Papaw

It has been 1 month and 1/2 since Papaw went home to see the Lord after battling cancer. It is technically David's Papaw, but I loved him as my own. He has left an awesome legacy and it is pretty awesome to see how God used this man not only in the lives of his family but in the lives of his co-workers, his Sunday school class and his community. During all the wedding planning and talks, David and I got to talking about great examples in our lives. We have so many wonderful examples of God fearing family members on both sides. Papaw was one of those examples.

I still remember the first time I met Papaw. It was at the beach house. I was invited to tag along with David for a weekend trip to the famous Howe beach house. I immediately hit it off with Mamaw. She is a lover of conversation as am I...so we sat and chatted for quite a while. But it took a bit to get to know Papaw. He was an observer. A quite listener. Loved to watch the hussel and bussel of all his grand kids running around the house. I can't remember what our first conversation was about but I immediately felt the kindness and sweetness of his heart once we did get to talk.

David with Papaw at the Beach House


It's funny now looking back I remember Papaw talking quite a bit. You just had to get him on the right story. He loved to talk about Jacob's emails from Iraq, Kristie's adventures in Redwoods (and show her beautiful picture in her uniform-he was so proud), Tucker's boy scout troop, his western books, all the items in the house Uncle Scotty made, Noah's basketball team, Seth finally graduating, and the list goes on.

He was a servant. I will never forget his servant heart. He would do anything to help his family. David's old car had so many problems and one summer it just wouldn't start. Papaw drove up from San Antonio to Waco and crawled under neath David's Jeep and worked on his car for hours in the Texas summer heat! That is true love!

He was a source of knowledge. I recall David calling Papaw several times for "How-To Help." How to install a washer and a dryer, how to fix item X on his car, how to get a better rate on car insurance, how to change the oil your self, how to build a ladder up to the 2nd story lofty bed. The list goes on and on. Papaw was such a great teacher to all his grand kids.

He was a proud husband. I will never forget on his birthday Mamaw gave Papaw a birthday card that said something to the effect of "You are the love of my life forever." Papaw brought the card over to me and said, "maybe one day you will give one of these to David." He then walked straight over to David and said, "maybe one day you will get one of these from Stephanie." Ha! Not only was he preciously encouraging David and I and our future but he was so proud of that card. He was a great husband and companion to Mamaw. They set a wonderful example of what it means to serve and honor each other and to honor Christ with their marriage.

One last special memory that I will share with you that was very meaningful to me. One of Papaw's granddaughters, Savannah was getting ready to try out for her High School Dance Team. Sound familiar? She had been practicing and training and I happened to be in town visiting the weekend of her try-outs. Everyone had left the living room except Papaw, Savannah, and me. Papaw wanted to see Savannah's dance. So she put on her music- very techno jazz music. I am sure not his favorite style of music, but he watched Savanna dance with such joy and pride in his eyes. He was such a wonderful man and a wonderful grandfather.

He is missed daily, but his legacy truly lives on.

David and I with Mamaw and Papaw on our last visit.

"And I'm Proud To Be An American".....

Oh July 4th. It is such a fun holiday. You can listen to Lee Greenwood's "I'm proud to be an American." 100 times in one day. You can see the sky light up in celebration with fireworks...my favorite.

Everyone dresses up with thier Red, White, and Blue.




You can eat hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, cupcakes, flag cake, steak, and corn and not feel guilty...because I did.


You can buy your family matching flag shirts and take family photos. Completely appropriate.




You can be goofy and play cranium


You go tubing on the lake

You watch the parade of golf carts, go carts, scooters, and wagons go through Brooklyn, Texas


You have a man playing the bugel in the parade.


We thouroughly enjoyed our July 4th holiday weekend at Jdubb's lake house. The Theilig's had us down to their house to enjoy good food, good lake time, and good company.



Thank you Randy and Diane or as we call them Pappa Dubbs and Momma Dubbs for having us!

