Showing posts with label fathers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fathers. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

An Unexpected Gift

I love surprises! The other day, I trudged up the stairs after my elliptical exercise with Fox and Friends and noticed a large box sitting at the top. I deduced that Maddie intercepted the mysterious box from the delivery man while I was preoccupied with my heavy breathing on the machine downstairs. I was puzzled because I knew that I hadn't ordered anything...lately! Noticing my parent's return address on the label, I concluded that mother was sending Maddie's birthday gift early...at least 3 weeks early. Strange!

Then, I opened the box and discovered this: a beautiful birdhouse masterpiece!

I immediately burst into tears. You see, it was a gift from my daddy! Out of the blue. No reason. Simply love. A few months ago, he revealed that he was working on some birdhouses for the Christian school auction. I commented in passing that I would love to have one of his birdhouses. It never occurred to me that I would receive a gift in the mail. My daddy loves me. He thought of me. He gave me...not a birthday gift or a Christmas gift...but a love gift. Thank you, daddy! I can't wait to see the birds that will use this beautiful home to build their nests.

If my earthly father gives me such sweet and precious gifts, how much more does my heavenly Father give me? I pray that my eyes will be opened to all of them...

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Don't Get Caught Sleeping!

Last night, Maddie enjoyed some daddy and me time while the rest of the family was at various activities. They watched the thunderstorm on the deck while Maddie danced around in her bathing suit. They ate dinner together and read Bible stories. T-h-e-n, they played Yahtzee, Maddie's new favorite fun game. A curious phenomenon happened...Daddy fell asleep in the middle of playing the game. I'm told this occurred while Maddie was attempting to add her score on the dice. I asked Tony, "How can you fall asleep playing a game?" While Maddie is prodding her dad to "wake up", he responds by telling her that he's going to need a catnap after Yahtzee is over. Yeah, like he didn't just get one.

My husband has some serious sleep issues. This is a guy who awakens at 4 am and can't beg, borrow or steal sleep, which contributes to his catnapping throughout the day. Thus, he's been caught with his eyes shut in the middle of reading to his daughter, occasionally at work and while I am conversing with him (actually it's more of a one-way conversation). I have taken offense to this numerous times although Tony assures me that my voice is just so soothing that his eyes close. Yeah, right! That's just his nice way of saying that I'm boring! Ok, so perhaps I can believe that I might occasionally 'cause a person's eyes to glaze over, but at least I haven't caused the death of someone by my talking on and on as Paul did when Eutychus snoozed during Paul's sermon and fell out a 3rd story window.

Anyhoo, I'm still quite amazed at this Yahtzee sleep tale. Picture with me: Maddie shaking her dice in the red cup, quite loudly, spilling it out onto the table, quite loudly, and Tony sawing logs in the chair beside her. Picture again: Silence, absolute quiet, no disturbances and insomnia at 4 am. Absolute conundrum.