Author Lizzy Armentrout

I know I just recently did a blog about Dad but couldn't let today pass without posting some memories of him.  (He went to see his Savior today, Oct. 6th, 2010, at 1:40 p.m.)

For those who know him well, you know he loved people and loved sharing the gospel with them.  I can't even count the times that he sat on the bench in front of Wal-Mart and witnessed and led people to Jesus as his wife shopped.  I clearly remember his leading a waitress at Pizza Hut in Ohio to the Lord while I sat there eating.  He's reaping those rewards today!  I can still hear him, "Do you know the Lord?" or "Do you know that  you are saved?"

Racing his long legs as a five year old, fishing with him from his motor boat on Mosquito Lake in OH, sitting in doctors' offices, his walking me down my wedding aisle with a huge grin on his face, when he would tighten my back brace for me, me throwing up and Dad not knowing what to do and all I could see were his toes wiggling from nervousness, his growling at my puppy and getting it excited, him reading the paper on the carport while my daughter sat in the swing nearby, the many hospital visits and stays which were always precious cause we got to spend one-on-one time together, our stopping at mom's grave on the way home from work & school and seeing him cry silently,  seeing him walk into church after his recovery from brain surgery and seeing the look of shock on the people's faces, hearing him say "Good Grief!", watching him make a fist and say, "You want 5 upside the chops?!", seeing him get married to my step-mother, listening to his same stories over and over...

Dad would come up at lunch when my husband was home and they would watch Star Trek together, seeing the smile on his face when he saw me and my family at church, hearing him say, "Amen!", the embarrassment of seeing him raise his hand at every business meeting our church held, watching him stand and testify in church of how the Lord saved him and changed him, singing with him at the nursing home, watching him enjoy Olive Garden for the first time, listening to photography lessons on tape in the car, watching him light a grill and run, listening to him talk about the red-headed cockney girl he liked in London during Korean War, watching him work difficult crossword puzzles in pen and complete them!

This is probably boring if you don't know my dad, but if you knew him and loved him I'm sure these are bringing memories to your mind as well. I would love for you to comment and tell me memories you have of him.  I can't even begin to list all the different things that made him such a great Dad, but he was that---a GREAT dad and grandfather and will be missed tremendously around here.  I know going to church is going to be tough for a while cuz it will be strange not seeing him there with me.  But I can't thank the Lord enough for taking him so quickly and peacefully today.  One minute he was breathing regularly and the next he shut his lips and didn't breathe again here on earth...wow!  And, I know that he would've been touched to know that his whole family was there with him.   "Dad, I will miss you these next years here on earth but am looking forward to getting a big hug from you when I reach Heaven's shores one day.  Tell Jesus & Mom I love them...."