Updates

So...I'm engaged! It is amazing what can happen in a couple months! Daivd and I made plans to go to North Carolina for a family friend's wedding. I knew it was a little bit crazy to take off work and drive 14 hours, but I thought we were being adventurous! David had other plans.

I have visited Asheville, North Carolina before and fell in love with the city, the people, the Biltmore, the hills, the trees, everything. David knew I loved this city and was very anxious to go and see it! We drove through the night and arrived in Asheville on Friday morning. Caught a couple hours of sleep and then went and had breakfast. Now, I am a HUGE breakfast person. I love eating out for breakfast. Expecially outside (if the weather is permitting). Well the weather was definitely permitting on this morning. David had done his research on a cute little breakfast place outside the Biltmore. It was yummy and really started our fabulous day off right.

Feeling full, we started our entrance into the Biltmore Estate. There is about a 3 mile drive from the gate to the parking lot of the most amazing landscaping and scenery. The lawns were all cut with perfection, the sun was breaking through the trees...you get the picture. Beautiful.


We got parked, took a tour of the home. It is strange for me to call it a home when it has 205 rooms and 63 bathrooms!!


We then took a tour of the winery. I got to taste some of their wine.
Funny interruption to the story is that David's birthday was the day before and his license expired! They would not let him taste the wine!! The lady kept talking about it to me saying how sorry she was she just couldn't bend the rules. And out of exhaustion and sadness, I cried. Ha! I was sad David drove 15 hours and couldn't tast the darn wine at age 24! Oh well.

We had a nice lunch by the winery. Then off to our Kyak trip David had booked for us in advance. This was soo wonderful. The river that ran through a portion of the thousands of acres, was a level 1 rapid. So it was a nice leisure float really that David and I relaxed enjoyed the scenery and got some N. Carolina sun!



Obviously needing to change clothes, David took me up to the winery to change inside, while he stayed back at the car. I know now, this is when he was putting the ring in his pocket.

He had planned for us to have a picnic next to the Bass Pond- a less traveled, touristy pond on the grounds. We found the perfect little picnic bench sitting right next to the pond. David had packed an entire backpak full for the picnic. He laid down a blanket, pulled out some grapes and cheese, and a really nice bottle of wine. My reaction was "Woah! nice surprise" and David's response was "well I never get to surprise you anymore you find out everything. I wanted to surprise my girlfriend at the Biltmore in North Carolina." Well I thought this was awesome.

Our bench, our tree, our pond :)


I have started a new tradition of writing the date and where I am on wine corks...so I dug through my purse to write on the cork. 6-19-09 The Biltmore. The pen is running out of ink just when I am trying to write the last "e." And David is sitting patiently waiting for me to finish...holding two glasses of wine..ha so I said "I'll just do it later."

David hands me my wine and says here's to amazing 5 years. Still not having a clue I tap my glass against his and say something like "here, here."

He pauses then says well the wine is not the only surprise. He started to tear up and he got down on his knee. This is a blur...someday I will have David write down what he said. But it was precious and perfect.

He pulled out the ring and said "will you marry me"....and I just looked at the ring with my mouth open...David nervously waited for my response which was of course YES!


The next 15 min was me sitting on the bench looking around with my mouth still open saying "I am engaged" "I am engaged" "Oh My Gosh...we're engaged!"



Just after he proposed someone walked by so we snapped a quick one


Those moments were so precious to me! I had to share a little bit of the details.



After my state of shock we left the estate grounds, and met up with Shawna and some friends who were in town for the wedding. It was such a special moment for Shawna and I. I am so blessed to be so close with my sister! She is my best friend and I am so glad she was there to celebrate! (And Stephanie, Shannon and Steve).





We are both so grateful to God for not only allowing us to grow along side one another, but to have been so faithful to prepare our hearts for a life together that will be honoring to Him.

We ask for prayer and encouragement as we enter this special commitment together. May our engagement not only be fun and a time of continuoued growth but a time we never forget.