sweetest email ever!

I have never received an email from a student before. I had a 2nd grader who tried to email me yesterday but didn't know quite how to do it. We talked today about it; he had been visiting my class website and was so excited to see my photos and learn more about his crazy teacher.

He is one of the most thoughtful children I have known. I could tell you lots of stories. He hugs me EVERY day and then gives me another hug and says (every day, seriously) "Mrs. Thomas, please hug Barbara/Matthew and tell them 'goodbye' for me." Every day. When the 2nd graders left for their trip the other day, he came running back after they'd left with Barbara to hug me one more time and told me, "Mrs. Thomas, please tell the 1st graders I will miss them and I said, 'Have a nice day.'"

Today, I told my children very, very briefly today that I would be having surgery and would miss a day next week. I tried to keep it low key and very positive. I don't want to scare them. I came home today to find this email from my young friend.

"hey mrs thomas i will missyou are you goning to be oka i dont want to stay with mrs huks ar you goning to come back ar you gon fill bether dont for get to sent something back as soon as you can beybey or rith now"

Oh, God, THANK YOU for helping me to survive last year. Thank you for letting me love those kids last year who needed me to love them and be in their corner. And thank you for giving me this group this year and such loving, thoughtful children. Thank you for helping me to learn and grow from a hard place, and then blessing me with a joyous, peace-filled year so far to help me heal and regain my "groove."

And God, THANK YOU more than I can say for the wonderful results from one of my "last year" friends on her benchmarks this week. Maybe You helped me make a real difference after all. I am loved. You are showing me that. This week another teacher came to me to tell me that every kid she has asked said I was their favorite teacher. Wow! That stunned me!!!!

And then one of my kids this week asked me, "Mrs. Thomas, why do all the kids know you and hug you and shout at you?" THANK YOU God, for loving me through all these children, and more importantly letting me love them for You.

I made my own purses! :)

When my cousins, Regina & Pam, were here, we had a lot of fun, laughed a lot, ate a bunch of good food, went to every craft store we could find in Greensboro and to Walmart so many times I lost count, and just had a wonderful, wonderful time!!!!

Regina bought me a springform pan, which I've wanted for a long time, and she made a cheesecake which we all loved. We loved it so much, in fact, that she made us a different one the next day, and then, the next thing you know, she made us one more the following day- so we got to try different flavors and compare. My kids LOVED it because I've only once or twice made cheesecakes since I didn't really have a good pan for it. It was like a cheesecake of the day club. :)

Pam taught us how to make bags/baskets and got me sort of out of my creative slump- or on the road back to being creative. After making one while Pam was here, and one after she went home, I got braver and have tried to make the bag with handles. I did it, and it turned out pretty good, so I tried again and have made myself my very own teacher purse/bag. :) So cool!!!!

Here they are:

I know you're going to think it's silly, but I keep looking at them thinking, "Hey, I did that! I actually made my own purse! Who'd of thunk it?!?" :)

I love the colors of this one! Blues are my favorite colors, and these prints just jumped out at me at Walmart! Then I found the lining fabric at JoAnne's another day & I was so happy with how well it went with the quilted part!

And now, my very own teacher bag. I am sooooo excited!!!!! I can carry this with me to my work retreat this weekend. When I get uptight, bored, frustrated, or whatever else, I can look at my purse and think happy thoughts. :) hahahahahahaha

Now that I think about it though, Pam & Regina did all that, and I didn't do anything but eat, laugh, and learn. I always was a deadbeat! :) I definitely owe them something for sure. :)

Not that they will see this, but Regina Baldwin & Pam Brown, I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Rebekah :)

Today's smiles

I am exhausted from another night of very little sleep. Rob & I were both up at 4 AM after being up until about midnight. Ugh! I'm too old for that deal! :) I think I will call it an early night soon and pray for a good night's rest.

