Dad's Day Early

TJ, J and I are heading out of town for a week on Monday, so I thought that I might should do the Father's Day post early. There are so many amazing dad's in our lives. We are truly blessed beyond measure.
Dad #1---TJ!!!!!!!!!!!! This is not TJ's first father's Day. That was 2 years ago. We should have had a one month old baby or been 7 months pregnant at the time. We had a low key father's day because apparently no one else thought that TJ was a dad that time. But he was and we celebrated. I cooked his favorite meal, he got a card and a round of golf.
On to this year though... TJ is the best daddy that any child could ever ask for. He works really long hours and still comes home every night and plays with J. He gives him his bath every night and rocks him and sings every night no fail. TJ was made to be a daddy and J loves him to pieces. J idolizes his daddy and wants to be just like him. My prayer is that my baby boy will grow up to be half the man that my husband is. TJ is so strong. He has been the rock of this family for so long. Through the tough times of losing our babies, to family issues to the good times TJ has been the head of this household. I may stay home and "run" the house as far as keeping the house together and cooking. But TJ is definitely the boss! TJ is everything that I ever wanted in a husband. He is a tough country boy with a heart of gold. TJ is actually a pretty gentle spirit. He likes for everyone to get along and not have any issues. He is a fixer and wants to fix things when it is not even his fault. He is tender hearted and really feels for others. But he is also strong and stands up for what he knows is right. He loves God more than anything and after that comes me and J. That is how it should be. I am so thankful that God brought TJ to be my Boaz and to be Jerrett's daddy.

Dad#2--- My dad!! Where do I begin? Describing my dad is tough. Just like he is. Dad doesn't fit neatly into any box or label. My dad is a fortress. And that doesn't even have anything to do with his size! TO me he was always this strong hold and a shelter. Nothing could come close to me or hurt me when he was around. Dad is just that kind of man.He demands respect and he gets it. He is a hard worker and has drilled that into me since I was young. My parents got married really young. My dad was 20 and Mom had just turned 19. Dad was going into his senior year of college when they got married since he skipped a grade and started college at 17, Mom was a lowly freshman! Anyway, after they got married Dad dropped out of school and started working in the oil field. He did this for quite a while until he decided to go back to school. He graduated college when I was in kindergarten. Then we picked up and moved to a new town where he started his banking career. As I said, Dad has always been a hardworker. He is now a president of a bank. That is amazing for the short amount of time that he has actually been in banking! Anyway, Dad taught us so much more than just about hard work. He rally valued our education. Since we were young we always knew that our parents put money away for our college education. It was never if we went to college but when and where. As I kid I took that for granted but never once did I have to take out a college loan or get a job. Dad always told us that school was our job. He demanded that we make grade though. But he also gave us our love for sports. Dad was a college basketball player. The pics of him in those little bitty shorts make me laugh and cringe at the same time! Anyway, for as long as I can remember we were an active family. Mom and Dad played church league everything and us kids played whatever sport was in season.
All these were good lessons but there were 2 that stood out more than anything. The first was that no matter what, God should always come first. I can probably count on both hands the number of times that we missed church when I was growing up. That is quite a feat when there were baseball tournaments and soccer tournaments almost every weekend. Dad didn't just preach religion though. He lived it. Through the way that he loved on his family to the way that he took care of the finances. He showed us how to live Godly lives.
The other lesson that he taught us was about how to treat a lady. Or in my case to not settle for anyone that would not treat me as a lady. Dad treats Mom like a queen. Even when we were young and mom stayed home with us all day, Dad would come home and not rest and expect her to cater to him. He would help with whatever needed to be done. Dad can cook a mean pot of home made marinara sauce! He can iron and garden and knows how to change a diaper! He was always respectful and never demanding of my mom. And because Dad helped my mom out so much and treated her with so much respect, he got that 10 fold from her and from us kids. My dad always expected us to fall in line and be respectful. We did not have any real rules growing up other than curfew. But we definitely knew if we stepped out of line! I am so lucky to have him as my dad and Jerrett gets to have him as his grandpa!
Dad#3--- Terry. Terry is amazing. I love my father in law. There is so much of him in my husband. Terry works hard. Harder than most men I know. He works harder than he should. He loves than land and the animals that he has on it. He takes pride in taking care of it and in the way that he cares for his animals. He is kind and gentle and so patient. Those traits are not only traits he uses with his animals but also with people. He has a wicked since of humor and just shocks me at times with the things that he says. I can always count on him giving me a huge hug.
My lively 3 year old is now awake and trying to jump off the back of the couch onto a pillow so I better get of and get us both outside in the sunshine. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Father's Day! We love the dads in our lives!