Dad

A tribute to… my awesome Dad!

1. His favorite saying is “attitude is everything,” and he lives it out by staying happy and peaceful regardless of what’s going on… and is always reminding us that we may not get to choose what happens, but we can choose how we react to it!
2. Loves God; spiritual leader of our home; has a lot of wisdom and spends time with God regularly.
3. God blessed his State Farm business and it is really successful, but he doesn’t just coast on that – he works diligently and always looks for ways to improve their customer service!
4. He grew up with 2 brothers and 3 sisters (he was the youngest brother). I like to call them “The Muecke Bunch!” =)
5. He hates flying, which means we’ve been on a lot of awesome family road trips (including California, Vegas, Florida, Lake Tahoe, and the Grand Canyon), which I happen to love! =)
6. Whenever I come home for the weekend, he always fills my car with gas before I leave… awesome. Umm, he also paid for the car!
7. Loves chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies like I do.  But there are several foods (including pie and cookie dough, oddly enough) that he stubbornly refuses to try... he's missing out! lol
8. VERY generous and faithful in giving!
9. His best friends are Bill Wallace, Bill Lemieux, and Rick Minnich… they have a “fantasy football league” that they do every year, and the winner always hosts the Super Bowl Party and gets a fun trophy! :)
10. He is the one that Bill, Bill, or Rick will call first when anything goes wrong or they need advice… which says a lot… he has wisdom and discernment and is trustworthy!
11. His mom, Doris, was sweet and Godly, and I really wish I’d gotten to know her! Sadly, his dad was self-absorbed and made a lot of bad decisions, and he learned a lot of what not to do from him... (For example, my dad doesn’t hoard his money, he’s involved in what is important to his kids, doesn’t let fear control his decisions, and cares more about his family than his job.)
12. Sports fan – loves ESPN, basketball, football, baseball, tennis, golf, etc. Loves to play golf and is pretty awesome; tried teaching me how to play during my junior year, but I don’t enjoy it quite as much. Lol
13. Very helpful ….around the house, he helps with the dishes, vacuuming, and helps keep things looking nice. He also often brings us dinner on his way home, puts gas in the cars and takes them to get the oil changed regularly, takes care of our insurance and tax paperwork for us, etc!
14. Dependable and loyal; you can count on him to do what he says he will do!
15. Very smart about finance and business and has built a really successful insurance agency (well, with God’s help, I should say).
16. Loves to go to the movies (me too), and we go just about every weekend! He also loves to watch Yankee Doodle Dandy every 4th of July and White Christmas every Christmas.
17. He bought our first dog, Kelsey, because Rach and I begged him to and said we’d do all the work… which he totally ended up doing. He was Kelsey’s favorite, and I’m sure he’ll be Rylee’s as well!
18. We have family get-togethers or have people over fairly often, and for a lot of those, he cooks out awesome steaks (well, I’m not a big steak fan, but everyone really loves them).
19. When Rach and I were little, he would read Timmy and Tommy Tiger stories to us, and I remember playing that game and “rocket ship” (where he just threw us really high) a lot. =)
20. Ultra supportive and encouraging to Rach and I, and always proud of us!
21. An excellent and generous boss to his employees at SF. Highly respected by his employees and clients. And he’s good at keeping the peace when someone gets irrationally mad at him.

22.  Humble enough to admit when he makes a mistake... a rare quality in men these days!
23. Loves to watch Charles Stanley, The Gaithers, all sports, and the news. Lol
24. Great with kids… with us when we were little, and he used to teach kids’ Sunday School at FSBC and really was awesome and a great influence there!
25. Definitely not a whiner or complainer, and rarely gets upset or angry. Levelheaded and lives with joy, peace, and gratitude!