Supper

Supper last night included chicken, salad, rice, corn, mom and dad. You read that right. Mom and Dad.

Dad has been doing so good and working hard and improving in so many areas. After our meeting last week, Gary and I both agreed (with some caution) that it would be o.k. for him to come over and be with the kids. He is doing well and needs some encouragement. It is very hard to live alone knowing that family is close by, but feeling so very far away. We believe that grace is something that we have received and now is the time to pass that on to dad. Will he ever be perfect? Nope. Will he still mess up in areas of his life? Yep. Know what? I will too.

So overall, it went well. The kids were surprised by his appearance (he has a beard and has put on some weight), but Garrison and Simon remembered who he was. Noel was a little distant, but quickly warmed up. She talked a mean streak at dinner. (shocker) The kids weren't shy about their questions either. "Gramps, how come your leg was cut off?" "Gramps, are you doing better and aren't sick anymore?" "Why do you have all that hair on your face?" Dad handled them with great care and appropriate honesty.

Each of my three oldest kids remembers that Gramps would always have an apple for them. He would hike with them to the woods and would cut up an apple to share. They would often talk about it during the past year and a half. In fact, Garrison used to only eat apples with his Gramps. He didn't like my apples. After dinner, dad sat down and pulled out an apple and a jackknife from his pocket. The kids crowded around him eating bites of apple loudly proclaiming that he still had the best apples. These are the moments when I see my dad again.

Friends, dad is still my dad and he isn't my dad. He is someone new that I don't really know. There are parts of him that are familiar, but so many things are different. We'll be gradually getting to know this new person through get-togethers and the like. I hope that I can grow to like him. . . right now I don't really know him. For now, this is where we are at. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. This is a marathon where we feel great running sometimes and at other times feel like we are hitting a wall. I'm glad that God knows the finish line.