Oklahoma Trip - May 2011

Last Thursday, our family headed to Oklahoma for some very special occasions. The trip took about 11 hours to get there. The boys did great, until we got about 30 minutes from my parents' house...and the screams started. The only thing that kept Desmond somewhat contained was me singing (and dancing) "This is Poppy's exit. This is Poppy's exit!" It was quite the site to behold!

We made if fun and finally made it. I enjoy road trips with my family, particularly Aaron. :-) We used to take road trips all the time when we were dating and it was so nice to be alone with him and have hours on end to talk and enjoy each other's company. This trip was no different (besides the boys screaming in the back seat from time to time). Aaron is my very best friend and I love to be with him. After being together almost 8 years, he still makes me laugh, makes me smile, and I enjoy his company.

On Friday, my brother graduated from medical school! He is officially Dr. Darin Gwartney! I refer to him as Dr. Brother, but I'm the only one who can call him that! I am so proud of him. He is so amazing! He has worked so hard (and Whitney and Levi have too) for this accomplishment. This road is not over yet, as he starts his residency at OSU Medical Center in July. Friday afternoon was a Christian Oath Ceremony that he had organized. It was wonderful to see several of the graduates come together to worship the Lord with their gifts. It was awesome to hear them read the oath that (paraphrased) "its not the power of medicine, but the power of the Great Physician that heals" and "doctors are only vessels used by God to heal the sick and broken." POWERFUL WORDS, especially for people entering the medical field!

 Here is my brother at the Christian Oath Ceremony.

Here is our fam at the Christian Oath Ceremony. It was so special to get to be there!

(Desmond was with my friend all day)

We went to lunch with 20+ family (from my sister-in-law's side too). Here is Uncle Aaron and Aunt Casey spoiling our sweet nephew with some ice cream. Hey, we are allowed to do that! (apparently, neither one of us thought he was opening his mouth wide enough!)

Friday evening was the graduation. Besides accepting Jesus as my Savior, marrying my best friend, and having my two baby boys, this was one of the most proud days of my life! When they called his name, it gave me chills and I screamed so loud! DR. DARIN GWARTNEY! WOW! It's official! All of that hard work. Another cool thing about the graduation is that he got to graduate with his sister-in-law, and their father-in-law got to participate in hooding them.

Here is Dr. Hollie Black, Dr. Kevin Black (doctor of pharmacy), and Dr. Darin Gwartney after the cermony. Looking good, folks!

We properly celebrated at Braum's immediately following the ceremony! ;-)

On Saturday, my parents threw a reception for Dr. Hollie and Dr. Darin at their house. We had fun decorating as you will see. My mom is so creative! I love it! See if you can pick up on some of the small details...they're the best. Here are some pics from the occasion:

 Confetti

Party favors (for the kiddos, of course)

Patient belongings bag included several things from Darin's elementary years.

The centerpiece (before food was added)

Card drop-off

Operation, anyone?

The spread...and incredible cake!

Lincoln wasn't into the party too much. He was being loved on by Mammaw Nel!

Same goes for Owen in Happy's arms!

And then Aunt Betsy arrived...

Dad dressed appropriately!

Mom and dad with their son, the good Doctor!

Levi, Desmond, and Ellie played together all afternoon!

Sunday, we enjoyed worshipping with my home church family and seeing lots of familiar faces. For some, it was their first time meeting Lincoln in "real life" as one lady put it (thanks to facebook!). Sunday afternoon was a baby shower for one of my best friends, Cassie. They are expecting their little boy, Ranger Lee Walker in July! WOO HOO! I was so glad I got to be at the shower! Here are some pictures from this event:

Coveralls - camo for hunting with daddy!

Friends reunited after 3 years!

The happy, expecting couple.

Love these ladies!

Desmond was partied out!

And so was Lincoln. Hey, she got some good practice! ;-)

Overall, we had a busy but great weekend. I'll post more pictures and tell more about the "little moments" of the trip in a later post. That's all for now! Thanks for reading...



Mom's the Word

To be completely honest, I don't even know where to begin this post. I suppose HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY works, but that's not enough. I'd like to tell you a bit about my amazing momma. You see, I'm just like my mother. All of my life, people who know my mom have called me "little Becky." They say I look like her, sound like her, act like her...everything I do reminds someone of my mom. For the longest time I'd look at them and say, "no I'm not!" Why I ever did that, I have no idea. I suppose I was in denial because I've always know that I'm just like her. Now, I take it as a huge compliment! Thank you.

Do you think I look like her? She was my age when this picture was taken.

Mom and I after last year's marathon. She came to cheer me on...it meant so much to me!

My mother is absolutely wonderful. To be honest, she's just like her mother who was an incredible lady. My mom is creative, funny, a good cook, a wonderful wife, a mentor, a great friend, and so so so much more. Especially after my second year of college, we became especially close. I talk to my mother practically every day (judge me if you want, but its not going to change). You see, she's not just my mom, but she's one of my very best friends. In a later post that I'm preparing even now I'll tell you about some of my dearest friends, and believe you me, she will be in that one too! She's my encourager, my prayer warrior, my sounding board, my boys' Grammy for Heaven's sake.

Even though Desmond is only 2, I have realized that raising children is an incredible journey, but it also DEMANDS sacrifice- of many things. I have come to appreciate so many of the sacrifices I know that my parents have made for me. Most of the things I appreciate, I am sad to report that I didn't necessarily appreciate them at the time. All of the basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, track, indoor soccer, drama, band, choir, etc., etc., etc. that they put up with...and the cost of those things just amazes me. I remember the first basketball game my parents missed. I was probably in 5th or 6th grade and they made sure to have someone video tape (you know, with the BIG HONKIN' on your shoulder kind of video cameras) it and they sat down and watched it with me. They were at EVERY game and concert. Mom is my biggest fan!

I cherish my mom and I hope that I have been able to let her know that. If not, MOM, I CHERISH YOU! What an amazing gift God gave me...even before I was born. For all of the sacrifices you've made, things I know and don't know about, THANK YOU! I love you so much! Happy Mother's Day!

(there will be plenty to post later too!)

Mom in her element:

Why Blog?

When I was considering starting blogging again, I really thought about what the purpose of my blog would be. Would I just vent everyday ramblings to the unknown world? Tell you all the hilarious stories about my awesome boys? Tell you about the Savior of the world that I love and serve? Well, yes. All of those. But I want there to be a purpose to my writing. So, I guess you'll know what you're getting into if you continue to read on. