Father's Day Love Story

I want to share with you a Father’s Day story. It is a love story.

When I met my Prince Charming, my kids were in elementary & middle school. Jim swept me off my feet after our chance meeting in an airport and the rest is history. We were married six months after we met. That was nearly six years ago.

I’ve always been amazed that his joining our family was so seamless. My kids weren’t exactly at the easiest of ages and yet there was never a bump in the road or relationship snag. He stepped right into stepDad shoes and filled them beautifully.

We don’t do a very good job of honoring him. There’s just something about “official” days that irk me. Why should Hallmark dictate such things? And so, barring the occasional sweet nothing, we don’t do the fanfare thing around here much. Our kids – we think of them that way now – spend Father’s Day with their dad and so Jim and I usually pass the day as any other.

This year won’t be terribly different. Our son and daughter left yesterday to take a summer trip to Italy with their dad. Tomorrow, I’m leaving for a week in Haiti. My husband is heading north to Virginia to spend the day with his own father and family.

But I want him to know that we think he’s wonderful and recognize the many ways he pursues to make our lives easier! Our daughter is in college now and son spends most of his time chasing sports and friends, but they love that he still bothers to explore outings they’ll enjoy – and makes the best Corey burgers on the grill! He is a strong Christian and that has been transforming in our home. We worship & volunteer together and, because of his role in encouraging that, we have all grown by leaps and bounds toward the Lord.

We love Jim and, in so many ways, he is an amazing father.

What’s cool is that he has shared his Dad skills with a whole new set of boys he leads in church. When we met, Jim began volunteering with me in my kindergarten group and, through the years, we’ve moved up as they have grown. Now, we each have dozens of kids in middle school who look to us for guidance and friendship.

In the beginning, I thought I would teach Jim about leading kids. Instead, he has shown me how it can be done! There are few weekends when he’s not trekking from our community in Atlanta to rural communities in Alabama who need assistance. Each time, he takes a dozen boys with him and they serve in food kitchens, paint community rooms, do yard work and, lately, help tornado victims as they clear debris.

His work ethic is beyond anything I’ve ever seen!

The boys have a ton of fun with him. Even more importantly, he invests in who they can become and talks openly with them about their faith, choices and possibilities. I’m amazed by the trust that has grown in that atmosphere of sharing and camaraderie. Right now, he’s at our cabin and spent yesterday kayaking with them – today, they are serving nearly 200 people at a food kitchen, including planning, funding and preparing the food! They have collected hundreds of pairs of shoes for those who are scrambling to afford some.

Toward the end of the school year, he helped some boys from his group form an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) chapter in their school. That may seem a small thing, but some of the speakers he lined up to mentor those middle-school kids could step straight from the pages of Sports Illustrated! He has encouraged those boys to see they are more than just children – they are strong and capable and worthy and can make a difference – sometimes beyond any adult!

His generosity of spirit and powerful example take my breath away!

And, for a change, I just thought I’d say so. Our kids aren’t here to wish him a Happy Father’s Day (and I suppose that, given where they are, they’d have to do it in Italian, ha), but they want him to know they think he rocks! For teens, there is no higher praise.

Happy Father’s Day, Jim. We love you!

Let’s live happily ever after…