"A Father to the Fatherless....."

I have enjoyed seeing all the Blogger and Facebook posts honoring fathers today.

Long, long years ago I claimed Psalm 68:5.....

"A father of the fatherless.....is God in his holy habitation."

The only father figure I have known was the father of my 3 sisters and brother.

His name was Lloyd Ewing. He married Mother while she was pregnant with me and his name appears on my birth certificate. He was not my biological father, however. While he WAS the father of my younger siblings he was not in our lives but for a few brief years. Even as a young child I knew in my heart that I was different from my sisters and brother. I kept pestering Mother about it and she finally admitted Lloyd was not my father. I was 17 at the time and already married and expecting my second child. I regret that she never even told me my father's name. I would have liked to have had some sense of my heritage. It has always been obvious that I do not look or act like my mother's side of the family. Mother suffered a stroke 9 years ago and can't tell me his name now even if she wanted to.

I will never know WHY she wouldn't or couldn't tell me.

It's only been since I have been in my 60's that I've even thought much about it.

I think it is far better to have NO earthly father than a bad one or an absent one and for that I am thankful.

I am  happy today to celebrate the wonderful dads my son and son in law are!

This is my first born son, Jesse, with his youngest son, Levi.

Jesse and his lovely wife!

My son is a wonderful father!

My son and my sister Nita's son. He is another great example of a good father!

I am so proud of Jesse!

His children know what a godly father is like!

They are blessed to have him as their daddy.

Then there is my son in law.........

also known as 'The QUADFATHER!'

I have watched him from Day 1 with his four children and have never failed to be impressed by the calm steadfast love and care he shows them.

This morning Louis Dean and I watched The Winning Walk with Ed Young, Sr.

He had his three sons on with him one of which is our pastor, Ed Young, Jr.

One of the things they teach is that children leave - parents stay!

It is vitally important to have a strong marriage where the husband and wife put each other first.

Then you are both in a position to be better parents.

Mike and Amber are perfect examples!

Date Night has always been a high priority for them - even when the babies were tiny - and I think they have the right idea. They continue to make time for one another and the quads benefit from that.

I once read that the best thing a daddy can do for his children is to love their mother.

Mike has got that one down pat!

In other news this Sunday.....

Louis Dean and I went over to see my youngest son's new apartment.

He recently moved back to Texas from California and I am happy to report he lives only 20 miles from me now! SO much closer than Huntington Beach, California!!!

"FOOD!" he said!!

Tonight I took Louis Dean out to eat! He said he wanted something with a lot of FLAVOR!

This picture reminds me of a funny story about Amber when she was 3 years old.

We were vacationing in Colorado in June just before Benjamin was born in August.

Money was tight so we had been eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We had just finished a picnic in Cheyenne Park and were in the car getting ready to leave.

Others in the park were grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and the smell was more than my little Amber could handle! She leaned her head out the window and yelled......

"Meat!!!!!!"

We went to a steakhouse for dinner that night!!

Cheers to all the good men in my life.....

Louis Dean, Jesse, Jr, Mike, Benjamin, Charlie, Mike T, Lonnie, Shihan Dean Chapman, Robert, Roy.....

God bless you, every one!!