a father's day letter

to the man I once prayed you would become:
      you weren't always who you are today. i can remember early on in
our marriage, before we had kids, praying specifically for you and
hoping you would someday be the one in our family to lead me spiritually. 
i can remember bringing out the bible and wanting so badly
for you to engage when often times you wouldn't. 
i'm not sure what the turning point was for
you, but looking back at that time in our life makes me so grateful to
God for the father and man you have become.

one of your favorite verses in the bible is 
psalm 128:1-3

"blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. 
when you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, 
and it shall be well with you.

your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house,

your children like olive plants all around your table."

the words "olive plants" really stick out to me. after searching online for what an olive plant really is, i discovered two things.
an olive plant is:

1) evergreen (it keeps its green leaves year round) and

2) it's cultivated chiefly for its fruit (cultivated means refined and well educated) 

God's word says in verse 2 that when our hands labor (when we try to leave a godly legacy to our children) our children will be like olive plants. in other words, our children

will retain the word of God we've poured into them, they'll remain evergreen, 

and they will be cultivated, refined and well educated in God's word and produce godly fruit.

.      i have heard you share many times just what type of legacy 
you want to pass down to our children. 
james stephens, i believe you are passing down
a legacy that will be evergreen and cultivated far above what you could ever imagine!

so, thank you.

     ~thank you for striving to hear God speak in the midst of this world's
loud noises.
~thank you for that very first nightly devotion you started with me and the kids over a decade ago.
       ~thank you for all the times you've pushed through to continue
nightly devotion with our family of crazy kids!
      ~thank you for showering us with hugs and kisses and showing us that love wins every single time.

     ~thank you for showing us we are part of a far bigger purpose 
in this life than just us.
     ~thank you for pushing us to get out the door for church even when
we were fighting and the kids probably didn't see Jesus in either of us.
     ~thank you for sitting down and creating a vision in your head of what our family should strive to be.
      ~thank you for being the calm to all our crazy and showing us that having patience is a beautiful virtue to have.
       ~thank you for stepping out and leading us early on...even when
you made mistakes and were probably afraid to take the reigns to begin with.
       ~thank you for finding mentors in your life who
encourage and challenge you along the way.
       ~thank you for challenging us by asking us every so often, "what is God teaching you?"
     ~thank you for being the first in our family to say, "i'm sorry" even if it's not your fault.
      ~thank you for leading by example so our boys know how they should
treat a lady.

       ~thank you for dating our girls so they know just how a real man
should treat them and letting them know that Jesus is the only One who will 
ever sweep them off their feet.

      ~thank you for not being perfect, but for quietly leading us to
the Perfect One.

in psalm 127:4 it says, "like arrows in the hands of a warrior are
children born in one's youth." 

our children are the arrows and one day
they'll leave our home and go out into this world. 
you, my warrior husband, 
sharpen our children, our arrows, to their finest point. 
you show them that their target should be Jesus. 

i believe when it's time for each of them to leave our home, 
they will be spiritually sharpened and equipped with their target ahead of 
them so they know where to aim.
thank you for being a man and father who lives on purpose... 
leaving a legacy to our children...
for generations to come.
WE LOVE AND ADORE YOU, JAMES STEPHENS!