Spring Break Ups and Downs

I had forgotten how refreshing having a spring break can be!

I requested to work a couple of days the beginning of the week so that I could have a few days to go visit my parents in West Texas. The plan was that my parents and niece would come to Arlington for a day or two, then I would go back home with them for a couple more days. Then Dan would drive down on Friday, and I would ride back with him Sunday.

Well, that was the plan.

We have this thing (I have to call it a thing because it's not really a joke...it's not really funny) with my parents and their plans to come visit us that dates back to when we lived in San Angelo. Every time we had plans for them to come, someone in and/or having to do with their church passed away, and they would have to stay. One time, they had arrived to San Angelo, we had dinner and were in the middle of our traditional card game when they got the call someone had passed away. They got up and headed back home to take care of the details.

It's just part of the job of being a pastor. I can't get mad about it. How selfish would that be? Someone has lost a loved one they will never see again until they go to Heaven, and I'm mad because my weekend was interrupted? I would be lying if I said it never bothered me because it usually takes a lot of planning to get all of our schedules to cooperate at the same time, but on the other hand, I have to look at the bigger picture and remember how blessed I am to have such caring parents who work so hard to be the hands and feet of Christ.

So, yes, I was bummed last Sunday when Mom called and said that they weren't going to be able to come because of a death, but it all worked out! I ended up flying out bright and early Wednesday morning and got to Seagraves in time to help Mom and the other church ladies get the fellowship hall ready to feed the family at noon, just before the funeral. So many came to celebrate the life of this man that there was not enough room in the sanctuary to hold everyone! I stayed in the back since I didn't know him well only to find out that one of the girls I graduated with had come and I didn't see her. Dad told me he thought she was there, so I contacted her via Facebook. We planned for lunch the next day along with another friend who was also in town for spring break. Our lunch ended up being a three hour long visit. We had such a good time reminiscing and laughing about the silly things we did and said growing up. Good times.....

Friday I took my niece with me to Lubbock so we could shop for her a banquet dress. We found "the" dress in round one of shopping, but then we broke for lunch with my long time best friend and her two kids. Round two of shopping found a dress Katie loved, but it was vetoed by her mom. So we had some crankiness after that. Second choice was the dress from round one, so we went back to get it. When we got home, Dan and Rosie and Katie's mom and stepdad had already arrived, so we sat down to have dinner...steaks grilled by Dad! Yummo!

Saturday we had planned to go to the cemetery where Dan's mom and dad are buried, about 1 1/2 hours away from where my parents live. We haven't been since July, when his mom was buried. We woke up to snow and ice, but we decided to go ahead and go. We got about 1/3 of the way there and turned around after the third rollover we came across, along with the increasing amount of ice on the road the further north we drove. It was so hard. I felt really bad for Dan. We will have to plan for another time to go sometime soon.

We got up early Sunday morning to pancakes made by Mom. Mmmmm. Normally we stay for church, but headed home early this time. All in all, it was a great week, but I wish the weather would have cooperated with us on Saturday.

It's Been CRAZY!!!

...so I'm just now posting what I should have posted earlier this week.

Last Friday was my birthday, and I got a new laptop! I am so pumped about it. So is Dan, mainly because I'm not using his. LOL! I actually received it before my birthday because my actual birthday was spent helping our friend Shelby Brown with her wedding!

Shelby's parents (Gaylord and Fredna Brown) are missionaries to Malawi, Africa. They were able to come home before Thanksgiving and I think are supposed to go back sometime this month. Before they came home, we had met with Shelby and Josh about what they wanted for the wedding and reception. Josh is the children's pastor at the church where the wedding was held. The sanctuary is absolutely GORGEOUS. It did not need much decorating at all, so the majority of the work was done on the reception. Shelby isn't extravagant, but she has great taste. The reception was held in the gym, so the trick was to make it to where it didn't look like a gym with some tables and a couple of cakes set up. I think, overall, it turned out well. Her colors were orange and gunmetal grey. I will admit, I had my doubts about the color choices at first, but it really came together nicely.

We were so busy, I was not able to get a lot of pictures, but I took a few of the reception decor. The first few pictures are from the sister of the bride's collection of pictures. The last couple of pics are some end-of-the-day-crazy-type pictures of the brother of the bride and one of the bridesmaids.

Mr. and Mrs. Josh Denman and wedding party.

The cake topper was custom ordered from Italy. Too cute!


It didn't come out well in the picture, but the lanterns were a mingling of solid orange and solid white.





Caleb couldn't help but hit the sauce after the reception. :)

Take one down, pass it around......