Flashback Friday: One Year Ago Today

Twelve months have passed since this little group, plus some other friends and family, prayed and hugged and said, "See you later!"

And God has been so faithful and kind to us to help us to stay in close touch via different methods. The Lord has kept our family safe on the other side of the ocean and has given them many examples of his love and care for them.

That day was not the saddest day ever and neither is today. May 27 is just a day we remember in our family and can see God's faithfulness to all generations.

Flashback Friday: Happy Birthday to my Sis!

I've been posting birthday pics of my sister all week, but I thought it would be fun to put them all in one place today. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, so we'll be celebrating all weekend!

One!

 We think this photo of Jeanette eating a flower was taken on her first birthday. We haven't found the cake pictures yet (sorry, younger sister).

Two!

 She loved her babies, even back then. I think this was the famous Susie who eventually got all of her hair literally loved off of her head.

Three!

 Such a little cutie with her cupcakes and sweet little dress! Make a wish!

Four!

We had just returned from a family trip to Disney World where she got a new dress with a matching purse. Granddaddy had asked her what kind of cake she wanted and got her what she requested:  cake with pink icing and a ballerina on top! She also got another doll and some money!

Five!

 Jeanette's birthday usually falls around Labor Day weekend, so we were often in Maryland visiting our Maw-Maw and Granddaddy. I love having familiar things in the background that we remember from our childhood.

Seventeen!

We skip ahead to when Jeanette turned 17 (driving age in NJ). I was away at college, but Mom, Dad and Uncle Randel helped celebrate (and added fingers to show her age). The cake in this picture was a strawberry cake, which has been Jeanette's favorite and most-requested birthday cake for many years!

Love you, Sis!

Flashback Friday: Happy House-a-versary!

1997

Seventeen years ago on this day, August 29, we became the proud owners of our little house! It was kind of a scary feeling to sign all of those papers, but there was also a lot of excitement! We were homeowners!

Here are some fun facts (and one not-so-fun):

• We paid $92,000 for our 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath house.
• One of the main selling points of the house was the den, which in the past had been converted from the garage, adding another 300 or so square feet of living space.
• Daniel was two-years-old and got his first "big-boy" bed in his new room.
• The 1997 calendar is the same as 2014, so we closed on a Friday (the 29th) and moved in on Saturday.
• Sadly, that weekend was also when we got the news that Princess Diana had been killed in a car accident (not that we knew her or anything, but it was notable and very tragic).

2005 or 2006

 Through the years we made some improvements. The house had been "completely remodeled" with fresh paint throughout, new carpet, and new appliances (I found the sales sheet last night in some paperwork and those were the words used). We were grateful that the house was "move-in ready," but we changed paint colors and added landscaping along the way.

2013

I have become an HGTV junkie lately and have lots of ideas of more updates I'd like to make to this little house. The carpets need to be replaced and some rooms are overdue for fresh paint. There are also "dream" projects that I have in mind, but those are probably bigger than my budget will allow. I struggle with walking the fine line of making improvements that I can enjoy and finding contentment in what I've been given to steward.

I remember that when we moved in as a little family of three, we thought we might live there for a few years and then move to a bigger house as our family grew. However, the Lord knew the "rest of the story." I have been continually thankful that He provided this house and has allowed me to stay in it for all of these years, through many transitions. He is faithful!

Flashback Friday: Waiting for Erica

Today, this girl is turning SIX! And doesn't she look the part, with her missing front tooth and growing taller and longer legs and arms. She is so fun and so excited to be six! To hear her talk about it, she has been waiting for a long time to be this age.

Waiting for Erica was a big theme in our family in 2008 (and before)! I remember her parents coming to my house just before they were heading to Texas for Christmas and we sat on my "ledge" in the den and they told me that they had gotten a positive pregnancy test. It was ve-r-r-r-y early and there would be a lot of waiting to see if things would be OK. After several pregnancy losses, our family was cautiously optimistic and we waited on baited breath, across several state lines, to hear news that the pregnancy was viable.

We waited some more throughout the nine months to hear of good reports at the doctors' offices and to see ultrasound pictures. We waited with prayerful hearts as the weeks turned into months and Jeanette's tummy got bigger.

Then the "due date" was set for August 22 and Jeanette would deliver by c-section on that day. I remember that I went to work for the morning on that day, since the c-section wasn't to be until early afternoon. I'm sure I wasn't getting much work done, though, and my co-workers waited with me until it was time for me to leave for Baptist Hospital to sit in the waiting room for news of the baby's safe arrival.

We had a fun time in the waiting room, thanks to our friend Sandra, who was video-taping the event and had lots of fun questions to ask the grandparents and aunts who were waiting together. Finally, the time came and we heard the call for the Massey family to come in the hallway to get the first look at the newest Massey baby. We assembled in the hall with our cameras and smiles on our faces as Russell, the daddy, got to bring his new baby daughter to see the family and announce her name:  Erica Jean Massey!


She was a beautiful, pink, healthy baby girl and she was so waited for and loved! We had to wait some more as she got taken to the nursery to get her vitals and her first bath. Her mommy had to wait to get her back after all that required routine medical attention, and then we all got to take turns holding Erica Jean.

