Daddy Dates

Going on a Daddy Date!

There is nothing so important in a little girl's life as the relationship with her dad. I'm SO very thankful to be married to a man who knows how to tell his girls he loves them. But even he struggles to know how to spend quality time with them. Let's face it, it's a lot easier to go goose hunting with Tyler than to find common ground with a daughter. But he knows it's important, and when tickets to a local production of "Cinderella" came up, he jumped on it. Way to go, Ben! <3

Not even knowing where they were going, the girls were nearly too excited to sleep the night before... possibly also because of the curlers they begged me to put in their hair. lol. They even wanted to have their nails done because "Daddy is taking us on a date!!!" 

I know this is important, not only because there are countless studies about the impact of a father, but because my daddy did this for me....

My dad was super involved in our lives. We homeschooled, and math was his department. He also go us all up early for family devotions, every... single... day.... at 6:30am. We had to be dressed and alert, or maybe run around the yard until we were. He also worked hard for our family, and was home for dinner nearly every night. He even invited me to pitch horseshoes with him every Tuesday night in the New Holland Horseshoe Club. These things were all important, but he gave it more. 

Every Saturday morning, before anyone else was up, my daddy and I went to breakfast. He had a standing men's prayer breakfast which he attended at a local diner. Amazingly, he would make the effort to go an hour early... to have breakfast with me, just me. (with 6 siblings, that's a big deal) When the other guys showed up, I'd take off to the car with a book, or off to just another booth in the diner. But I was happy. I'd had my date.

It was over those breakfasts I talked my way through high-school drama, poured over used car classifieds, and talked about my first boyfriend. Recently I found my plan of what course listings I wanted to take for my first year of college...  and it was written on a place-mat of that diner.

I learned that I was valuable to my father. I learned that I was valuable enough to wait for a guy who saw me as valuable, a treasure. I cannot explain how important this was in the process of wading through those split-second decisions that so often define (and destroy) a teen-age life. It's ok to say, "I'm worth more than that" and walk away!

The best part of my relationship with my father, was that it was a earthly example of my relationship/value to my Heavenly Father. I am cherished. I am worth it. Enough He sent His only Son for me. wow.

So, daddies, take your girls on a date, and tell them they're worth it. :)



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