Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

happy birthday keith!

We celebrated my sweet husband's 28th birthday this week. It's hard to believe we've celebrated TEN birthdays together!

Keith's 19th bday

On his 19th birthday, our love was new and exciting. We'd been dating for almost a year and though we weren't yet engaged, we both knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.


Keith's 28th b.day

Ten years later, on his 28th birthday, our love isn't as new or exciting, but I love him even more than I did then, because it's committed and normal and comfortable. Living life together has grown our love, and not just the big moments like marriage, graduation, new jobs, moving, and birth, but perhaps even more, the everyday comings and goings, conversations and simply being together. We know and understand each other more. We've laughed and cried together many more times since then. We've talked and listened and thought and questioned and prayed.

I am thankful for my sweet husband and for the ways that he loves Carson and me everyday. I'm thankful we had a day to celebrate him, and I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays together. I wonder what our family will look like in ten more years?!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

happy birthday!

Happy birthday to my dear husband!

Here are just a few of the reasons I love him, acrostic style!

Kind to everyone

Encourages and challenges me

Interested in learning and sharing

Takes time to listen

Honors God by striving to live into his image everyday

We celebrated with a date Friday night! We enjoyed relaxing conversation and a yummy dinner.

Carson was in good hands while we were away. He stayed with his first non-family babysitters, but really, the Cottrells are our local “family”, and we knew they were taking good care of him. He had lots of fun!

Speaking of Carson, watching Keith become a daddy this year has been amazing!

Here are a few of the reasons Carson loves Daddy!

Devoted

Always ready to play

Does so many different things to take care of him every day!

Monday, July 26, 2010

just the two of us

As we anticipate our sweet Carson's arrival, we've spent time reflecting on our life as a family of two. Keith and I met and became friends in March 2002, began dating in April 2002, were engaged in June 2003, and married in December 2003. So, we've been married for six and a half years and have been dating for over eight years! I am so thankful for our time as a family of two. We have had so much fun getting to know one another and growing as a couple. We've laughed and cried. We've traveled and stayed home. We've stayed up late and slept in. We've worked and played. We've talked and listened. We've taught and learned. We've gone on dates and done chores. We've waited and prayed. We've prayed and leaped. It's strange to realize that things will never again be the same. We will continue to love one another fully and spend time as a couple, but we will never again be a family of two. We are thrilled to meet our baby boy and could not be more thankful for the blessing and privilege of raising him, but we'll always remember fondly our time as a family of two! Here's a picture walk down memory lane:)

March 2002. ACU Spring Break Campaign. Eugene, Oregon. New friends.
2002. Dating. What fun we had getting to know one another and falling in love!

2003. We had a beautiful wedding ceremony and promised to God and our family and friends to always love one another! It was the most special day!!

2004. Newlyweds. Making our first house a home in Abilene, Texas. Keith was finishing his undergraduate degree in Christian Ministry at ACU and I was embarking on my first year of teaching at Bonham Elementary.

2005. We were hanging out with friends and enjoying life. Keith started graduate school at ACU, studying ministry and theology. I continued teaching first grade at Bonham.

2006. More grad school and first grade. Keith started preaching at Maryneal every Sunday. We had great time for conversation and reflection as we made the hour drive each week. What a blessing this little church family was to us!

2007. Abilene was still home. ACU, Bonham, and Maryneal filled our time. We had fun traveling to visit friends and family on spring, summer, and holiday breaks. We loved our similar school schedules.

2008. After hours and hours of learning through relationships, practice, reading, lectures, and conversation, Keith graduated with his Master of Divinity degree. We knew our time in Abilene was coming to an end. We began to pray about what was in store. We celebrated five years of marriage and took an amazingly relaxing and fun vacation to the beach!

2009. After much prayer and conversation, we said goodbye to our life in Abilene, Texas and moved to Hohenwald, Tennessee. Keith got a full-time ministry job and I began teaching sixth grade. We will always love Abilene, but Hohenwald has become our new home. Our church family has loved and welcomed us warmly.

