60th Birthday

Between work, finishing up an online class and traveling over the holidays I have gotten a little behind in the blogging realm. So much has happened I want to recap some and share with all of you.

On December 18th my dad turned the big 6-0. Yep, he's sixty and soaking it in! He now qualifies for senior benefits one of the biggies being free AK fishing licenses the rest of his life. What more could a man ask for? Ben and I would have loved to have made a quick trip up to AK to celebrate but it just didn't work so we celebrated from CA. One of the "gifts" I sent him was a scrapbook thing that had "60Memories with My Dad." It was really neat to pull together as I reflected over the past 31 years of my life with my dad. I thought I shared a few with you . . .

MEMORIES WITH MY DAD

* Leading me in the believer's prayer in my bedroom in ND November 1984
* Hiking Crow Pass with the Skvorks and Bairs
* Fishing for blue gills together in a little inflatable raft in ND (elementary school)
* Memorizing the 50 states and capitals together in 4th grade
* Reading Keys for Kids every morning over breakfast in ND
* Hearing him preach again for the first time in five years at WBC
* Having him fix my hair in pony tails when mom was out of town, braiding was too complicated
* Teaching me multiplication tables with soup crackers at the kitchen table
* Making Mickey Mouse and letter "A" (Anita) pancakes for breakfast, mmmmm!
* Letting me eat brownies and pie for breakfast (mom was not overly impressed but I was!)
* Bringing flowers to my office at Larson Elementary to cheer me up
* Sharing a heart and passion for people who do not know the Lord
* Friendly family running competitions :)
* Deep sea fishing together in Kodiak where I caught my first two halibut
* Praying with me as a child and an adult, I love praying together
* Walking me down the aile this past June

You ARE the Papa Bear and I love you very much! Thanks for the memories!