Highlights form the Father's Day Letter Writing Project Part Two

         Highlights form the Father's Day Letter Writing Project

From Laura B. at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MotherHen/  

Here’s how our writing project panned out.

My vision: the three oldest children, heads bent over pieces of paper, eagerly jotting down things that they especially appreciate about their dad. Really honoring him with their words.

What I got: two children grumbling: one saying he’d “just buy dad something…by the way Mom, do you have $20?”, another child huffing away saying she didn’t understand what to do (mind you I hadn’t yet even described the idea).

one child saying ooh, I’ll do it!..

In the end all three wrote something…all three made a list of things their dad has bought them or given them and said thanks for it…arrgghh!! Not really what I had in mind…But, I didn’t want to make this an assignment or be overly critical of their efforts…didn’t want to squelch the spark….Well, so much for a loving gesture! Perhaps with more practice we can move beyond a rundown of “things” they are thankful for!

Ann Voscamp from Choosing Home.com  wrote:

Our attempt at the letter this morning:

As per your experience, Laura, every wanted to scrawl a quick “I love you” on a piece of paper and run back out to the sand box. ~weak smile~

We took up Jill’s encouragement to brainstorm and use a cluster sentence…”Daddy is special because…” and I wrote out some of the thoughts they generated:

Daddy is special because he is gentle and kind to his wife. ~big smile~

Daddy is special because he gives us rides in the combines and tractors.

Daddy is special because he isn’t rough or harsh.

And then they tried the thought of “I love Daddy when”… and then “Daddy sounds like…” “Daddy smells like”…”Daddy feels like a hundred smiles when I hug him”…

I have never done it this way before, but taking the time, as Jill suggested, for me to write out their thoughts and then they can copy it out on their own cards (They could each pick several of all the thoughts they generated) really did reap a different kind of Father’s Day Letter than the rather haphazard ones we have written.

And Laura, one of the sentences was “I love when Daddy gives me gifts” ~weak smile~.

A contribution from www.onebeggarsbread.wordpress.com   

My sweet little boys created prose for their daddy this Father's Day (except for Daniel, he was a stinker and barely signed his name to the Dollar Tree card we purchased). Mom got the idea for this Father's Day project from Choosing Home and Through the Windowpane, and the boys ran with it.

Here's CJ's offering:

IN DADDYS HANDS

In daddy’s hands, he holds our money

In daddy’s hands, he put the fan up in the kitchen

With daddy’s hands, he taught me how to ride a two wheeler bike

In daddy’s hands, he let me shoot a real shotgun

With daddy’s hands, he teaches us teeny tiny stories

With daddy’s hands, he built a tree-house

With daddy’s hands, he built the playroom

With daddy’s hands, he taught me how to play a guitar

In daddy’s hands, he set up the projector to watch movies on the big screen.

With daddy’s hands, he drove us to Boy scouts.

With daddy’s hands, he stood behind me, put his arms around my hands and told me how to swing a base-ball bat.

With daddy’s hands, he through the ball to me and I hit it hard.

In daddy’s hands, he turns the pages of the bible, because he wants us to know more about god.

May daddy’s hands be used to teach people about god.                                            

Christian

And from Micah:

From http://homeschoolblogger.com/seekingtheoldpaths/

Dear Mr. Visionary,

You know I love to make lists, so I thought I'd write a list including all those reasons for which I believe you qualify for the Father of The Century Award:

-for taking care of the yucky linens when someone throws up

-for tractor rides and tree houses

-for your exuberance when we find out about expecting each new blessing

-for your tears of joy when each new blessing is birthed

-for wrestling matches

-for your patient teaching

-for your "effectual prayers of a righteous man" on behalf of our family

-for your fierce protectiveness of the children and me

-for getting up in the night to check on everyone

-for going to work faithfully, day in and day out, working out in the heat, the rain, the    

  snow even when you don't want to

-for speaking the truth in love

-for never wavering when the Lord has given you a stand to take

-for your perseverance in seeking the Lord's will for our family

-for leading us in worshipping our Lord

-for teaching us His Word

-for teaching us to have fun:

(This is the abridged version of the list. I don't think the blog will hold a post long enough to write the exhaustive list.)

Love,

The Mommy

Happy Father's Day From The Literary Lady

Dear Dad,

I want to tell you this Father's Day about some of your qualities.

You are patient: thank you for teaching me how to drive the little tractor.

And you are peaceful: Like when the cops said they could take Mom away.

And you are kind: You are so kind in helping us build the tree house.

And you are considerate: you think about others and not about yourself.

I hope you like this letter.

Love,

Literary Lady

Dear Father,

Greetings in Jesus' dear name. I like how the other day you told me how I was getting big and tall. I felt proud.

I really like how you take me out to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and spoil me with junk food.

