Ressigue Street, 1972

Now It's Time To Be A Dad

It's a girl!! They said, and you were glad.

Now it's time to be a dad.

First you start with hugs and kisses,

Gentle smils a great big wishes.

You change some diapers here and there,

Wash a hand or comb some hair.

Slowly times begins to fly,

A couple years have now gone by.

Stern looks of face appear more often,

As the rod is applied to bottom.

Character you begin to crave.

Into a sour, morally starved.

Then one day a light appears;

Sin is dissolved in repentant tears.

The job of father, now been transferred

Up to heaven, your prayers were answered.

  by Amy(first born)Flood

Well, it is time to visit our stay on Ressigue Street in Boise, Idaho in 1972. We moved to this small house from the little apartment on 8th street soon after Chris graduated from the U of I. She was pregnant with what turned out to me our first daughter Amy. We moved there in June I believe. It was a hot summer and we didn't have a.c. As the pregnancy advanced and so did Chris's mid-section, the heat became an issue, particularly in the evenings. We would walk several blocks to a little ice cream shop where we could buy "dilly bars"! They were some kind of dipped ice cream on a stick and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  So we would walk there, eat the dilly bars and walk back home. We somehow managed to buy a breeze box fan which sat in the window in the bedroom so we could at least have a bit of a breeze when we went to bed. Keep in mind, that Boise is on the edge of the desert so the humidity was very low and it always cooled off by late night so we made it through the summer. Our little house, (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, small kitchen and nice sized living room with a partially finished basement where the laundry room was located.) was very enjoyable and the extra size compared to where we had been living was great. I was working at a farm equipment dealer about 15 miles away. In mid September, our pastor's wife called me at work and told me that Chris was in labor and they had taken her to the hospital. I didn't believe her at first because they had played a couple of tricks on me before trying to "scare" me about the delivery. Anyway, she finally convinced me to go to the hospital and sure enough, Chris was there and I only got to see her just a few minutes before they took her into the delivery area. Yes, in those days, dads were not allowed to see anything!! I was very ignorant of what would happen (by the way I was 21 years old!) and wasn't too concerned when it was quite a long time before they came out to tell me that I had a baby girl. Hurray!!!. The delivery had been pretty tuff but Chris and Amy were both fine.The doctor told me the bright red marks on her head from the use of forceps would go away in a short time! (To all of you Doulas out there, don't tell an ignorant young father such things...) I had to leave a very few minutes later and run to the Boise airport to pick up my mother who came to help out. Two days later, I brought my lovely wife and beautiful baby girl home. While I was working full time, I only made $300 per month. Even in 1972 that wasn't much and the cupboards were pretty bare when my mom showed up.  We were used to praying in food etc and living with just a little but my mom was appalled and of course went to the grocery store. What a blessing to us. My parents helped us out quite a bit at that time (new tires on our car, food, some baby stuff etc.) and we were very grateful.  Well, Chris was a great mother and we settled in pretty well with our new baby. When the winter of 1972-1973 came on us, we had an extremely cold snap even for Boise, Idaho. It got down to 22 or 23 below zero and the car wouldn't start and then the oil for the furnace (above ground 300 gallon tank) actually jelled so much that it wouldn't flow so the furnace wouldn't work. We had to go to a friends house one night until it warmed up enough. We actually took a heating pad we had and wrapped it around the oil line. It wasn't the best thing but it worked and we were glad to have heat. During that same winter, Chris's brother in law from the far north of Idaho killed a deer and had it processed and then found a mutual friend who was coming to Boise and sent the meat to us. We were very pleased at first....but after several weeks of venison only, we could hardly make ourselves smell or face a "deer burgher!"  But we were thankful for the food. (I still can't handle venison!)  Well, we made it through the winter. My dear wife was so patient and thrifty and willing to do without a lot of things. Our rent was $100 per month plus utilities. Since I was only making $300 per month it didn't leave much. We prayed a lot and saw the Lord provide for us in many, many ways. We have lots of good memories of living in this little house.  You won't believe what happend next, but that's another story of our lives spent "passing through."



I had a good reason why the lean finances did not bother me so much.  You see when I graduated in medical technology, I was offered a nice job in a hospital laboratory with the potential of making three times what Rod was making.  I took the job of course with the stipulation that I would start after our baby was born.  But--one look at that sweet face and the thought of putting her in a day care really caused me to evaulate what was most important.  Rod said that I could stay home with her if I wanted.  I did want to do just that.  He was the one who paid the highest price as he dropped out of school to work long hours with not a lot of material things to show for his labor.  But God--blessed us with lots of friends, many answered prayers, and a very happy precious baby girl.  What more do you need in life really?