6.4.23 Wedding Day Toast of Gratitude
Clayton and Amanda, here we are on your wedding day celebrating! Let me start with a few words of gratitude: Jennifer, thank you for such a godly young woman. You’ve raised her well as a woman of honor and one of many passions and one love. Yes, I prayed for her and for you for…
A Marriage Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, We are grateful for the way your Spirit moves in our lives and directs our every step. Thank you for the ways you have created Clayton and Amanda and brought them together. Thank you for the homes they came from, the love they experienced there, the principles they were taught there, their…
June 3rd , 2023 Thoughts for my Son on the eve of His Wedding
Clayton, soon after your dad died, I started a blog to keep saying all the unspoken things, not leaving my thoughts and feelings stranded in my heart. Our lives are stories, letters and words to others and sometimes by sharing them we grow our love. What would I want to say on such a day…
It’s Wedding Week! What to say about marriage?
There are so many examples and similes of marriage, but today I choose to compare marriage to soccer – the beautiful game! 1. When marriage is new it is like a little kids’ soccer game – it takes a while to realize who your teammates are and which direction you need to go. Little kids…
Amanda’s Shower Advice
Dear (Clayton &) Amanda – “What marriage advice would you share?” I always think this is a weird question because it reduces the most important relationship down to a quick response… I don’t like to give such a thin answer to such a weighty subject. Marriage is our most layered and complex of relationships and…
Clayton Happy Birthday #27
I know that every parent feels this way, but what happened to time?! I remember the day you were born and it was about now that I finally held you. It seems not so long ago that you were my little boy and I was taking care of you every day. Now those days are…
A Letter to my Future Daughter-in-Law
Dear Amanda – I am ecstatic to finally know you by name! I have been praying for you since before you were born and I look forward to being “related”! You are not what I imagined – you are MORE! I am grateful to our good God who has answered my prayers beyond my wildest…
The Other Woman
I am no longer the main woman in Clayton’s life. I have actually known this for a year. And I knew it would eventually happen. I even have prayed for it and yet now it is a bittersweet reality. My son shares his heart with someone else. She makes him happy. She asked me recently…
Happy Birthday Clay
You are 26 today! When you were born, I could not see this far into the future to imagine what you would be like as an adult. Of course I hoped and prayed for a son to grow into a godly man. Together your dad and I worked hard to instill values and habits that…
24 is Pure Gold!
Today, Clay, you are 24 years old. Kobe’s number! How is this possible?! You are the same age your dad was when I married him. He seemed older than you feel to me. Perspective is interesting isn’t it?! I wonder at what I can say to you today that would be even be close to…