Fore for Four on Father's Day

I knew from the first day I met Paul that he'd be a great dad.  We talked during our engagement about wanting four kids. 
Our plan and prayer was to have four kids in 10 years. 

Kid  #1 came along 15 months after we were married. I think God yelled "FORE!" and we had a split second to duck. 

 Like all firstborns, Ben was the "practice child."  We made a lot of mistakes trying to get the knack of parenting. Swing, miss, swing, hit, swing more to the left, swing more to the right, choke up, ease back on your grip, keep your eye on the flag, relax and breathe and follow through. All that kind of self-talk that makes it sound like I know all about golf and parenting.   Bwahahaha. 

Anyhow, Kid 4 got  his height,  athleticism,  penchant for politics, and a strong business sense from his dad. Oh, and skinny legs.

Kid #2. She got his heart.  From the moment we found out we were expecting a second child, he hoped he would get a daughter because he wanted one named Sarah Grace. How did I discover I was expecting her? She flipped inside me. Yes, she did.   Then WE flipped! Two days later in mid-December, the sonogram tech said, "Congratulations! You're 22 weeks along. This baby is due in April."  It was kind of fun to realize how God likes to slip  arrows into our quiver when we weren't looking. So to speak.

Kid 3 came along two years after the second.    I was scared stiff about raising three children in four years. The first baby had been easy, the second one hard, and I feared the pattern would be "easy, hard, impossible." Instead, Stephen was the most cheerful, pleasant, and undemanding child of all. 

He got his  wit, mathematical prowess, love for scriptures, penny-pinching ways, and his golf swing from his dad.

Kid 4.  Obviously we didn't get our four kids in 10 years. We got three in four years, then had the last one 10 years later.  That's a whole 'nother blog post, as they say. ("They" do say that, don't "they"?)
  From Dad the last one got his love for football, his artistic talent, musical inclination, interest in coins and magic, and a die-hard disdain for 
 being in pictures. For that reason, I love this candid shot I got of him. That sweet smile.

Well, Kid 1  had to grow up and hit puberty which, as  Kid #4 defines it, is "the time when you actually LIKE the other gender for some reason, some really dumb reason."  

And when Kid #1 found a certain  member of the other gender to be irresistible  and impossible to live without,  he married her.  That's when our four became five.   

"Five" always paints her ten.

Most people choose golf clubs based on proper length and  comfortable grip.  Other people have different criteria.. 

Male bonding.  Fore!

Back at the ranch, as it were, we had Father's Day Kabobs.  They had the words "hot voodoo" in the name.  Yeah, they were powerful hot! My girl can cook and she really blessed her dad by letting him take over standing near him while he did the manly-dad thing of tending the grill.  (The night before, she had asked me, "How much do you wanna bet that Dad will be out there even though he says he doesn't want to cook?") 

He's so predictable. We can count on him being a father eager to help out , 
eager to be with his family,

 but not so eager to pose for perfunctory patriarchal pictures with the progeny.