"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"Luke 1:45
This picture fills my heart with joy!The photoshoot was between naps and lunch and was a little misty. Thank you to Ashel, who somehow got 15 people to look at the camera without photoshopping!
I am so incredibly proud of each precious person in this group, from the three one-year-olds to grown-up kids to Brett. They are each doing good work, doing hard things, and loving their people so well.
For my birthday, the stars aligned, and all 15 of us spent a week together at the beach. It was a fun week of being together and relaxing (after baby bedtime).
Pretty amazing photo for a tripod and a timer. Thanks, Jaxon, for your expertise.
G-Mama and B-daddy with Annie, Tess, and Shaffer, our girl gang.
Harrison and Amelia
Mary-Margaret, Landon, Amelia, and Annie live in Hoschton, GA. Landon works as a managing consultant for a Workday platform in the benefits industry, and Mary-Margaret manages their household and entertains Amelia and Annie.
Everett Belle and Jaxon live in Fayetteville. Everett is in her second year of law school at the University of Arkansas Law School, and Jaxon is the media and e-commerce manager for Onyx Coffee.
Conor, Alyssa, and Tess live in Centerton, AR (NWA). Alyssa works part-time as a professional counselor and a mama full-time, and Conor works in the computer engineering industry.
Anna-Grace, Josh, Harrison, and Shaffer live in Rogers, where Anna-Grace keeps up with Harrison, Shaffer, and Tess (two days a week) and does business contract work with a Physical Therapy company and Josh is a Physican Asssitant in a orthopaedic practice.
Our girl gang
Feeding three babies and two toddlers takes all hands on deck!
G-Mama and B-daddy
with Amelia, Annie, Tess, Shaffer, and Harrison
We celebrated milestone birthdays.
Our precious girl gang turned one in the summer of 2024.
Annie Mills Tabor turned one on August 5, and we celebrated with her cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and big sister, Amelia. Annie's strawberry party was adorable.
Shaffer Elizabeth Hurt turned one on August 25, and we celebrated with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and, of course, big brother Harrison.
The cousin girl gang!
Theresa Ruby Kirkman. Tess turned one on September 13, and we celebrated with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandmothers, and friends. The "First Trip Around the Sun" theme was perfect! Tess loved her cake and loved sharing it.
We celebrated Amelia James Tabor's third birthday with a Pua party (Moana's sidekick). Shoutout to her mom, Mary-Margaret, for nailing the sidekick theme! Cousins, friends, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all enjoyed celebrating our girl.
Happy 3rd birthday, Harrison!
Shaffer had a ball, too!
G-Mama, Auntie Ev, Uncle Conor, and Tess jumping!
Harrison James Hurt turned 3 on December 11 and had a jump party. Cousins, friends, aunts, uncles, and grandparents had fun. Harrison loves all types of vehicles and jumping!
A year in review 2024
We celebrated Cooper and Abby with our friends, Mark and Amy Carroll, in Kentucky in January 2024.
Councilman Kirkman is serving on the Searcy City Council.
Our Valentines February 2024
Enjoyed Easter with everyone in Searcy in March 2024
Took my mother to Florida to see her sister, Carol, and bonus to see my cousins, Billy and Kristen, Kristen's daughter, Caroline, and my mother's cousin, Jeff Todd, and his wife, Erin.
Always fun to have a stopover in Atlanta!
My favorite teacher, Sandra Gifford, lives in Atlanta, and I had lunch with her. We last saw each other in 1983. Sandra was my teacher in the 3rd and 4th grades at Sonrse Christian School. She was the reason I became a teacher early in my career. I read so many books she read in our classes to my children and students. Also, it was the day of the total eclipse, and we got to see it together -- an actual science experiment.
My dream team, wearing matching PJs, helped me prepare for a bridal luncheon.
In May, we celebrated the marriage of their son Brett and Katherine with our dear friends Karen and Kevin in San Diego.
And a bonus, such as hanging out with Stephen, Kathleen, and their family. May 2024
Everett and I celebrated with the Cheathams and Sims in Colorado Springs in June 2024.
We hiked a little at Garden of the Gods.
Brought my Arkansas Hospice team to Harding Place for a bit of bingo with my mother.
Celebrated with the Davis' for Emily and Matt's wedding in June.
