Category Archives: Relationships

April 24, 2008 · 7:00 am

I know this man.


I know this man who loves deeply.  He is selfless.  He loves his family like no other.  He is patient when he takes his daughter fishing and she pees while sitting on the bank.  He will interrupt a busy day to take his son flying in a little red Cessna.  When his wife shares her fears and stresses of life, he responds with a heartfelt, “What can I do?”  He travels to make provision possible, but when he is home, he is all there.

That merits repeating….he is ALL there. 

He is funny.  I mean really funny.  His heart is golden.

He is a loyal friend.  He is an even better daddy.  As a husband, he beats all.

I’m on my annual girls trip, and my thoughts are on him.  But, my thoughts are on him every day.  Sappy, I know.  I like sappy sometimes.   Casey, would you please play “I Know What Love Is” by Celine Dion? 

My dear friend, Jenny, sang this in our wedding.  These words ring more true today than they did August 16, 2003: 

I will fall
And you will catch me always
Time has taught me this
I will fly
And you’ll be there to guide me
Straight up to my heart’s highest wish
I feel you close to me
And I know what love is

I know this man.  I’m so blessed that I do.

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April 21, 2008 · 7:00 am

Wanna make a memory?


It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Georgia, and I hear Miss Anna yelling down the hallway, “Ga-Ga!”  “Ga-Ga!”  “Ga-Ga!”  “It’s time to get up!”  (Ga-Ga is my children’s name of choice for my dad.)  Dad was already up and moving.  After all, it is Sunday, and it probably wouldn’t go over well if he slept in…since he is the pastor.  For real.

Hearing her call for Ga-Ga to wake up made my mind instantly rewind back to being a little girl anxiously waiting for the “okay” from my Grandmother to go wake up my Granddaddy for the morning grub.  I love that memory.

I just love remembering.  Don’t you?  Sometimes we do things with our children with the sole purpose of “making a memory.”  But, I have found that it is the small, unintentional events that really leave a mark.  Like Paw-Paw’s cornbread.  Paw-Paw is John Henry’s grandfather (Bryan’s dad).  And by default, Anna calls him Paw-Paw, too.  As a matter of fact, she refers to Bryan as “Daddy Bryan.”  Remember, this is our normal.  And, we like our normal. 

Kris, the kids and I ate lunch with Bryan’s family yesterday.  I enjoyed Paw-Paw’s cornbread while Anna enjoyed his super cool chair that with a simple push of a button can send her up to the sky.  She was making a memory while I enjoyed reliving one with my cornbread.

It’s my belief that the events in themselves don’t make for a good memory.  It’s the love behind it.  Paw-Paw loved Anna enough to let her go for joy rides in his chair.  And, Bryan’s family loves me enough to still want to share some mighty fine cornbread. 

How do you spell memory?  L-O-V-E.  I know, corny.  I’m allowed from time to time – or from blog to blog.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.  Philippians 1:3

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April 15, 2008 · 7:00 am

I have two daddies.


Once upon a time at a wedding of my dear friend, Brittany, my son served as a ring bearer.  Dressed to perfection, another overheard him say, “I have two daddies.”  Brittany’s friend who heard this rather common phenomenon asked another, “Are his daddies gay?”  I still laugh about this even today.  As for Kris and Bryan (the daddies), well, they find it less comical. 

John Henry has a daddy.  And, before he turned one year, he was blessed with another daddy.  We make it work.  We really do.  You see, we had this novel idea:  John Henry comes first.  We have dinners together, and we have even vacationed together.  I realize how strange my life may seem to some, but for us, it is our “normal”.  Of course, a situation like ours would never work without Kris.  He has never been “territorial”, nor has he ever felt threatened.  He loves John Henry.  Period.  And, because of John Henry, he loves Bryan. 

Here are his two daddies.  (Left: Bryan, Right: Kris, Center: A blessed boy) They are patient and kind.  They are not jealous.  They endure through every circumstance.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

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