VALENTINE THOUGHTS OF DAD

Dad and I didn't have a perfect marriage, but we did have a wonderful marriage.

Dad thought about the future and worked hard to provide the best for us.

Dad loved the Lord and spent a lot of thime pondering God's word and praying.

Dad and I joined in prayer together and knew the presence and power of the Lord as we were
raising our teenagers. (We prayed for you from the start, but the teen years brought us into a
closer bond in prayer.)

Dad's love languages were predominately "spending time with..." and "acts of service". My top
2 were the same, so it was very easy to love and serve each other.

Dad's sense of humor centered around well-crafted language--a cut or two above a pun (my
style) and sometimes a tad sharp.

Dad's love for nature inspired his knowledge of everything he saw or liked to read.

Dad read the dictionary, encyclopedia and history books as he was growing up. He often used
the term "miss-spent childhood" but in that respect, I don't think the term could have ever
have been applied to him.

Some people loved baseball, basketball, football, golf, etc. He did not!

Some people loved entertainers and entertainment. He did not!

Dad loved to play the piano, guitar and/or harmonica for his own "amazement and
amuzement".

Dad's love for learning was contagious. It was also exasperating if I wanted his attention
while he was reading.

Dad was happiest starting a work project on Saturday morning. He'd emerge from the
basement with tools and materials. He would be whistling with the highest decibels possible.
For a long time, he would whistle "Christ Recieveth Sinful Men".

Beside camping as a family and seeing many places, Dad enjoyed his campouts with you guys
and the ethinic taste adventures at various restaurants with you, Valerie.

Dad liked machinery and often commented that he was most fascinated with the simplest
way of accomplishing things.

Dad always wanted to build a house, but remodeled the houses in Ottumwa and Lincoln
instead.

Dad loved to travel. Remember the South Dakota coming back from the Black Hills
in 100 degree weather and no air conditioning. We stopped at the badlands for a time to
"rock hunt" and he appeased me by letting us camp at the KOA (our first) so that I could go
swimming. You wouldn't believe how many people were in that pool and how murky it was!

Dad loved finding money. He found some pennies in the shallow end of a pool at a motel where
we were staying at in FL for our 25th Anniversary. He figured out how to get them up with his
toes without getting his face wet.

Dad loved to take me on an overnight on Fri. and Sat. for get-aways. Those were often
accompanied by surprises. I loved doing that with him.

When he got his end-of -the -year bonus at Hormel, he always gave me half because he said I
deserved it.

Dad loved flowers, but really didn't like to have them cut and brought into the house. One of
his last summers when he had a bit of sight, he laid down on the sidewalk in front of the
daffodills to look at them closely and also absorb the warm sunshine. It was typical of him to
lie down just anywhere.

Dad's favorite culinary skill--baking bread.

Dad cared little about shopping for clothes and even less about "match" or "appropriateness".
It was just not his thing.

He was always liked his mustache and was happy that after he got out of the business, he could
have one.

Dad always dreamed of his midlife crisis--wanted to save it for something good, special, fun.
Life brought it to him in a serious way.

Dad knew he had diabetes upon returning from a business trip when he was 34 years old.

Seeing Dad go little by little was heartbreaking to me. He dealt with his losses couragiously.
He said "The Lord giveeth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord1"
He lived that too.

Walking with my life-long lover and husband as he went through so many humiliating
procedures and tests, without a word of complaint, was a small glimpse of the Lord Jesu
Whom Dad loved and served.

Seeing Dad eat Sun. breakfast, go back to bed and then "want to" get up and get dressed for
the remembrance meeting, every week--even the last Sun. before the Lord took him home,
was inspiring.

I always sent him off to dialysis and was waiting at the door for his return. I watched as
they'd wheel him up the driveway. He always looked to the sky, though he could see next to
nothing, and I knew that one day he would "wing his flight to realms of day".

On April 6, 2008, obviously awake and seeing something or someone above him, at 8:05 he
broke into the most beautiful smile and then turned and shared it with me. In his illness,
his sight was the first thing he lost. In "death", I believe it was the first thing he got back.
To see Jesus!



VALENTINE THOUGHTS FOR ME

I feel exceedingly loved.
First, by the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself
By Dad, who never once spoke a harsh word to me
who delighted in surprising me
who supported me in teaching children
who loved each and everyone of you, your spouses and his 12 grandchildren--immensely
who shared the scriptures with me and nurtured me.
who knew me and had insight on how to help me best
who left tons of rocks in our house--for who?

I miss his physical tenderness and can almost feel the weak back scratch he wanted to, and did give me early last year. So precious I'll never forget it.

I miss his prayers for and with me.

I miss his humor.

I miss his music.

I miss Dad--my honey.