A Dad's Life--Conducting Business at Chick-fil-A & Gorilla Beards

I certainly couldn't homeschool our kids if it wasn't for their very-involved, loving, gentle, extremely charitable, selfless, wonderful Dad. So I thought I'd dedicate today's post to my husband, my best friend, my most bestest bud, Joe.

I just got a call from Joe who is currently at Chick-fil-A (a fast-food restaurant). Since it's his day off--San Jacinto Day, a state holiday--he took Mary Kate to her surgeon's appointment. Jimmer went along for the ride. So, after the appointment, he calls and says he's stopping at the nearby Christian bookstore to pick up some confirmation gifts for a handful of the teenagers at our parish. Very thoughtful!

He then calls from PetsMart. Apparently, Mary Kate hornswoggled him into stopping there to look at fish and birds or something. Then I followed suit and somehow hornswoggled him into looking for algae disks and water conditioner for our future tadpoles. So now, I get a call from him at Chick-fil-A. (He thought it would be a special outing with just the little kids.)

As it turns out, he conducted some business at Chick-fil-A. An architect called Joe on his cell. Thinking it was me, he picked it up--even though he was in the middle of getting lunch for the kids. Before he was finished "conducting business" with this architect, he had gone out to the car to get his paperwork, taken the kids to the bathroom--twice (complete with flushing and washing hands), fed the kids, and supervised them in the play area...unbeknownst to the caller. Now THAT'S a super dad!

Also, thanks to some friends who are on a 2-month RV vacation with their five kids, I was reminded today of another one of Joe's many talents--beard growing. You see, the dad of the RV-ing family has decided not to shave throughout their whole trip. Yes, two months. It reminded me of Joe's last beard-growing stunt.

I refuse to show you a picture of Joe's last beard he grew about a year ago. Okay, just a small one. His Christmas vacation from work usually lasts a couple of weeks, and he christens it by declaring he will not shave for the entire length of his time off. That's fair by me...usually...until he decides that he'll go back to work and still not shave. Then come February, he STILL hasn't shaved. Sigh... It was all very bad timing because he actually resembled a certain middle-eastern tyrant ruler who was...well, he's not around anymore. So, here's the picture of Joe with about 7 weeks growth. See for yourself.

Joe's beard growing talent has not gone unnoticed. A soccer dad friend of ours who was frustrated at the slow growth of his goatie, mentioned that he once said to his buddy, "I know this guy who can grow a full beard in, like, 5 hours (that would be Joe)--and here I am after 1 week with nothing!"

To top it off, this is the comment he got from Mary Kate...

Mary Kate: "Daddy, your beard grew so much--so FAST! Your whole FACE is covered!"
Joe (jokingly): "Do you think I'm a gorilla?"
Mary Kate (unimpressed): "No, you don't know sign language like Koko does."

So, THANK YOU to my kids' Super Dad and to my very talented husband. I know you would even swim through shark-infested water to bring me a cold glass of lemonade! You are the best there is. I love you, Joe!