TOP TEN 2017

As is our tradition...we all remembered 2016 and the fun things we have done, places we have been, and people we love doing life with!

The Book

Richard wrote a book. He found a niche where there is NO resource and created one! I'm so proud of him, especially since I KNOW how much he doesn't enjoy writing and editing. He's has perfectionist tendencies and so very careful with his words. This is a huge accomplishment.

This book is a resource for churches who are interested in expanding giving opportunities outside of the traditional offering plate. I'm super excited to know that this work of his could give churches more resources for kingdom work. I love that he loves his job and he's not afraid nor does he shy away from doing hard things.

*I received no compensation from the author for this review. The E Giving Guide is available on Amazon. 😜

Slowing Down...a little

When your feet have hurt for 2 years, it's a HAPPY day when you get them fixed! Richard had a bone spur removed and his plantar fasciitus released and he's off his foot until January. It's a busy month...but no flights scheduled, so we're going to wait on him, drive for him, love him and try to stay out of the way of his stroller! 

Dear daughters

Dear daughters (all 4 of you),

I saw a post today written by a mom with this title...Dear daughters, what I want you to know about my wedding. I've decided there are some things you need to know about our wedding, so I'm copying her idea, but these memories are your heritage.

WEDDING PLANNING:
There was no pinterest.
No google.
No digital cameras.

I tore some pictures out of a bridal magazine of the bridesmaids dresses I wanted, a beautiful cranberry colored dress, and a cake design. My mom (Grandma) has always been in retail and we found my dress on a sale rack in under 2 hours. The puffy sleeves WERE in, and they went with my hair, even though I went with a french twist for the ceremony.

I remember ordering the cake from Harps bakery and they wouldn't agree to a non-traditional cake (Italian Cream Cake) because they said it would be too heavy. They did a great job imitating the picture I gave them of the design on the cake.

A lady who owned the only "tea room" in Mtn Home catered my reception. I didn't touch most of the high falutin' food she served but I trusted Mom and Mrs Ponder to choose things for the reception. I remember they were really excited about spinach dip. I didn't touch green veggies during this time in my life, but if it was going to go over well, it was OK with me.

WEDDING DAY:
Our wedding was at 6:00 but the Hogs played Tennessee at 1:30pm. We had our rehearsal the day of the wedding since Richard had to work the night before in Dardanelle. Unfortunately, the game went into overtime and Todd Wright kicked a field goal to win it right before 4 to win it. The unfortunate part was the entire wedding party was at my house watching the game on tv. I didn't take a shower before pictures or shave my legs, and I didn't take quite enough time to check my honeymoon bag for some things that were missing when we arrived across the country. Seems like not a big deal, but we got ready to go to pictures in about 10 minutes and well, I didn't feel quite prepared.

I didn't walk down the aisle to the Wedding March, we asked a friend to marry us because he was young. He didn't live near us so there was no pre-marital counseling. We were his first wedding and he used every word we wrote as our ceremony. We wrote our own vows and ended them with a pledge of I Corninthians 13.

What happened during the ceremony that wasn't planned: the unity candle I was holding came out of the cylinder and almost caught my dress on fire.

I had several sorority sisters serving during the reception. Unfortunately, I was seriously so happy to be leaving my home and marrying my prince, I didn't talk to my friends very much. I regret that now as I haven't spoken to some of them since that night. It wasn't that I wasn't glad they were there, but I was enamored and under the marriage spell.

My bridesmaids dresses turned out to be hot pink, but I didn't admit this until years after the wedding. This was the same year I pulled the pictures out of a sticky photo album that was an expensive gift from friends. Apparently the sticky part of the album wasn't acid free and as the pages turned yellow, I was afraid I'd lose those pictures too. They are now in a box.

Things we noticed right when we got the pictures: Dad's tie was crooked during the pictures and ceremony. He's still a little ticked about that, so don't bring it up or point it out when you see our wedding picture on the wall at Grandma's.

The videographer gave us a video that you cannot pick people out of. Seriously, it's complete "snow." Apparently even though the service at my home church was televised every week, and video was shot from 3 cameras, the cameras weren't in focus because they were set to transfer to the tv station or something and there is nothing but sound and gray lines for our video.

