BST's Blog: 04/01/2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

Mom's ACU Golden Anniversary

Earlier in the month I had the honor of escorting my mother to her 50th anniversary at ACU. They had a great turn out and it was fun for her to see a lot of her classmates from the 60's. One of my favorite parts was the evening banquet when they showed an old film of ACU back from 1958. It was incredible to see the way the campus and the students looked back then. I have seen many pictures from my parents' scrapbooks and heard lots of stories so it was really cool to see it on film. I even saw Doug Smith (a good friend of ours and one of the co-founders of the ZOE ministry).

Here are some pictures from Mom's big adventure...

In case you didn't know...my mom's maiden name was Brandon! Nice glasses, Mom!

Mom and our sweet friend, Barbie Bates

The new Hunter Alumni Center is really beautiful!

You guys know Stephen Bailey--long time friend, roommate, best man, etc. His father is the ACU Alumnus of the Year and they had a really awesome display in the Alumni Center. Way to go, Dr. John!

Mom posing with some friends after the morning devotional...which was awesome, by the way. All those 70 somethings could really sing! And they worshiped! Very sweet moment. The woman on the right is the mother of Deann, Missy and Craig Comolli. (Missy and Sheryl were roommates for a while at ACU).

Mom with Bob Hunter. What would a trip to Abilene be like without a picture with Bob? You can also see a nice photo of Bob and Shirley in the upper right hand corner of this picture.

My good buddy Kyle Dickson dropped by to say hi. Great seeing you, Kyle!

We had a very nice visit with Ronnie and Darla Lorenz (some of our very best friends for many years). Craig Fisher also stopped by (and took this photo). Thanks Fish! As we were sitting in the lobby visiting Craig's name scrolled across the news feed on FOX News. We cheered. :) Craig is taking on a new role at ACU as Alumni Director.

Mom's original class had 300 something. Over half of them are no longer living. There was a beautiful tribute at the evening banquet. There was a great turn out...this group is looking good!

Here they are doing the "WC" (stands for Wildcats...ACU's mascot)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Maddie at the Frist

Maddie mentioned to us recently that her art had been chosen to be displayed and I don't really think any of us understood what that meant. Honestly, in my mind I was picturing a line of pictures in the third grade hall at school. Later we discovered that her art had been chosen (along with 6 other kids from her school) to be displayed in the Mayor's exhibit at the Frist. The Frist is Nashville's beautiful Art Museum. We were so thrilled!

The piece they chose was interesting because it wasn't her normal style. She definitely inherited the creative/artistic gene from my dad and from Sheryl. I couldn't really draw my way out of a box so I'm always very impressed with this particular gift. I think it's a wonderful thing the Mayor is doing to encourage art awareness in young people.

Maddie and Ella--Ella was very proud of Maddie too

My sweet little girl isn't so little anymore!

Maddie and one of her art teachers

Beautiful girls!

Maddie and her friend Haley

The Frist is next to Union Station which made a nice backdrop for some photos.

Maddie's art will be on display through next week. Congratulations, Maddie! We're all so proud of you!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter 2011

I want to publicly thank all my friends who have contributed to this recent series on my blog. It has been so fun for me to hear their thoughts and introduce you to them. God has blessed me with all of them and the influence they have on my life and my family. THANK YOU, friends! I love you all very much!

We had an incredible Easter weekend! I hope you did too. It began with Sam's Kindergarten class Easter egg hunt at his buddy, Jackon Beaman's house. You might recall my blog postings on Jackson's last two birthday parties (super hero and dinosaur). The Beaman's never throw a small party...they do it up right. This one was unbelievable. They transformed their back yard into the board game Candyland.

Sam got to the Beaman's and he was SO excited!

entrance to their back yard. They ordered different colored shirts for all the kids and turned them into the Candyland game pieces.

The guy in the bunny outfit is the mascot for Auburn University. He was incredible!

Yep---you're not imagining it...it's a chocolate fountain.

Sam, left. Jackson Beaman, right.

The kids with Miss Melissa

Eggs galore.

This is Ashley...Sam's...um...special friend. (he LOVES her)

Sam and Ashley

Bunnies!

Next was Nicole Shaub's wedding rehearsal and wedding ceremony. The Shaubs are dear friends here in Nashville. (I lived with them briefly before Sheryl and I were married.) We were so excited to be a part of that ceremony and thrilled to see old friends.

Sheryl and I were excited to see our friends Lea Brown and Trina Gehl visiting from Texas.

Nicole, Sheryl and me

The wedding was beautiful and Charles and Nicole are off to a great start on a wonderful life together! Congratulations, friends!

Sunday morning, Sheryl and I sang at Otter Creek. It was a joy-filled day. The choir and praise team led worship together and we led the full version of "The Hallelujah Chorus". It was awesome!

Jason and Alisha McArthur were there with baby Maddox who made his debut! He is perfect!

After church we celebrated at my mom's with Gail and Chris and their family and Kevin and Kiki and their family. It was so much fun! Kevin and I showed up to sing Sunday morning realizing that we unintentionally matched. Awkward. It was hilarious. We all had a blast together and loved watching the kids hunt eggs. Thanks to my mom for a delicious Easter lunch!