A Family Reunion on the Fly!

Richard's sister Diane and her family came down to the beach for a few days of vacation. Before they left home last Saturday to come down, they called to invite us to come out to their condo. On the spot, we made plans to do that on Monday afternoon and invited Amy and the kids to ride out with us (during Brian' work day) which they did. We had such a nice visit with Mike, Diane, Rebecca, Rob-Mindy-Mataea, and Joanna. We hadn't seen them since last Christmas so it was an extra-special blessing. They hope to be able to come to our house for the family reunion next week. I hope it happens!!!

Here are a few pics...
#1 Aunt Joanna (turned 15 in Destin!) with Baby Mataea
#2 Amy, Jaden and Baby Mataea
#3 Playing the Wii L-R: Rob (Mindy's husband), Rebecca, Mindy, and Joanna in the chair. Josh, Jaden and Belle staqnding in front of the TV.
#4 Mommy Mindy with her Mataea
#5 "Dee-Dee" (Granny Diane) and "Big Pop" Mike with Mataea as Mindy looks on

All of the pictures I made are in a Kodak Album:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nhewoo3.2x3mq303&x=0&y=-8em26j&localeid=en_US

Videos made during our visit with Mike, Diane and Their Family

Mataea "talking" to her Great Aunt Susan:



Singing "Happy Birthday" to Joanna:



Amy asking Jaden to sing a song or quote a Bible verse for his Great Aunt Diane:

Wedding Video Clips

I made video during the wedding (no flashes or sounds to interfere) and here are some clips I have put up on Youtube and Godtube.

The first part of the wedding ceremony and a sleepy ring-bearer:


The Unity Candle Lighting:




The Wedding Vows:




Pronouncement as Husband and Wife and the Kiss:

The Relationship between Sarah Pender and our Jaden

We have known Sarah's family for some 10 years. Her folks are dear friends and so the family is precious to us. Sarah came here for college and spent 5 years as our campus daughter. During those years, we had our campus daughter overs once a month for dinners, parties, etc. so I figure that Sarah was in our home 9 times a year for 5 years for a total of 45 times. Of course, there was once or twice when we had to cancel an activity and another once of twice that Sarah wasn't able to come over with her campus sisters, so I know she was still in our home no less than 35 times in 5 years.

Our daughter and her family live next door to us. Sarah is GREAT with kids and loved on our three grandkids whenever she would see them. And then in November 2004, our daughter gave birth to Jaden. Sarah LOVES babies and enjoyed watching him grow from a newborn to a 2-1/2 year old by the time she graduated in May 2007. She kept Jaden in the nursery at church and also babysat for Brian and Amy on occasion.

So, when Sarah got engaged in February of this year, she called Amy and asked if Jaden could be her ring bearer. Of course, Amy said "YES" and we all had a wonderful time at Sarah's and Josh's wedding yesterday.

Here are a few pics of Sarah meeting newborn Jaden, of Sarah and Jaden in our car when we were taking her to the airport after her graduation, and then of her and Jaden at the wedding. There's a lot of history!!

Jaden-the-Ring-Bearer Video!

Jaden in the Processional:




Jaden in the Recessional:

Jaden The Ring-Bearer in Sarah Pender's Wedding

Jaden did it!!! He did a real nice job of being the ring-bearer in Sarah's and Josh's wedding today. It is was lovely wedding with a beautiful bride, handsome groom, and darling ring-bearer. (Grandma is prejudiced, okay???!!!)

I will post a few pics I made (didn't make any DURING the ceremony) and have some precious video (made DURING the wedding) to share as time allows. Amy made a lot of pics when it was allowed during the formal pre-wedding picture-making session. If she shares with me, I will post some of them.

These pics:
#1) Sarah and Jaden
#2) Sarah with her precious parents, Larry and Teri
#3) Our four original campus daughters: L-R: Kim, Sarah, Becky, and Teresa
#4) Us with Josh, Sarah and Isabella

The Goings-Ons.......pictures and wedding trip

I have been working a lot this week making Kodak Gallery albums of our big trip to Alaska, Vancouver, and Washington State. I am now working on the last album ~~ #16!!!!! It's been fun to look back at the pics and to relive the great time we had, but I am ready to be done with the project. Once I have the last album made, I am going to go in the Alaska Trip Blog and change all of the dates of the posts so that the blog reads in order from start of trip to finish. I will post each album under the journal of that day's events. It will make it nicer for us to go back and "re-visit" the trip or for any guests who find their way to the blog. The URL for that blog is shown in the right hand top corner of this blog in case you want to check it out.

We are about to take off for Alabama!! Our long-time friend, Sarah Pender, is getting married on Saturday. We have known Sarah since she was 12 or 13 years old and then she was our "campus daughter" during her four years of college. We are so happy for her and Josh and know they will be an awesome Christian couple who will labor together to advance the Kingdom of Christ. We wish them well and so much look forward to their wedding day. And of course, an added excitement for us is that Jaden is the ring-bearer in the wedding. He and Amy will attend the rehearsal at 6:00 this evening. I hope he does well with this new "activity."

I'm hoping I will have some precious pics of Jaden and hopefully of Josh and Sarah, too, to post upon our return.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Twenty-Second Anniversary of My Dad's Departure for Heaven

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

June 26, 1986: I was thankful for JESUS CHRIST, my solid rock, on that day. Dad had been very ill for just three weeks with his just-diagnosed with Acute myelogenous leukemia: (AML) a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. In AML, the bone marrow makes many unformed cells called blasts. Blasts normally develop into white blood cells that fight infection. However, the blasts are abnormal in AML. They do not develop and cannot fight infections. The bone marrow may also make abnormal red blood cells and platelets. The number of abnormal cells (or leukemia cells) grows quickly. They crowd out the normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs.

Daddy thought he had the flu and fought it for a few days before going to the doctor when he wasn't getting any better. What a shock to learn that day that he had leukemia. He fought it valiantly at UAB in Birmingham, but it wasn't God's plan for him to be healed. Of course, he realized the ULTIMATE HEALING when he arrived in Heaven on June 26!!

As the two photos portray, I always looked up to my dad (that's Nonie and me with Dad and Mom and I am looking up at him); and I loved him dearly. It hurt so much to lose my beloved Daddy but the Lord was gracious and saw us all through each difficult day. I still miss you, Daddy, and love you so much. I can't wait to see you and Mom when the Lord calls me home one of these days. I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Relaxin' by the Pool

There is nothing I enjoy more than a warm evening out at Brian's and Amy's pool watching the grandkids have fun!!! Jaden is loving the water this year. With the life vest on, he is jumping in off the side, goes under and bobs right back up, and is kicking those legs for all he is worth. Of course, Jarrett, Isabella, and Josh are all three fish. Well, Belle is a beautiful mermaid. :)

I made some pics and videos of them swimming and playing on Tuesday night as we relaxed. You will note that Jarrett wasn't in the pics because we wasn't out at the pool when I made pics, but I did get a bit of video of him.

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