We celebrated a bit of Kory’s 13th birthday as well as Father’s Day this weekend. We knew that on Saturday we would be giving Kory the gift of an inflatable kayak that we’d been planning all year, since we will miss his actual birthday while we are in Switzerland.

So, we also planned a picnic dinner at Cranberry Pond, a beautiful pond just north of where we live and near Mt. Toby, so that he would also be able to use it before we left.

So that we could all get on the water, I thought an inflatable two-man raft would be a great Father’s Day gift for Robert. We enjoyed spending several hours on the water, hiking, or picnicking until evening. The kids just love being in or near water, and this water was even a decent temperature!

We all recalled fond memories with Dad over the past few years – “he lets us get iced coffee,” “watch Rocky movies,” and “we’re glad he’s a preacher because we get to hang out with cool college students” were some of the comments.

I could think of a thousand ways these kids are blessed to have Robert as their dad, and I wish they could appreciate all of them now – consistent family devotion time at breakfast, reading aloud great books (Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings), praying with each kid at night before bed, coaching their baseball team, Friday breakfast dates, loving and serving me, being a faithful yet humble follower of Christ. I take such comfort in all of these things, and pray the Lord uses each one to grow our children to be men and women who look just like him in character and strength. I am so grateful.