Father's Day

Being Father’s Day, I thought about Jimmy A LOT today. I thought about the day that both of our boys were born. Jimmy was the proudest dad on earth and was grinning from ear to ear when he heard each of them scream for the first time (unfortunately his enthusiasm for their screams dwindled quickly from there!). He was so excited about the fact that he had two little boys to watch sports with and mold into raging sports fanatics like he was. He was such an awesome dad. Nothing made my heart overflow with love for him more than when he was being Daddy to our boys. Everyday when Jimmy left for work, he and Braxton would give each other a thumbs up. Not just down the driveway, but all the way out of our neighborhood until Jimmy’s white pickup was no longer in sight. It was so cute to watch Braxton holding his hand up high until his daddy’s truck was gone. Jimmy brought tears to my eyes when putting Auston to bed one evening. It should have only taken him five minutes, but after about fifteen minutes, he was still in Auston’s room. I went upstairs to check on him, and I found him sitting in the rocking chair in the dark just rocking Auston. He looked up and told me that he wanted to just take a moment to rock him and hold him. My heart melted.

The night Jimmy passed away, one thought raced through my mind a million times – “Lord, how on earth am I going to raise these boys alone?” Even though I was in a complete state of panic, the Lord knew that I was not alone in this journey. He had already put people in place that would help me lead these two precious boys. The Lord put an entire brigade of amazing men (Pops, Paw Paw Dup, Papa Dodd, Uncle Adam, Uncle Kevin and COUNTLESS men at our church) in our lives to show these boys what it means to be a man of God, a devoted husband, a loyal friend and a loving father. What a blessing!









Instead of focusing on the sadness of Jimmy being gone today, I choose to focus on how blessed my children are to be surrounded by Godly men to help them as they grow up. I choose to believe that my boys have a special place in the Lord's heart (Psalm 10:14). I choose to accept God’s word and know that he has a HOPE and FUTURE for my children (Jeremiah 29:11). I choose to not be afraid (Isaiah 41:10). I choose to embrace the hope of complete restoration for our family (Job 42:12). More than anything, on this Father's Day, I choose to rely on my Heavenly Father to be the ultimate father to my children. His love is perfect, it is sufficient, it is unconditional and it never fails.