Category: Dad

How in the world does this month mark two years since my Dear Dad’s promotion to Heaven?

It’s been quite a journey filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, and tears and joy.

God has been so faithful to see me through it all.

My Dear Dad left such an indelible mark on me over the years that it’s almost like he’s still here.

I got to know my Dad rather well over the years, so I can try to guess or imagine how he would respond or react to certain news and situations.

I KNOW he’d be celebrating that I’ve signed my first book deal and that I’m teaching five classes at a Bible school based on my books.

I KNOW he’d want me to keep going and enjoy my life.

He wouldn’t want me wallowing in sorrow. And so, I still honor and remember my Dad fondly and with joy.

I’m grateful to God for the years of wonderful memories and so grateful to know my Dear Dad is with my Heavenly Father.

It’s so comforting knowing he’s rejoicing with God.

I also find comfort in helping to keep his memory alive my talking about him and sharing memories.

I appreciate my Dad’s love and hard work for us even more as time passes.

Finding photos and souvenirs and cards are like finding treasure

So how am I doing?

Ok, by the grace of God.

Here’s a few things that are helping:

• I still enjoy wearing jewelry and clothes my Dad gave me as a way to honor him and his culture.
• I still enjoy sharing memories and photos of him.
• I enjoy certain foods and songs that remind me of him.
• I still dream with my Dad often. I don’t mind (I dream with lots of other people too).

Here are some things that are still a struggle:

• I still haven’t watched videos except for the Merry Christmas greeting. I want to save the videos for another time.
• There’s still a song I refuse to listen to.
• There’s still a few of our fave places I’m not ready to go back to.

There’s no real rhyme or reason to grief.

But God’s grace is sufficient!

And God’s comfort is real:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Life is never the same, but it does go on by the grace of God.

If you’re in the thick of it, keep letting God heal and comfort you. Reach out to a professional if you need to

Making me smile with lots of memories. That’s My Dad

Here’s a recent tribute I’d like to share:

Celebrating My Dear Dad – Dinners With My Dad Edition So grateful for all the lovely dinners I had with My Dad. We liked exploring new places but also had our favorite spots. We’d go out on special occasions or just to catch up, especially after he or I had been traveling. I have tons of photos to treasure and that I’ll share every now and again. My Dad had a hearty appetite and enjoyed a great meal and great conversation. Chowing down and conversing with me … That’s My Dad

Pic taken at an Ecuadorian restaurant that had recently opened (pre-pandemic). My Dad loved showing his support for his gente and local businesses

If you’d like to learn a little more about my Dear Dad and some of our travels, check out, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad.

If you’d like to read some more of my tributes and learn about some of what’s helped me through this grief journey, check out the blog post links below or Season 6 of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast. I pray you’ll be encouraged on your own grief journey.

• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 1)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 2)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 3)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 4)
• That’s My Dad – A Tribute
• That’s My Dad – Father’s Day Edition
• Celebrating My Dear Dad – Birthday & World Cup Edition (2022)
• Celebrating My Dear Dad – Year Anniversary Addition (2022)
• 15 Ideas for How to Keep Your Loved One’s Memory Alive
• 16 Easy and Simple Self-Care Ideas
• Reflecting on 2021 – A Year of Standing Strong
• Celebrating My Dear Late Dad – Father’s Day 2022 Edition
• Celebrating My Dad – An Ode to the Olympics & Apollo 11 Lunar Landing
• Lesson Learned from My Dad
• Over the Moon: My Connection to Apollo 11
• Let Your Light Shine
• Lost and Found

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Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

This pic from one of my Dad’s milestone birthdays makes me smile. He was usually busy celebrating everyone else’s birthdays and special occasions but he also wasn’t shy about being in the spotlight and on center stage … That’s My Dad 

Celebrating My Dear Dad – World Cup Edition  In honor of my Dad, I had to watch Ecuador play in this year’s World Cup. My Dad would be so thrilled that I’ve been watching. He loved playing soccer as a child (with a makeshift soccer ball) and watching it on TV as an adult. He enjoyed filling me in about major games and loved when I actually watched some of them and we could talk about it. Viva Ecuador 

So lovely how the team would huddle and kneel down and point upward after each GOOOAAALLL! And yup, soccer is best watched en espanol  

If you’d like to learn a little more about my Dear Dad and some of our travels, check out, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad.

If you’d like to read some more of my tributes and learn about some of what’s helped me through this grief journey, check out the blog post links below or Season 6 of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast. I pray you’ll be encouraged on your own grief journey.

• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 1)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 2)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 3)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 4)
• That’s My Dad – A Tribute
• That’s My Dad – Father’s Day Edition
• Celebrating My Dear Dad – Year Anniversary Addition
• 15 Ideas for How to Keep Your Loved One’s Memory Alive
• 16 Easy and Simple Self-Care Ideas
• Reflecting on 2021 – A Year of Standing Strong
• Celebrating My Dear Late Dad – Father’s Day 2022 Edition
• Celebrating My Dad – An Ode to the Olympics & Apollo 11 Lunar Landing
• Lesson Learned from My Dad
• Over the Moon: My Connection to Apollo 11
• Let Your Light Shine
• Lost and Found

