Tag Archives: Love

April 29, 2008 · 7:00 am

Women who have influenced me. (2 of 5)

Judy Young

Judy came into my life when I was only three years old.  Her daughter, Bonnie, has been my best friend since we were tots which pretty much crowns Judy as my second mom.  I’m sure she’s worn that crown proudly.  For real.

Judy has experienced everything with me from the loss of my first tooth to the birth of my firstborn.  She has cleaned up my messes, played games with me (this was no sacrifice – she loved to play more than I), watched me become mesmerized with Tinker Bell flying from atop of the Disney castle, and loved on me like her own.  All of this by itself is enough to make her shine in my life, but she has been more.

She believes big.  I mean really big.  Her faith is big.  She not only believes big for little ole’ me, but she believes big for the local church.  She loves the local church more than anyone I have ever known.  I have never, EVER heard her criticize the church.  She only speaks positive and powerful affirmations over the house of God.  You see, Judy believes that God really does live in the local church.  And, that’s just cool.  

She understands that God is truly in control.  And, she believes that the best is yet to come – always.

She’s called me many affectionate names over my lifetime, but for the past few years, she has come to call me “Grasshopper”.  She believes that God uses me and wants to continue to use me.  Oh, I get weekly e-mails where she gently pushes me into all that God has for me.  She dreams big and believes big. 

There is no one like her.   I’m beyond grateful that she has imparted to me the gift of BIG.  And, this little grasshopper loves her big.

5 Comments

Filed under God Stuff, Relationships, Spiritual Journey

Tagged as , , , , ,

April 28, 2008 · 7:00 am

Women who have influenced me. (1 of 5)


I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by some pretty spectacular people in life – men and women.  I decided to take an opportunity to celebrate a few of the women who have imparted to me throughout my life.  Any good in me is largely due to their influence.  While my mom stands in front, I’ve decided to celebrate her for a nice Mother’s Day write-up.  Besides, who else would I talk about on Mother’s Day?

So, this week is dedicated to a few of those women.

Susan Woodward (A.K.A. Mimi)

I have known Mimi since 1985.  That would have barely put me into double-digits in terms of age.  She has loved on me with the greatest of depth since that day.  She has rejoiced with me, and she has been one of my greatest encouragers when I’ve suffered. 

I’ll never forget her coming to visit me and my newborn baby boy.  While I was experiencing so many joys as a new mom, I was also enduring one of the most difficult times in my life.  I was facing life as single mother with a broken heart, and I could barely catch my breath most days.  Sitting next to me on my living room sofa, Mimi gently embraced me and said, “Dusty, one day you will look back, and this will have been only a bump in the road.”  I struggled to wrap my brain around her confidence, but I held onto to her words.  Today, I can say without hesitance, it was a bump in the road.  She believed.  She prayed.  She loved.  And, so it was.

Mimi wakes up daily with a freshness of God.  Her spirituality is truly new every morning.  She has walked with God many years and still gets excited about the things of Him.  One would think she just got saved only a week ago.

She has the purest love for the body of Christ of anyone you will ever meet.  She loves people.  She is the greatest encourager and prayer warrior.  If you ask Mimi to pray, rest assured she will.   

She lives out the 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love.  She endures all things, believes all things, and hopes all things.  Mimi’s love never fails.

8 Comments

Filed under Relationships, Spiritual Journey

Tagged as , ,

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.

1 Comment

Filed under gratitude, Relationships

Tagged as ,

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

4 Comments

Filed under Motherhood, parenting, Randomness, Relationships

Tagged as , ,

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

9 Comments

Filed under divorce, parenting, Relationships

Tagged as , , ,