I remember that we waited until Jeanette and Erica had been taken to their regular hospital room and then we each sat in the rocking chair and got to hold the sweet baby girl. I was one of the last ones, letting the grandparents go first, and also being the family photographer.

They placed the sweet little bundle in my arms and I just marveled at the miracle that I was holding. I was holding answered prayers from a faithful God. Oh, how she was worth the wait!

Erica has already had to learn about waiting. It's one of the lessons we learn all throughout our lives and sometimes the wait is longer than at other times. I pray that as Erica grows, she will learn to wait with the hope and the truth of Romans 8:19-25:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Flashback Friday: Spring Break Memories

Today officially begins Daniel's first Spring Break in college. And he's going to be spending it in Nashville. That's OK with him, I think, and he'll have other chances to spend his break at the beach.

In honor of Spring Break, I thought I'd do a little flashback to Spring Breaks gone by. Based on the dates of these pictures, we're both overdue for a Spring Break trip!

March 2006 - Washington, DC

March 2009 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

March 2009 - Doug and Daniel getting ready to go fishing

March 2000 - Grandpa and Daniel sharing ice cream in Chattanooga

Flashback Friday: Birthday Edition

Summer of 1975

Happy birthday to my sweet sister! We've been hanging around together for as long as either of us can remember!

I love this picture of us taken when Jeanette was almost six and I was eight. We were in the yard of our church in Montclair, NJ, and I think a photographer was taking pictures of our family to use with an article about my parents in a missions magazine.

My favorite thing about this picture is my sister's sweet smile and her "tummy show" shirt. What a little cutie she was, and still is! And I think we can see some of both her girls in her face.

Happy Birthday, Jeanette! I may not have always appreciated hanging around with you when we were younger, but you're at the top of my list of people I love to hang out with now! I love you!

Flashback Friday: Mom's Indulgence Edition

When you're the mom of a graduating senior, you get to take "liberties" on your own blog the week of graduation. So here's a little walk down memory lane of photos of Daniel through the years.

5th birthday, a month before he started Kindergarten

Baseball became his game early on

One of his later teams, The Diamon Dawgs!

One of my favorite pics of him in the tween years

After his buzz cut done on a dare.

The day he got braces

Eighth grade swagger

 

First day of high school

 

Last first day of school

Junior prom

 

Drummer Dan

Flashback Friday: Harding Mall

For this flashback, I'll stay on the mall theme. If you've been in Nashville only a couple of years, you might not know that the Wal-Mart at the corner of Harding Place and Nolensville Road used to be the Harding Mall. It was a smaller mall, but had two anchor stores in it's "heydey" (maybe more, but that's what I remember).

When I was in college, there was also a movie theater there and at some point during my college years, it became a "dollar theater" making it even more attractive to me and my friends. Some movies that I remember seeing there are "Stealing Home" and "Mannequin" (remember those 80s movies?).

I can also remember taking Daniel to the Sears portrait studio at Harding Mall when he was three months old. Those were not my favorite pictures taken of him, but they were his first "professional" portraits and I have the one I bought hanging on the wall in my hallway.

Some other stores that I remember shopping in at the Harding Mall were Family Bookstore, Marshall's, Castner-Knott (and later it was bought by Dillard's, I think) and a cross-stitch store (my old hobby before scrapbooking).

Harding Mall went through a renovation at one point and the movie theater closed. Eventually, the whole mall just wasn't doing enough business and someone had the great idea to transform it into a huge Wal-Mart. I sometimes miss being able to run down there to grab a gift or just to walk around without going to the bigger mall areas of town.

Flashback Friday: Church Street Center

I had a little inspiration this week and thought I'd start a new feature on my blog called "Flashback Friday." Let me know what you think and if you have any memories of what I write about.

A couple of months ago, I was talking with my co-worker and realized that since he has only lived in Nashville since 2007, there are some places that used to be here that aren't and there some places that he currently knows that were formerly known as something else. Have I confused you yet? Well, I'll get started with my first flashback and hopefully you'll see what I'm talking about.

Back in the early 1990s when I was working at the Baptist Sunday School Board (now known as Lifeway, and no, that's not the flashback), my friends and I would often walk a couple of blocks up to a little mall called Church Street Center. There were the usual mall stores, like The Limited and Bath & Body Works, along with shoe stores, etc. It also connected to a department store that still had a presence in the downtown area, Castner-Knott (again, that could be a flashback of its own).

This mall also had a food court with several options of cuisine to choose from and lots of table scattered around. Often, I'd still bring my lunch, but would enjoy getting out of the office and spending time with my friends. It's safe to say we ventured up there at least three times a week. It definitely was a better option than eating in the cafeteria at the BSSB.

I'm not sure how many years the mall stayed open, but eventually, it wasn't doing enough business (I think maybe after Castner-Knott closed the downtown store) and it closed. By then, I was a stay-at-home mommy and didn't get a chance to go eat lunch there anymore. For me and my "twenty-something" group of friends, it was fun while it lasted!

And if you're wondering the exact location of the Church Street Center, you can go by the downtown branch of the Nashville Public Library and see it for yourself. I hate that the mall had to go bankrupt, but I really love how the city of Nashville took lemons and made lemonade by building the library in that location.