dad

 
This morning, I’m waking up in my beautiful hometown of Chicago—about a mile from the house that I grew up in. My dad passed away twenty-three years ago today in this city. Steve and I took the boys to the cemetery for the first time to see my dad’s and sister’s side-by-side gravestones. Nolan isn’t at the age yet to understand any of it, but it was special for me to take him there nonetheless.

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My favorite throwback photo of him!

Miss you so much, Dad!

On his stone is the verse John 11:25:

“Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.’”

 

 

Linking up with Jessica.

throwback to Easter 1990

I want to share three of my very favorite pictures.

This first photo is my dad, Bruce, with my sister, Hannah (age 6) and me (age 2.5). We’re in our backyard in Chicago on a beautiful Easter morning. We lost my dad about a year later, and Hannah passed away at 17, making these Daddy & daughter photos very rare, and extremely special.


We headed over to my grandparents’ house in Portage, Indiana for dinner and the annual Easter egg hunt. My grandparents would hide numbered eggs—you could only find one egg of each number—so that all of us would get the same amount of eggs, with similar prizes inside.
My grandma liked to line up the six cousins into age order for a photo—we are all about a year apart!
Kara (8), Zac (turning 7), Hannah (6), Lindsay (5), Dayna (turning 4), and me (almost 3).

We had a studio photo taken as well!

Kara owns a clothing shop in Brooklyn, New York.
Zac is married and lives in Indianapolis.
His sister Dayna is married with two little kids in Houston.
And Lindsay (bottom right) is married, lives in Illinois, and just had her first baby in January. Her Tristan is five days older than my Ephraim! :)

I can’t wait for the next time we can be together, since it’s very few and far-between.
 
Linking up with Jessica for Throwback Thursday!

HB, Dad.

Just sharing some photos of my dad on what would be his 56th birthday.

Working at camp in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
 
Number 4 out of 6 kids.
 
Front center. (With his mom, brother Dan, sister Karen, & brother Paul.)
 
brothers: Brian, Paul, Bruce.

Playing around at camp.


With my mom in college. I have this one framed in my kitchen.


Getting ready for my sister Hannah to arrive.

 
Love all of these.

june 19

I’ve been thinking about my dad today. He has been gone 22 years, and I think I will stop counting this year—that’s just too many. June is my favorite month because it’s full of summer, anniversaries, weddings, vacations, family. And this sadder day always slips in among the happy ones.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of him.

my Uncle Brian, my Uncle Paul, and my dad—with the contagious smile.

I’ve always loved this one.

My mom and dad were married 35 years ago on June 10th in Portage, Indiana. He was 20, and she was 21. I’m including the bridesmaid photo, because I just love that smile.

a few years later

me, my dad, and my sister Hannah in our Chicago backyard

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”  Psalm 73:26

dad

 This cute guy would have been 55 today.  Happy Birthday, Dad!

"Nothing can make up for the absence of someone whom we love, and it would be wrong to find a substitute; we must simply hold out and see it through. That sounds very hard at first, but at the same time it is a great consolation, for the gap, as long as it remains unfilled, preserves the bonds between us." 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  P.S. Dad, your namesake Nolan Bruce turned 13 months-old today!