The Way

I realize that is has been almost three weeks since the wedding for Morgan and Wil and it is time for me to give you a little insight to what happened. I want to explain it in just a few short words - God-honoring! Beautiful! Humbling! FUN! God-honoring: Wil and Morgan have been a wonderful example of how to honor one another in a dating/engagement relationship. It has been a joy to watch them interact; learn one another; and figure out how two people who are different temperaments and personalities learn to accept one another just as God designed them. Beautiful: Okay, so I am a biased dad, but Morgan was just beautiful. She glowed. She beamed. She was just . . . well, beautiful. My mom always said that I would have made a beautiful girl and since Morgan has a tendency to look like me, I take mom's words as a compliment. Wil looked fairly handsome himself and to watch him watch Morgan walk down the aisle was pretty awesome. (I had a great vantage point.) Humbling: It wa...

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...

So the past few posts have been about slowing down; focusing on what really matters; all that stuff that sounds really good and things I have been intentionally trying to put into practice and build margin into life. About 10 days ago I was having lunch with my buddy, Scott Mills, and I looked at him across the table and said, "If I hit the table, just know I am not feeling very good." He looked at me a little freaked out and said, "Do I need to take you to the hospital?" "Nah, just let me hang out here for a minute," I said. And I did fine. ER fun It was a busy weekend with Shelbi graduating from Union with honors and good times with family and friends. On Monday we took Morgan to WinShape Camps in Rome, GA  for her work gig this summer and on Tuesday morning on my way into work, I decided I had felt bad enough, long enough, so . . . I drove my self to the ER. They did an EKG, took a ton of blood, ran tests, and did a MRI on my head. Good news! I...

Wednesday, May 11th marked our 26th wedding anniversary. I know that the gift for 25 years is silver and since my hair turned that color about 10 years ago, I figured I was good for that. Not really sure what the gift is for the 26th wedding anniversary but I presented Sondra with a Kindle a week or so earlier. She loves to read you know, and I think she will adopt the technology well. Actually, she already is. It has been an incredible 26 years and yesterday we headed out to Carrabba's for dinner and The Cheesecake Factory for dessert. It was awesome. Many of you have asked how we have made it so long. I was reminded of this clear, concise answer via video. This is the secret to our happy marriage - it's all about the fries.