A pencil, some graphing paper and 25 years!

The agenda was written in his neatest engineer's print on multiple pages of his graphing paper. The hours were broken down with the greatest of detail. It was clear that my Aerospace Engineering Groom was planning for us to get the absolute most out of our honeymoon to Walt Disney World (my first time there ever!).

"But what about spontaneity?" I asked. "Shouldn't we allow for just being spontaneous?"

The following weekend when he came to Tupelo to visit me from Starkville, there were some neat eraser marks on the graphing paper and the time slot from 3:00 - 3:30 had been changed to "Be spontaneous."

It was probably the first sign that we might approach life a tad bit differently.

Today, we have been living, celebrating, and minutely-planning the details of our vacations together for 25 years. TWENTY-FIVE!

Our ears say "Mrs. Shrader" and "Mr. Shrader"....my own design years before Disney started selling special ears for brides and grooms!

And while I still enjoy a good dose of spontaneous....I am the first to tell you that we have the most marvelous vacations because of my ever-faithful-to-plan husband and I am so grateful!

Today, as we celebrate the day we said, "I do," I can't help but smile at how much our life has reflected the plans for our honeymoon. Wade and I spent so many hours sitting outside the Chapel of Memories at Mississippi State minutely planning how our life would look. There were great job opportunities, a white picket fence and even a cool car. We did have a bit of a debate about whether we would have two or three children (he wanted two.), but for the most part our dreams for the future perfectly aligned and so we dreamt, planned and charted our life together.

Unbeknownst to us, God was gently erasing our graphing paper. There was a good deal of spontaneity He wanted to add in.

First, He would call Wade to leave NASA and go to medical school.  My engineer would become an Orthopedic Surgeon. We had never even scribbled that possibility in the margin of our plans!

Then God alone would solve the baby debate and give us THREE at one time -- and then smile from ear to ear and send us another! He would sprinkle in some special needs to keep us all on our toes and dependent on a sense of His provision, not our own neatly mapped out plans.

In 25 years, we have lived in a mountain-side apartment, a University of Chicago dorm (that season had 80 undergrads added to the three newborns to call us Mom and Dad! A few more than 2!!), a little blue house mostly covered in snow, an apartment in Texas, two stucco-covered desert dwellings....and today a sweet little house with a cute front porch and yet still, no white-picket fence. We have moved nine times to seven different states. 

Wade does in fact drive a cool car but the closest I get to cool is turning the A/C on in my accessible mini-van.

But can I just tell you that I will take God's erasing and re-writing every single day over what I thought was a perfect plan? I have been known to cry out to God demanding my own will...I have days where I question why God didn't allow my little perfect plan to come to be. But even in the pain, in the hard, in the days where I only see the challenges, I KNOW in my head that I would not trade our life for any. 

So here we are today, 25 years in to the erasing and re-writing and I can not wait to see what God has in store for us in the next 25!

Happy Anniversary, my wonderful Wade!! I love you!

Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe...

Once upon a time, a young idealistic girl met with the beloved director of her college ministry:

"What if I never meet the man I am supposed to marry?" Young girl implored.

"What if that never ever happens for me?" young girl practically cried.

Wonderful, calm, wise BSU Director placed a calming hand on young girl's shoulder and reminded her that God knew the desires of her heart....and besides, she was only a college freshman.

Sigh.

Barely a year would pass before young girl knew she had already met the one God had carved out just for her. And in her idealistic, naive, maybe-watched-too-many-soap-operas-as-a-teen way, she began to paint the images she was certain would fill their future.

The picket-fence, perfect lawn and three (there was some debate on this point) kids and a dog were imagined in great detail. Our dreams were outlined, modified, expounded during our late late night talks sitting outside the Chapel of Memories on our beloved Mississippi State campus. Young journalist marries brilliant Aerospace Engineer. Our future looked bright. Our dreams attainable.

I can hardly believe that tomorrow that young dreamy-eyed girl and that brilliant boy will celebrate 24 years of marriage. Twenty-four years!

I have to chuckle as I envision our well-laid road map for life at 20 years old.

We have ridden some hard roads in our journey -- roads that we paved with tears when my Daddy died two years into our marriage; roads that we paved with bold courage when we packed all our belongings and moved to Chicago for medical school; roads that we paved with determination and hope when God chose to give us three babies at one time; roads that we paved with joy and grief when our boys were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.

And yet, we have held on tight for the ride. We committed to sharing our dreams long before we stood in that church on May 18, 1991.

I would be dishonest if I told you the road map of our 24 years looked like we planned it to sitting side by side drawing our future all those years ago. It doesn't. Most days it would not even be recognizable to those dreamy-eyed kids.

