Happy Birthday Daddy!

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that today is my daddy's birthday and I love him. Just in case loving him isn't enough, here are 10 reasons why I think he's the best dad in the world.

10. He takes time to teach me things like how to change the spark plugs in my car and how to repair every toilet imaginable.
9. He does a good job providing for his family even when he has to get creative about where the next paycheck is going to come from. Nothing illegal, but he can find the sale in purple trash can lids!
8. He encourages me to take my dreams further that I have dreamed them- "you could sell this", "if you add ____, you could teach this to other people", "why don't you practice this new skill on us" and so on.
7. He lets us mess up his yard and other things all in the name of fun and learning. For example, we put a water slide down the back yard hill every year and it made one very long strip of brown grass right down the middle, but he was more concerned that we were having a good day. He let me mow the grass because I enjoyed it- even though I mowed down his pecan trees when they were little and I helped keep the fig tree a mere stump for years.
6. He orchestrated resanding all the floors in my current residence and thus has made some of my allergy problems almost nonexistent at home.
5. He treats changes as new opportunities- when we went to Puerto Rico as a family (and I hated it and was an awful child most of the time) he made the best effort to see it as an extended vacation and as a result, I have memories of repelling, snorkeling in some beautiful water, camping, camping in the rain, camping at the beach, caving, getting the best cocunut ice cream on the island, going to little bitty resturants for rice and beans and liking it, and eating lunch via the hot dog vendor on the corner.
4. He taught me how to cook AND he taught all my brothers how to cook and as a result we can have some awesome family meals!
3. He made bold efforts to have us enjoy family devotions in the morning, from letting us color, to reading Proverbs over the intercom system and playing music in the background and then making up his own weather report. We also had many times of devotions that were routine and boring- so he knew how to do that too. :-)
2. He taught us to volunteer and serve others. I don't remember a single year growing up that he wasn't helping out at church in some big way, or working in the community and dragging us along- which we minded many times but only worked for our good AND managed to pull us together more as a family. AND he let me take the two week course with the ALERT guys when I was the only female that showed up and I learned all kinds of cool things - but that's just a side note.
1. He taught me to love Jesus. He was there to explain that Jesus wanted to be part of my life and live in my heart. He was there to tell me that Jesus protected me when I had terrible nightmares and was scared out of my mind. He was there to remind me that we serve a BIG God when things looked pretty dreary and overwhelming. He is still there to remind me to trust HIM to take care of me when it looks like the task is too big.

SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! I love you. You have been and are still the best dad in the world and don't you ever doubt it!