Saturday, June 20, 2009

Father son fascination

Yesterday I watched a four year imitate his father down to the set of his jaw and the way he rested his chin in his hand. Each intonation of his voice and every move he made was copied. What an amazing relationship! Observing it is so fascinating to me. I looked over the head of the smaller one of the two as I watched them together. I quietly informed Dave of what he had yet to notice; that there was a small Dave replica sitting next to him. He smiled as he began to see what I saw. A certain look in Jay's eyes almost brought tears to mine. This man is every thing to him. Right now he wants to be him. He is in awe of most every thing his daddy does. Dave began preparing to go to town to pick up some plumbing supplies. He grabbed his belt and began stringing it through the loops of his denim shorts. Jay ran upstairs and hurriedly rummaged through the top drawer of his dresser until he found what he was searching for; a small black and tan belt. He was so proud of himself as he fastened it around his little waist. His denim shorts had no belt loops, but he didn't care. He was a little bit more like dad now. All day Jay had been with me. He'd had quite a few whiny moments. Randomly complaining about one thing or another. He had picked fights with his brothers. I tried to find the patience to deal with these little episodes. We are in process of dealing with some of these attitude issues. But even as I prayed for guidance with my little boy, I could sense that he needed something. He was waiting for something. As I observed Jay and Dave interact after Dave returned home from work I was just in awe of the complete transformation that came over him. Cooperative. All smiles. Kind. Helpful.
The incredible responsibility that it is to be a Father became so clear to me in those moments. The beauty of that relationship. God's design. The irreplaceable role.
My boys are so beyond blessed! They are learning every day from a gentle, hard working, kind, patient, fun, and loving man. Happy Father's Day Dave! Watching you with these precious little gifts of ours in one of the greatest joys in my life!

8 comments:

Hilary said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving me such a sweet comment!
Congrats on your pregnancy as well!! You have such precious little boys as I see all their pictures on your side-bar. God is good!
I hope you are feeling well!

And the photo shoot went well and we did have fun! I hope we made my sister proud :)

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great weekend.
Blessings,
Hilary

Arlona Mc said...

I am glad for the father/son relationships. Jay will leave anything to be with his daddy. Dave's dad will gladly recieve phone calls, and any other calls for help from his children so in many respects, Dave has learned a lot from his dad. I am proud of them.

kt said...

aaaw what a lovely and sweet post Wendi! I love how God uses the simple and little moments to share things with you, and how you share them here with us.

And Happy Fathers Day Dave - hoping you had the loveliest day hanging out with your sweet family who obviously all adore you so much :)

Debbie said...

What a lovely post. How wonderful that your children have someone so great to be their role model.

Heather of the EO said...

This post was so moving to me. Maybe because I see (and feel) it too. The moments when my boys are just at their wits end, and I get impatient and tired of it, I realize THEY NEED THEIR DAD. When he travels for work, that's just hard. But when he's home in the evening...OH, how sweet it is to watch these boys imitate him.

Love this post.

Genny said...

Hi Wendy,

This was beautiful. There's nothing like the relationship between a daddy and his son!

Are you doing any writing these days?

Great to be back blogging,

Genny

Sara@iSass said...

Isn't it awesome to see?
I think of the (lack of) relationship I have with my Dad.
And then SEE what kind of father My husband is, and I am so FULL.
My broken heart is slowly being mended by a man being only himself, and he doesn't even KNOW how much he completes this family.
Great post Wendi.
I feel like I say that a lot. Normally I come and read and I'm left speechless, but then I think well I HAVE to leave a note that I was here! :)
Praise God that he gave us such wonderful, giving, responsible Husbands to be fathers to our precious gifts!

Amanda said...

beyond precious picture. isn't it amazing how our children love their daddies...how daddy can charm a whiny, crazed toddler into a peaceful calm, loving child again. oh wendi...such a blessing!