I have no problem admitting that I have known some of the Pappys of the Day, and honestly the ones I have known have been very special to me.  There is something so amazing about knowing a guy before he was a Dad and seeing them transform from an average guy in to Super Dad.

I knew Dante’s wife, Ellie, before I knew him.  She and I answered phones in windowless room at a University helping people with their Financial Aid. Yes, that job was about as exciting as it sounds haha, but I met some great people there.  She helped train me one day and from the moment we met it was pretty clear we would be friends.  In fact, I was very excited for her to meet my wife because I knew they would get along so well.

As I became closer with Ellie over time and learned about some of the major health obstacles she was facing, her overwhelming joy for life became even more amazing for me.

When she began dating Dante I was guarded just in case he hurt her heart and I needed to beat him up.  Thankfully, though, he protected her heart and made her a happily married woman.

Now they have a beautiful daughter.  The health struggles are still there, but you would never know it to talk to them.  The Buccis are wonderfully solid and Godly people.

Now, this isn’t a Mother’s Day post, so I guess I better let Ellie talk about Dante some!  Here is what she has to say:

As a girl I often dreamed about the man of my dreams and all the baby boys we would have… Yes I said baby boys .. I always saw myself raising boys and then after marrying my husband my desire for little mini Dante’s was even stronger. My husband is an incredible man and in my heart I thought.. There is no better man to raise strong, God fearing leaders. In my mind we needed more Dante’s in the world.. So who better to populate the world with these incredible little boys than the one and only Dante Bucci and I … Well almost exactly one year ago we found out we were pregnant with our first baby!!! Immediately my eyes saw blue..

Well 25 weeks into our pregnancy we went in for the oh so exciting gender reveal ultrasound… To my shock and awe there wasn’t a boy in my belly… Nope there was a precious little lady! Oh my STARS!!!! A GIRL!! I couldn’t believe it.. It wasn’t that I didn’t want a girl it was just that I truly believed that God was calling us to raise boys!

Then I got to thinking and my pregnancy hormones went into over drive.. And oh the tears that started to flow… Gods plans are so much better than ours and His faithfulness is far greater than anything we could have ever imagine! God gave us a precious girl who will be able to experience the most selfless, kind and tender hearted love. Christ shines through my husband.. People see Jesus through the way he cares for Bella and I.

She is being raised by a man who leads by example. His tender hearted spirit and sacrificial love is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. On the drive home from the ultrasound I looked at my husband and I said.. “Well at least we don’t have to worry about her dating.. Because there will never be a man as incredible as her Dad”…

He is more than I deserve and then some… And I couldn’t dream of a better Dad to raise our precious Arrabella… This picture was taken 8 days after she was born.. By the incredible Mykah photography… There will never be another picture that better symbolizes the faithfulness of Lord in my life! Gods faithfulness in a husband who shows Christ’s love to me daily and the answered prayer we have in our precious baby girl! Dante is an amazing father all while he take care for me and all my medical craziness, works full time, teaches part-time, and purses his doctorate degree! Whoever said men couldn’t multitask couldn’t have been more wrong about my husband!

Bella and I love you so much Dante and I couldn’t dream of doing this life with a more incredible husband and father! Happy 1st father day my love!

Lamantions 3:22-23:

 The LORD’S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.