I really like how you talk to me and chat. I like the jokes you tell me. You act like you enjoy the jokes we tell you even when you've heard them before and even if they're not funny.

I love how you take me for rides on the big tractor and the little tractor.

Thank you for working so hard so we can have food and clothing.

Thank you for staying up late to make Doodle go to sleep while I snooze.

You have a good character: you are good and kind. I love you and you love me, and that's just the way God meant it to be.

Lovingly,

The Flower Child

Dear Dad,

I like it how we shoot the BB gun together and work on the tree house together, because I like spending time with you.

I like it when you take me out to run errands with you. You are a good tree-climbing teacher.

Thank you for teaching me how to play football and where to put my fingers on the ball’s stitching. I like it when you have bike races with me, even though I never win.

You are very kind and I want to be just like you when I grow up.

You are my hero, Dad, and I love you very much.

Love,

The Engineer

Dear Dad,

Happy Father’s Day!

I like it that I get to go milking with you. I like climbing on the stall doors in the barn and watching you milk Millie.

I love our wrestling fights especially when we use pillows. You make Family Night so much fun.

I like to ride bikes together.

I think you are the best scrambled egg maker. You put lots of cheese, and that makes them taste awesome.

You teach me how to work hard. I love splitting wood with you. We make a good team: you split the wood, and us kids put it on the pile.

Love,

The Dreamer

Dear Dad,

I like you because you are so nice and you love me. You wrestle and have pillow fights with us, and you are lots of fun.

Some other stuff I love about you is that you ride me on the tractor, and you carry me when I am tired. I like wearing my working boots so I can look like you. I like going out with you to Wal-Mart, the hardware store, Sam's Club, Sheetz, Shoney's, and the Tractor Supply Company. I like to go everywhere with you.

I like your muscles-they are big. I like your whiskers because they are scratchy and they look nice on you.

I also like how you teach me cool tricks like this:

Me learning to cross my eyes

Happy Father's Day!

Love,

Little Napoleon

June 18, 2006

Happy Father's Day from Doodle!

I used Mommy's Yipstick to put kisses all over your picture.

From http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cre8ivemom/

My daughter, Alyssa (age 9), came up with the idea to write daddy a "book" for Fathers Day.  She is the creative one in the family. For every holiday she makes everyone gifts. So, Alyssa started working on the book about two months ago. She drew and colored the cover, then started working on the first chapter. 

My husband is in the Marine Corps, and is preparing to leave on a six month deployment.  Alyssa is very emotional right now knowing daddy is leaving, so her first chapter of the book reflects how she is feeling. She worked on it so long, that she ran out of time to write any other chapters. Alyssa was so upset that she didn't finish the book, that I told her I thought a great idea would be to give daddy the book for Fathers Day with just one chapter, then for every holiday he was gone, she could send daddy a new chapter.  Alyssa really liked that idea, so she completed the first chapter and presented it to daddy. 

Daddy read the "book" out loud to all of us (we were with my parents). By the end of it, my mom was in tears, my dad was choked up, and my husband was as well. 

Here is the first chapter of her book:

You Were With Me

When I was a baby, you were with me.  When I was a toddler, you were with me.  When I was a kid, you were with me.  And now here you are, standing with me. 

At the Father Daughter dance, you danced.  At the Father Daughter dance, you agreed with me. At the Father Daughter dance you wore your suit. At the Father Daughter dance, you knew it was about me (about us).

When I was sick, you were with me. When I was scared, you were with me.  When you were gone, you were still there.  When I was lonely, you played with me. 

Happy Fathers Day Daddy!  I love you!

Your Princess

So there it is!  You can see why there wasn't a dry eye in the house! A couple of things that are significant that people not in the military may not pick up on: Daddy wore his suit to the Father Daughter dance. Most of the other daddy's wore their uniforms. Alyssa understood that daddy wore his suit, because it was HER night, not a military night. That meant a lot to her. It's also significant that she understand that even though daddy isn't here in person, he is still with her. As she says, "Just like Jesus is."

1:12 PM - Jun. 23, 2006 - post comment

Father's Day Letter

Jill, thank you for letting me know you used my response from Choosing Home...I commented there on advise from Ann V....She inspires me SO much. I must say that even though my husband received three "thanks you's" from our chicks, he was still touched by the gesture...I think he thinks we don't truly appreciate him---I'll have to work on that perception! Also, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the e-book you sent me as I await my hard copy. Four of our children and I have our notebooks at the ready, although only the two year old's has anything written in it. It seems easier to write things for her than for myself. I believe the older children would agree. However, as we get more used to the idea I truly expect the pen to meet the paper more often!
~~Laura B.

MotherHen - 2:39 PM - Jun. 23, 2006

Links

Friends