Instead, God in His brilliance, tethered us together in marriage, in commitment to one another and then He wrote a story that only the creator of the universe could write. He drew a road map that doesn't necessarily give me all the details about tomorrow -- but man, the todays are more amazing that my imaginings ever could be!

Even as we celebrate this year, we do so in an empty house, sleeping on inflatable mattresses because all our belongings have already made the move to Mississippi, our new home. Because in this, our 24th year of marriage, we will come full circle as we return to where it all began and begin again.

And so I have absolutely no idea what this year will hold. No idea. The creator of our road map only gives me the slightest glimpse at what is to come. But this, this I know: I will walk whatever road we travel beside the one chosen just for me.

Happy 24th Wedding Anniversary, my wonderful Wade. I can not wait to see what adventures our next 24 years together bring!

I love you.

It's Our Day!

Twenty-three years ago today, my favorite guy and I said I do. I want to say so much -- I need him to know so much. But this morning, Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Together, is in my head.

And oh, Mr. Chapman says it beautifully:

Here we stand, here we are

With all our wounds and battle scars

From all the storms and all the wars we've weathered together

We had no way of knowing when

We started way back there and then

How the road would twist and turn and bend

We just knew we belonged together

And if it wasn’t for God’s mercy and His grace
There’s no way we would be standing in this place
But because He has been faithful
Every step along the way
Here we are together

We’ve climbed up mountains higher than
Were ever in our hopes and plans
We’ve held onto each other’s hands
Watched miracles unfold together
And we’ve crawled on our hands and knees
Through valleys cold and dark and deep
Sometimes not even sure if we could make it out alive together

And if it wasn’t for God’s mercy and His grace
There’s no way we would be standing in this place
But because He has been faithful
Every step along the way
Here we are together, together

Happy anniversary, my dear wonderful Wade! I am so thankful for your strength in weathering every storm. I am so thankful for your hand to hold. I am so thankful God gave me you as my mountain-climbing partner and the one I want to celebrate with in every joy! I love you so!!

Weddings through the years...

Taking a little bloggy break to enjoy the holidays with my family -- Christmas, my brother's wedding and New Year's!

But had to check in and share this little bit of joy....

In 1991, I married my wonderful Wade:

Eleven years later, my brother Talley married his lovely bride Sarah....this is my little family that day:

And would you believe that ELEVEN years later, my youngest brother Len married his beautiful bride, Stephanie!! Here are a few shots from Saturday:

Should we go on and start planning for one of my kiddos to marry eleven years from now??

Oh my.

Blessings for a wonderful New Year, dear ones!!

Bloggaversary. Or something to that effect!

Five years ago today, my amazing then 10-year-old Mason decided I needed to blog. Needed to.

My four when my blog began....so very little.

He created The Blessing Counter and told me to get busy.

Well, something like that.

Cate's Strawberry Shortcake Birthday #3!

I had no idea what I was doing. And five years later, I really still do not know. 

First family mission trip to Rocky Point, Mexico.

Except that this -- this space so lovingly set up by my son -- has become a safe place for me.

With Uncle Todd and Aunt Marti in California!

A place to share the wonder that is my little family.

A place to share the joy, the fear and the unknown of parenting two children with special needs.

A place to share the joy, the fear and the unknown of parenting two children who DON'T have special needs. (Smile)

Cate's 4th Birthday.

A place to chronicle life -- so that on the hard days we can look back and smile.

And yes, on the easier days, we can look back and see how far we have come.

I have used this little space to rally prayer warriors as my boys have been through five surgeries in the years since I began cyber-sharing.

I have used it to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and life-moments.

The Masons celebrating Len's graduation from Arizona State University!

Meeting and welcoming baby Moriah to our crazy family!

And in my musings, I have made new friends and been able to re-connect with some not-so-new (see, how carefully I did not say old?).

And above all, I pray I have encouraged, educated and helped my readers (even on days when there are only three -- thank you, Mother, Marsha and Claire!) understand a little bit of what it means to be a family impacted by special needs.

I pray that my little ramblings have encouraged even one Mama to celebrate the small things and find her way to bless the little ones God has placed in her nest.

Because if there is one thing I KNOW, it is this: five years goes by in the blink of an eye. I am shocked at the photos from this blog in the early days. My kids were so little. And now...they are not.

Five years goes by fast, my friends. And the next five, well those will not slow down either.

Today. Today is the time to be with our kids. Today is the time to speak truth to them. Today is the time to set aside the worry and fears of tomorrow (even if a major surgery looms on the horizon) and celebrate the wonder of TODAY!

 Thank you for five years of indulging my ramblings. You are a blessing!