The Way

So . . . it has been awhile. I have no excuses. I just have not blogged. Let me try and do a quick catch up here. November - the whole family flew to Phoenix, AZ to be support Mark in Ironman AZ. He did an awesome job in some really cruddy weather (rainy and cold) and completed a complete IRONMAN on a broken foot. He is a beast! We had a great Thanksgiving. Sondra and I traveled to east TN and enjoyed our time with Mark's family on his grandparent's farm. Wil had a birthday the end of the month. What a great young man. We are blessed to have him in our family. December - we all headed to KC for my nephew's wedding in early Dec. It was great to see family and attend the wedding. James (Jimmy) and Megan had a beautiful wedding (officiated by my dad) and they live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex now. Beautiful couple.  - Mark had his tonsils removed which is a big deal at 5 and a horrible deal when you are 26. He was down for a couple of weeks.  - We all spent so...

Sometimes I get more than I aimed for. I realize that is a terrible way to start a blog post and to end a sentence, but it is very true. Sondra will always be the one that I out punted my coverage on. As a young teenager, I made a list of what I would look for in a wife and then I met Sondra in college. I looked at my list, wadded it up and threw it away. She was and continues to be more than I ever had dreamed of as a mate. Then God gave us two daughters. I have written much about each of them. Shelbi and Morgan are truly delightful, wonderful and far more than I ever dreamed gifts from God. Sondra and I made some mistakes along the way in rearing them but we intentionally purposed to help them love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind and soul. As they grew and matured and headed off to college, God brought a couple of young men into their lives. Mark grew up as an east Tennessee boy where I think they got indoor plumbing about the turn of the century. ;-) He and Shelbi...

How is it that time goes by so quickly? I remember when I was a kid, my mom and dad would talk about how quickly time goes by and I would sit and wonder, "what the heck! Time doesn't go by quickly, it has taken me ALL MY LIFE to get to be 12 years old!" But now . . . my perspective has changed. Time does by quickly. And I realize that more just about every day. So . . . since my last post, here are a few things that have happened. This is big news! Over Labor Day Weekend and after 29 plus years, Sondra and I said, "so long! to our waterbed." I can a bit of a slow adopter, but 29 years was enough. It was a good bed. She had sprung a leak or two over those years but that bed served us well. It must have weighed about 5 million pounds so I am sure there will be less stress on our floor joists. Our new bed arrived and we both seem to be sleeping pretty well. We are in the process of finding some new bedroom furniture too. Not my favorite pastime but pretty much...

Yesterday, Sunday, August 11th, was Shelbi and Mark's 1st Anniversary. What a whirlwind the week was leading up to their wedding, and what an amazingly quick year it has been since that wonderfully, great day. This past week we were blessed to have Mark and Shelbi at the house for a few days. I have to tell you that it is very exciting to see how the two of them are honoring God in their lives and relationships. Sure makes a dad proud. It also pretty much marks a year that Morgan and Wilson (Wil or Wil P. as I call him) have been officially dating. I am not sure if I have introduced Wil to my blog readers but I guess if Morgan is going to keep him around for a year, I better do some introductions. Wil and Morgan met at Union and both graduated this past May. Wil graduated with a double major (best I remember) in history and I think biology. He is smart guy. He knows alot about alot of things but does not come across as a know-it-all by any stretch. He is his own person which I...

How in the world does a dad steel himself for not only giving away the bride, but also officiate the ceremony? I have no idea. I do know that yesterday was an amazing day of worship, and family and friends.Thanks to so many who have prayed for us as parents and for our girls. Mark and Shelbi's wedding day was splendid. It was great fun to see so many family and friends and we are especially excited to be family with not only Mark but his entire family. I am not sure they know how to take us, but it was just a sweet time with Mark's parents praying right before we all headed down the aisle. Just another huge blessing among so many others. The newlyweds are enjoying the week together and we are getting back to some normalcy. Thanks for continuing to pray for the new Ellison family; Mark's parents and family; and for those Turner folks as well. And she "left with her new favorite boy."

So it is Monday, August 6th and I have lived 48 August 6ths before but this Monday starts a different week for us as a family. This Saturday, Shelbi, our oldest trades her name in for one that comes alot earlier in the alphabet. It is true, Shelbi Brooke Turner will become Shelbi Brooke Ellison and Mrs. Mark Ellison. Holy freaking cow! our baby is getting married! And . . . it is a very good thing. I spoke about Mark earlier here so I will not rehash that all over again. I will say once again, how thankful and proud we are to have him as a part of our family. This past few months (about four or so) Sondra and Shelbi have been in wedding prep mode. Actually I think they both had been thinking through alot of plans prior to the engagement and just put most of that plan into action in April. To watch those two has been a blessing in itself. A little background will help you understand that last statement. Both Shelbi and Sondra are "planners". They make lists of lists of t...

And thankfully not a baby! but we are definitely adding to our family. This morning about 930ish, Mark proposed to Shelbi on our front door step. He called me last week, we set up a Skype call for earlier this week since I have been traveling a lot, and we had a great conversation via Skype on Monday. He asked for our blessing and permission to ask Shelbi to marry him and we granted him that honor. There are a lot of things that come flooding to my mind as I think about what has transpired and what will soon transpire as we prepare for a wedding, but the purpose of this post is to let you know that we are extremely excited about Mark and Shelbi being engaged and probably soon to be married. (I really can't say much about them wanting to get married soon since Sondra and I were engaged only about 6 months before we married.) I do want to take a minute and let you know Mark from my perspective. The motto at our house is and has been, "boys are bad" and as they girls ...