The Blessings of Having a Birthday

Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My soul doth rejoice in the marvelous works of God for life is precious and is a gift from God. To have been born 57 years ago this morning must have been an exciting day for my parents. They had their beautiful 6-1/2 year old daughter, Karen, and then had lost two babies (another daughter and their only son) before conceiving me and bringing forth a healthy baby girl. I was so very blessed to be born into the loving home of my parents, Byron and Arlene Meyer. They weren't perfect parents because none of us are, but they were MY parents and I loved them dearly. To have grown up the middle daughter of three and to know the love of my sweet sisters, Karen and Sonja (Nonie), brings back such wonderful memories of a loving family and happy home. I am so very thankful for those memories now that my parents are in Heaven (Dad 22 years ago and Mom 9 years ago or will be 9 years ago on the 13th) and my sisters are in a different state. I love my sisters and their families and miss seeing them.



I want to give praise to my Heavenly Father today for the 57 years He has given me. I have been blessed with good health, a loving and faithful husband of almost 35 years, two wonderful kids who love God and serve Him daily, a Godly and dear son-in-law, and my four precious grandchildren who make growing older well worth it!!! And I want to say how much I loved Richard's parents and thank God for the sweet and closeness with Richard's brothers and sister and their families today. Family is so dear!!

How could I ever name or picture the many precious friends that God has sent to me along life's journey. Each friend has enriched my life and has sharpened my desire to live for Christ.

Most important of all, I was blessed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to learn of His love for me and His death on the cross for my sins, and to accept his free gift of salvation on July 23, 1972. I walked the aisle as a LOST church member to be met at the altar by my pastor, Jerry Edgil, who lead me through the "Roman's Road" so that I could truly understand God's plan of salvation and pray to receive Christ. That day changed my heart, changed my life, and changed my eternal destination. I was moved from death into life and know I am saved and on my way to Heaven.



It's neat to realize just today that both my physical and spiritual birthdays occurred in July. I wouldn't mind taking off for Heaven on a July day when my time comes but will leave that timing up to the Lord. It's already been appointed, and I will am ready for whenever that appointment has to be met.

Thank you, God, for your special blessings I have already enjoyed on this the morning of my 57th birthday. I love you!!! Please tell Dad and Mom I love them and am thinking special thoughts of them today.

I'm off to enjoy this day. Love to all~~ Susan

Our "Meyer" family in Gordo (mid 1960s)
L-R: Karen, Mom, Susan, Dad, Nonie












And here we are in 1973 at my wedding:










Richard and me with both sets of our parents at our wedding. I was so blessed with wonderful parents and incredible in-loves and miss them all as they are now residing in God's glorious Heaven.










Our only daughter... Our Pastor and my Dad performing the dedication service for our newborn Amy at Eastside FWB Church. We werededicating her to the Lord our ourselves to bringing her up in the nuture and admonition of our Lord










Our only son... My mom meeting Chip as they roll me and baby out of the delivery room









Our extended Meyer family in the mid 1980's
Top Row: Richard, Calvin P, Steve W, Karen, Mom, Meyer cousin from Chattanooga*, Uncle Delmer*, another Meyer cousin*
Middle Row: Susan, cousin Patty*, Aunt Rachel, two more Chattanooga Meyer cousins*, and Bryan with Doug behind him.
Little kids in front: Calvin P, Jr., Chip, Ethan H, Dee H.
* deceased









Our Family: Chip and Richard on back;
Susan, Amy, and Brian in the middle;
Our Grandchildren: Isabella with Jaden, Josh, and Jarrett.









Our big and wonderful "D" family at our Christmas 2007 Reunion:

Rolling on the Pacific Ocean

I found this tidbit of video from the last full day on being on our cruise ship in June. Though I haven't posted much of the cruise here because I did the full TRIP blog (www.northtoalaskaandbackagain.blogspot.com), I thought I would post this video in "Susan's Stuff" as a fun memory of our cruise:

WE HAD A FABULOUS, FESTIVE AND FUN FOURTH!!