My :) List for today:

• Another sign of spring- storms are here this afternoon/evening- YEAH!!!! Oh how I love the rain and thunder and lightning! I take after my Momma that way. :)
• A nice, brief talk with our literacy coach today. She doesn't think I'm doing a horrible job, and gave me some positive feedback- a first this year and oh so nice to hear!!! She gave me some suggestions too which was also nice- real, practical suggestions based on a conversation or observation of what is actually going on in my world. :) Refreshing!!!
• Picking up my daughter from the college! Haven't done that in a week or two. We haven't gotten to spend much time together lately, and I have missed her a lot!
• Hugs from my daughter at the end of a rough afternoon- just what I needed was the love and support of my family!
• Homemade potato soup made by Robert waiting for us when we got home- yummy! AND "grown-up" grilled cheese sandwiches made by Rob AND tomatoes!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I can't wait for tomatoes all summer! :)
• Our hardworking oldest son makes me so proud! Robert is working two jobs. Today he worked with the contractor all day, went from that job straight to the restaurant at 4 PM, will get off there and go straight back to work with the contractor & be painting at a local Walmart from 10 PM-7 AM, then report to another job & work another full day tomorrow before getting off finally tomorrow night. He just turned 21 and is not afraid to work hard. I did something right to have such a great young man as my son!!!!!!!!!!
• I will probably regret this in some way, but it is what it is. I'm wiped out. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. This year is kicking my backside! I have a lot of things that "need" to be done. Paperwork that is due or past due at work. Papers that I need to grade (just a small pile though), grad school work that I have to do, and oh so much more. You know what, though. I'm not doing it tonight! I'm going to go to read my Bible, crawl in bed and pray for some rest and relief and a day of being His light tomorrow. One more day, Father, one more day. I'll get there one foot in front of the other, one day at a time.

crying + report cards= a happy me

I am working on report cards, but I have to hop on here and write this down for myself. I just started report cards, and right "out of the gate" on the very first kid- THERE is my proof!

Love may not solve everything that my kids have to face in their hard lives, but LOVE can help! My "girl," a very special child to me, the reason I came up to third grade! WOW!!!! I knew she had improved a great deal these past few weeks in her behavior, and I was seeing her actually attempt to do some classwork. BUT, WOW, when I pull up her 1st quarter report card to see what I wrote and reread her grades from 1st quarter. OH MY GOODNESS and THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I all did was love her- really. Loved her through some pretty rough days and loved her on the good days. Gave her hugs a zillion times a day no matter what she was acting like, told her I believed in her even when she was being a not-so-nice human being. Celebrated EVERY SINGLE good thing she did, and hugged away the bad things. LOVE!

There is my proof for the critics out there who don't like me from the regional office. Once you can help a child start to deal with their anger, learn to control their behaviors, THEN they can get down to learning, and she has! The grades are markedly better, and the behavior/work grades are HUGELY better! :) :) :) I cannot wait to show her this report card. Last time she was so upset with herself for her report card grades, and that made for a rough day. This time, we are going to happy dance together!!!!!

And, not where she'll ever see it, but on my inside I'm praying this growth shows up on the one & only score that "they" count, so that maybe, just maybe, they'll see what I see too and start to believe in us too. But either way, THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Snow Day" - ahem ????

We were out of school today for bad weather, but the weather didn't come until about 2:30, and now at 11 PM we have maybe an inch of snow/ice. We are out again tomorrow. Rob & I decided to go to our classrooms for a very short time (I have to work, lose pay, or make up the hours on these days, and Rob is taking on another course and losing his planning period so he had some things to do to be ready). So the kids and I went to lunch and then headed to my room. Barbara helped another teacher, and my boys helped me clean out the fish tank, mail the HUGE pile of graded papers, and rearrange the tables and kids' desks. THANK YOU my young people!

A big box came from my sister, and we were finally able to get it from the post office since we were off. My sister and brother-in-law had sent us some Christmas and other goodies. They got Matthew this "mohawk hat." I think he really likes it- he's been wearing it much of the evening. :)

He HATES to have his picture taken, but I finally got him to cooperate (well, Rob did actually) and got a decent smile. He's cute! :) I love his smile!

Rob & I cooked chicken tetrazzini together tonight, and we've just hung out, and laughed and joked and been silly together. Rob and I also went for a walk after supper in the snow. I have to be careful as I'm normally very clumsy, and have broken my ankle on black ice before. We just walked a few laps around the school's parking lot and came home. The wind was cold, but it was nice to hold my hubby's hand and walk in the snow together. Robert got to come home from the restaurant early since it was dead- YEAH! Rob and Robert ran to the grocery store and got stuff for a yummy snow day breakfast for tomorrow and munchies for us all.

I'm hoping to actually sleep tonight- the insomnia has been kicking in a bit, and especially the past two Sundays- no big surprise there I guess. :) So last night I was up most of the night.

And, boy is this hard, but I promised. :) I need a name for this maybe. IDK????

Today's "trying to like myself items":

• I make people laugh.
• I can laugh at myself (which I think is good).
• I am a good cook.
• I like to learn new things.
• I am sticking with my exercise (even walked in the snow today!).

