20 Years!!!

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow..."

Cameron and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this Wednesday, June 19th.

Wedding day -1993.

                                                                             

In 2013.

These two pictures above show our wedding day in 1993 and the most recent picture of us in 2013. In between these two dates, the Lord has blessed us with nine children, some very wonderful times and some heartbreak - but He has always been very good to us! We are so thankful and I am putting some pictures of us over the years from our "getting to know each other" to our engagement day to our wedding - to pictures of our family as it has grown. 

Courting - 1992.

Out to dinner - 1992.

Engaged! 1992

Announcing our engagement - 1992.

Wedding day - 1993. I really like this picture of my Dad and I walking up the aisle, I just wish it was more clear!

    The vows and ring.

The kiss! 

One of the things that I like about this picture is that Pastor John Hicks is in it, he did our vows and with his wife, Kathy has been a major part of our being here and still being married - because, lets face it, none of us would be together without help!

      

The recessional.

Here's another of my favorite pictures as it has Pastor O'Connor in it - we are here because of life that has been given to us - all of our lives!!

Cameron preaching during the reception - one of the things I've always loved about him!

   

        My Dad and I. 

                     

 My Mom and I.

My sisters and I.

My whole family.

Cameron's whole family.

Cameron and I with Pastor O'Connor & Pastor Hicks.

Alright, enough wedding! On to our family - 

Us with one child - Ellen.

Us with Ellen and Cameron Jr.

Dedicating Erin (before we baptized infants). Ellen and Cameron Jr. are on the floor. (Maybe Cameron Jr. was playing he was a horse?!)

Us with Ellen, Cameron Jr. & Erin.

Ellen, Cameron Jr., Erin & Warren.

With Ellen, Cameron Jr., Erin, Warren & Carolyn. Our children always make the most interesting faces ;)

Us with Ellen, Cameron Jr., Erin, Warren, Carolyn & Shannon is the baby.

  

     

           OK - on to seven! 

   Us with Ellen, Cameron Jr., Erin, Warren, Carolyn, Shannon & Calvin.

  

  Our tenth anniversary in Victoria B.C. with Calvin.

Us with Ellen, Cameron Jr., Erin, Warren, Carolyn, Shannon, Calvin & Allison.

      This is a picture taken after Joan's baptism - it includes Cameron's mom, LaMer and also my        parents.

  I am amazed again at the goodness of the Lord when I look at these pictures -

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20-21

Happy (late) Birthday, Dad!

 This post is a late birthday present for my Dad. I've had an idea for a long time of finding all the pictures that I have of him holding each of my children when they were babies. Well, finding the pictures has proved harder than I thought it would be (this is what happens when you let YEARS of pictures sit unorganized in a box in the garage - or even worse, on your computer hard drive!). Finally, after much searching, I've come up with pictures of all nine of my children with him - sadly, they weren't all baby pictures, which is what I originally wanted, but at least I'll be able to look at them all in one place. There's a little description above each picture that tells a little bit about each child - since they are mostly so much older now!

Dad, when you end up reading this - Happy Birthday - I love you! 

             This first picture is of my Dad and my oldest, Ellen - she's a lovely 19 year old now! I'm so glad that she has the privilege of knowing you, Dad - she really loves you.

   These next two are my Dad and Cameron Jr. - I love their smiles in the first picture! I'm glad that we have a record of these memories!

                                     

                                                              Coloring with Grandpa! 

This next picture is with Erin - I don't know what she's thinking here but I love the picture! Erin is 16 now and the life of our party - I can't imagine a day without her! 

 Sadly, I don't have a baby picture of my Dad with my son Warren - however, I have this one from  vacation last year. Warren is on the far right of the picture - he's 14 and truly growing in God's grace (and out of all of his clothes!) Warren has great memories of hot chocolate with you, Dad, at numerous campfires!

 In this next picture, the baby is Carolyn (Cameron Jr. is in the picture also). She's 13 now and such a sweet girl.

This picture is with Shannon, who was named after me, she's a homebody - happy to be where she is, I love being with her :) 

This is Dad and Calvin on vacation last year - I seem to have lost my camera when he and Warren were babies! Sigh - oh well! Calvin is 10 and has a lot to say all the time - and I'm glad! On a camping note - I have so many good memories of camping with you, Dad! I'm hoping to make some of those great memories with my own children and I'm so glad that you are a part of them!

Allison and Grandpa playing chess - this is something that all of my children have loved doing with him, and something I did when I was growing up too. Allison is 8 these days and so much fun!

And - last but not least by any means - Grandpa and Joan Cameron in these next two pictures. Joan will be four in June. To say that she is a real character is putting it mildly! I firmly believe that she was given to Cameron and I as a present from God. A grace and a consolation in some very hard times.

I think that Joan thinks that she has a telescope to look at Grandpa with!

I am so thankful to have a Godly father for my children to grow up knowing - I don't take a Godly heritage for granted, especially in the current culture we live in. Thank you too, Dad!

Hawaii

Cameron and I just returned from a ten day trip to Hawaii all by ourselves! This was really an amazing and relaxing trip - no schedules & nothing to do but be together - we really enjoyed ourselves & came back refreshed and ready to go! 

The picture above is from the window of the plane in the morning before we took off - the picture below shows the sunset of the same day in Hawaii.

Cameron and I looking relaxed...

                                 

                              We got to spend a lot of time with my parents -that was fun!

 A few beach pictures below - Makena in the morning when we were the only people there. These pictures make the weather look a little cloudy, but it was beautiful & sunny most of the time.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever..." Psalm 136:1