Father's Day

In recent years, Father's Day has been a painful day for the boys and I as it tends to highlight Dave's absence. There's nothing I can do take away the boys' pain, except maybe a few extra hugs and a shoulder to cry on. However, since God brought Jim into our lives, we have a reason to really celebrate again. These photos are from our first Father's Day with Jim. The first of many celebrations as a blended family. 

One thing that I am learning as part of a blended family, is that holidays can trigger or exaggerate emotions that lurk right under the surface. Not only for the boys and girls, but even for Jim and me. While we are happy that we all have each other, there is pain because this is not how any of us originally pictured our life.

While we do not have this whole blended family thing perfected, one thing that amazes me is how God's grace is so evident in how our kids respond to each other on these special holidays. For example, today, Father's Day 2019, Alyssia used her own money to buy flowers for the boys to place on Dave's grave. On holidays where the girls have to split there time between mom and dad, the boys are genuinely willing to wait to celebrate until the girls have arrived. 

So today, we celebrated. The girls celebrated their father and the boys celebrated the memory of their dad and the awesome step-dad they have. We laughed and cried (a little!) but most of all, recognize the blessings of a heavenly father who made us a family and is faithful to continue to knit us all together with every new memory we make!

Scrapbooking Tips:
I wanted a masculine looking layout and didn't have any other photos than the ones of Jim opening up his presents. My solution was to create a grid layout. I loosely took this idea from a Scrapbook Generation sketch, but had to adjust it because I did not have a lot of photo options to work with.

I used 6x6 pattern paper from The Stamps of Life to create the background and banner detail in the upper right corner. I was happy to have this Father's Day documented and the bright, cheerful look to the layout!