40 :)

Today I turned 40. It was a very nice day.

Last night, Rob started bugging me to get in bed saying, "The 39 year old doesn't have much time left to sleep; you really need to get her in bed!" And as I was getting into bed, I checked FB and my sister left me a funny math-themed message to wish me happy b'day.

Today started with my hubby teasing me and calling me "old" as I got ready for work. :)

Wore one of my new blouses that my Momma & Pop got me for my birthday while they were here last week. I felt so pretty! And all day I thought of my parents' love (all three of them).

When I got to work, I found the nicest surprise on my desk. Alma (one of our custodians) had left me a hand-made necklace and pair of earrings for me with a note that said, "Feliz Cumpleanos Mrs. Thomas." :) How sweet!!!!!!!!!!! And so pretty, can't wait to wear them!

Got TONS and TONS of love from kids at school who had figured out or heard that today was my special day. :) One of my team-teaching buddies had all her students write me letters, so throughout the day I received hand-made cards from a lot of kids not to mention the hugs that came with them. I took cookies to share with my reading class and my third grade class and my third grade team and my two team-teaching buddies. The kids loved that of course!

My third graders were so cute- one of them started the idea to give me a b'day hug and while hugging me, stick a post-it note on my back announcing it was my b'day. They were doing this because I had said I wouldn't tell any of the adults at school it was my birthday, that it wasn't a big deal. Guess they were worried about that because I had so many post-its on me at one point or another, though they kept falling off this blouse I was wearing- it wasn't Post-it friendly I guess. ;) But, I thought it was sweet of the kids anyway. I just played dumb and pretended I didn't know what they were doing, and that was even funnier/cuter to watch them! hahaha

After school, I went back to the DOT to get my new license as the old one expired today (long story, but I went yesterday and had to go back today). Got my license! :) Then home to my silly family. My kids asked off of work/got off of work so they could be home with me today. :) That meant more to me than they know! When I came home, I found on the door signs Rob had made that said "The old bat is 40!" :) :) :) He had them taped to the glass on the storm door. Too funny! Rob got me a book - the next one written by Greg Mortenson. Waaay excited to read that hopefully sooner than later.

We went out to Rio Grande, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Rob just happened to "mention" it was my birthday and as we were getting up to leave, the owners and waitress came over, planted a sombrero on my head and sang to me and brought me a yummy dessert with a candle! :) LOVE that place and those people! They are great!

We went and got our Christmas tree and a pretty greenery wreath for the door. It will have to wait until Saturday to get decorated, but right now my house spells so good. LOVE this time of year!!!!!!!

Got the bills paid; thank you Father for $ to pay the bills! I started using online bill-pay from our bank a couple months ago, and I love it! So much easier- wish I'd done it long ago!

I still have two assignments due on the weekend not started yet, a HUGE-MONGOUS pile of papers to grade & record in the grade book, lesson plans to be done, materials to be found and created for learning stations next week, and interim reports to write, but my sleepy 40 year old self is going to call it a night! Tomorrow I will have to pull off a miracle and do my lesson plans and grad school assignments by Saturday morning- yikes! :)

Love to you all!

the 1st of the lasts

Tonight was Matthew's first concert of the 10-11 school year- his senior year. The first of the "lasts" in this phase of our parenting lives- not just Matthew's last year in school, but the last year of any kids in public school for Rob & I, our last year as parents of a minor child, our last year of high school, band concerts, sports- this is it.

A weeee bit (okay, a big bit) emotional for me. I was married at 17, a mom at 19 and have been a mom more of my life than not. It's truly about all I know. And now this phase is coming to an end.

But as I sat and watched my son (my 6'5" baby boy) through my camera, I could only think one thing, "Thank you God." All these years with Matthew almost didn't happen, and I am very mindful of that. Very mindful.

So, I somewhat tearfully embrace this year- this year of lasts, and don't you let me forget to say "Thank You" for every one of them.

(((hugs)))

Rebekah :)

22 years

Twenty-two years ago, on August 20th, 1988, I married my best friend, Rob Thomas. I was 17; he was 21. A lot of people said we wouldn't make it; probably a lot more thought it. But, with God's help here we are. :)

I could say so much, and have written about him and our marriage more than once. :) Tonight, I just want to share this video. I LOVE this song even though I'm not a country music fan.

Rob, I know you rarely come here, but I love you very, very much, and yes, I still do.

