Doc

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."                                                                                                                   Deuteronomy 6:6-7

My grandfather was the first man of faith I ever knew. This is one of my all time favorite photos ~ Doc sharing a moment with my baby brother. He was such a gentle man. I remember (of all things) climbing on his lap while he clipped my fingernails. He also taught me how to wrap presents ~ something I love to do! One Christmas when he was at our house for the holidays I had my first real conversation with anyone about God. I was sitting at the bottom of the basement stairs and he was watching my brother play with hot wheels. The conversation began because of a Christmas tree ornament...

We only had one "religious" ornament. And, while my parents took us to church, I'd never felt from them the same sense of  "knowing something" that I felt from my Grandfather that day. In his gentle way, he answered my questions and asked a few of his own. Planting seeds of faith in my heart ~ that he would not live to see grow, but that...indeed...took root and grew. The quote from Deuteronomy reminds me of him....just a conversation while playing hot wheels. Principles held, shared, passed on. I cherish that little ornament that prompted that conversation, and one of my few truly treasured possessions, is his wedding ring.

A reminder of where I came from and what was passed on to me.

I long to leave my kids a connection to their history. To give them a sense of their story.

So we walk, talk and wrestle together with our own faith and how best to live and love those around us.

And I scrapbook.  So, in case I've forgotten to say anything it'll be in a book somewhere. And photos like the one of their uncle and great grandfather won't end up lost in a box in the attic!