A Papa.

This is Jason's third Father's Day as a Papa. He fell in love the moment he first laid eyes on our little girl. And from that point on there has been nothing anyone could do to stop the natural draw of a Papa and a daughter to each other. She is her Papa's girl. And he is wrapped around his little girl's finger. It is something that brings me more joy than I could ever have imagined. Watching him be a Papa made me fall in love with Jason in a whole new way. And there are still so many times that I just sit back and watch them together, in awe of the family that God created for us. For Father's Day this year we went camping for the weekend. I got to sit back quite a bit and just watched my husband and daughter delight in each other's company.

We hiked with Abigail giggling the whole time because she got to ride on Papa's back.

And while this picture may look like Jason and Abigail are pushing an empty swing to the innocent bystander, in reality Jason was pushing pig and elephant (Abigail's imaginary friends) on the swings. It was one of those moments where I knew that even though Jason has times where he will fall short as a Papa, our little girl will grow up with wonderful memories. I don't know many men who would spend twenty minutes pushing their daughter's imaginary friend on a swing. Especially not in public.

And after elephant was done swinging alone, Abigail decided that Papa should sit on elephant's lap, while she sat on Papa, and pig sat on her lap. And they swung, and they giggled, and my heart filled up to overflowing at the amount of love I was witnessing.

And at the end of the night, Abigail sat and watched the fireflies make their 'buns' light up as Papa wandered around the woods a little trying to catch more for her, or pointing them out as they lit up.
In a world where lots of Papa's are absent from the home, would rather work, or are striving to achieve the 'American Dream' I am beyond thankful that Jason is Abigail's Papa. He works hard to provide for our family financially, but knows that being able to buy stuff will never make up for spending time together. And for that reason he has a little girl who believes that he can fix anything, makes the world go around, and who holds him up to be a hero.
To be honest though, he is a hero. There is nothing more heroic than giving a little girl the security, love, and adoration that she needs to grow up to be an amazing young woman. There is nothing that deserves more adoration in my book than a man who can love his child unconditionally, play with her, and discipline her, without ever causing her to doubt his love for even one second. Happy Father's Day to the best Papa I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am so grateful that our daughter has you to walk through life with.