HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY

Faithful, prayer warrior, committed, loyal, trustworthy, provider, miracle, sense of humor...and the list could go on and on... These are just a few of the words that my little brain could think of to describe my Daddy. Today is his "72" birthday! Since this is Thanksgiving week, this blog should be fitting for the occasion. I am SO thankful to have him around another year. It's a good thing that this is not on paper, because the tears would make the paper splotchy (I hope they don't ruin the computer keyboard!).

For those that are reading this that don't know about my Dad, he is literally a "miracle." In July of 2000, he was diagnosed with colon cancer (stage 4), which had already spread to his liver. February of 2001, he and my Mother were on their way back from M.D. Anderson, when he had a heart attack. They didn't think he would survive the cancer so instead of open heart surgery, they just put stents in his arteries to keep them open. In June of 2001, he had 82% of his liver removed (you should only be able to survive with no less than 25%). He was doing great after all of that, when in June of this year, they found a spot on his right lung that had lay dormant all this time. On July 6, 2006, they removed the upper lobe of the right lung. He seemed to be doing well until 3 days after this surgery, the lung they had operated on collapsed, causing the other one to collapse. Wow, and this is someone who had hardly ever been sick in his life!

As he was leaving the hospital to come home this last time, the nurse from the ICU came up to Daddy's floor to see what he called "the miracle man." In his 25 years of being in ICU, he said he had never seen anything as severe as Daddy's case. Daddy was really quick to let the nurses know why he was still here. He told them it was "nothing but God."

One of his prayers has always been, that there would be a church in the area where he grew up. Little did we all know, that Keith and I would be part of the answer to his prayer. Home missions hasn't been easy, but the Lord has blessed us with my Dad and Mom in the same area and that has made it easier.

Thank you, Lord, for letting me keep my Daddy a while longer. He was always there beside my bed as a little girl when I was sick (along with my Mom), he was a great provider for his family, faithful to his God & church. I can't say enough about him, so I guess I better stop before I make this writing worse (I did good in English, but it wasn't my favorite subject.)!!!

One more time, "I LOVE YOU, DADDY, and am SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!!!" This is truly a "Happy Thanksgiving."