Seeing Brooke (the matchmaker) and Justin at Emily's June wedding was fun.
I am a member of Rotary Club 99 and enjoy the weekly meetings. (July 2024)
Brett was the emcee at the Searcy Beats and Eats July 4th celebration (July 2024)
Got to bike across the Big Dam Bridge to the Clinton Presidential Center and back with Kim one afternoon in August.
The birthday boy picked a morning ride on his birthday in August.
And dinner at a favorite restaurant.
Jaxon's birthday in September 2024 in Bentonville
Sunrise from Red Rocks in September, a bonus from a conference in Denver.
Dinner with the Peggys September.
Mary-Margaret and Anna-Grace turned 30 in October! They have spent the last few birthdays together, which makes my heart happy.
I hosted my mother's supper club in October. It was a sweet time to be together, and I had a gift for each one: red and white pitchers that I found at my mother's house. She had been planning for a supper club she would host. Her friends loved it.
The dream team helped me host the supper club (on Everett's Law school fall break).
Sunday coffee with most of my book club. (October 2024)
I love it when our kids join us at the gym (November 2024) with the best trainer, Trina.
G-mama loves a good bath in the laundry room. Or "big bath," as Annie and Shaffer call it.
Matching hair and pink stripes
Matching hair
Searcy Park with the cousins
Sweet Shaffer
After the wedding, nothing a little cheese and pouch can't fix.
"G-mama, why does your shoulder not have clothes on it?"
Snack with Harry and the dogs.
Big kids' bath in G-Mama's laundry room.
Reading my favorite fiction author, Ann Patchett, The Verts.
Sweet Annie girl.
I have a new friend, Amy Orr Ewing, the author of Mary's Voice, which is the Advent book I loved this Christmas.
A little Big Cedar weekend in early November.
Thanksgiving 2024. All of the Shaffer side got to be together (and as we sat down to eat, Dr. Kim Shaffer got called to the hospital and missed the picture, but she was still the gracious hostess). We had the four one-year-old cousins, Annie, Shaffer, Tess, and Blakely, and the three-year-old cousins Amelia and Harrison, along with their parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and two 82-year-old great-grandmothers. We enjoyed our delicious meal during nap time, primarily prepared by my talented brothers, Stephen and Greg, with charcuterie appetizers designed by Everett Belle.
An unexpected concert in Des Arc with the very talented Megan Tibbits with Cheryl and Scott
A season of Christmas parties and Dirty Santa games at most area offices with Laura for two weeks in December.
Took the Peggys to the Living Nativity in Searcy, Southern Living's #1 Cutest Christmas town.
The beautiful advent book by Amy Orr Ewing helped prepare my heart for Christmas.
First coffee of Advent from Oynx. Thanks, Jaxon and Everett.
We had a fun week celebrating Christmas and the New Year 2025.
We had many adventures in 2024, traveling, biking, and celebrating with friends and family.
And with anticipation, we are looking forward to welcoming grandbaby #6 (the third baby for Anna-Grace and Josh in the spring.
AND
Grandbaby #7 (the second baby for Conor and Alyssa) in the summer.
As a long-time fan of Micheal W Smith, I love these words he penned last year. Brett and I got to hear the first public performance of this song last year. Enjoy the Christmas season. However, that looks for you, and take a moment to let the joy and memory fill your soul.
Shalom.
And the sands of time
Years passed like pages of old family
Photos in my mind
Faces and the places
How Decembers used to be
A little loneliness and longing
It rises up in me
Sometime every Christmas
Can't say where, or when, or why
But some moment or some memory
Takes me by surprise
And something in the season
Wells up in my eye
Sometime every Christmas, I cry
Might be some choir of children singing, "Silent Night"
Or driving through my hometown
Seeing main street dressed in lights
Maybe that old video
When I hear my granddad's prayer
Or in my mother's living room
With my father's empty chair
Sometime every Christmas
Can't say where, or when, or why
But some moment or some memory
Takes me by surprise
And something in the season
Wells up in my eye
Sometime every Christmas, I cry
And I read Luke chapter two
How God came to pursue
A world in need
Someone like me
Sometime every Christmas
Can't say where, or when, or why
But some moment or some memory
And it takes me by surprise
And something in the season
Wells up in my eye
Sometime every Christmas
I cry
