Yesterday as I was driving home from the field after helping my farmer check a sprinkler, I was listening to music. My Pandora sing-along session was suddenly interrupted by an ad. (It's safe to sing out loud when you're driving the side-by-side. No one but God can hear you and he says it's all a "joyful noise," so you're safe!)

The ad was for a big chain home remodeling store. The premise of the ad was to buy tools or supplies for dad so he could do more... more than what he's already doing.

I don't know about your farmer, but mine does not need more projects or things to do. And honestly, he sure doesn't need another tool. In fact, there's a saying in our house that "Dad can fix anything," but I'm not sure he wouldn't mind sharing some of that glory with someone else! Tired or not, stressed or not, busy or not, he always comes through. He truly can fix anything.

What my farmer needs is rest and relaxation, a way to turn his brain off for two seconds, but that's hard to come by during a planting season that began in another year of drought only to be doused by more than half our annual rainfall in a matter of weeks, pushing planting to mid-June, rather than May. We will take rainfall over drought any day! It's changed the mood in our household and within our farming community. Hope is a powerful thing!

Related:Three things I’ve learned from Dad

The last couple of months, I've watched my farmer stand at our daughter's college graduation with pride in his heart and tears in his eyes as they called her name and she walked the stage. I witnessed a similar reaction a week later as our son made his way down the auditorium aisle for high school graduation at his dad's alma mater. And the ache in his heart as his baby girl walked out in a blue dress for her first formal banquet. Why is it so hard to see the youngest grow up?

These are the faces of his hard work, who motivate him to persevere when he's facing yet another year of drought, high input prices and volatile markets -- all things out of his control. These are the faces that he faithfully returns home to each night, only to get back up and do it all again.

This weekend we celebrate dads. I celebrate my farmer but I also celebrate the countless dads I've had the opportunity to interview or photograph. I've included a few in this slideshow. Thank you dads for all you do! I've said it before, but you're a big deal. Your role in our lives matters. The sacrifices you make to invest in and provide for your family are not wasted nor go unnoticed.

Some will celebrate their dads in person, others through Facetime or a phone call and yet there will be those who will remember with nostalgia and grief as their dads have passed on. May you be comforted.

Related:Dads: You're a big deal

Happy Father's Day to our dads out there! We appreciate all that you do! And remember, you're a big deal!