shot it!

(Garrett's gun is not pictured because it is nighttime and a real man sleeps with his gun under his bed!)

I am blessed because of where I came from. My dad is really the most selfless man i know. He does not waste words, so when he speaks you listen. People who know me (and my personality) are amazed when i tell them my dad raised his voice 2 times in my childhood that i remember.

Just as my dad spent numerous hours carving, sanding, and personalizing each gun for each one of our boys- the Lord has spent hours designing each moment for our good and his glory. My parents are not perfect (call me) and i don't claim to raise a perfect family either. But my dad was willing to work on it. That wood came raw and straight and blemished and when he was finished it is something my children will cherish forever (the memories of childhood play in the backyard that their grandfather provided). It has changed them. The Lord is taking me and my yuck and making something useful out of it.

Last Christmas, my dad gave me a verse i will never forget-Romans 1:12 "that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." Well, Dad I am in awe of your faith and pray my boys have an ounce of courage you had while you were raising me.

There are 5 characteristics of Godly men and i don't know if my father knows these but i know he lives these and that is why KG and i spend the hours we do training our boys. We pray they will stay humble, stand firm, step up, speak out, and serve the King (taken from a parenting conference).

Now if Garrett would stop acting like my dad and wear shorts occasionally i would be ok with that! And if they did not think it was appropriate to lick the bowl after a meal that would be good too...

BTW...get busy dad, Henry (grandson #5) needs a gun if he is gonna fight the battle.