Grace and Growth

My husband has been a father for almost 5 years now. With our 4th baby on the way it has been a whirlwind of joy, tears, triumphs, accomplishments, fights, pain, laughter, elation, grief and love. But what these years have provided most is tremendous growth.

Dusty was always good with kids, or so says his mother :) He might have been terrified at the prospect of bringing home a baby, but he's never said it to me and never showed it. He has been confident but willing to learn. He is tough but it is always tempered with tenderness. He has so much fun with our babies and they laugh until they beg for him to stop because they can't laugh (or be tickled) anymore. He is attentive but gives them room to be kids. He expects obedience and respect but allows for them to learn and grow. He is an amazing father!

This Father's Day, with Maddox being gone 2 years, I have thought a little more about what it means for him as a father to have a child in heaven and his own father be there as well. I know men are tough... they don't talk about that "emotional" stuff much and Dusty is right there with the rest of them. But, I do know certain days are harder than others. The "special" days as well as those ordinary ones that jump out and take you by surprise. The ones where you want to call up your dad for advice, or reach down to your two-year-old and take him in your arms like you do your babies. Some days are just hard... life is just hard. But thank you God for grace and growth! The grace You have shown in bringing our sweet son here to know pure love (as shown above in the picture with Dusty holding him) and strength enough to allow us that growth.

We have both learned SO MUCH from each of our children and the lessons that we have learned through Maddox's short life haven't escaped us. In any growing there tends to be pain, but I have seem my husband become more attentive, more compassionate, more focused on our family and I know those are life-lessons that we wouldn't have learned so clearly without our second precious son.

This Father's Day I will be honoring not only my father and grandfather, but my husband... The precious, amazing father to my children... my babies here, our babe in waiting, and our boy waiting in Heaven. I love you sweet man! You are fabulous.

"The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness."- Isaiah 38:19