We’ve been off adventuring this summer so it’s been a little quiet around here but I thought Father’s day was the perfect excuse to step back into the blogging world for a minute.
There are a hundred ways to parent but Steve parents with love. He listens. He teaches. He prays constantly over his children. And he loves with all his heart. It is beautiful.
And because of his love, our kids adore him. They are constantly fighting as to who gets to sit next to him, asking for bedtime stories and they know who to ask when they want to go out to eat or grab a treat. He has prioritized each one of them and they know it.
The kids filled out their annual father’s day interviews which are always a hit. The older the kids get the less funny and more tender those interviews are. (We’ve got years of those interviews banked in a physical memory box and looking back and reading through them again always fills my heart with so much love and gratitude.)
We also had ties hanging throughout the kitchen with fun memories. Here are a few that made me smile:
Being a father means something different with every new stage of life. When all the kids were young, being a father meant helping change diapers, frequently getting up in the middle of the night and wrestling kids on the trampoline. As our kids have grown, being a father has meant coaching teams, driving carpools and sitting in the kitchen talking with their friends. Soon enough kids will be leaving the home and being a father will look a little different.
But no matter the stage – Steve is present and magnifying his dad duties. Which makes him so easy to celebrate!
Several years ago, when we just had three little kids, I had them dress up in Steve’s clothes and did a “When I grow up” theme for Father’s day.
We figured it was about time to recreate the photo. So we got the kids back in the same clothing (which fits a little better than it used to – and the kids were laughing that he still had some of those exact items!) and added Cannon and Briggs – all of them wearing things that distinctly define their dad.
Steve has so many great qualities and is such a powerful role model for our kids – I hope they grow up to be just like him.
Steve continues to magnify his role as a father and it’s beautiful to witness. We are happy to celebrate him any chance we get.
Steve is the life to my kid’s party. He plays at their level. He says yes to ice cream. He cooks them breakfast. He makes up the pool games that keeps the kids busy for hours in the pool. And he can never turn down a child who asks for a bedtime story.
He plays board games with them. He coaches them. He teaches them the importance of investing. He encourages a love for sports.
I joke that he is “cool dad”. So cool that he’s been practicing his awesome dad jokes which the kids have always loved and now he has a 14-year-old daughter who he really plays up the cheesy jokes for. It’s their thing.
And what do you get a cool dad? A long board of course! So now he can stop stealing his kid’s boards. The kids were pretty excited about their gift – so excited, Hunter was questioning whether he should get this new board and his dad can have his hand me down!
Steve is a deliberate and engaging father. I love that he has made the kids one of his favorite hobbies. Fatherhood looks good on him!
