Christmas Cards....

Well.....I've done it again!  For the second year in a row I found THE perfect Christmas cards!  Last year's card had birdhouses with cardinals...two of the houses had the words 'Love' and 'Peace' written on them.....exactly what I wanted to say!   I bought them weeks ahead of time so that I would get them out early!  I started signing them, and each time I wrote 'With Much Love-- Julie and Annie-Laurie' I got sadder and sadder.  So I didn't finish them.

This year's cards are equally as cute and perfect....a starry background with three bare trees done in silver and one big green Christmas tree with a perfect reddest of red cardinals perched on top. I even went to the post office early to buy the stamps, so they wouldn't be picked over!   I can't even open the boxes.  If I sign them, 'With Much Love--Julie, Annie-Laurie, and Chad', I fear that people will think that I've lost touch with reality, and thus will worry.  But signing them without Chad's name seems so wrong!

So...I can't do cards again this year.  It's a one-step-at-a-time thing....I know that.  This is one step I can't take yet. Maybe next year.

Know that all of you are in my thoughts, and I'm wishing you a blessed Christmas season. 

Julie

A Love Story....

Sometime in the early 1960's, a young, handsome preacher was called to be the pastor at The First Baptist Church in a quaint little town called Wardell, Missouri.  Shortly after his pastorate there began, the young pastor began to take note of a beautiful young woman, a member of the church, who was also the church clerk.  As the young pastor had made it his policy never to date church members, he found himself in a bit of a dilemma.  He called a special meeting of the church deacons.  During that meeting, the young pastor explained that, while he DID have his self-imposed policy, he'd found himself quite interested in a young woman in the church, and he asked simply, 'What should I do?'  The deacons all smiled and exchanged knowing looks with one another, and one of the deacons spoke up to tell the pastor that not only did they know exactly the woman to whom the pastor was referring, they all thought that the pastor and this young woman might be a good match, even when they originally called him to be their pastor.  So with the blessing of the deacons, the young pastor began to visit the young woman where she worked as a bookkeeper at Acom's Cotton Gin uptown, offering to take her to lunch.  I'm not sure how many times she turned him down, but when she finally did accept his invitation to lunch, she told him emphatically, 'I'll have lunch with you, but I have no interest, whatsoever, in being a pastor's wife.'  God (and the young pastor), however, had a plan.  After the two had been sharing meals together for several months, the young pastor proposed, and the beautiful young woman accepted, though she wasn't sure WHEN, exactly, she had decided that being a pastor's wife might suit her.   Ten months after the young couple were married, they had a daughter.  That daughter would be me, and it's my unbiased opinion that the young pastor and his beautiful bride (the reluctant pastor's wife) went on to become the most amazing pastor-pastor's wife team ever!!

This week, the young pastor and his beautiful bride will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  Though that tired, overused line from the movie Jerry McGuire, 'You complete me', generally makes me roll my eyes, there is not a phrase which more accurately describes my parents' relationship.  They literally complement each other as intricately as two puzzle pieces, one ending where the other begins, with no indication of a seam, making something as tough as marriage look so completely effortless!  And together, they've lived their life with an unwavering faith in God, going wherever He's led them, and never questioning.  I find myself marvelling at them more each day, and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to continually learn from them.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Daddy!  Love you more than you know!

Julie