A great day to celebrate

Today is a GREAT day to celebrate! First and foremost, we celebrate the best.dad.ever! 

This amazing man turns 70 today! Happy birthday, daddy! I can't begin to tell all that he has meant to me! Sooo many laughs, stories, happy memories, hugs through tears, words of wisdom, life lessons...I could go on and on. I'm just so thankful for him! And thankful that he didn't just stop at being an amazing dad, he's grown into the best Pop any grandkids have every had! He's so intentional about sharing all those laughs, stories, memories, words of wisdom, along with fishing trips, hunting trips, football games, even trips to see the Nutcracker (with Julie's daughter) just because he loves his grandkids and wants them to know it. And they do, they KNOW it! 

And I know it! I appreciate you even so much more than I did on this day. And I was so grateful for you even then! Being a mom has caused me to grow exponentially in my appreciate for my own mom and dad and family! 

Today, we also celebrate another great one, our sweet puppy, Jackson. January 8 is the day we rescued him from the pound. So today marks 12 years that he has been a member of the Dagerath clan! That makes him a whopping 15 years old! I'm glad he never listened when people mentioned that larger dogs aren't supposed to live that long! I seriously think living in the country has extended his life! He's chilled out a lot in the last 8 years. 

Check out these cuties!

That's how long ago we had Jackson! Look at how black his snout and ears are here. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't have the photos. Now he's as gray as I would be if I didn't like NOT looking old as much as I do! Back in Jackson's black snout days, he used to run. ALOT. He would run after squirrels all over the golf course. In fact, he's probably looking at one in this photo! We even had a song that we would sing when we went looking for him in the neighborhood...again. We would sing (to the tune of "My Bonny lies over the ocean)

My Jackson runs after the squirrels

My Jackson runs out through the trees

My Jackson run more than he ought to,

Oh bring back my Jackson to me!

Bring back, bring back, bring back my Jackson to me, to me.

Bring back, bring back, O bring back my Jackson to me!

(What can I say? You see how young Josiah is here and this is a couple of years after we got Jackson. I HAD to come up with something fun to keep a lot of boys from crying as we hunted!) 

In fact, there was the time our first Christmas with him that he ran away at a cabin in Arkansas. It was a miracle we found him. Christmas miracle for sure. Then there was the time he ran away and was gone for TWO WEEKS! We were sure he was gone forever. Then, on a whim (or a prompting from God, I'm sure!) I looked on the Bartlett Animal Shelter website and THERE HE WAS! We went straight from church the next day and sprung him from the clink! You should have seen how high he jumped when he saw us! I still get teary thinking about it. It was so sweet! He was as relieved to see us as we were to see him!

Since then, there's been running after goats, kittens, deer. He's torn ACLs, learned to adapt (because surgery is too expensive when there are four boys still living at home!), gotten very gray, slow, increasingly deaf, but sweeter and sweeter. He still loves to go on walks and run after deer. He's convinced the deer here have gotten exponentially faster over the years! And he won't admit it, but Joy has actually added years to his life (and taught him how to hold down a pan with his paw when he's licking it out-true story!)  

He doesn't like the camera, but here's to you, sweet old man!