2010. We've savored our remaining time as a family of two and anxiously prepared for and anticipated our baby boy's arrival. I have loved being pregnant. Carrying our baby has been an honor and privilege. What an exciting year this has been!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

song lyrics

Tenth Avenue North
Love Is Here

come to the waters, you who thirst and you'll thirst no more.
come to the father, you who work and you'll work no more.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed:

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from
his hands, from his brows.
love is near, it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
cuz love is here.

come to the treasure, you who search and you'll search no more.
come to the lover you who want and you'll want no more, no.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed,

yeah:

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from his hands, from his brows.
love is near, it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.

yeah

and to the bruised and fallen,
captives, bound, and broken hearted.

he is the Lord
he is the Lord,
yeah

by his stripes he's paid our ransom
from his wounds we drink salvation

he is the Lord
he is the Lord

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from his hands, from his brows.
love is near,it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
cuz love is here
love is here.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Uncle Jamie

My last real grandparent passed away about nine years ago. But Misty and I were blessed with a third set of grandparents in Aunt Marie and Uncle Jamie. They never had any children of their own, but they filled the role of parent and grandparent to many nieces, nephews, friends, and neighbors. Last week we got to say good-bye to Uncle Jamie before he passed away. It was really different from other deaths and funerals that I've been a part of. Uncle Jamie has been ready for a long time. He hasn't been complete since Aunt Marie, his wife of 58 years, died three years ago, so it was all quite peaceful and just felt right. My sweet mama took such good care of grandma and Aunt Marie in their last few years of life, and Uncle Jamie was no different. I have learned so much watching my mom love on and care for elderly people all the while helping them maintain as much dignity as possible. She would take Uncle Jamie to Dairy Queen to get a hamburger and milkshake and sit with him and visit for the hour and a half it took him to eat. Throughout the last couple of years, Uncle Jamie referred to Mama as his best friend. When everyone else was driving him crazy, he knew that she loved him and trusted that she had his best interests in mind. Recently my mom started visiting and befriending people who are in hospice. I love and respect my mom so much and I love her example of loving people like Jesus, without expecting anything in return. This is the kind of love that we are all expected to give as we strive to be Christ's ambassadors. Thank you Mama for your sweet and humble example of love. We're going to miss Uncle Jamie but we're thankful for the full life he lived.

Keith and I with Aunt Marie and Uncle Jamie at our wedding.

Celebrating Uncle Jamie's 90th birthday in June


Thursday, March 13, 2008

I am thankful for my Mama and Daddy! They are wonderful! They have always been loving, supportive, and encouraging! On Monday they will celebrate 29 years of marriage. They love each other, take care of each other, and have fun spending time together. Their marriage has been a great example to Keith and I for the past 4.3 years! Thank y'all for all that you mean to us! We love you and hope you have a happy anniversary!

Funny...anyone who knows my dad knows how much he hates wearing ties, and I just realized that I chose three tie pics and it wasn't on purpose:)

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Go Tigers Go!


We're getting excited about cheering on the Memphis Tigers basketball team this evening. The Tigers are 26-0 so far and are ranked number one. They are playing the Tennessee Vols (who are ranked number two) this evening. Keith LOVES basketball, especially the Tigers, and "strongly dislikes" the Vols. He is so excited he can hardly stand it, so I'm excited too! I know Joey, CDR, and Derrick almost as well as my girls, Lorelai and Rory! It should be a fun game. I think it's cool that you can enjoy things that you never thought you would when you love someone. Don't worry, Keith has spent some time in Stars Hollow with me over the years too:) Go Tigers Go!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Happy Birthday Keith!

My sweet husband turns 24 today, so in honor of his special day, I'm going to list 24 reasons I love him:



1. He loves God with all of his heart.

2. He is smart.

3. He is sensitive.

4. He is patient.

5. He is thoughtful.

6. He is friendly.

7. He encourages me.

8. He cuddles with me.

9. He listens to me.

10. He challenges me.

11. He tucks me in at night when he has to stay up late and study.

12. He likes to play games.

13. He always asks me about my day.

14. He is a good preacher and teacher.

15. He loves our church family.

16. He loves our parents.

17. He loves our sisters.

18. He knows my students by name.

19. He is really cute when he gets excited about something.

20. He loves to learn.

21. He is practical.

22. He works hard.

23. Sometimes he is silly with me, because he knows it makes me happy:)

24. He loves me as much as I love him!

Thursday, February 14, 2008




Happy Valentine's Day!


Today I am thankful to love and be loved!


It should be a fun day at school with games, art, pink, red, hearts, candy, and lots of sweet cards from my kids. Then, Keith is in class tonight, so I'm having a Valentine's Day date with my sweet sister!