Father's Day 2009

I have no Father's Day picture. Didn't even think about taking one.

Shannon got home from Idaho at 10:30pm on Saturday night. He had spent a week with a group of 12 teenagers and 5 other adults during the first week of their Mission Trip. Bryce, Colton, Katie, Naomi, Hudson and I picked him up at the airport in Cedar Rapids.

Let me sidetrack here a bit and tell you a story of God's mercy on our family. All day long the children were asking me what time we were leaving to go pick up Daddy. The plan was to leave around 5:00 or 5:30, go out for dinner, get some groceries, then head to CR to meet Shan's flight at 9:10pm. Early in the afternoon he called to tell me he was being rerouted, and the earliest he could make it to Iowa was 10:30pm. No big deal, but the kids were so anxious to see him, that we stuck to the original schedule and left home at 5:30. We ate dinner at Subway at Wamart, then spent a couple hours walking thru Walmart and shopping.

Our next stop was at Lowe's. As I returned to the car, I noticed that the front passenger tire was a bit low, but didn't worry about it much. We took off for the next leg of our journey. As we hit the highway, I asked Colton to pray for Daddy's safety travelling and our safety as well.

We made it to Cedar Rapids at about 9:15. Shannon was still in Chicago. We went to McDonalds and had some apple pies. The kids played there a bit, then we loaded back into the van and headed for the airport. But I took a wrong turn. It took me a couple miles to figure out I was going the wrong way. We turned around and made it to the airport around 10:00pm.

Earlier in the day we had made some posters to greet Shannon. One said 'We love you!'. Another said 'Welcome Home Daddy'. The third one said 'Happy Father's Day', and each of the children wrote a note to their Daddy. At the airport we unloaded everyone, gathered up our posters, and headed inside to find Daddy, looking a little bit like a parade. His plane arrived a few minutes early, and we had a happy reunion with him, just in time for Father's Day.

As soon as we got to the parking lot, Shannon noticed at the tire was getting pretty flat. We stopped and aired it up, then headed home. The next morning it was completely flat. After church we took it to be repaired, and found that there was a big chunk of the tire missing.

*I'm so grateful to God that he did not allow me to have a flat tire on the interstate, in the dark, with five young children, by myself.* Nor did we have trouble on our way home from CR with a tired Daddy. We also discovered that the brakes were in very bad shape and needed to be replaced. So many bad things could have happened, but God protected us.

Back to Father's Day. A good portion of the afternoon was spent at the auto repair place. Not the ideal place, but we were all together. Except Alex, Jackson and Chase, who were still in Idaho. Did Shannon complain? No. That's the way he is. He puts others first. He protects our family. He guides our children. He is an excellent example of what a good man is. The mens' choir sang a song at church yesterday called 'A Few Good Men'. Shannon is one of those men.

Happy Father's Day, Shan. I love you. I hope our boys grow up to be just like you.

"My son, keep your father's command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck. When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; When you awake, they will speak with you." Proverbs 6:20-22