Yesterday was a good day for me. I got home from work about 10:30am and after greeting my family I began attacking my "to do" list for the day. The first order of business for me was to re-build and erect our mailbox, which was destroyed about a week ago by a run-a-way car. For this job Ravi(5) and Stephen(7), helped me out. We measured and cut the wood needed, screwed it together, and carried it across the street to put it up. It went well and the boys really enjoyed helping out.
Next on my list was to take a load of old items to the dump in the my truck. Again, Ravi and Stephen helped out. They brought the old chairs, ottoman, box spring, etc., out of the garage and I loaded them in the truck. We also took 6 hay bails from our harvest party, and a swimming pool ladder that's been sitting around for a while. We strapped it all down so it wouldn't fly off as we drove and off we went to Ravi's favorite place in the whole world...the town dump!
The boys had a great time climbing to the top of our stuff and pushing it off so I could throw it in the dumpster. Stephen slid under the wing back chair we tossed while trying to pull it off the truck, then fell off the truck when he tripped on the gate cable trying to jump off. He wasn't hurt, so me and Ravi enjoyed a hardy laugh at all of it.
After unloading everything, we headed for home and on the way stopped off for a snack. I bought the boys a pack of cookies and a much needed bottle of 'bug juice'. They were extremely delighted to receive the snacks. I told them, "when men work, they get to eat, so enjoy it."
After some rest at home, June took our two oldest daughters, Janai(14) and Naomi(9), along with one of our twins, out for some ice cream. She wanted to bless them for being such good helpers. All the work that the boys and I did outside was only made possible by the work the girls did inside; lovingly caring for our baby twins Christian and Josiah, along with Joy(4) and Joshua(2). What a tremendous blessing it is to have daughters who love their siblings and love the Lord Jesus.
While June and the girls were gone I moved on to next item on the list which was to repair a dresser in my daughter's room. For this job Joy decided she was going to assist me and did her best to help and keep me company. The conversation was good and we both enjoyed the doing the job together.
At the end of the day I thought about how the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful family and how being a Father truly has it's rewards. So if you're a Dad, truly embrace your role and savor every moment you can with your kids, because as you can see in the picture above, they won't be little forever!