Dear dad,
Here is your shoutout! You’ve been texting me for months asking for a shoutout, so here’s a whole blog post dedicated to you! (Hope this isn’t too many words for you!!! lol)
It’s Father’s Day Weekend in America, and I unfortunately will not be there and have no access to wifi (except to post a blog)! So I will take advantage of writing a blog in your honor.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
I’ve always known I was blessed with a good family, but it wasn’t until I left home and met so many other people that I realized how lucky I am. There are so many people around the world who have grown up fatherless or with a disconnected dad, but because of the choices you’ve made in the last 21 years, I am blessed to say I am not one of them.
You put God before everything else, and you’ve been such a good example of what it looks like to be a human fully devoted to God. You haven’t lived a sinless life, but you have kept your eyes on the cross and have always worked on building your relationship with Jesus through it all. You are passionate about God’s word, serving others, and cooking and yard work. You never take on a task and quit halfway through, but instead you put your all into it and finish strong. I love that you get so excited about the swaddling cloth that Jesus was wrapped in as a baby that you spent hours researching it online. Thank you for all the filled gas tanks, for refilling my empty bank account, for taking me out to breakfast, for fixing my car every time it breaks down, for dragging my friends around tubes on the lake, for letting me always have friends over, for all the meals you’ve cooked, and for the millions of other times you’ve put your family before yourself. But mostly, thank you for all the laughter that you’ve given me. Thank you for always encouraging me to do my best. I can’t even begin to thank you enough for your support of me doing The World Race. From the beginning, you’ve brainstormed ways to help me raise the money and go about doing it the right way. Please know that your servant heart inspires me each day out here to serve others well.
In honor of Father’s Day, I would like to share some of my favorite “dad” stories from the years (because there are SO many good ones)!
One time, my dad wanted to teach me how to jump start a car when I was about 17 years old. I insisted that I had already had to do it multiple times and was very familiar with how to do it, but you ignored me as you walked out the front door to the driveway. I followed anyways because I knew that when you were that excited to teach me how to do something, nothing would stop you. You started one car and propped up the hoods (with many detailed instructions on how to do so), and pulled out the jumper cables. I was watching as you held the red cable in one hand and black cable in the other and you attached them to the correct parts of the battery. You walked over to the other car, stressing the importance of how you have to know what you’re doing when you jump start a car, and you took the red cable and attached it… to the black side of the battery. I yelled “RED TO RED, DAD, RED TO RED!” But you chose not to listen and the electrical current shocked you. You realized what you did wrong and quickly fixed it, continuing to go on and on about how important it is to know how to jump start a car, but I couldn’t stop laughing long enough for you to finish.
I remember on your 50th birthday, you took Nicole and I and all our cousins tubing. I remember this specifically because I thought “wow, on my dad’s birthday he gives us a present!” I also remember thinking “holy moly, 50? my dad is old.”
As your daughter, I’ve had to teach you a lot of “text talk.” One time, Kurt Holthus sent you a text and at the end said “lol,” and you were absolutely befuddled as to why Kurt Holthus was sending you “lots of love.” You thought it was the funniest thing that it actually meant “laugh out loud” since you thought he was trying to send you “lots of love.”
Let’s take it back to elementary school. I had a dentist appointment when I was probably 7 years old, and on the car ride there you informed me that they wouldn’t be pulling any teeth out. When we got to the dentist office, you dropped me off in the parking lot and told me to go check myself in (which I had no idea how to do) while you parked the car. I made my way up to the counter and barely could see over it. The lady asked me to sign in so I wrote “k-a-t-i-e” on the paper in probably illegible handwriting. When I was called back, you were still no where to be seen, so I made my way back to the room where, to my surprise, the dentist informed me he would be pulling teeth. I sat in the chair and got my teeth yanked out, and they sent me back to the waiting room with a pat on the back. I was traumatized by the surprise, and also shocked to find that you still had not finished parking the car. I sat in the waiting room for a decent amount of time before you casually strolled in to pick me up. It might sound sad, but thinking back on it I laugh so hard every time because I found out years later that he went out for coffee with Mr. Nyland while I was at the dentist. But during that day I just thought it was really hard to find a parking spot.
Thank you, Dad, for being who you are. I love that I have a life full of fun and crazy stories to share around the world. You win “world’s best dad” in my eyes!!! I love you and I miss you!!!!! Hope Nicole is good to you this weekend.