________________________________________________

Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

I recently found this precious photo while organizing more pictures. This is MY DAD in his element! I don’t remember ever seeing this pic before so it’s such a gift.  I love how my Dear Dad is beaming and looking up and waving. I’m not kidding when I say my Dad LOVED marching in parades here and abroad. Here he’s representing one of the institutions he helped found and lead for some 20 years. He loved doing community work and being among people… Yup, That’s My Dear Super Extroverted Dad 

When my Dear Dad liked a picture, he made sure to print it out and have it enlarged. He did that with both pics in this post. Here’s a photo of me with a bouquet of flowers I picked while visiting my Dad’s childhood home. (I felt like Dorothy among all the poppies in “The Wizard of Oz” lol) .. .What joy my Dad had showing me around his hometown and what joy I had exploring where my Grandparents lived with their seven kids! So grateful for my trips with my Dad to his beloved Ecuador. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s eternally Spring in my Dad’s hometown. (Did ya notice my colossal sunburn that I mentioned I got from being at the parade during that visit? Yup, being by the equator without sunscreen will bake you in and instant if you’re not careful…)

So grateful for so many photos, videos, writings, sweet memories and more!

I’m amazed that my Dear Dad’s legacy lives on through my sister and me and mi familia … that’s part of the reason why I delight in sharing all these tributes to my Dear Dad.

If you’d like to learn a little more about my Dear Dad and some of our travels, check out, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad.

If you’d like to read some more of my tributes and learn about some of what’s helped me through this grief journey, check out the blog post links below or Season 6 of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast. I pray you’ll be encouraged on your own grief journey.

• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 1)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 2)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 3)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 4)
• That’s My Dad – A Tribute
• That’s My Dad – Father’s Day Edition
• Celebrating My Dear Dad – Year Anniversary Addition
• 15 Ideas for How to Keep Your Loved One’s Memory Alive
• 16 Easy and Simple Self-Care Ideas
• Reflecting on 2021 – A Year of Standing Strong
• Celebrating My Dad – An Ode to the Olympics & Apollo 11 Lunar Landing
• Lesson Learned from My Dad
• Over the Moon: My Connection to Apollo 11
• Let Your Light Shine
• Lost and Found

________________________________________________

Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

How in the world does this month mark one year since my Dear Dad moved to Heaven? It’s only by God’s GRACE that I’ve gotten here … your prayers and friendship have also helped. Gracias!

I FINALLY found the song that’s been playing in the back of my mind as I see photos of my Dad and try to sum up all that he experienced … my Dear Dad was far from perfect, but he loved deeply and loved life and lived with GUSTO! He loved his family, his native Ecuador AND the U.S. where he was a proud citizen for all his adult life., he gave generously, fought for immigrants’ rights worldwide, met Popes at the Vatican, traveled Europe, helped earthquake victims in Ecuador, was an earthquake survivor as a child, climbed the ANDES Mountains and a few volcanoes for FUN, attended a World’s Fair, worked on the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing project, helped 9/11 families in the wake of the disaster, was interviewed by the press countless times over the years, hobknobbed with elected officials, wrote a book that’s in libraries in Ecuador and on and on and of course, loved God … I finally read the lyrics of this song and although I DOUBT my Dad ever heard this song, I can’t help but think this is one of the things he’d say:

“I, I did it all

I owned every second that this world could give

I saw so many places

The things that I did

Yeah, with every broken bone

I swear I lived” (“Lived” by OneRepublic)

Although, to my knowledge, he never broke a bone. LOL Still, I’ve obviously inherited some of his zest for travel and adventure … God must’ve wired us that way and we must’ve gotten some of it from our adventurous ancestors… lol .. my Dear Dad never ceased to surprise me … that’s why people who really KNOW me have probably heard me say what I write at the end of these tributes … YUP, THAT’S MY DAD Enjoy this short tribute video (above).

This month also marks the celebration of the famous parade in my Dad’s beloved Ecuador that’s like their Rose Parade. My Dear Dad LOVED going to this parade. It was started years ago to celebrate the town’s first harvest after a devastating earthquake. My Dad and one of my uncles were young survivors of that earthquake. It’s a fascinating story that I got to ask my Dad all about while interviewing him. I had the extreme pleasure of going to the parade with my Dad one year and actually walked in the parade. It was so much bigger and brighter than I had imagined. I’m still so grateful I got to enjoy it with him (even though I got a major sunburn that day! I forgot how close we were to the equator!) Here are a few pics of some of the beautiful memories I cherish and treasure. Knowing how to have a good time and being proud of his roots … That’s My Dad

If you’d like to learn a little more about my Dear Dad and some of our travels, check out, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad.

If you’d like to read some of my tributes and learn about some of what’s helped me through this grief journey, check out the blog post links below or Season 6 of the Abounding Faith for Today podcast. I pray you’ll be encouraged on your own grief journey.

• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 1)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 2)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 3)
• Gripped by God’s Grace (Part 4)
• That’s My Dad – A Tribute
• That’s My Dad – Father’s Day Edition
• 15 Ideas for How to Keep Your Loved One’s Memory Alive
• 16 Easy and Simple Self-Care Ideas
• Reflecting on 2021 – A Year of Standing Strong
• Celebrating My Dad – An Ode to the Olympics & Apollo 11 Lunar Landing
• Lesson Learned from My Dad
• Over the Moon: My Connection to Apollo 11
• Let Your Light Shine
• Lost and Found

________________________________________________

Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.