I am not suppose to tell you

That his name is Alva Ross, pronounced “Al’ vee Ross” and now that I have let the cat out of the bag, I must ask for your total cooperation in never mentioning it to him.

I was almost 2. He was 22. Des Moines, 1961

My dad was named for a dad he never knew, a very young man tragically killed in a car accident when my dad’s mom was 6 months pregnant (and 2 little girls at home). He was born into adversity.

We struggled to know each other, understand each other during the years of his workaholism, perfectionism…then mine {we end up being what we judge, people} and I regret the time lost, but I truly treasure him as a close friend and mentor now. I admire him for being 75 and still crying out to God to transform him, lead him, guide him. I plan to be like him in that, too.  And mostly, I am loving the restoration of the years the enemy tries to steal as I am learning to be his daughter, his little girl,  and he is learning to be my daddy.

On relationships: It s good to pursue the great gifts God intended because He is able to rewrite the whole story, even if it gets interrupted or broken by enemy tactics {or our own stupidity}.  Dads and daughters (dads and sons, too) have much to share on the journey toward being whole and holy. Writing it off would have been such a loss.

I arrived for a visit so late my dad didn’t see me until breakfast, at which time his first words were, “Jeanie – why is your hair so dark?” Haha. Dads. Gotta love ’em.

I love my dad!

“God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.”  Psalm 18.24 The Message

Then there is Dave {the father of my children}

Happy Father’s Day to the man I entrusted with our 5 incredible children. You were born to be a daddy and even though you’ll be the first to say you didn’t do everything right, I can attest that you tried. And I can vouch for the times you re-adjusted your sails and changed your mind and your tactics and that you are still looking for ways to bless and father our bunch.

And I hope the kids all know those morning blessings are not just idle words, they are deeply meant, spoken with the authority of a God-appointed and anointed dad and he means business. Please don’t ever take that lightly. You should say everyday, “I receive my dad’s blessing spoken over my life today.” You cannot go wrong receiving what he still has to offer, even though you are grown. And if you need to know how much he really loves you, let’s talk!

And Happy Father’s Day to Tristan, DP, Rocky and Ryan!

You are the daddies God chose to raise our grand-est loves, the 9 for whom our hearts pound with furious love and devotion.

But they are yours, these nine grandbebes, your heritage, the fruit of your love and marriage. And we are in 100% agreement that God has given these children good, really good daddies.

You are all men to be admired and I wish all children could be fathered through this life as well. Thank-you for being the courageous men you are and for carefully and intentionally raising, disciplining, teaching, playing, understanding and covering with love these granchildren we know and the ones to come.

My grandchildren are blessed, so blessed.

Happy Father’s Day to all the men who have loved a child enough to keep trying even when it wasn’t easy.

There aren’t enough good examples out there. Hope you had one or got to be one. And remember~

It’s never too late to be the family God meant for you to be.

So keep on fathering.