Sunday, June 15, 2014

"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!!







11 comments:

Luann said...

A beautiful tribute to Lloyd and ALL the men in your life now. Love ya Sis.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Isn't it wonderful to see our sons become wonderful fathers themselves? I understand what you are saying because I have pretty much the same thing with my father. I used to want to hire a private detective. But as I get older I realize this is the way God arranged it. I have a wonderful life, and am truly thankful for what I do have, Perhaps things would not be as good if I knew or found him. everything has a reason.

Kathy said...

This is a lovely tribute to the fathers in your life. God bless all of them.

Haddock said...

Enjoyed reading this. Frank and straight from the heart.

MadSnapper said...

to me your father that was on your birth certificate was a great man to do that. i am sure it is frustrating to not know, but you have so many wonderful fathers in your life, that should make up for it. hope so. god bless

Vee said...

Okay, I've got to finish chuckling before I can type...meat...hahhahahahahahaha....

This is a wonderful testimony to what God can do. I like your claimed verse a lot. Sounds as if your mother was in a difficult place back then and I am sure that it was very painful for her. Then to have her husband leave...pass...something...with all the children. She's quite remarkable to have held it all together.

Your tribute to the fathers in your life is wonderful. Jesse has such a beautiful family...those grands are some kind of good-looking kids. I already know how amazing Mike is. That smile! That devotion. And LD? Well, he's tops in my book. Hope that all these fathers had a marvelous Father's Day.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Beautiful post, LInda! I was fortunate to have a wonderful and loving father but he was taken from us by a tragedy much too soon and I miss him when I was 18. I've missed him dearly since then. God blessed me a good husband and a son that loves his wife and children very much as well as a good son-in-law. They are all true blessings, just like your wonderful sons and SIL.

Deanie W said...

This is a beautiful heart felt post!

Angie said...

I don't know what the situation was with your biological father but I can say this, I'm sure your Mother was protecting you for some reason. I have possibly been in your Mother's shoes and I know that the decisions I've made have been out of pure love and protection!

This is a beautiful tribute to all those amazing dad's you know!!!

Jutta said...

Linda
What a post. Emotionally full but not over the top. In Finland this very father's Day is in nov 9th for some unknown reason to me. Anyway, I think that we should cherish all the good parents every single day - and all the good humans aswell. True to be told it is very seldom that the humans without some lively connection do take apart and be close.
Linda, hugging you tight - always

Carla said...

Nice post. I love the story about Amber. Cracked me up.