It's great to be a dad!

So I just wanted to write down a couple of reflections on fatherhood and being a dad tonight before I go to sleep. First of all I just want to say that probably the majority of the time I fail at parenting. Let's have a moment of brutal honesty here...having six kids eight and under can sometimes get under my skin and my temper gets the best of me and I don't treat my kids the way that they deserve. They are amazing young sons and daughters of God and sometimes I forget that and don't give them the respect and love that I need to. I hope that God will cut my kids some slack when my shortcomings cause them to be affected negatively in some way or another.  A lot of the times I feel like a failure and wonder if I am doing much good with my kids. It's no fun to feel what way. However, with that being said, the times when things go right just more than make up for any of the wrongs. I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ that will allow all of the things that my kids experience negatively that were not their fault to b made up for.  Tonight I want to share a couple of very personal things that went right in the parenting world over the last month or two.

The first occurred during scripture study a month or so ago as we studied Alma 26 as Ammon praises the Lord for His goodness and excellency. He talks about how the Lord is aware of everyone at the end of that chapter.  Ammon says, "God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth" http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/26?lang=eng

After we read the verses I asked my kids if they knew that God was aware of them and loved them. Taft responded with kind of a cute, typical five year old response, and then my two oldest boys responded that they couldn't think of something specifically where they had come to know that. I invited them to pray that night and ask Heavenly Father to tell them that He loved them and knew them.  They said they would. I told them that I didn't know exactly how He would respond, but that I knew He would.

That night as they got ready for bed, I talked to them briefly about making sure that they gave Heavenly Father Time to answer their prayer before they got back up from praying...to make sure that they didn't just say a prayer and move on, but that they should listen for an answer from God. They both knelt down and started to pray.

At this point it is important to know that my two oldest boys are 8 and 6 respectively. To have them pray for longer than 15-20 seconds is a minor miracle. Trenton got up after about 3 minutes or so, which was quite a bit longer than his normal prayers, so I figured something good had happened. I asked him to come and tell me about his prayer and he came over and explained that he had a warm feeling come over him and I asked him what God was saying to him and he said that God was telling him that he loved him. I told him to never forget it and then gave him a hug.

Trey was still praying at this point and I was honestly beginning to wonder if he had maybe fallen asleep or something. However, after about 6 minutes or so, he got up and his countenance was clearly different than it was before his prayer. He had a very serious look about him that I will never forget. I asked him to tell me about his prayer and he got a little choked up and said, "Dad, I just got this feeling..." I asked him what the feeling was and he said that God was telling him that He loved him. He was very impacted by this and I just gave him a big hug and we just sat their hugging for a couple of minutes and I told him to never forget what had happened and that the most powerful being in the universe had taken the time to tell him that He loved him and knew him.  When I am stinking it up as a parent, those are the times that I have to remember.

Another thing I wanted to mention was how even after my niece Brooklyn passed away that we are still a family.  Each night, we have a little "family hug" where all of us tell each other that we love each other. Kind of cheesy, but you can see the impact that it has, even on my two year old daughter, Audrey. She gets a huge smile on her face and is just beaming as she hears everyone else in her family express their love for her.

Anyway, my kids have wanted to include Brooklyn ever since she passed away because they want her to know that she is still part of our family and still loved. So we always tell Brooklyn that we love her each night. I am certain that she hears it more often than not. Audrey especially is insistent on making sure that we include her cousin.  It is a great reminder that the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ and that He provides that hope of eternal life and eternal families.

Trenton is also very aware of Brooklyn as well as of Layton and Shaina. We all try to remember them in our prayers, but Trenton is definitely the best at it. Last night he said the prayer and I thanked him for always remembering Layton and Shaina in his prayers. He said, "Do you know why I always remember them?" I responded, "why?"  He then explained how uncle Layton had asked him to pray for him and Shaina because they were in a lot of pain after Brooklyn died. He said that he wanted to help them and so that is why he makes sure to keep them in his prayers. It was just a testimony to me of the goodness of these kids and how sweet and pure and innocent they are.

The last thing that I wanted to say is just simply how awesome it is to be a dad. I took Corban to the store the other day after work, and I was just walking into the grocery store with him hand in hand and I just felt an overwhelming sense of peace and joy in being a father. I feel so blessed that God has seen fit to bless Amber and I with these special little ones to grace our home.  I wouldn't trade anything for the little moments like that, or when I come home from work and they run up and give me a big hug. Truly the greatest joys in life come in families. So grateful for our Heavenly Father, that He has a plan that includes families and that He has given us the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to help us and to be there for us when we are stumbling, and ultimately to save us. God be thanked for the gift of His Son that provides all of these wonderful blessings and more!

http://www.mormon.org/christmas He is the gift!

Because of Him we have all of this! http://easter.mormon.org