7 years ago...

I, Jeff, took you, Kara
to be my lawfully wedded wife;
to have and to hold;
to have beautiful children with;
to go through a home foreclosure with;
to move away from both our families with;
to celebrate in my office when God opened the door to move to Salem;
to hold our breath in the E.R. when the nurse took forever to find Sam's heartbeat;
to drag you away from your love of youth ministry to an unknown role as worship leader's wife;
to carry you when you felt like giving up;
to be carried by you when I felt the same.

Yep I did.
And I still do.

I wrote a song for you on our wedding day.
Remember it?
If not...



Wedding rings and lighted candles
Spoken vows and good intentions
never seemed so beautiful to me
Faith hope and love overflow
Throwing away the status quo
to forever enjoy your company

Memories and recollections
Some made and some not yet begun
fill the room
The beauty of this day abounds
My feet have yet to touch the ground
There's something deeper to this hour

And this flower will fade
this flower will fade away
But the Maker of you
the Maker of me will always stay

Faith will keep us on our toes
Hope will push us down the road
And love keeps us strong
Every step we take from here
Will not surprise the God who's near
We're notes in his beautiful song

And this flower will fade
this flower will fade away
But the Maker of you
the Maker of me will always stay

When tomorrow morning comes
and the day is just another one
When the dress is put away
and the colors start to fade
I've got you, you've got me
We've got the One who never leaves.

And this flower will fade
this flower will fade away
But the Maker of you
the Maker of me will always stay

why i love coming home after work.

to blog or not?

So as you can see it's been a while since I've visited my own blog.
Not really sure why.
Just kinda happened that way.

Kinda like when you realize you haven't talked to a good friend and it's 3 months down the road and you have no idea how time went by so fast, but you feel really bad and you'd rather avoid the situation than call.

Yeah, it's like that.
So...
How ya been?
We've been good.

Here's the reader's digest version of the past month or two.
Spent my mom's birthday in Redding with the Brown fam.
Had a pillow fight with Caleb and sent him face first into the shoe rack.
I won.
Ok, the shoe rack won.
Paid off our kids medical bills with our tax refund.
THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, we are free at last.
Bought bikes for Kara, Caleb, & I with some of the tax refund.
Caleb calls it his "big boy bike". I call mine the same.
Sam doesn't say "thank you".
She sings it.
We began planting our garden.
Or as the kids call it, "the sandbox".
Kara's mom and sister came up for Mother's Day and gave Kara and I a night away at the Edgefield Hotel.
We celebrated Mother's Day and our 7 year anniversary (May 24).
My oldest sister gave birth to her fourth child...her FIRST GIRL!

You all caught up?
Good.