Father's Day

Dads have such an influence on their children! I’m so thankful for the wonderful dads in our family!

I had (and still have!) such a loving, honest, smart, handsome and FUN Daddy! My Daddy started his days in the Word and ended them leading me and my sister in devotions and prayer. He loved my mother. He was transparent--the same person at church, at work, with friends and at home. I never heard him curse. I never saw him drink. He was consistent in his expectations and clear in his boundaries. He made me feel important and treasured and beautiful and loved. He took time to play and laugh and be silly--I delighted in being the girl with the “fun dad” that my friends adored. I’ve always respected his thoughts and decisions, but I can’t recall a time in my teenage or adult years where he actually came out and told me his opinion of what he thought I should do or not do. Instead of making decisions for me or trying to pressure, bribe, persuade or guilt-trip me into doing what he would want me to do, he taught me to consult with my Heavenly Father when it came to life’s choices and decisions. He might offer some wisdom if I asked for help in listing pros and cons about something on my mind. He would pray with me and for me and encourage me to continue praying and listening for God’s direction. I learned to lean not on man (even a wise, Christian man) but on God and His Word, and to be responsible and accountable for my decisions and actions. That was so valuable!

Me and My Daddy:

As a little girl, I decided I would only date boys I thought would be good husbands and daddies. And early on, I could tell D would be both! And though we broke up a couple of times, he never really gave me any reason to date another (and all others fell short of the gold standard he set!). Over our many dating years, I carefully studied his family and how the members of his family treated one another. I watched him interact with children, particularly my baby brother. He genuinely enjoyed hanging out and playing with my little brother and his little nieces and nephews. And in some of our earliest conversations, we discovered that we both pictured ourselves having big families and hoped to grow our families through adoption (and we both envisioned transracial adoption-certainly not that common back in the 80s!).

D has turned out to be an even more terrific Daddy than I imagined he would! I am so blessed to be able to partner with D in parenting our girls. He is so affectionate, tender, nurturing, present, hands-on and intentional with them. At 5 and 7, our big girls already have weekly “dates” with him. Whether it be showing up to have lunch with Miss M at school, taking Miss A out for a Thursday morning diner breakfast, grabbing a smoothie or an ice cream cone or sneaking one of them off to an after-school matinee, he has a way of connecting with them and making them feel special. He treats me the way he hopes their husbands will treat them. He is their “strictest” parent when it comes to expectations and discipline, but he’s also their “funnest” parent when it comes to making memories and goofing off. Our girls know that their Daddy’s love for them is surpassed only by God’s love for them. And like my Daddy did, he leads our girls Bible and prayer time each evening. Our girls are crazy about their Daddy! I’ve always said God made D to be a Daddy to little girls, but I really can hardly wait ‘til a little boy joins the mix!

My Daughters and Their Daddy:

I know D is such a great Daddy largely because he was also raised by a loving, devoted Christian father. Dad B taught his boys to love the Lord, honor and respect girls and women (our parents were teaching purity when teaching purity wasn’t cool), work hard (the B boys were running their own business before they finished middle school!), be handy (B and his brothers all know how to do basic auto and small engine repair, woodworking, gardening, and other helpful skills) and of course, fly fish! Dad B raised three sons who are all now great dads themselves, and his legacy is evident in the young men that our nephews, his grandsons, are becoming. It is a huge blessing that our girls are surrounded by such fine men. Their Daddy, grandfathers, uncles, and cousins are setting the bar high. I pray this will shape their picture of what a gentleman should be and what they will one day look for in their own husbands and the fathers of my grandchildren.

Pictures from our Father's Day Festivities--building sandcastles and enjoying a sunset seafood dinner at our favorite beach! (We missed Mr. B’s Dad, who is spending the month fishing in Colorado. Stinker!)

A Day In The Life. . . .

Some random glimpses of my normal right now:

5AM Coffee with Hus-B. A treasured time of uninterrupted conversation as we ease into our day. We try to wrap up by 6, but often end up chatting ‘til 6:30 or 6:45, knowing that the longer we’ll sit there, the more hurried the morning will be, but enjoying each other’s company so much that the looming chaos just seems worth it.

Big girls sleeping peacefully in our bed: My goal is to have myself pretty much ready to go before I wake up the girls, so that I can focus on getting them ready and all I have to do once I send them off is put on my work clothes. Some days I'm more successful than others. Either way, at 6:45, our crazy begins!

Kisses, hugs and morning prayer before Mr. B and the girls head out. Just a few more days of school! Miss M is finishing up first grade and Miss A is finishing up her 3-day-a-week preschool (she’ll be off to kindergarten in the fall!). Mamatoo, Gabby and S care for Miss K and our big girls when they're not in school. Mamatoo and Gabby are my and Mr. B's moms. We are so blessed to live close to our girls' energetic, creative, loving and involved grandmothers! S is our beloved nanny, who pinch hits in the summer, when the grandmas are traveling, and on days I work from home. She's in college studying missions, has a love of Africa (she's spent two previous summers volunteering in Swaziland), and is just wonderful with our girls. So thankful for Team MAK!!

