For my Dad

I wanted to post this a while ago, but somehow never got around to sitting down and writing it. Since my blog is pretty much like my journal, I want to write down a few of the thought I have had about my Dad since his passing and think Father's day is a good day to do it.

My Dad was and is my hero. I can't think of other person on this earth (other than my Mom) that I would want to be more like than him. I am so grateful for all the things he taught me while on this earth. He was a great example to me of putting God first in all that he did. He had a special gift to love others and he taught me that people are much more important than things. He showed that by the way he and (my Mom )lived their lives.

My Dad always put his children's needs before his own. My parents continually sacrificed so that we could have and do things they thought were important. He and my Mom payed for all eight of their children to take private music lessons which included them driving us to Provo or Salt Lake every week and purchasing professional model instruments for us to play. He helped pay for all of his children's education and all of our missions. He was always making sure we didn't need anything and always trying to take care of us. That was true even up until the very last days of his life. When I was in Utah he was still trying to pay for me to take Owen swimming. :) And when I spoke to him on the phone the night before he passed he was concerned about whether I had gotten back to Missouri okay.

My dad loved to talk and didn't really care if he knew you that well! He loved to talk because he loved people and that certainly was a gift. I used to think it was embarrassing that he would talk to everyone, but as I grew up I realized what a gift it was and that he was able to do good things because he was friendly with people and because he loved others.

One of the biggest things my Dad taught me was to try your hardest and don't give up. He never gave up on living even though it was hard for him. I appreciate that he decided to go through all of his radiation and chemotherapy because he wanted to be here for his wife, children, and grandchildren. I think my Mom said he had something like 101 radiation treatments and she couldn't even remember how many rounds of chemo he went through, but it was all the chemo he could do. He also taught me that we don't always get what we want-even if it is righteous desire. He wanted more than anything to serve a mission with my Mom and even though that never happened I think he served a different type of mission through his battle with cancer. I believe he touched many people's lives, people that he never would have affected had he not had this trial.

I always knew that my Dad loved me, but that wasn't just because he told me often, but because he showed me. I will forever be grateful to him for teaching me the gospel and for helping me to gain a testimony of my own and for believing in me, sometimes when I didn't believe in myself. He always made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to. When he passed away I told Brent that the world feels a little different without him here mostly because I knew no matter what went on in my life that my Dad loved me and was cheering for me. And even though I miss him greatly, I know he is still cheering for me and is not far away.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you.



I watched him with the eager eyes of childhood day by day
The way he lived said more to me than words could ever say
The simple truths he taught me would endure my whole life through
And long before I knew them for myself
I knew my father knew

I borrowed his unfailing faith; I trusted in his love
I counted on his courage when my own was not enough
I turned to him for counsel through the perils of my youth
And even when I doubted, still I knew,
I knew my father knew

I saw his quiet witness in the tears he could not hide
As he taught me of the Savior, how He lived and how He died
I felt the Holy Spirit, as he testified of truth
As I began to understand the things I knew my father knew

I have found my father's faith deep within my soul
A legacy I'll treasure through eternities untold
And everything I try to be, and everything I do
I do because I learned to know and love the things
I knew my father knew