We left with bird seed flying, I had forgotten my shoes to go with my "going away" outfit and borrowed my mother's black flats (2 sizes too big) to run to the car. We drove to my house, 2 blocks away, emptied bird seed from Richard's pants, and were on our way.

AFTER THE WEDDING:
We had to stop at the carwash so Richard could see to drive to Little Rock (3 1/2 hours away) and while he was washing the windows off I looked in the take home box since we didn't eat anything at the reception. It was filled with spinach dip and some crackers.

The hotel in LR lost our keys sometime between midnight and 5:30am...when we had to go to the airport to catch our plane to Nantucket. Fortunately, my spare set was in the bottom of one of our suitcases. We might still be in the lobby there if they hadn't been found. What valet LOOSES YOUR KEYS?

SO, what's the point of this post?

Our life together started before the wedding. We were committed to one another even before we were engaged. We had the most important transformation in our lives when we got our hearts straight with God before we tied the knot. It made us able to battle the hardships that are bound to come when two strong personalities marry, have kids, and breath the same air.

Our wedding was a blip on the screen of the last 23 years married to your dad. It was a special day, but only one day and the wedding was really only a couple of hours. What my dress looked like, what was served at the reception and who put that bird seed down Dad's pants doesn't matter one bit now.

What is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is that Dad chose to love me at that time and he hasn't changed his mind. How do I know? Well, I'm hard to live with and we've had 23 years of ups and downs, and sometimes I ask him how he still loves me and that's when he tells me he committed to me for forever.

That's the kind of person you want to marry. That's the most important thing about our wedding day, are the words we vowed and no matter what has happened or will happen in our lives, we're going to keep our covenant with God and with each other.

Raising up Modern Day Men

Thankful for the men in our family who took our 13 year old nephew, Titus, on a guys day trip to encourage him to be a man of God. Even our youngest men gave their day to help:  Ben came from College Station and Ryan came from Fayetteville. The guys climbed Petit Jean and gave Titus some wisdom from their combined experiences. It's a great thing when men challenge men to become strong, kind and stable men of God. 

Flying High in Frisco

Last day of Spring Break had to be a good one! We thought we were headed to Six Flags, and drove by the roller coasters and talked about it Every. Single. Day... but the wind was high and the park wasn't opening until late and Dad had a back up plan! He and the kids suited up and went flying instead!  The wind tunnel is high and the air is blowing about 65-70 mph. They loved it! Ryan and Katelyn met us there and we went to lunch and did a little shopping before getting on the road for home. 

Spring Break in the City

GREAT memories at Mission Arlington, seeing lots of folks from our past visits and helping get ready for their HUGE Easter Egg hunt. They thought they would have 5000 kids and hoped to have 100,000 eggs stuffed to give out. We wrapped Easter baskets, stuffed eggs, set up a display for a give away and had a great time! Today I can imagine all those children having such a fun time finding eggs and their families hearing the Easter story from the folks during the celebration. 

Tuesday was Richard's birthday and our big plan was to have whatever kind of ICE CREAM he wanted! It's his favorite thing and we were ALL IN! We found a great froyo place and all enjoyed celebrating our great dad! We had lunch at Babe's Chicken House and dinner on Tuesday at Fuzzy Taco Shop. 

We spent the next day visiting the Forth Worth Zoo and playing at a huge arcade and go cart track. It was beautiful outside and we had a good time as a family sight seeing the sky scrapers, the crazy traffic and doing things outside our norm. Richard had booked us room in a motel with an indoor swimming pool, so most evenings the kids swam. It was a great week! 

Father/Daughter Ball

Our church hosted a Father/Daughter Ball on Friday night. Sheridan and Jordan picked beautiful dresses and we fixed hair and prepped for a special night with their dad. Richard wrote each girl a special note declaring them cherished and loved. When they got to the church they were introduced, walked a red carpet and were cheered on by the Mammarazzi! It was a super special night and I'm so thankful for a man who dresses up and takes his girls dancing! Those smiles!!