happy birthday dad!

today is my dad's birthday and i thought i would tell you all a little about this remarkable person. i know this is a really long post, but a short post wouldn't do my dad justice.

(dad, i know i may have some facts mixed up... you can send me a revised version later :) )

my dad was born in torreon, mexico the first of 7 kids. he was a healthy, mischievous boy. when he was very young he fell ill and as a result he actually lost most of his hearing in both ears. living at that place and time, there wasn't much medical advancement in that area and there were no specialty schools that he could attend. he went to school with all the other kids his age and never had an opportunity to learn any sort of sign language. despite this "disability" my dad was a very smart kid and he headed most of his classes.

by the end of his elementary school years, my grandpa decided that he needed to move his family to the united states. he brought my dad here and had his papers filled out for u.s. citizenship. now that he was here, he was thrown into a completely different language. being deaf, you can imagine how hard it would be to now have to learn english! he learned it very quickly and begin to excel in all of his classes. his teachers loved him. he was so smart! he graduated and went on to college.... where he met my mom.

after being married for just one month, my mom got pregnant with my sister! my father was forced to work and was unable to continue to go to school. he worked very hard for his family. during the day he took care of us, while my mom worked and in the evenings he headed off to work. i have very vague memories of my dad taking care of me during the day, i do remember sitting on his lap while he read the paper. my dad loves to read! which attributes to why he knows so much about everything. he is always reading! he is a fast reader with incredible comprehension. believe me when i say, that if you ask him about anything, he will probably know the answer. if jeopardy is ever on... watch out, you won't believe how many questions he gets right!

before i started kindergarten, my mother was offered a job at the grand canyon and our family moved from denver to grand canyon. my dad began working odd jobs around town. he was far too smart for these jobs, and i think he believed so too, so in his mid 30's he decided to go back to school, i was in first grade. i can't imagine how intimidated i would be going back to college, being much older than most of the students and having a hearing disadvantage. but my father just went for it. those years were very difficult for me. i was very, very close to my dad and during the week he lived in flagstaff and attended nau while we stayed at the grand canyon. every single sunday that he had to drive back to flagstaff, i cried. i hated to see him leave and i was too young to understand that he was only trying to make our lives better. i had a hard time every single week. i always missed him. on the weekends he would come home and i was always so excited to see him. he attended school during the summer and i was able to spend some time with him up at nau. i always had fun at the summer day camps that he enrolled us in while he was in class.

by the time i was in fourth grade he had graduated with his bachelor's degree in chemistry. chemistry! later when i was in college and was struggling with one of my classes, i asked him how he did it. how did he keep up in his classes not being able to hear his instructors? he told me that he sat up in the front and tried to read the teacher's lips, copied down notes from the board and then came home and studied the books and taught himself most of the curriculum. he worked twice as hard as the students among him and he never used his deafness as an excuse... ever. i admire him so much for that and ridicule myself for wimping out on anything that i feel is too difficult. i can't wait to go back to school and finish my degree myself. i know i'll need a lot of his encouragement when i do so!

after my dad graduated, he applied for various chemist positions and finally received a job offer for the city of phoenix. he moved to mesa and started working while my mom applied for jobs out here. she was finally offered a job and in the middle of my fifth grade year we moved to mesa. after many years of living apart we were finally together as a family.

being the scientific person that he is, my dad was not particularly a religious person. his family was mostly catholic, but he didn't necessarily carry that with him. he was a skeptic. it is very difficult for someone of such scientific beliefs to rely on faith instead of proven experiments and data. however, my dad supported my mom's beliefs and encouraged us to attend church with her. he was very open to the mormon missionaries coming to our house, in fact he loved having them over. they were all very kind and friendly and he loved talking with them. at times he posed very difficult questions for them, and their answers were not enough for him. he chose over and over not to be baptized, although he still kept his home open to the missionaries. for over 5 years, the missionaries visited with my dad. he had had the missionary discussions over and over again, but he still was not convinced that this church was true. one evening, while the missionaries were over, they told him that there wasn't much more that they could teach him, and that he now needed to make the step on his own. they set a date for his baptism and told him that he could cancel if he needed more time or felt that he wasn't ready. my dad nervously agreed and told them he would pray about it. the following week, the missionaries came back to see if he was still set on the date. a change had come over him... he felt ready, and knew that this is what he needed to do. he was no longer afraid and was ready to rely on faith. a few weeks later he was baptized. from the moment that my dad made the decision to be baptized he only looked forward. he never let go of his scientific beliefs, he only added to them, with religious beliefs. he has a wonderful testimony of this church and loves to share it with others. he tells me often how blessed he is. a week before my husband and i were sealed in the temple, my parents had the opportunity to be sealed as well. it was a beautiful day.
my dad, still works as a chemist for the city of phoenix. he tests the water to make sure that is safe to drink. (disclaimer: he knows it tastes terrible, even he chooses to drink bottled water instead, but it's not his job to make it taste better, only to test the levels and make sure that it's safe.) not only does he keep busy working full-time, but he also spends much of his time off taking care of the many properties that he owns. (3 homes, 1 tri-plex apt. complex, and a mobile home park in kansas.) he is such a handyman and can fix anything! he's always teaching my husband how to do new things. he knows how to fix cars, electronics, computers, appliances and anything around the house or yard. he knows so much about tax laws and other intimidating subjects. i fear the day that i won't have him around to help me. he also volunteers much of his time to a project called water for people. this organization helps impoverished countries to build wells and develop their own water purification systems. he currently is the treasurer of this organization and has been for quite a few years now. he is always so willing to help others, he is such a selfless person.

my dad loves his family and always wants the best for them. he loves us so much and always tells me that he wishes we would all move in with him. he's joking of course... or is he? he loves his grandchildren and will drop everything he's doing just to get down on the floor and play with them or take them for walks and show them the world.

he is always willing to help any of us out with anything. there have been countless days that he has sacrificed to help me, bryce, my sister or her husband with yard work, car repairs, home repairs or babysitting. he always has great advice and encouraging words for me. he is always so grounded and helps me to keep my feet on the ground too. i honestly couldn't have asked for a better dad. i am so proud of all of his accomplishments and admire his hard-working attitude. his life could've turned out so much differently if he had used his deafness as an excuse. i only wish that one day i can accomplish half of what he has accomplished. i love you dad... happy birthday!!!