Father's Day - My Husband and My Dad!

My Husband
I've said before that one of my favorite things about Rick is what a great dad he has been. That is one thing that really attracted me to him when we were dating. He so selflessly gave up career, education, and social life to take care of his kids. The boys hated the few times Rick took them to daycare, so when he was laid off from his job, he found a way to work from home so they could have the stability of being home with a parent instead of bouncing around various daycare centers and friends/family homes. It took sacrifice- they didn't have much by way of money and Rick gave up furthering his education and career, but it resulted in two great kids. Rick has never complained, simply because he doesn't see that he has anything to complain about. He does not have one regret that he chose spending time with his kids and their stability over anything else. This is the good man that I married!

One of my cousins posted a link on Facebook to a single-dad's blog. I started checking out some of his posts and found this one he wrote about being a step-dad.
 
I thought that I would relate to his experience as a step parent, but our experiences have been pretty different, although a couple of his thoughts rang true for me as well. What I enjoyed was reading his feelings about his kids having a step-dad when his ex got re-married. It made me think of Rick. I love that there is not an ounce of jealousy that his kids have "another dad". Rick has been very supportive of dad2 taking a parenting role in their lives and encourages the kids to have a good relationship with him. Rick understands having more people to love his kids is good. In fact, the better relationships the kids have with all parents and step-parents the more stable life is for all of us. And stability for the kids has always been priority number one.

I see how hard it is for the kids to have 2 families and 2 homes. It really is so unfair to them. Rick and I talk often, and have spent many hours with a counselor, discussing how we can make life more stable for them. As the kids get older and start to understand the dynamics of their home life, I believe they will come to appreciate how much less stress they had in their childhood because their dad has always put their stability and happiness as his number one priority. I love him for this!


My Dad
Growing up I think my friends liked to hang out with my dad more than they liked to hang out with me. He always planned fun water-skiing trips, parties, backyard football games and vacations to Lake Powell, all expense-free for as many friends as we wanted to bring. At 70, he's still the same guy. He and my mom just bought a motor home for the family to use at will.

He is also a great example of faith and service. He currently is the Stake Patriarch. I think it is an emotionally exhausting job. The only thing he doesn't like about it, is he isn't asked to do anything else at church. He loves to serve and be involved.

Grandkids are his passion and kids fight over who gets sleepovers with grandpa on a weekly basis. He is a such a great example of success, family and faith!