I’ll never forget the Christmas when I opened a beautifully wrapped gift from Dad and Mom with a Minolta film point-and-shoot camera waiting inside. I had been wanting a better camera after using disposable film cameras for a long time. And now, here it was! I remember pacing about, amid the happy sounds of wrapping paper and laughter, ecstatic, totally absorbed in thinking about all the future photos I could take with this amazing, new gift.

I took pictures of everything and practically wore that little camera out. At some point, though, I grew to the point where even that point and shoot was no longer satisfactory. I asked Dad if I could use his camera. A real camera. An SLR with interchangeable lenses!

Looking back on it now, I realize that Dad took the time to invest in me and my interests very intentionally. He trusted me with his equipment. He paid for two one-week, hands-on photography classes in Texas . . . and the flights to get there. And when he could tell that photography was more than a hobby for me, he paid for me to attend an entrepreneurship workshop that helped me funnel my interests into a photography education business that I am still passionate about today. 

And even years down the road, when I decided to start investing my time and expenses in traveling to homeschool conventions, Dad supported and encouraged me. I was away from home a lot. I wasn’t able to help around the property the way I had in the past. But Dad wanted me to pursue what I was called to do and he let me know that I had his blessing. 

And he showed his support in tangible ways too. He would let me borrow props for my demonstration videos without hesitation. He would let me build things from his stash of materials and let me use his tools to save me from having to buy things I wouldn’t use more than once. And last year for the assignment “The Month of March”, Dad drove Julianna and I through the woods in his new Polaris, joyfully complying with my requests . . . even blasting through a mud puddle to create a cool effect.  

Dad gave wise counsel as well as encouragement. He helped me as much as he could through the ups and downs of starting a business as well as starting a family at the same time that he was walking through the ups and downs of fighting cancer. He wanted to hear about Lenspiration and my webinars and my travels, even in the times when he could hardly move because of debilitating pain. 

I always knew there was a real possibility that Dad would be taken home to be with the Lord sooner than we would like. But when that moment came earlier this month, on October 8, I still wasn’t fully prepared. I sat by his bed and thought about what an amazing dad he had been to me. 

(Yup, that’s chubby little baby on Mom’s lap is me!)

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Dad was surrounded in his last days by all 8 of us children. And each one walks in the ways of the Lord, the way Dad trained us to go. Dad took that Proverb to heart. That training took place in early morning “wisdom searches,” monthly “meditation worksheets”, regular “time togethers”, and just his own example of letting the Spirit turn him into a more and more meek and caring individual. It happened along the trail on father/son camping trips. It happened in the van as we traveled across the country on family vacations (Dad snapping photos along the way!).

I am so grateful for the earthly father my heavenly Father allowed me to have here on this earth. In the ways he exemplified Christ, those are the areas in which I want to be like him. And while it is sad that I can no longer see him smile, laugh, and play with his children and grandchildren, there are no words to describe the ecstatic thrill I feel to know that he is now face to face with the Savior he loved so much and lived so wholeheartedly for.