Part 1: Father's Day

"And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers."  Malachi 4:6

I know it has been over a month since Father's Day, but I still want to share some pictures with you.  I can't let another year go by without making a Father's Day post, because David is such a good Papa and Hannah loves him so much.  We didn't do anything amazing.  David had been up half the night helping to finish the media presentation for Vacation Bible School; so, he and Hannah slept most of the afternoon.  We had a nice lunch and Hannah gave him a card she made and a simple gift, but it was a sweet family time.  On Monday, we went and had all-you-can-eat pizza for lunch with Grandie and Grammy so that we could honor him as well because Hannah adores him too.  I have to admit that I had a few tears as I thought of my own father and how I wish that Hannah could meet her granddaddy, but we'll have to be content with photos for now, and look forward to a special introduction in heaven.  They would have loved each other a lot. 

Thank You, God, for Papa, Grandie and Granddaddy.  They are each wonderful, godly men and we are glad that you put them in our lives.

Here she is in these two pictures giving him her gifts.  First there was the gift bag holding chocolate...

...then, there was the "I love you!" kiss.

Here they are wearing their "Hannah's Papa" and "Papa's Hannah" T-shirts. 

(Thank you to Cindy Betsill who made them for us!)

Part 2:  What's in a Name?

That is all about Father's Day; so, if you want to stop here, it's okay.  We have been asked from time to time what Hannah calls us and why; so, I thought I'd write a little explanation.  That is not an easy question to answer because it continues to evolve.  Before we brought her home, David decided that he wanted her to call him Papa partly because it sounds more like Baba, the Chinese word for Daddy, and partly because he just likes it. (I like it because it reminds me of the time we spent getting to know each other through hundreds of emails while I was living in China.  We couldn't use the name God, and Father seemed to formal; so, we used Papa to refer to God.)  We started teaching Hannah to use Papa as soon as she joined our family, but for a very long time, she continued to called him Baba. She called me Mama, which is the same in English and Chinese for a long time too.  Then she began to hear other children use the words Daddy and Mommy; so, she began to experiment with using them.  Sometimes we were Mama and Baba or Mama and Papa; sometimes we were Mommy and Daddy.  Then, one day she tried to call David Poppy.  It makes sense if you think about it. If Mama can be Mommy, why can't Papa be Poppy?  I thought it was funny, but Papa didn't seem to feel comfortable being called Poppy; so, he nipped that in the bud really fast.  She didn't seem to be too sad about it when we explained to her that a poppy is a flower.  Now she some times calls us Moms and Dads. ( I love it when she says, "Thanks Moms!)  We're never quite sure what she is going to call us, but we're not really picky (except for the Poppy thing).  We just like having her call on us.

In honor of Father's Day, I wanted to show a few special pictures of

Hannah and her Papa taken over the past year. 

They like to read together.  Here they are reading the paper shortly after Hannah came home. 

Now they prefer to read books together.

They watched and cheered for Auburn football together.  War Eagle!

They enjoyed playing in the snow.

They played the piano together. 

They flew kites.

And they just enjoy playing and laughing together.

We love you Papa!