Happy Father's Day

I have a confession to make.  I don't like buying cards.  When looking for the perfect card, I will spend an hour in the card section pouring over every. single. one. which fits my occasion.  Then, I will spend approximately 21 minutes analyzing my top 3 choices.

Is it manly (or feminine) enough?
Is it too cheesy?
Will he (or she) understand the joke?
I like the picture on this one, but the words are better in that one.

 Once I'm finally to the point of sweating, fussing, and over-analyzing... frazzled to no end, I will pick a card.  Or...if I simply can't decide between 2, I will buy both.

 I justify that our relationship is so multifaceted that one card simply cannot sum up what the person means to me.  Then I turn the cards around only to discover that they are  $5.93!  EACH! GAH!  But by that point, I've already committed half of my day picking out the right card(s).

I have another confession to make. I'm cheap.  I would much rather spend an extra $6.00 (or $12.00) on a gift for someone than on decorative paper.

I especially hate buying cards for my husband or my kids because after finding the perfect card(s), then I alone am responsible for finding the perfect place to STORE the perfect $6.00 card.

This year for Father's Day, I took a different approach.  I took my husband to Target and after picking out my favorite 2 cards, I handed them to him to read.  After the warm and fuzzies, I smiled and said "Happy Father's Day!  Those are your cards!" Then I took his picture with his cards to memorialize the moment. And, I put them back on the shelf.

Husband felt loved and was able to enjoy a funny card and a beautiful, serious card.
I didn't have to spend $12.00 to achieve his sense of feeling loved.
I found the perfect place to store the perfect cards!
And, without the burden of committing to $12.00 cards, choosing the perfect cards took less than 10 minutes!

Happy Father's Day! 

9 Years and 9 Fun Facts

I was just rereading my anniversary post from last year.  I can't believe a year has passed already! I loved celebrating my husband in last year's post.  He is such an amazing husband, father and friend...I really chose well! :) 

This year we came to WV to celebrate our 9th anniversary.  Months ago, my dear husband booked an overnight get-away in a cabin (didn't I tell you that he is amazing?!) while the older kidlets stayed with the grandparents. Baby came with us, but he still pretty much sleeps all the time, so that was okay! :)  Being in WV has brought back a lot of fond memories of our special day, so I got out my mom's photo album and decided to post 9 Fun Facts about the Bragg-Campbell wedding:

Fun Fact #9: Traditionally, guests are seated on either "The Bride's Side" or "The Groom's Side."  I was so worried that one side or the other would be lopsided that I asked the ushers to seat people on both sides as they came in regardless of where their friendship/relationship resided, thus filling the church from front to back.  Truth is, we had so many common friends it didn't really matter, but it gave me peace of mind.

Fun Fact #8: The photographer that we chose was an interesting fellow. In many of my portraits he positioned me in such a way that it appears there is a plant growing out of the top of my head...either that or I'm wearing a large greenery-type headdress. 

Fun Fact #7: My niece, Kalee, was  our flower girl at 3 years of age. My nephew, Chase, was our 6 year old ring bearer.  I now have a 3 and a 5 1/2 year old of my own. Weird.

Fun Fact #6: My grandma made wedding cakes. My mom made wedding cakes. I had been planning my wedding cake since I was 5. I used to spend hours pouring over Wilton wedding cake catalogs. I had two pictures that I loved. My mom combined those two pictures and made my cake...and it was EXACTLY what I had planned! 

Fun Fact #5: We had 12 in our wedding party (not including us!) Karen Malay, Jessica Floyd, Tiffany Sears, Kara Shuff, Kristen White, and Kalee Canterbury were my gals. Josh Philips, Brett Floyd, Daniel Canterbury, Gary Canterbury, Drew Stowers and Chase Canterbury stood beside my hubby.

Fun Fact #4: We got married on a Friday night.  I had always wanted an evening wedding because I wanted lots of candles and sparklers as we left the church. Later, the sparklers created so much smoke outside the doors that the smoke detectors inside the church went off!

Fun Fact #3:  Originally, I had planned to have the wedding colors as red and purple.  (Hey...I STILL think they look good together!)  I had already made all our arrangements with the florist.  A few days later I was in a craft store and PJ brought me purple and pink flowers.  I loved the colors together and went to the florist to change plans. It was when she opened up her appointment book to write in the changes that I saw a giant frowny face over our names.  She was upset about fact number 4.  Fridays are apparently NOT popular days to have wedding flowers delivered.

Fun Fact #2: I carried a bouquet of roses. Under that bouquet I carried the same white Bible that my mom carried in her wedding.

Fun Fact #1: My wedding dress was the first one that I tried on. I stood in front of the mirror at the bridal shop and random people passed by saying that the dress was made for me. I felt the same.  I LOVED my dress.

BONUS FUN FACT: I wrote about this in my year 8 anniversary post, but it's my favorite memory so it gets to be written about twice!  After I said, "I do" PJ was supposed to say the same...only at that exact moment, he dropped my hands and walked away leaving me in front of everyone, alone.  He got his guitar and sang, "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman.  After the song he returned to me, picked up my hands, smiled and said, "I will."

