Today is my father’s birthday, therefore, I thought it would be appropriate if I shared a few things that are special about him besides the fact that he is the best dad in the world.
First and foremost, Dad is a musician. Some of my earliest memories are of listening to him play. Dad’s piano is for our family what Pa Ingalls’ fiddle was to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family in the pioneer days.
Here is a picture of Dad playing at my parent’s wedding. He played an entire recital before my mother walked down the aisle with repertoire from classical composers including Bach and Liszt. My mom listened from another room and said it was definitely good enough music to get married to.
He also loves to play duets with my mom. By the time they finished the one in the photo, the story goes that there was not a dry eye in the church. It’s always a grand time in our house when they pull out their old Neilson and Young two piano duets and start playing.
This picture was taken before Dad met Mom. He was part of a barber shop quartet in college and arranged the music for this foursome. He’s third from the left.
One thing my father absolutely loves is, of course, my mother. They met while on music tour in 1981. My mom auditioned for the position of pianist for a 65 member drama-music group that took the program “World Missions in Review” throughout the eastern US and into Canada. When she found out that my father, who had a reputation of being a fantastic pianist/composer/arranger, would be directing the music end of the tour, she did not want to go. As destiny (providence) would have it, my father sat down next to her when the only seat on the bus left was the one beside her. The rest was, as they say, history…
This photo was taken a few months later after they became engaged.
And here is one of my favorite wedding pictures.
Dad also likes loves to read. He’s always reading something. It’s either theology, history, music, or science. Hmm… sounds just like me! Here he is on their honeymoon, reading in the Rudyard Kipling library of the Old Tavern in Grafton, Vermont.
My dad also enjoys historical places. Here he is enjoying an afternoon on the porch of an historic inn. The first year of their marriage, my father took my mother to many historical places on the Hudson River near where they lived. Whenever we are traveling, he likes to stop and find out the local history or stop at battlefields and historical buildings. He especially loves the history of the Church.
Dad loves to fish - I mean he really loves to fish. He’s got some pretty good fish stories. He says it was one good way to start a marriage, as evidenced in this picture taken in Vermont in 1982.
He takes us fishing a lot on vacation, though we usually don’t catch anything. This picture was taken at the Little Buffalo River in Arkansas in 2000. My father is a certified public accountant, but when it comes to vacation, my mother takes on the accountant hat. She has figured out that fish per pound varies according to region. In southeastern OK we came in at $86 a pound. In Galveston it was something like $140 a pound. I can’t remember exactly. I only remember her adding up fishing license fees, boating fees, worm fees, line fees, and etc. and then costing that against how much fish came home for supper. Dad says the real value is in the experience.
Here’s one time when we did catch something - and it was big enough to keep! This is a Largemouth Bass caught in a stream somewhere in the Texas Hill Country, 2005. Dad caught it, but Annie inspected the little guy.
Speaking of vacations, that something that Dad also enjoys doing. He takes us to a lot of places.
Here is Dad on his 40th birthday with Matthew. We were vacationing at the time in east Texas, and the picture was taken at the Caldwell Zoo. Each child is taken to this zoo during the first year of his/her life and this trip was for Baby Emily, so this is Matthew’s second visit.
Back in 2006, Dad took us for a surprise vacation to the Grand Canyon.
This was our 2000 year trip to the Ozarks of Arkansas when he took us hiking right into the mouth of a cave! Annie, who is a little over a year old, is on his back.
One of my favorite memories is when Dad took us to three consecutive Vision Forum Father/Daughter retreats. Here we are in 2005 at Calaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.
Dad also likes to do projects with us, such as putting together bunkbeds and bird houses, science experiments and more.
This picture was taken on vacation in 1990. I am almost four years old and Kathy is almost two. As to what we are building, I don’t remember what in the world it was!
Here is Dad building my brother’s tree fort, the Falconhusrt in 2005.
We do a lot a family traditional stuff around here too, with Dad usually officiating.
Here we are on Passover in April of 1995. Dad came up with a Christian Passover in order to teach us about God’s redemptive grace in a very hands on, practical way. We will be celebrating Passover this weekend and our table is now twice the size. We love this meal because it is the only time we have leg of lamb.
Another Spangler family tradition is to plant a tree after each child’s birth. Here are all of us in 2004 planting Kimmy’s tree.
One of my favorite holiday pictures is “like father - like son.” This picture was taken at Christmas, 1999 and the overall boys ruled the scene.
One very, very important thing my dad loves is us children.
This is the very first picture of Dad and me taken in 1986. I am between five to ten minutes old.
Dad introducing me to Kathy when she was born in 1988. She is barely ten hours old. I am not yet two years old.
This is Dad with Matthew just minutes after he helped deliver him at home in September, 1995.
Dad and Abigail in 2003.
Dad with Kimmy in 2005.
My father inherited several things from his father and grandfather. One of those things is that my father loves the Christian church …. the music, the preaching, the people, evangelism, and especially the Bible. There is not a day that goes by that my dad doesn’t talk to me about the Word of God. My grandfather was a church elder for many, many years and has led many people to Christ and discipled them. My great-grandfather was a lay preacher and followed God’s will in turning from a banking career and instead gave his life to full time Christian ministry, caring for missionaries coming home on furlough. My father’s strong faith stands on the shoulders of these two outstanding men in his heritage. Along with inheriting this spiritual fruit, my father inherited a strong green thumb from his father and grandfather. Consequently, gardens have figured prominently in the Spangler household over the last several years and my dad often brings spiritual illustrations to life through our garden.
Here’s Dad with the summer harvest in 2001. Emily helped harvest.
Dad is an excellent baker, not to mention chef. His sourdough French breads are the most delicious I’ve ever tasted. This picture was taken in 1988 shortly before my sister, Kathy, was born.
This is my absolute favorite picture of Dad with Mom and me. I wouldn’t have been quite a year old when this picture was taken.
Well, I can’t finish this without mentioning that my father has an incredible sense of humor that keeps us laughing even during hard times. People think he is sooooo serious, but he is really a funny person the more you get to know him.
We have laughed over this picture for a long time. Dad was in highschool when it was taken. The denim coat he is wearing had over 100 safety pins on it … from 3/8ths of an inch to the big ones that were several inches long. My mom wonders if he couldn’t decide whether or not he was born on the right side of the tracks, or if he was just waiting to hook a ride with an oncoming locomotive.
On my parent’s honeymoon, Mom learned the hard way what happens when Dad innocently sets his camera down. He has a timer on it!
Here is my dad at his forty-seventh birthday with his birthday Banana Cream Pie. Blowing out candles can be quite a ritual in our family. We call this the Frankenstein picture, even though none of us has seen a Frankenstein picture.
I decided to do a photo tribute to my father because to write what he means to me would have taken weeks to write and a book to fill. My father is a man who knows God, loves God, and serves God. He has an unshakeable belief in the sovereignty of God that gives the foundation for our family. But his Christianity doesn’t stay on paper or in sermons or in his library books. He takes what he believes and lives it. From the time I was a little girl, I knew my dad would take care of me. When I was small, I thought he went to work everyday so that he could buy potato chips for us. In fact, that is a standing joke at our house that I thought that was what his paycheck was for. Now I know that he does all that he does to serve God, our family, and our church so that we can have Living Food, the kind that lasts for an eternity.
Thanks, Dad.
