Birthday Boy

If you've noticed or even care, we haven't been blogging much here lately. Honestly, when everyone is here we don't blog as much as when they are at college. But today I felt the need to blog.

Today is my dad's birthday. We call him Pops.

I couldn't have a better dad than my dad. He are some things that I love about him:

-He taught me how to treat my wife by how he treats my mom. He has always shown me what Christ's love for the church looks like by the way he loves my mom. He has always been the best role model of what a Christian husband and father looks like.

-He taught me and my sister about character. That your word is your bond. That even if someone cheats you you still treat that person the way Jesus would. My dad is a man of character.

-He doesn't take himself too seriously. He laughs easily at himself. That's a great quality today.

-He knows everything that goes on in our kids lives which isn't easy from 5,000 miles away. He calls and talks to our kids frequently. He laughs with them on the phone, jokes with them and calls them on important days. (He and my mom call on every birthday that we have and sing Happy Birthday as loud as they can....the kids love it. They just called him and returned the favor as loud as they could. I know he loved it!) Just the other day I heard him cracking our 15 year old son up on the phone. Just being goofy with our kids. They love that and so do I.

-He prays regularly for our family and our ministry. Every Tuesday morning he meets with some men. He's been doing that for many years. What do they do? Pray. For lots of things. One thing I know they pray about is our family and our Brasilian family and friends. They are prayer warriors for us and my dad is on the front lines in that spiritual battle.

-I have never in my life heard anybody say anything negative about my dad. Not in business. Not around his friends. Not when he's been a shepherd for different church family. That's pretty amazing in this day and age but, honestly, I'm used to it.

-He's a memory maker. I can't count the number of special family things he did with us growing up as well as just "guy trips" to see ball games.  It's something I've always tried to do with our kids.

-He's not afraid to admit when he's wrong. He has no problems apologizing when he goofs.

-He's not afraid to cry. He's not some macho, non-caring, non-sentimental ogre. When God touches his heart and he feels like crying. He cries. I like that.

-He's one of, if not the, wisest persons I know. I'm almost 50 and I still call him frequently for advice and Godly wisdom. I did it last night and God used him to calm my spirit about different things that are going on in our lives.

-Most importantly he's shown me how to love the Lord, how to not grow stagnant in my faith and to keep pushing myself with studying, stretching and growing my faith. He's an incredible example.

But it's not just me that thinks a lot of him. I asked people around our house today to share the first thing that popped into their minds when they thought of Pops.

-Giovanni: "Happy Birthday!"

-Anderson: "He always gives me doughnuts in the morning."

-Carys: "He's AWESOME!! He's funny. He's really nice to everybody. He's always doing something fun with us when we go there."

-Garrett: "I love him a lot. I like to be with him. I love spending time with him."

-Ansley: "I think he's super funny. I like it when he speaks in a British accent. And I love it that he doesn't really worry about anything. He trusts that God is in control."

-Bronwyn: "I love how he always has time to spend with us when we visit them. He always makes time for us."

-Benay: "He's always up for doing something fun."

We even asked Bronwyn's boyfriend Stephen (who's been with my dad 1-2 times) what he thought of Pops. Here's what he said: "I love how fun he is and how he's always up to playing games with us. I loved it when I visited them and he played cards with us. That's pretty special."

I shared nothing about what I wrote above with my family before I asked them about Pops and yet all the answers are pretty close. From a 3 year old to people in their upper 40's.  We all agree that Pops is a fun, funny, memory making man of God.

Here's to you Pops on your special day.

Thanks for being the spiritual leader of the Blume family. We are blessed.

We love you. Happy Birthday.