BONUS FUN FACT: (I can't stop at just 9!): We had dear friends, Ray and Dinah Perdue, cater our reception.  We had SUCH an amazing feast.   Thinking it would be nice to visit with guests as they waited in line to get food, we put the Bridal Table next to the food. I actually ate my wedding food in the car after the wedding because I never got to eat at the reception...but I DID get to visit with every guest!

BONUS FUN FACT: (It's my blog, I can do what I want!) Mindy Harris was my wedding coordinator. I nearly gave her a heart attack because I was late to my wedding. I had hair issues.

PJ and I had known each other as friends for years! I remember, in college, making the bold statement that PJ was like a brother to me and that I would never date him...so instead I married him. And I'm so glad I did!

8 Reasons I'm Glad I Said Yes...

The year was 1997. Oh. My.

"You're going to marry him."  my college roommate declared to me about my guy friend, PJ.
"No way!  He's like a brother to me!" were my famous last words. 


PJ and I met through a mutual friend, Adam, at Camp Cowen, in West Virginia. It was love at first sight... <clears throat> ...well there were a few details in between the first sight and the love part.

I knew PJ long before he knew me. I stood in the back row of the 7th/8th grade chorus concert, singing and swaying (and pushing up my hot pink glasses)  to the tune of "Staying Alive" while PJ stood in the spotlight as the lead role of "Dick Clark".  Everyone knew PJ. 

Then Adam introduced us. We said "Hi" and that was the extent of our conversation all week and any hopes of a summer romance.

But then in 10th grade, I gathered up enough courage to declare my love for PJ and ask him to be my boyfriend! I boldly sent my BFF, Karen, to ask PJ if he would "go with me." He said "no".

After the pressure of dating was off the table, we actually began to form a friendship. We'd hang out at lunch sometimes, we would see each other at church youth events, and gradually he came to call me his buddy.

We both attended college in the Chicago area. I went to Wheaton. He went to that other school, Moody. I'll never forget my first weekend in college. I actually spent it not at Wheaton, but at Moody.  I stayed in the girls dorm with some of PJ's (or as they called him "Ronnie") friends and he showed me around Chicago. It was that weekend that he proposed to me...in the back of a taxi.  I said "no" (and reminded him of my 10th grade attempt at a relationship).  We finally declared that if we weren't married by the age of 26 (or somewhere around there) then we would marry each other.

Our friendship grew over the next few years. He invited me over to his first Christmas party. I secretly pretended to be his wife as we entertained all his guests. We talked on the phone for hours. Christmas breaks were spent having deep late night conversations together with friends at the Pancake House. He began visiting me at Wheaton more frequently.

Then one rainy evening in May, it hit me. I loved him. I didn't want to be with anyone else, and I certainly didn't want him to be with anyone other than me.  Knowing it to be the real thing, I fearfully and excitedly said "yes" when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Six months later, standing in the freezing cold February temperatures of Chicago, next to the Wrigley building overlooking the Chicago River, I fearfully and excitedly said "yes" as he bent down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

I'm so glad I did! My life is sweeter and richer because of my husband and dear friend. My only regret is that I didn't marry him sooner.

I saw this on a blog once, and wanted to do it for our anniversary. So in honor of 8 wonderful years of marriage, here are 8 Reasons I'm Glad I Said Yes...

1. He can cook. In fact, he taught me how to cook. The only thing I could cook when we got married was chicken casserole. It's good...but not every night of the week! We have shared many wonderful conversations over omelets, bacon, and coffee. Late nights at The Pancake House are amongst my favorite memories, but also evenings in our first apartment discussing the spices in the chili as well as dreams of our future together!

2. He can sing and play guitar. The best moment at our wedding (besides the "may I introduce Mr. & Mrs. Ronnie Campbell part) was the moment that the pastor asked PJ to say "I do", he dropped my hands and walked away. You can literally hear the audience gasp on the video.  He walked over and picked up his guitar and sang Steven Curtis Chapman's song "I Will Be Here."

3. Um coffee...need I say more?  He loves it as much as I do!

4. He helped me build my first snowman. Yes, by age 30 I still had never built a real snowman...technically, I still haven't as he did most of the work on this one while I tried to keep the kids from crying about being so cold in the snow.

5. He repeatedly humors me and appreciates the small details that I think are so vital, like silly annual Christmas pictures (emphasis on repeatedly, and silly).

 6. He does his own stunts and home repairs.  Seriously, he works SO hard to provide for his family, and he never complains about it.  He's amazing!

 

7. Abigayle Grace and Caedmon Alexzander...a dream come true for me. Couldn't have done this without my dear husband.  He's an excellent daddy and I love traveling the parenthood journey alongside him. He makes pretty cute kids, doesn't, he?

8. He's my very best friend! Most days, I feel like he knows me better than I know myself. He values me and treats me with respect as a whole person. He believes in me. He has always believed in me. He makes me laugh even on the most cloudy days. He leads me towards Christ, and thus helps me find my security in Jesus.  Regardless of the simplicity of my questions about faith, he is patient and always encouraging.


Paul Jr. I love you! Happy 8th Anniversary. I hope I get to share 100 more years with you!