You Always Remember Your 1st.

Howdy, it's been a while. It's Maggie's daddy. He is a slacker when it comes to posting on his precious little daughter's blog. Although I must admit, I like the "many faces of Maggie" look that Mama Jennifer has added to the top, nice! Anyway, want to hit on 2 awesome things. One just happened, one will next week. 1st, let's hit on what just happened.

So, my 1st Father's Day. Mother's Day and Father's Day were incredibly special this year. In light of the year we have had, it's tough to fully enjoy them, but you only get one 1st and you never forget it. Maggie has the best mommy in the world, so Father's Day rocked. This year was unusual in that my dad, who makes 1 annual visit down South, hit it this year on Father's Day. This was the 1st Father's Day we spent together in a decade since I was 18 years old. There, I dated myself and now you know how old I am. Being in ministry, Sunday is spent at the best church in the world (in my opinion). So, with limited time, I think I had the best 1st Father's Day you could ask for. In between our 4 church services, we get about a 2 hour break. Mama Jennifer and I bundled up the Mag and hit Ingles (grocery store). We got the makings for a feast to indulge in Maggie's mommy's newest hobby; cooking (DADDY LIKES!). Got home, had a little lunch and headed back to church. Got home Sunday night around 8:30 and got to hang out with Grandaddy, GAG (Great Aunt Gin, from California), Auntie Sarah, Uncie Bobby, Mommy and Mag. Mama Jennifer and Auntie Sarah cooked a Father's Day feast of rolls, corn, sweet potato "shuffle" ( I know souffle, but shuffle is more fun), asparagus, bacon rolled pork and some type of fruit salad concoction. Talk about good, dang that Mama is turning into quite the cook. Anyway, ate, talked, cleaned up and cleared out. Then I got my Daddy Day gift. Now for a little aside. Everyone knows the phrase "Anyone can father a child, but it takes a man to be a dad". That saying has never rang more true. Being a dad is not the easiest job in the world, but there is no higher calling. You are the spiritual leader in your home, hubby, daddy, income provider, poopy diaper changer, baby feeder, baby player, baby wake upper, baby put to bedder, trash taker outer, dishwasher, laundry assistant and best friend to all (just to name a few). I really believe that one of the major breakdowns in our society is the lack of true dads. There are a ton of fathers out there, but few dads who stick it out and step it up and be men. They either fly the coop, stay but are never home or always working or have the "I bring home the $, so you do the rest attitude". Hence, there are a ton of lonely, tired , frustrated mommies out there going at it alone. Hence, higher odds of said child to become wild child. Anyway, off my soapbox and back to the gift. All of that to say, that the Father's Day gift means a lot to me b/c I view it as the fruits of your labors of trying to be a good daddy. So, I love homemade gifts and Mommy and baby are quite crafty. Maybe the technological director (Mama Jennifer) of Maggie's blog could put a picture on my gift here, but in the meantime I hope this description suffices. It is a homemade hanging double painted canvas. The top canvas is brown and aqua (hand painted by little Mag, mommy had quite a clean up) and it reads "my heart (insert picture of heart here) belongs to dabdy" with the initials of MDH (Maggie Denise) in the bottom right corner. Then, attached with a cute brown ribbon is canvas #2 on the bottom with mommy's hand print and baby's hand print inside with the initials JWH in the bottom right corner. It is so special and means so much to me. Our little Mag is growing up so fast and I will always cherish Sunday, June 15th, 2008.

This post was a lot longer than I thought so I am going to hold off on awesome thing #2. It will give me incentive to post in the very near future, today or tomorrow. All I have to say is that our Home Group is the absolute best and what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...