My Daddy~ and My Dad

Christmas In Russia!

This picture above takes you back in time!  My parents were able to come and visit us while we were ministering in the country of Russia!  What a winter wonderland it was that week!  So many happy memories... but today it's Father's Day!
Daddy, I love you for so many reasons and thought I'd try to put a few "On Paper..." Make that "In Print"!

Thank you for teaching me to work outdoors!  With 9 1/2 acres of land in our Friendsville days, there was plenty of flat enough places for me to learn to mow where it was safe.  Thanks for those memories of you teaching me how to mow and the joy and fulfillment I still enjoy today of working outside!  Thanks for the many hours and happy memories of picking black raspberries... the few chiggers and the piles of woolen clothes that always went along with it were well worth the joy of fresh berries on our cereal the next a.m. (even if I did wave "Hello" to a cow, we'd been out picking berries so long without seeing people!=)
Thank you Daddy for showin me what compassion and humility look like in person.  This is a side that some people have never gotten to see in you, but I thank my Heavenly Father often for the picture that you gave us kids of what Jesus looks like with "skin on".  Thanks for your life... in love with Jesus 1st, in love with Moma 2nd and we kids last... but we never felt "least".
Thanks for doing the extra things with us... that were free, but hey, we loved them NO LESS.  I have been more places than most of my friends who's parents may have had more in this world's goods... but we went anywhere we could buy the gas to go.  Thanks for teaching me to LOVE TO CAMP.... tenting memories, staring down a bear, camping, hiking, learning to swim... just to name a few.
Thanks for teaching me to never litter... thanks to "clean-up days" in Friendsville.  Such fulfilling memories. Thanks for all the hours of prayer, blood, sweat and tears, that it took to make that place a go. I'm a much richer person b/c of it.
Thanks for ever being an example that learning can be fun!  For You were always a teacher at heart... and now that I'm married to my wonderful teacher husband, I see so many things that remind me of you!

Most of all Daddy, thank you for teaching me about Jesus.  I've alluded to that earlier, but you are the man you are b/c of allowing God to be the Lord and Master of your WHOLE LIFE.  You were always the same, whether on vacation or not. I never once was sad, or embarrassed that I was a PK!(Preachers Kid) I've always felt I was blessed to be one of those! I was never ashamed of you! Or embarrassed that you were my daddy.  I love to hear your laugh... no one's laugh can make the rafters quiver like yours. Thanks for loving Jesus so much,  it showed!  I cherish the many times that I would get up in the night and find you on your knees quietly seeking God for life's answers as well as for we kids.  Thanks for being a GIANT in my eyes, a hard worker, and always "fair" to the nth-degree! =) thanks for keeping me safe til God sent along my husband to take care of me.  Thanks for loving Daryl like a SON... not just an in-law.  Thanks for "letting me go" so that we could start our own home, under God!  Thanks for coming to visit each time a new little Hausman came along and for allowing Moma to "be there" for us while I got back on my feet.  Brittany "owes" you the most I guess, for she had your wife away from you for 3 long weeks!  Thanks for the MANY sacrifices you've made for all of us over the years.  We love you SO much!  I never thought you were "perfect"... but then again, the longer I live... and the more people and heartaches I hear about... I'm thinkin you come pretty close and therefore I know that I'm a VERY blessed girl.  I thank Jesus for giving YOU to me as my own special Daddy!  You're the BEST EVER!  I love you dearly, "Laura Lou"

Dad Hausman with us in Austria

Dad, I never grew up enough to ever call my own Daddy, Dad.  So when Daryl asked me to be his wife, I felt it was only fitting that HIS DAD would be mine too! And thanks so much for accepting me as your daughter, and not just an in-law! 1st I want to thank you for being a Father to Daryl.  Thanks for your consistent life lived out before him as to what a Christian Father was.  Thanks for your consistency in taking them to church, sick or not! =) Thanks for teaching him by example to be a HARD worker and provider for his family! Thanks for giving Daryl the confidence that he needed to be GOD'S MAN. 

I've always loved your sense of humor! You're a big tease and we all love it! You have a fun loving personality and I've watched as people feel comfortable around you and love to be near you, even on the other side of the world. Thanks for loving God so much!  I've only known you for about 23 years (22 years of marriage soon=) but I've never ever questioned your love for God.  Thanks for your consistent prayer life and devotional time.
Thanks for letting go of Daryl when it was God's time for us to start our own home.  I'm sure that we've not always made you "comfortable" but you've never stood in our way of minding God and  for that we thank you .  Thanks for loving our kids as your own.  I thank Jesus for choosing you to be my "Dad" after I finally grew up enough to have a "Dad" as well as a Daddy!!  I love you, Dad very much!!