In the office. More coffee and my breakfast of champions.

Thai for lunch! With JG, a sweet girlfriend and colleague! Discuss work stuff, mommy stuff, and our efforts to strike a balance between the two. She helps keep me sane!

Screen saver is an accurate reflection of my workday. Diet Mountain Dew for an afternoon energy boost.

HOME! Take off my suit. Put on some lounge pants, a sweatshirt and slippers. Put up my hair. Light some candles. Put a load of laundry in the washing machine. Turn on some music—look for something relaxing and mellow. Choose a great 70s station I’ve created on Pandora. Seals & Crofts, Captain & Tenille, Bread, the Bee Gees, James Taylor, Anne Murray. Music that takes me back to our years in New Mexico. Mama and Daddy were were young and in love and I didn’t have a care in the world. Comfort music. Ahhhh.

Start putting together a salad and some side dishes for dinner. Mr. B and the girls get home. Mr. B fires up his grill. The girls bring their backpacks in, help me set the table and run back outside to play.

I decide to pour some wine. His and hers. Haha.

What’s for dinner? Quick, easy and healthy is my goal. Tonight it's grilled salmon (marinated in Makoto Ginger Orange salad dressing with a bit of warmed dressing poured over it), asparagus (tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and broiled on high until toasty), rice (cooked in chicken broth, with a little butter and rosemary stirred in), sweet corn (straight from the can, warmed in the microwave), French bread ($1.79 Publix special) with dipping oil, and a Fresh Express strawberry almond bagged salad (Publix BOGO! So I also grabbed a pear gorgonzola blend to serve with shrimp and grits later this week). Salmon is my big girls’ favorite dinner, so some variation of this meal is on the menu about once a week.

Prayer.

This Little Lottle will try everything BUT the salmon. Will not let any kind of meat, poultry or fish touch her lips! Not even Chick-fil-a nuggets!!! I put it on her plate anyway and she says "Take it away!"

The inevitabe spill.

One of my favorite things--the gas flame lantern on our front porch. I love turning it on in the evenings.

Violin Practice (While Mr. B cleans the kitchen and washes dishes. I've got a very good man indeed!)

Bathtime. Bible story and prayers. And rocking my baby to sleep. By 9:30, the children are sleeping. Mr. B gets on the computer to do some work and I take a hot shower and snuggle up to Miss A. Night night!

Oh, The Drama!

This is the third year we have has been involved with our local children’s theatre. Two years ago, Miss M played Shenai in Lion King (blog post HERE). Last year, she was Chip the Teacup in Beauty and the Beast (blog post HERE—watching the video of her solo still brings tears to my eyes). And this year, Miss M was Marta and Miss A was Gretel in The Sound of Music. The cast practiced so hard and put on a great show! And I just sat up in the balcony in complete awe as I watched my girls perform! I am amazed at how confident and willing to get up on stage they are! They love it! They did their very best and I was so, so, so very proud of them!

Backstage before the show: The hills are alive with The Sound of Music: You are 16 going on 17: Captain VonTrapp introduces Maria to the children: My Favorite Things: Lonely Goatherd Yodeling Song: Climb Every Mountain: Rolf delivers the telegram: Love this shot of Miss A's braids flying as she danced:

When Miss M received the script and music, she had a moral dilemma to confront. Right there in her So Long, Farewell solo was the dreaded “H” word that is generally not permitted in the B household. She knew about this for several days before she told us, and when she did, it was clear that she’d put some thought into the matter and waited until she had a potential solution in mind before bringing it to our attention. She told us she’d decided to sing “I ate to go” instead of “I hate to go”. That way, she wouldn’t have to say the "H" word, and the audience would think it was her “Austrian accent” and be none the wiser. It would have been no big deal at all to us if she’d sung the original lyrics. We’re not THAT strict! But we were so proud of her conscienciousness and determination to do the right thing. And her solo was fantastic! Meanwhile, Miss A’s biggest dilemma seemed to be how she might manage to have a little more fun in the spotlight. She added her own flair to So Long, Farewell by swatting Miss M and the other children on their bottoms as they left the stage, which caused her to steal the show as far as all of the school-age children in the audience were concerned. She’s such a hoot!

Here's a snippet from so long, farewell:

And here's the cast's Belgium Train Station flashmob-inspired encore. My girls have some moves, I tell ya:

The little actresses: And a few of their adoring fans:
Their grandmothers: Their grandfathers: Their GREAT grandmother, Honey: And the legendary Miss Jackie and Miss Sharon, our theatre directors:

And if you missed it, you absolutely MUST go back to THIS post and watch Miss K’s rendition of Do-Re-Mi, together with some hilarious footage of our girls playing and our pampered pet just being part of the family. Sure to be a B Family classic.