Rebekah :)

Where can I go from Your spirit?

Today I sat in a place I would never have pictured myself. It was a difficult day, but I am honored to be able to be present to show my love and support for a fellow teacher and mom. I know there is nothing I can do to ease her pain or burden, but I know that I am obligated from love to be there to love her, pray for her, and walk beside her in anyway I can.

Today, my daughter & I went to a mosque to attend the funeral services for the twelve year old son of a teacher at our school. He was killed in a shooting incident in front of his home Monday night. His name was Ali, and he would have been in the eighth grade this year. My heart is broken for this family and especially for his mom.

As a Christ-follower, I wanted to not in any way offend the family and friends of my coworker. I have tried to love my colleague and show respect to her always. I have not hidden who I am as she has not from me. In fact, she & I have supported each other & prayed for each other for a couple years now. Today, I wanted to be a good representative of God. So Barbara and I put on long sleeves and covered our heads with scarves and baked in the heat along with many others to show our love to our friend.

And though I was in the house of Allah, the place of worship of another god, I felt the presence of the GOD, the maker of the universe. I felt the love of the ONE who died for every man. I was reminded of this verse, Psalm 139: 7-8- Where can I go from Your spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there. If I make my bed in the depths of Sheol (Hell), you are there.

God, please be with this family and this dear mom. Please, Father, comfort them like no one else can, lift their hearts from the blackness, hurt, and despair. Help them to find the strength to walk through the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Fill their hearts with love and a peace that none other can give.

a child's note

This has been a killer week... EOG's (end of grade testing). Robert's graduation ceremony last night plus keeping two of my favorite kids from school. I am sick and have grad school this weekend plus Robert's graduation lunch for his church family and friends on Sunday. I have photos to post of cards and flowers (for Ruhiyyih) and our oldest son graduating from college (for Momma and everyone else)... I promise I'll be back with those in a couple more days.

But for me, tonight, I wanted to jot down a memory. This week was EOG week. I made cards for the third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers and classes- just something super simple to encourage them on this big, stressful week. Not a big deal really! I had so many kids ask me "Why did you do that?" I was surprised at their asking. Several kids were excited about it, and one class called me and put me on speaker phone to shout a big thank you to me. :) All of these made me feel so wonderful! But I think, without a doubt, the student that touched my heart the most was a third grader that did not attend K at my school so I didn't know her by name (I know almost all the kids from K to 4th now at our school). She wrote me a letter back and she made me cry (no biggie I know!). She wrote, "You are the nicest teacher I never had." I am blown away by the love of children and the love of God He gives me through them! And people say God isn't in public schools. :) They are so, so wrong.

Happy Weekend all!

a child's compliment cheereth my heart

Today one of my kids (at school) stopped working, looked up at me and said, "Mrs. Thomas, you're still a kid in here," and then pointed at his chest (heart). Oh how that made me smile! I've been told something similar before by a little boy who told me I was "brown on the inside" then he paused and added, "where it counts."

Oh how these little moments (tiny seconds of time) bring joy to my heart and lighten my load at the moment. They let me know that I am important to someone. I know I am to my family, but outside the Thomas/Lane/McCracken household I don't matter much to anyone but God. I'm not well-known and will never have any far-reaching effect or change the world. I am just me, a very large, big-mouthed, child-adoring, crazy-silly mom, wife, daughter, teacher kind of girl. But to some little people I matter; I am important. When I think about it, this is so much more important than feeling like I fit in with my fellow teachers and coworkers, more important than having friends or not as the case may be, and more important than almost any of the stupid, little things that sometimes get me down. I love and I am loved. And in the end, that's all that really matters!

It's like an amazingly awesome little circle- God loves them through me, and I get loved back by God through them. He's just amazing to me! Thank you Father for Your love, for the love You give to me for children, and the love You give back to me through children! I am forever grateful!

the life of this teacher

i am a teacher. i have the honor (and often the challenge) of being a small part of a child's life for 180 days a school year in the hopes that i make some sort of life changing impact that extends far beyond those few 180 days.

sometimes this job is fun, filled with laughter and wonderful memories that i cherish dearly.

sometimes this job is hard, filled with frustration (with self, with students, with families, with administrators or other coworkers or the "big wigs") and in the last year and a half filled with a lot of heartburn, unfortunately.

sometimes this job is filled with heartbreak over the things our children face and must deal with, things i cannot possibly fathom or ever understand and most certainly don't want to accept.

