Me and my dear old pop in 1973.

I’m adding a lot of random (not in chronological order) photos of my dear old pop throughout this post.

1. What happens to the mail at your house?

90% of it goes in the recycle bin. Bills go in my pay bills folder. Our kids’ mail goes next to the microwave for them to pick up the next time they come over. Magazines that we want to read end up in the family room or next to the toilet.

My older sisters and our pop in January of 2017.

2. Something you always splurge on? Any guilt associated with the splurge?

I’ll always splurge on my kids and on a good meal when we have friends and family over. The best meat with no guilt…just an empty pocketbook.

Josh and Laura with their Dzeda in January of 2017.

3. There are many, but what are two important questions you think every bride and groom should ask/answer before they plan their walk down the aisle?

If the bride and groom are believers these two questions are important. Do you love Jesus? Are you willing to obey him?

Our pop in the 1990’s

Dear and our pop in January of 2017 at Joe and Hannah’s wedding.

Me and my siblings in the 50’s with our pop before our next 4 siblings were born. I’m the youngest in this photo.

4. What’s the best advice your father ever gave you?

I can’t remember him giving me verbal advice. My parents were Russian immigrants and it took them a while to communicate in English. My Russian was dismal so verbal communication was an issue. Modeling was the best communication they gave. I learned a lot from watching them. One thing my parents always were ready to do was to drop everything and head over to someone’s home when they heard that a family member had died or to the hospital when they heard a friend or family member was suffering. They showed up. My mom would take food. They sat and listened and then they prayed with the hurting. My parents also modeled their faith in Bible reading and praying.

January 2015 with half of my siblings.

5. Your favorite movie where a father features heavily in the storyline?

I needed help with this one because my memory failed me. I’m going with Fiddler on the Roof. Teyve and his daughters.

“If I were a rich man…”

Our pop in the early 1950’s at 4635 Oak street in Pico Rivera, California.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Pop in 1967 or 1968 in Montebello while hosting our cheer leading squad for dinner during crazy hat night.

When I was in high school a door to door salesman tried to con my parents to buy a set of encyclopedias that they claimed would help us kids in school. The cost was prohibitive and I confronted the salesman and told him my parents would not be buying the set of books. The salesman was a little hostile and I didn’t back down and showed him the front door. After that incident whenever my father had to go out of town for a job, he’d leave the “purse strings” with me to pay the bills and dole out the money for my mom and the rest of my brothers and sisters. I was a scrooge.

Pop and mom (dzeda and baba) with our kids on Norway Hill in the early 1990’s.

My mom and pop at our niece Debbee’s wedding in April of 2013 five months before my mom passed away.

Me and my siblings with our dear old pop at our mom’s funeral in September of 2013. One brother is missing in this photo.

My pop and oldest sister at the Molokan Cemetery where our paternal grandparents and some uncles and aunts are buried.

Our dear old pop, who is now 95, is struggling more and more and continues to wait on God’s timing for his homecoming.

I’m linking up for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Jo From This Side of the Pond. She asks the questions and we answer them.