Hunter's 2nd Year video

Enjoy this video of Hunter's second year. It's a large file, so if you hit play and then pause (it will load while on pause) and hit play again a few minutes later. Then it should play beautifully!

Hunter's 2nd Year from Josh Strong on Vimeo.

potty training basics

1. training on a tuesday may not be as easy as waiting for a weekend to start, but it will produce the same results.

2. all you need are some Reeses pieces and a can-do attitude

3. the day you start, all you need from your husband is to roll up the rugs for you before he goes to work.

...these are the fantasy lies that were rolling around in my head the last day and a half. none of which are true, at least not for me. more than anything, i need grace for this project! which, as i have told myself recently, grace most beautiful and most humbling when you get to take a complete bath in it.

love.

palm beach - revisited

for a blissful 3 days, we got to revisit out honeymoon spot!

lots had changed, but so many things had not.

we reenacted some old memories and made some new ones.

these two chairs were meant for us.

i love this man. i loved him in 2004 the first time we went to palm beach on our honeymoon. i also love this balcony.

and i love him even more this summer when we went back. yes, i'm the one that makes him always pose this way, although i personally think he's a natural.

flowers awaited me from josh...

tennis time before dinner

even after 7 years, some things never change (photo june 2004)....

and forever when we go to palm beach we'll always forgo another fancy lobster night for Pizza Girls, next to the original Sloan's ice cream shop, across the street from the water fountains. (photo this July 2011).

until next time, pb~

"Ohhhh, I love ya, love ya, love ya"

Memories from One Swivel Chair to the Right

She was the first face I saw when I first went into the counseling center at First Baptist. I don't know if she knew how close we would become (I think it was just her nature), but it was hug at first sight. And thus it began. Me. Dolores. And our little counseling center office. Not too many candy jar fillings later, we grew to love each other---over deciding who would take the mail to the 2nd floor, answering calls from each other's "hubbies," and laughing over her appointments with a hair dresser named "Buey."

We laughed together, cried together, prayed together although I guess most people would just classify us as we "worked together." But I think we laughed the most. (Sorry for you to find out this way, Adam). I remember so many times (usually "after hours," after she had worked a full day), she would laugh so hard she would stop breathing and just flat out cry. Sometimes it was when things went wrong on the computer and couldn't get right. When things just got more and more twisted the more we tried to figure it out. The laughing would come. She would have to turn her chair around so that she wouldn't be laughing at the waiting room. The pictures above were taken just after one of these enjoyable laughing episodes. I actually felt bad. I didn't know she would be so scared when they came up behind her with her birthday surprise at Ciro's!!! This was her birthday this year.

In all seriousness, she was a hard worker and a faithful prayer warrior. I remember so many days, I can feel it just now, how it felt to hold her hands as we would pray together in the counseling center kitchen. Those manicured, tender hands that so proudly wore her wedding ring.

I always knew her favorite time of year. It was so obvious. It was like she carried the turning of the Ohio leaves in her pocket, for she got giddy just thinking about the cool breeze, even in humid Houston. Especially if it was a cold fall. She couldn't wait for it to be "snuggling weather!!!" Oh, I am serious! The end of September was her absolute joy. She dearly loved that Dave. :) Their anniversary on the cusp of his birthday was just almost too much.

And we ALL KNOW she loved a good party. The counseling center staff meetings were proof. Matching table cloths corresponding with the appropriate holiday were a must. And often she would stay up until midnight making the dessert she couldn't find at the Barker Cypress Randall's, JUST BECAUSE it was the birthday employee of the month's favorite.

There are things I'll never forget that will be hard to do without her. In fact, I probably won't do without her. Like be able to go to Doyle's and order "the kid's spaghetti with an extra meatball, please." Or go to the Dollar Tree the week of Christmas. Every year, we would take our sack lunches (so we wouldn't waste time eating out) and use our lunch break to load up on last minutes stocking stuffers. Every year we so enjoyed it. We always went to the one at 290/Antoine. I think because she knew the Starbucks was in the same parking lot. She'd always whip in the drive thru afterwards and asked me if I wanted frappuccino to take back to work. Followed by the thought of skipping work all together and going to the Galleria. She was creative, but never executed. She loved and respected her job too much.