this week was just another typical week in the life of this teacher. lots of wonderful times, laughter and joy. laughing so hard i wet my pants at some of the cute (and not so cute) things my kids say or do. one of my kids made a dress out of tissue paper with heart stickers for buttons and even made tissue paper boobs to stuff it with- HILARIOUS!!!!! one of my kids invented new words i had never even thought of before. others made me cards and gave me hugs and cared for me while i was sick this week.

there were also times this week i had to keep a smile glued on my face so i didn't let the kids know that inside my heart was crushed. how God can stand the sight of so much ugliness and hurt in His creation i will never understand. it turns my stomach; how does it not His? it saddens me to think of how we pervert and twist and ruin this wonderful creation He made us to be (myself included in that statement!).

i don't know how i can ever help combat all that "stuff" when it is so dark and horrible. i don't understand how the simple love and affection of one silly teacher can ever do anything against so much hurt. and it hurts my heart.

more. deeply. than. i. can. express.

yet i trust in Him who called me to this job. i don't understand how simple love can do much, i truly don't. but i know when i hug a child, i am really not the one doing it- it is Him. when i show compassion it isn't really me, it is Him. when i care, i am not really the caring one- it is Him. so i hope and pray that He is shining through me, and that somehow that simple love will somehow stick with my kids and in the darkest of places, they will see His light and remember and see Him.

i have to trust in Him. or i have no purpose and no reason to get up early each morning and drive to school.

please God. please let Your simple, profound love be enough for my kids and the whole world. please.

Happy Birthday Robert

Twenty years ago today Rob & I welcomed our firstborn child into our lives (man were we just kids!!!) and started down this road on an adventure we had no clue about. We have made many mistakes and learned hard lessons, fallen down only to pick ourselves back up again and go on. This has been a hard road at times, but at many others it has offered us beautiful views and joys and pride and love I've never known the likes of anywhere else.

Happy Birthday Robert Michael Dale. I have loved being your ma-ma, mommy and now mom, and I always will.

Matthew Made Me Cry

My 6'4" (or more???) "baby" just emailed me this note:

Ich liebe dich
Je t'aime
Is tu mo ghra
Mina rakastan sinua
... ... ...
... ... ...
I love you mom
:-P

He went online and found an online translator and found as many ways to say "I love you" in as many languages as he could find (the ... ... ... were other symbolic languages - ??? Arabic, Hebrew, Asian something???- Blogger won't let me cut & paste it into this entry.) It was his idea and he so surprised me. My tall, bashful, more quiet boy thought of his mom and did something so sweet.

I am still crying.

And then a little later he brought me this paperwork to sign. He is registering for his senior year. My baby isn't a baby anymore. That tiny baby that almost died, that we were told to say goodbye to, that wasn't expected to live past his birth-night, that was supposed to be tiny, sickly, puny, that miracle boy of ours is almost grown! This is the beginning of the end of a lifetime of raising babies, children, teenagers... I'm beginning a new chapter in my life.

a note to my class

Dear Kids,

Do you know how much I love you guys?!?!? I had so much fun watching you today at the assembly! You were such good audience members, so polite, so attentive, and I was so very proud to be your teacher at that moment! I always am, but was especially so today. You were so cute to watch as you listened to the music and the story and imagined the picture in your mind.

I had a lot of fun today from the assembly to making our special "surprise" for Ms. Melissa, to being a lunch buddy with someone, to writing letters with you to Donors Choose, to the chilly playground where my constant shadows were hanging out with me as I watched the rest of you climb the dinosaur and run and play and laugh and try to stay warm.

Thank you for having such a great day, for the good attitudes some of you are focusing on keeping and the hard work you do most of the time :), for your love of learning and school, for your happiness and joy you share with me, for your enthusiasm, and most of all for loving your "Mrs. Thomas" even when she is cranky, tired, sick, or stressed out. Your love has made a difference in my life each and every day. Your love and smiles and hugs are what has kept me going through one of the hardest school years of my life. You are truly the one and only reason I come to work every day, and I do adore you more than you will ever know!

