Thursday, May 26, 2011

What time is it? Summer time!!

Well, we survived another school year!!  Now just counting down the minutes until it is officially over.  I actually get out a day earlier than my kids so I am planning on ending my day with a lunch with Mark and Madison. 

Looking forward to summer!  Got to get the pool up and start making the "to do" list.  I figure the earlier I get started I may actually get everything done that I want to before August gets here! 

Lots of things happening over the next few months and can't wait to share some of those with everyone soon!

So here is to our summer vacation full of plans, cook-outs, sleeping in, swimming, trips, projects and memories!!

P.S.  Stayed tuned for updates!!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Part 3

After Mark and I said our "I do's", we headed off for a two week honeymoon to the Smoky Mountains and Disney World!!  We had a great time just getting to know each other again.  Being separated for 11 months makes you appreciate that person so much more!
Over the next few years, we enjoyed our life together.  We both had finished school, had acquired great jobs, built a house, got two dogs, and then one day it was time to start a family!  Five years and 3 months after we got married, our lives were forever changed with our first baby, Reagen Rose!! Then 22 months later, Kennedy Raine came along. Then 2 years later, Lincoln James Weldon, and then 2 yrs and 9 months after Lincoln, we were blessed with the fourth and final installment of our family, Madison Hope!

That's a lot of kids in a short amount of time!  But I wouldn't change that for anything!!!!

Mark and I have been blessed to have a wonderful family and home life.  Over the past years, we have often thought about our future and what we want out of life itself.  Obviously, the number one thing we want most is to seek and know God's will for us.  That's a hard thing to know sometimes.  I guess that is where our faith comes in to help us lean more on God than ourselves.  Recently, Mark has read a number of books that basically help you understand what you want out of life.  He has come up with a life statement that I am looking forward to seeing it come to pass: Pursue the extraordinary!

As Mark and I try to pursue the extraordinary, not only for us but for our kids as well, we hope that our story continues to touch and bless people as we continue down this road called life!!

Stay tuned......

Thursday, May 5, 2011

My Life Part 2

I know some believe in "love at first sight" and that is exactly what happened for Mark.  That first sight of me was all he needed to know that he was going to marry me someday! How's that for a happy ending! I guess the first time I saw Mark, I thought I had a decent chance on having a date with him but I didn't get to talk with him that first night thanks to my Uncle Mike!  If you don't know my Uncle Mike, you have missed out!  He has a story for everyone. He had Mark's attention that evening and it wasn't until Sunday that I actually got to speak with Mark.  Over the next few months we began to get to know each other through the singles class at church and then he eventually asked me out!  I actually was waiting for a LONG time for him to do that and I even was "dating" someone when he finally asked.  He picked me up in his car (a red topaz with a nice sunroof), and we went to the movies (my choice- The 3 Musketeers) and finished up at Pizza Hut.  He didn't kiss me on the first date but he did on the second.  He actually asked if he could kiss me and with my braces and all he did.  I guess you could say that was the start of a beautiful thing. 
We had our ups and downs over the next 6 months or so and then one day it finally hit me.  He's the one!  All the years of praying for the right man and imagining who he was and where he lived came flooding in at that moment.  Mark was the one God made specifically for me!!  He had everything I had prayed for in a husband and then some!  I didn't have to compromise my wish list for anything. 
Then after a one year separation, (thanks to the AirForce via Korea) we made it official!  On June 22, 1996, I became a Mrs!

Part 3 next time