But couldn't love anything as much as those three grandkids! In my mind, Madison, Colton and Cameron are celebrities! We know all of their stats, talents on the stage and on the field and in the lap pool. And we are so proud of them, too! You couldn't talk to Dolores and not be proud right along with her! Christi, Judi and Craig stories were always a joy for her to tell and welcomed by us.

She studied her Bible, and loved doing it. I will always attach her faithful heart when I hear her favorite verse, Isaiah 26:3

"You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You."

She shared this with me when she knew I was taking my counseling license exam. And if Dolores ever told you she was going to pray for you---she did---without fail. The title of this post was what she said often, but she meant it everytime. With arms in a full out bear hug, she'd say "Oh, I love ya, love ya, love ya." If you are reading this, have assurance that she really did. Three times over.

Here we are ---celebrating a life well- lived. However, too short by our human judgment.

But here's one thing I know:

There are a few people who make the list of being the richest people in the world.

Donald Trump. George Bailey. Dolores Schreckengost.

This very minute, she's the richest woman I know.

love~

Courtney

My Birthday~Vacay

First day!

There's NOTHING, and I mean nothing Josh could have given me that I would have loved more for my birthday. There's this little place. Close to my heart. Just a little down I-10 West. My family went the summer it opened, and yes, I felt really old seeing how much it had changed. But some things hadn't changed.

The lazy river.

The amazing breakfast.

The front porch beckoning coffee drinkers and newspaper readers.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about the Hill Country Hyatt. Just take the Sea World exit and, well, let's just say -my family will never make it to Sea World.

What beats poolside nuggets and bbq sauce?

An added bonus....my birthday buddy was having his party that weekend, so we stopped by the par-tay and invited a few guests to the hotel pool the next day...it's a toss up who liked it more...Christy or Mr. Hill :)

On the way home (see below) ...Couldn't even prop his head after trying! :) Too much fun!

Thank you, Josh

Jack

As I stood by my grandfather's side on Sunday, holding his hand, I could not wall up the memories.

These were the hands that held me in his lap.

These were the hands that baptized me in November 1991.

The hands that held the steering wheel and took my sister and me cross-country on vacation.

The hands that prayed for me.

The hands that shook Josh's hand and welcomed him into our family.

The hands that held the fishing rod right next to me.

The hands that signed our wedding portrait collage -- and included, yes a verse, but wrote "Blue Bell" in parentheses under he and Mamps' name. I think he didn't want me to forget that all of the stories he would tell me and Kayla growing up --no matter the genre-- they all ended in someone getting run over by a Blue Bell truck. He made me laugh more than almost anyone I know.

Consequently, the hands that gave Hunter some of his first Blue Bell. Hunter had only had rice cereal and milk at this point in his life. Jack asked me how much he could have. I said "one..." Before I could say tablespoon, he said, "One bowl, coming right up."

The hands that knocked on doors to bring the gospel.

The hands that made me many of breakfasts. He dearly loved breakfast. Breakfast was not cereal. Breakfast was eggs, toast with butter to each corner, at least 2 types of jelly and crispy bacon.

The hands that held a stone of Baylor pride all the days I knew him.

Those hands that worked so hard.

He would not have liked for us to see him laying in bed. But as I watched him on Tuesday, his last day with us, I did not see a weak man at all. All I could picture was his hands around a baseball bat. A teenager, strong, full head of hair, at youth camp. Attracting a young woman named Dolores Smith.

The Bible says "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him." I kept thinking---just like Jack has no idea what he is about to enter--he could not have imagined what God would do through he and Mamps as he stepped up to bat at that baseball diamond those many years ago. No idea. Oh, what the widespread love of Christ has done. They birthed a family in the Lord. And grew the family of God through his heart.

Let us live it out all of our days. May it be everything he can imagine for us now from his new vantage point.