To start the day off, we invited Brian, Amy, and our 4 grandkids over for 4th of July brunch. Also with them with our church's summer intern, Mike L., who has been staying at Brian's and Amy's this week. Today, Mike leaves for a mission trip to Australia. (Ministry brings about so many blessings!) We had a fun time "brunching."

At 4:45, family and friends convened over at Brian's and Amy's. They had a big group in addition to their own family of six: both sets of Grandparents, niece Morgan, Evangelist Richard C. and his family (4 kids), Mike G from church and two of his sons (wife Jill is out of town), and my dear friend, Joyce W. I think that was 21 people in total. (Link to view all of the pics is found at the bottom of this article.)

While Brian cooked out, the kids (teens down to Jaden and Morgan~~ both 3 years old) swam and played in the pool. That was a total of 11 kids in the pool. Adults were always out there to keep an eye on everyone for the sake of safety ~~ especially regarding Jaden, Morgan, and 5-year-old Richie C. It was fun to watch them!

We ate and fellowshipped until 9:00 p.m. and then had our fireworks show. 9-year-old Joshua had been entered into a drawing for a $100 pack of fireworks at a local fireworks stand and was notified during our brunch that he was the grand winner so we had all of those fireworks to enjoy. Josh and his Dad were the managers of the show and it was a lot of fun.

The party broke up at 10:00 p.m. and we came home good and tired ~~ and it was a "good" tired after a fun day! Link to pictures:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nhewoo3.2cphw40z&x=0&y=-2kf3d4&localeid=en_US

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND, RUTH H. IN T-TOWN

Ruth H. touched our children's lives early on and, therefore, blessed my young-mother's heart immeasurably. She was our K4 teacher for both Amy and Chip. Since Amy and Chip are now 32 and 30 years old respectively, you can see that we go way back.

I have a memory of Amy's first day of kindergarten..... She cried when I took her in and and I cried in the car all the way home. Chip would have been just 20 months old, so I remember that we got home from taking Amy to school and I busy with him and with housework. I remember that I watched and watched and watched the clock ~~ wondering how Amy was doing and antsy to go pick her up from her first day of K4. I was in Chip's room playing with him (waiting on the clock to pass when it would be time to go get her) when my phone rang. It was Mrs. H on the other end of the line ~~ asking me if I was coming to get Amy. School was to get out at 11:30 but got out an hour early on that first day. Here I had been watching the clock and counting down the minutes until time to jump in the car and go get my little Amy, and I had blown it!!! That was an embarrassing start for me as the mother of a student at TCS, but Mrs. H was very gracious and didn't make me feel like a total idiot.

I don't have a specific memory of Chip's first day of school but imagine I went back to my empty house (Amy would have been in 2nd grade when Chip started K4) and cried because both of my babies were now in school.

Through the relationship of Mrs. H teaching both of our children, we became friends and she became "Ruth" to me. She introduced me to her parakeets and cockatiels and we bought birds from her for a few years. Her husband Johnny and my dad worked together at the VA Hospital so that was another connection. We were church members together and so worshipped together and had opportunity to minister together at times.

Having moved away from T-Town some 6-1/2 years ago, I have forgotten a lot of things, but when I woke up and was lying in bed praying for America early this morning, it popped up from my memory bank that Ruth is celebrating her birthday, too!

Ruth, I would like to wish you a very happy birthday full of God's best blessings. Our greetings to Johnny and Hank as well. You and your family are still dear to us. Happy Birthday and many more!!

Love,
Susan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

Independence Day

Independence Day is more than a Chance for family and friends throughout the country to gather for barbecues and fireworks displays, it is an annual celebration to commemorate the courage and faith of our founding fathers in their pursuit of liberty.

Uncover the history behind America's birthday and the sacrifices made by the extraordinary leaders who, at great personal risk, struggled to unite a young nation. Read the Declaration of Independence that laid down the foundation for the U.S. Constitution, endorsing the fundamental principles of freedom we still uphold to this day.

And by all means, do enjoy the day with your cherished family and friends. I know I look forward to celebrating the special day with mine!

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: