Reunion Parade

Last week was the annual Old Soldier's Reunion Parade. For over 150 years this has been a fun tradition that captures the essence of small town Southern life- a hot summer afternoon, friends gathered together, lemonade, hot dogs and of course, the parade. The parade is filled with marching bands, beauty queens, floats, horses, army tanks and tractors. The kids love watching everyone line-up and listening to the drum lines of the marching bands in the hours pre-parade. Ben wanted to play his drums with the bands and even "practiced" with a band. For the third straight year, we had an army tank parked in front of our house for a few hours.

The parade route begins on our street and as usual we had a group of friends over to sit back and enjoy the fun. What was unusual, was the rapid spread of sickness upon our family, some minutes before the party started. Ben was nursing a double ear infection, Leah rose that morning with a sore throat and achy flu yuck, then Clara woke up from her afternoon nap with a swollen eye that morphed into pink eye and an ear infection-don't tell her, but she looked like a little pirate girl.

This blog entry serves as a public apology to any one we may have infected and a big shout out to "Uncle Bill" (or Dr. Long to most folks in town) for making sure Clara had her eye medicine within an hour of her symptoms. Small town life is filled with many charming perks, a great one being caring and quick medical attention.

Here's to the soldiers, the South and sickness relief...maybe not in that order.

Sugar & Spice

At sixteen months Clara decided it was time to stand up and see the world. She went from taking one or two steps to mommy or daddy to cruising everywhere in just a couple days. It stills catches us by surprise to see her walking down the hallway, toddling and proud.

Clara is melting our hearts with her chatter and singing- you can see why little girls are easily spoiled, they are too cute for their own good. Clara adds more words daily to her vocabulary (uh-oh, thank you, cupcake, amen, no, please, cookie) and now folds her chubby hands together to say grace.

She is a perfect female, captivating and full of contradictions...she is sweet and strong, mild mannered and feisty, thoughtful and boisterous, cuddly and independent. Above all, she is daddy's girl (see above reference to spoiling), mommy's little pumpkin, Ben's baby sister and utterly loved.

Life in the Land of Ben

As Ben grows physically (every day he seems taller!) so does his vocabulary. He keeps us entertained and has a few catch phrases that are a regular part of daily conversations.

A sampling of the most often used...

"You don't even want to know."

"Probably."

"I just love you too, Mommy." (Said more in frustration than adoration)

"I don't know about that."

"I think I really just need to have it right now."

He only said this one once, but it's a keeper. Right before bath time he looks up at us and says very seriously, "Clara doesn't have a penis...anymore."

Gotta love Beemer.

Love in Sorrow, Love in Joy

This past week was one of many emotions.

A beloved member of our church, Dr. Ken Yaussy passed away at just 52, and the loss has been felt by our whole community. His memorial service on Friday was a true testimony to his faith, his humor and the deep, abiding love he held for his family and God. Before his death, he had requested that Mark end the service with "When the Saints Go Marching In." The joyous, loud celebration (Mark rocked it on the drums) was a reminder of Ken-full of life, a little loud, and always pointing to his steadfast faith in the Lord.

On Saturday, Mark had the privilege of marrying a wonderful couple, Krysta and BJ. BJ is a Navy man and the couple had already endured a seven month deployment and likely BJ will be leaving again soon. It was a ceremony and reception filled with gorgeous music, lots of cute Navy boys in uniform and thoughtful love- an appropriate reflection of Krysta & BJ.

At the ceremony, Mark asked all the married couples in attendance to silently renew their own vows along with the bride and groom. As Mark stood up front and Leah sat solo in the pews, we promised again the covenant that has been tested much these past few years: to be lovingly faithful in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

We mourn, we rejoice, we celebrate, we treasure every moment along the way.