My Dear Dad

As Josh and I were on our way to the beach on Easter Sunday we stopped to take pictures at a sign that we had stumbled across on our first trip to the beach months ago. This sign takes me back to my childhood. You see, I remember sitting around the dining room table after we scraped the food off our plates and we were listening wide eyed to stories that we loved to picture in the imaginations of our minds. I remember loving to hear stories about my dad's childhood when he and his brother and dog, Tippy, would run through the woods and cross trees over the river and play "King of the Jungle". This playground of trees and water and exciting stories are not so far from home anymore.

This is Forest Knolls. It is about 20 min. from where we live and is where my dad grew in his love of the outdoors and God's mighty Creation. He and his family were one of the few houses on the knoll and since they were still feeling the effects of the war, a huge forest was the perfect setting for his siblings and him. With his dad painting in the city at San Fransisco State there was plenty of time for exploring when he was gone during the week.

It is amazing to think what an impact this setting has had on my dad's spiritual life and values and how I never thought that I would live so close to some of my roots.

Thank you dad for passing on a love for the outdoors and giving the Creator all glory for His beautiful works, for taking us to Lake of the Woods so many times, for teaching us how to climb and repel down moutains, for being a park ranger one summer, and for still being astounded by the magnificience of the clouds and birds.

So thank you dad for the fasinating stories then as they still live on now . . .

And these are our friends on our own little knoll on campus!

Josh and I cannot be more thankful for the godly heritages that we are both blessed to have!
And on that nastalgic note, Dad Mathews, this one's for you . . .

We couldn't pass up the chance to capture this Riviera in all her glory.