Sunday Song: Still My Daddy

Sunday Song: Still My Daddy Happy Father's Day! Hug yours if he is near, call him if he isn't. If he's in heaven, send a message to Jesus to pass along. 

I'm also sharing this Mormon Message about a special Dad: A Father Indeed

Fathers and Leadership

This Father's Day weekend, I'll share this counsel from Ezra Taft Benson:
With love in my heart for the fathers in Israel, may I suggest ten specific
ways that fathers can give spiritual leadership to their children:

1. Give father's blessings to your children. Baptize and confirm your
children. Ordain your sons to the priesthood. These will become spiritual
highlights in the lives of your children.

2. Personally direct family prayers, daily scripture reading, and weekly
family home evenings. Your personal involvement will show your children how
important these activities really are.

3. Whenever possible, attend Church meetings together as a family. Family
worship under your leadership is vital to your children's spiritual welfare.

4. Go on daddy-daughter dates and father-and-sons' outings with your
children. As a family, go on campouts and picnics, to ball games and
recitals, to school programs, and so forth. Having Dad there makes all the
difference.

5. Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These
memories will never be forgotten by your children.

6. Have regular one-on-one visits with your children. Let them talk about
what they would like to. Teach them gospel principles. Teach them true
values. Tell them you love them. Personal time with your children tells them
where Dad puts his priorities.

7. Teach your children to work, and show them the value of working toward a
worthy goal. Establishing mission funds and education funds for your
children shows them what Dad considers to be important.

8. Encourage good music and art and literature in your homes. Homes that
have a spirit of refinement and beauty will bless the lives of your children
forever.

9. As distances allow, regularly attend the temple with your wife. Your
children will then better understand the importance of temple marriage and
temple vows and the eternal family unit.

10. Have your children see your joy and satisfaction in service to the
Church. This can become contagious to them, so they, too, will want to serve
in the Church and will love the kingdom.

Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice, p. 46

My Dad's Passing: 2002

Flashback to May 20, 2002, a Monday: I am at home, anxiously waiting for a phone call from my husband, who is at the hospital with the rest of his family, while his mother is having surgery to remove uterine cancer. I have a nursing baby and little preschool kids and didn’t want to be at the hospital for hours with them. The phone rings, instead of Jay, it is my step-mom’s brother, whose sad duty is was to tell me my Dad had a heart attack and passed away. I try to stay calm. Just as I’m thinking I’m going to have to get in the car and go to the hospital, because my husband’s cell phone has to be turned off in the area they are waiting in, he calls me. He has bad news. He says they took his mom back, only to find the cancer had spread everywhere. They closed her up and gave her six months to live. (She lived only three, but that is another story). I tell him my bad news. There is nothing like getting slammed with a 2 x 4; unless it is getting hit twice with a 2 x 4.

I think that was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I mourned the loss of two parents that week. Eight years later, I still feel the loss. Healing is a funny process. Grief is like an onion, layer upon layer, sometimes being peeled away at unexpected times. Its grief rings are many, yet each is smaller than the last. If we see the onion from the inside out, those are our healing layers, getting bigger each layer.

My Dad was a good guy. Just look at him with Jayson and John. This was at the Hite family reunion in Idaho in 1999. As much as I love him, God loves him more. Miss you, Dad. Love you.

Sunday Song: The Touch of the Masters Hand

Sunday Song: The Touch of the Masters Hand.
This is in memory of my dad. This was one of his favorite stories. On the 20th this week, it will be eight years since his passing. Miss you, Dad!