mom & dad:

These are my parents.
They are adorable, as you can see.
My dad, Paul, is an amazing man.
He has raised his 5 kids with so much love.
I understand that he is not the same dad now as he was with my other 3 siblings, but the fact that all 5 of us are able to love as much as we do is a testament to his child rearing, no matter how hard it was in the past.  He works hard and loves deep.  God is the center of his life.  He is a man of God and knows that he is covered by grace, just like the rest of us.
I get my brain from my dad.  I think just like him, which drives my mom crazy : ) I love it, though.
He has taught me these important things that I hope to impart to my children:
To look him in the face when he is teaching me a lesson.
To make a point of the difference between being mad and being disappointed in me.
To always go farther than expected of, no matter the inconvenience.
To wake up early and read with God, even if early is 3am and you got home at 11pm.
To never let a far drive separate you from family.
When I was little, he would set up a chart and once it was full, he would take me on a date.
I loved those dates.
The one that has stuck since I was 6 was going to see the Nutcracker at Christmas.
14 years later and we are still going strong.



My mom, Loretta, is a crack-up.
Anyone who has known her long enough knows that when she laughs...
she LAUGHS.
She is one of the most selfless and silliest people I know.
I get all my quirks from her.
I didn't realize how much my mannerisms and my laugh were like my mom until I lived in Long Beach.
I love it.
One thing I now know, house mom's are WAY underrated.
Growing up, our house was always so clean, functional, warm and welcoming.
As I was cleaning my kitchen at 3am this morning, I remembered hearing my mom up at those wee hours cleaning and putting the tornado stricken house back together only to have it torn up the next day.  Cleaning the dumb grease on the stove made me appreciate my mom so much.
That's usually the way it seems to go though.
We never fully appreciate something or someone until we are without them or have to do it ourselves.

She is a crazy one, that's for sure.

I don't know how many moms would let us roller skate in the house or make me believe that the things she didn't want me to touch would come alive and eat me if I ever touched them!
She is an actress at heart and always would perform for my little brother and I.
She'd put on Edith Piaf and go around lip-syncing to her "crazy french lady music", as we called it.
Or she'd put on the Beatles.  Now that, I LOVED and still love.
And, she loves Jesus.
Waking up and going to find her with her Woman's Study Bible, wearing her big pink robe, drinking a cup of coffee and wearing her reading glasses every morning at the kitchen table is a great memory.

The reason for writing about my parents is because growing up, both her and my dad would listen to what I thought was boring music like:

Jim Croce
John Denver
Edith Piaf
Crosby, Stills & Nash
America
Journey
Gordon Lightfoot

Well, what am I listening to that I cannot get enough of right now?
Every single musician I just listed.
I almost don't want to tell my parents I'm listening to all their music!

I love watching our relationships expand from daughter/parent to friend & daughter/friend & parent.

I love them.