Actually, This IS my First Rodeo!!!

We took Hunt to the Rodeo last week, and it's a toss up who had the best time. Pan over to catch a shot of Josh eating a funnel cake, Hunter on the light rail, and then over to me singing "Down in Georgia...Pickin' Them Peaches...." It was just all good stuff. But the highlights for Hunter (as evidenced by his excited leg bouncing) were the chuck wagon races, Tim McGraw's intro number and the gatorade from the kids meal. For a boy who has only had water and milk--that was a big deal. Plus, it was blue--so what boy would not love that?!?!

But the Great American Pony Ride picture...was not so great in his opinion. This was worse than Santa.

Hunter on his first light rail......he loved going so fast! Tim McGraw wristband in hand!

Hunter in the Petting Zoo. He enjoyed pointing at each animal and telling what sound it made.

Giddy up, Hunter!

The Last Sermon- Jack Carr

Today marked the fourth retirement in which I have participated.

For the same person.

My grandfather, Jack T. Carr Sr., preached his last sermon today. As a family, we've filled the pews a few times for this occasion. I guess you just can't give it up that easily when you have been sharing the gospel publicly since age 15. I jokingly told Josh today I was most sad during the "first- last" sermon he gave because I thought it was for real.

The decision came more suddenly this time. For a while, although Jack suffered through health problems, he did what he always did--kept doing what he loved--preaching for a body of people he had grown to dearly care for. But after several rounds of more recent hospital visits, the doctors determined although not cancer, he does have a lung disease. He's going through a procedure this week. At this juncture, my grandparents reluctantly decided it was time. So this morning, they resigned from their most recent church--Hawthorne Baptist Church.

Before the sermon:

Jack gave a great sermon on the doctrines that anchor us from John 3:16-- God, salvation, assurance and security. Jack, if you are reading this, this is proof that not everyone falls asleep during church! I've been proud of you every time I have heard you from the pulpit. I was proud the day you baptized me at Houston's First Baptist Church. I was proud at First Baptist South Houston when all of the other kids would think it was so cool I was with you. I was proud at every one of your retirements. But I'm also proud every time I see you just because of who you are.

As a side note: there's an important memory I forgot to include in my Christmas post. One of the things I look forward to about Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter...is hearing my grandfather give the family blessing before we eat. I love his genuine, tender voice. A voice that seems to gather us all in one room for a few special moments. This Christmas was one of the most special prayers to me. While Jack prayed, another voice began to quietly babble in harmony with his--Hunter's. The sound of their voices together was very, very sweet.

Below: a pic of Jack and Hunter this Thanksgiving~

After Jack gave his resignation to the congregation, Josh leaned over to me and asked me if I heard all of the sniffling going on in the sanctuary. There was a lot of sniffling going on behind us. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jack had to request we sing his favorite song to end the sermon-- "When We All Get to Heaven." I guess that is supposed to be a happy song? I couldn't sing a word of it because I was crying. But I knew God knew my heart---a happy song it is--but I just couldn't audibly make out the words this morning.

A beautiful scene followed. Jack walked down the aisle and took the hand of his gorgeous bride of 58- almost 59 years. They continued to walk down the aisle towards the back of the church so they could greet their church family. I caught a glimpse of their backs as they walked to the door. Just as they did every Sunday. One more time. What a testimony to all of us--even in the sorrow of the decision--you could even tell from behind--they were determined to serve joyfully to the finish.

At the back door greeting--a pic of the "Fearsome Foursome" as I call it. Mamps and Jack and their close, close friends, Barbara and Harlen.

Hunter helping Jack greet :)

For some comic relief, Jack asked my brother in law to close in prayer after the hymn. I don't think he knew it was going to be comic relief, but John Travis got up there and began to thank the Lord for "Jack...and ... and Mamps' service to the church." Of course, no one in our family knows my grandmother by any other name!!! We all started laughing hysterically.

Jack always says He has two favorite things in this world: breakfast and Christmas. I think he never put preaching on the list because it was a given.

Love you, Mamps and Jack!