Happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day!
(I don't know why his picture has those black marks on it!)

First off, I'll say a little about my dad, Randall Jackson. He is a selfless man who truly loves the Lord, and I'm glad he's my dad! I love you, Dad! Here are 12 things I think about when I think about my dad:

1. He is thrifty. If anyone is going to save a buck, it'll be my dad! Whenever we do something particularly thrifty, Chris & I joke and say, "Now that's something Randall would do!"
2. waffles. He used to carry me downstairs to eat waffles for breakfast. I remember him making pancakes too and he would make them in the shape of a "J" for me. Years ago, I bought him a Mickey Mouse waffle maker that he still uses. Gracie has definitely picked up on my love for waffles and will frequently request that "Pappy" make them when she visits.
3. Christian Terrace. Oh, as a teenager I hated it when Mom & Dad would drive up under the overhang at church in the church van and I'd have to climb up in there with the "old ladies." Truth be told, I admire my dad for driving them to church & picking them up on Sunday evenings & Wednesday evenings; I just didn't feel as much admiration when I was a teen. (Imagine how I felt when I'd have to ride to school in it, too!~I'll admit to being a bit of a brat!) We'd go to Christian Terrace and Miss Minnie (my favorite!) and various others would pile in. Well, pile in isn't a good word. It was more like they were helped in by my dad who stood behind and made sure they didn't fall out! My dad got an earful many times I'm sure when something happened at church that they didn't like. I don't think he drives them anymore but once a month, he organizes a church service there for those who can't get out. He truly has a gift for listening to the elderly and making them feel important.
4. Christian education. For the past almost 30 years, Dad has worked as the business manager at Greater Atlanta Christian School. He recently got a title change that I think he truly deserved. He works with the budget and signs the paychecks and makes sure everyone pays their tuition, etc. He does a good job. (Remember what I said about him being thrifty?!?!?) He & mom sacrificed alot so that my brother & I could have a good Christian education also. It was important to him.
5. Family is important. I'm not kidding, if a great-great-great uncle by marriage dies and the funeral is anywhere within the contiguous U.S., he & mom will be there. Well, maybe not, but I have seen him & Mom pick up and drive a long way for a short period of time to show respect for a distant family member who died. I admire that. He helped settle my great-uncle's estate just rather recently. It took a long time and alot of long distance phone calls, etc. but it needed to be done and he helped alot. Granddad, his dad, died when I was in about the 6th grade and I don't remember much of their relationship. MawMaw, his mom, just died in 2003 and they were close. She lived kind of far away but he still helped her alot, emotionally as well as other ways. You could tell she was proud of her baby boy and always called him "Randy." She relied on him and his sisters.
6. He loves my mom. They still hold hands and are best friends. What else is there to say?
7. lots & lots of letters. Somewhere, I think maybe they're still in Atlanta, is a rather large pile of letters that Dad wrote to me while I was in college. He would deposit money into my checking account each week and send me the deposit slip with a reminder to write it down so I could balance the checkbook and to get out cash so I wouldn't have to write so many checks, etc. (Remember, he handles money for a job!) I sometimes fear I've disappointed him with some of the financial "mistakes" I've made in my life, but I don't think he'd ever say that. He's always there to help~always, even sometimes when I don't ask for it. The letters contain lots of "study hard," " don't write too many checks," "we love you" and "we're praying for you." Almost everytime he would hang up the phone he would say something about praying for me. I believe he did because I'm not sure how else I got through the process of moving 1000 miles away to college & surviving it all and actually enjoying it! I know God was protecting me.
8. Pappy. My girls love their Pappy. His grandfather was Pappy Jack (because of Jackson being the last name.) When I was pregnant, my aunt was joking that he should be Happy Pappy Jack because he can be kind of silly. Well, with my girls, pretty much only Pappy has stuck although my niece, Ann Elise, does call him Pappy Jack. (His grandmother was Mammie Jack and my mom absolutely refused to be called that!)
9. Kentucky Wildcats & Chicago Cubs. They're his teams. He also likes the Braves, but if they're playing the Cubs, I know which one he's rooting for! I even got him an old Cubs jacket on Ebay a few years back and he wears it often.
10. not above anyone else. He is the kind of man who does not think of himself as being better than anyone else. He doesn't need, nor want, lots of fancy material things. He doesn't think that he's "above" doing lots of things that others probably do think they're above. I think he has the mindset of being a servant.
11. best tour guide of Atlanta. I don't think the man has ever driven to the Atlanta airport the same way more than once! He can show you things in Atlanta that make you lock the door quickly, things that make you wonder if you really cared to see that part of Atlanta. HA! He is also famous for taking the "corn & cabbage route" when on trips. Translation: as teenagers, my brother & I would just want to get there!!!!!!!! He could make a 2 hour trip take 4!
12. catfish, apple pie, country ham. He loves them all!

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Chris is a great Daddy too! I won't write as much about him this time because he's not my father, but I've written in the past about how much I think he's a great Daddy~seriously the best ever! I find myself looking at others sometimes and feeling sorry for them that their husband isn't as good a father as Chris is. Then, I find myself being thankful that I think that much of him! (I just wish he was smiling in these pictures of him with the girls! LOL)

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Katie was sick last week. High fever. Now Gracie has it. Thanks for sharing, girls! Actually, Gracie is alot better as far as the fever and never had it as bad as Katie, but she's still a little puny. She's supposed to start swimming lessons tomorrow, but we've left a message asking to reschedule them for later in the summer. She might be okay to go tomorrow, but she has a fever blister on her lip and we felt they probably wouldn't want her there with that along with the fact that she's been not feeling well. I feel bad cancelling at the last minute, but there's not much we can do about it.

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Last night, we went to The Big Mo! It's a drive-in theater in a nearby town. We saw Cars. The Wild was coming on also, but it was 11:30 before Cars was over. Katie was asleep, Gracie was 1/2 asleep and I was, too. We left before the 2nd movie started. We never have stayed for the double feature. We're so old!!!!!!!!!!! We decided to go even though Gracie was sick since she'd mostly be staying in the car and we weren't going to expose her to anyone. We told her before we got there that she wouldn't be riding the little train or playing outside before the movie started. She was okay with that, but she did get to take a little walk outside with us. She & I stayed home from church this morning and she & Chris stayed home tonight. Poor thing, she has missed the past 4 Sundays at our church (not missed church completely, but just missed being at our congregation) from being out of town or being sick and we're planning to go visit my grandparents this weekend so that'll make 5! She's been there on most Wednesdays at least!

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Micheal (and yes, that is how he spells it. I'm not sure why.) was able to sit up for about 1 1/2 hours and felt tingly and his legs & feet hurt so those are all good signs! Jenny wasn't able to do that so soon after her accident, so they have even more hope of a recovery!