Grateful Friday

 First, I'm grateful Adam is home!  Hallelujah!

Next, I'm grateful this weekend (and always) for fathers.

I got Adam a Father's Day gift that reminded me of his dad, Linn.  Linn has been gone for over 15 years, which is amazing to me.  We miss him still.  I was feeling sentimental and looking back at pictures and these two sum up Linn in my mind:

His lap was the preferred spot for every grandchild (and I love seeing sweet Raelyn in this picture).  I also love that two out of the four children shown were not actually related but that made zero difference in how Linn and Geri treated them.  (Don't mind me and my derpy brace face....)

This shows the engineer side of Linn-carefully measuring Mark--and his fun side because I'm sure he is saying something to Mark that is eliciting that expression.

I'm grateful for my own dad.

This picture was taken on a freezing New Year's Day on my dad's sleigh--or buggy--I can't remember which.  

I will forever be grateful for my dad and his steadiness.  He is always who he is, which maybe doesn't make sense, but makes sense in my head.  He taught me the Gospel of Jesus Christ when I was growing up.  He also taught me to work and to be confident and to be creative.  

The main thing I could always be confident about was that there was rarely a problem so big that he couldn't fix it.

I'm grateful for Adam.  He is as good a husband as he is father.  I love seeing our adult children turn to him when they have troubles or complications because he is like my dad and his and can solve them.  He puts in effort to learn about our children's interests. He is an adoring Papa.  He is gentle and kind and would do anything for us and we know it.  What a blessing!

I'm grateful for the good dad Braeden is.  While he was in London recently, I talked to him a few times and he talked a lot more about missing QE and Anna than about his conference or London sightseeing.  

Every time I ask him how QE is, he says, "She's perfect!" What a lucky little girl to have the unequivocal love of her dad.

I talked to Braeden yesterday and I asked him if he remembered things in London from when we took him (he was 11).  He told me his hotel was near this wall that had been there in Roman times.  He said he walked around the corner and thought, "I remember this!"

Were we the ugly Americans who let their children climb on relics and statues?  Apparently we were....

I love the can do and loving fathers Adam and I both have.  I love the opportunity unlocking and loving father Adam is and I love the thoughtful and doting father Braeden is.

Fathers.  What a gift they are!

Finally, I'm grateful for Mark.  He's not a father, but has father potential.  Yesterday he went around with some tools and tightened everything that needed tightening, which is a very Mark thing to do.  I love that he is home.  I love that he is funny and a good listener.

On Saturday I saw a woman in the airport with a hat that said, "Men are Trash."

When I think about Adam, our dads, our sons, my brothers, my brothers-in-law, my nephews, the men I work with, our friends, our neighbors...I think, she needs to know better men.