Love now and always,
Your "Mrs. Thomas" (Mrs. T, Mrs. "Omas," silly goose, and all the other silly names you have for your goofball teacher)

missing you

i am missing my parents a lot.

the holidays, though a beautiful, wonderful time to reflect on God's gift to me, make me feel melancholy at times. i wish this weren't so. but i think it's probably just part of life (i hope i'm not just mental). :)

i miss my daddy, long, long gone now. funny, how you could know and love someone for only a part of your life and yet miss them so deeply even years and years later.

i miss my momma and pop so much too and long to be home and all of us together for Christmas, but it is not to be again this year. i hope that someday we won't have to be apart for the holiday.

the 1st holidays in OUR home :)

On my list of things I am thankful for this week was, once again, having a home of our own. It still seems like a dream to Rob & I even after 8 months. I keep thinking every once in a while that it's been a while since the landlord called to complain about something. :) Or I wonder how much our rent will go up when we renew the lease. :) Or has the landlord been by to inspect the house/property? :) Or can we hang this up on the wall? Or how much will the landlord charge us when we leave?

I am so very grateful for a home- a warm place to live and keep us safe from the wet, cold, windy, hot weather. But I am so very grateful also for a place that is ours (or will be in 30 years). :)

And now today, the kids, Rob, and I are about to begin to decorate our home for its first Christmas with the Thomas family. :) I will post photos later. I get so homesick for the family we left behind, but I am hoping that making my new home pretty for Jesus' birthday will be another reminder to me to keep being thankful, to keep focusing on Him who brought us here, who has blessed us with a home of our own, but most of all who blessed us all with His love, His unending merciful, adoring love.

That is the most important thing in the world to me and the biggest blessing to be thankful for- way more than a roof over my head, mine or not.

THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Introducing Elizabeth Rebekah

My former coworker and dear friend & her hubby just had their first child, and crazy as they are, they gave her my name for her middle name. I am so honored, humbled, flattered..... well you get the picture. Barbara & I went to see my friend and meet my new friend, and I am in love. She is a BEAUTIFUL baby! So without further ado, meet my new friend, Elizabeth Rebekah. :)

Kristen & Andrew, should you read this, please let me tell you one more time, thank you for such an honor. I really don't know understand why you'd do this, but I am so deeply moved. I will do everything in my power to be a Godly example to Elizabeth and to show her God's love. And you can count on me to spoil her rotten too. :)

giggly goofy girl o' mine!

I love my daughter!!!!! She can be soooo much fun (she can also be not soooo much fun at times too, but mostly she's just a bundle of joy!). Tonight we sat in the baseball field parking lot at Matthew's school. We were waiting for Matthew's soccer practice to end. He has two-a-days this week- 7-8 AM & 6-8 PM. Instead of driving the 30 minutes back home to just turn around and come back we just sat there, watched Mateo, and laughed and laughed and laughed and giggled and giggled and giggled and all that......

I had sooo much fun with her. She truly is a joy to me, a bright spot in my days, a blessing from my heavenly Father.

Thank You God for my beautiful, joyful, daughter- my giggly, goofy girl o' mine!

Fathers' Day

Happy Fathers' Day must be said today to the fathers in my life:

God-
Happy Fathers' Day God! As I grow up more, I am learning more and more to put You first and keep You first. I know I fail at this a lot, but You constantly amaze me with your perfect love and unending patience with me and all humanity. Thank You for being a father that never leaves us, that never fails us, who never gives up on His children or throws in the towel and walks away. Thank You for the example You leave us in Your short life on earth, in Your scripture, and in the way You just love us so simply and yet extravagantly. Without Your fatherly love and perfect example, how would any of us ever learn to love too? I know it's just an earthly day that we've set aside to celebrate fathers, but I want to celebrate You too if that's okay. I can't express my love to the fathers in my life and not remember the most important father of all- You! Happy Fathers' Day, God! I love You and want to please You more than anything in the world!

Rob-
Twenty-two years ago on Fathers' Day Rob and I met at church. And then we dated, fell in love, married, and well, the rest as they say "is history." Though, I know he won't read this, Rob, you are a wonderful dad. Thank you for our family and the life we have lived together for almost 21 years. There are many things I would love to "undo" in my life, but marrying you and having the family we have would never be one of them!!!!

Pop-
Pop, like Rob, won't read this, but thank you Pop for taking Momma and Jessica and me into your hearts, for loving me when I didn't want to be, for sticking through the "uglies" with me and being my father. Thank you for being a dad to my husband too and for being the only grandfather (and a darn good one at that!!!) my kids would ever know. PaPa is such a wonderful word in our home because of you!!!!

Daddy-
Happy Fathers' Day to a daddy in heaven too. You will always be loved and missed. I hope, somehow, you can see down on us from time to time and see how we turned out and that it brings a smile to your face, joy to your heart, and laughter into your day up there!

With all my love,
Rebekah :)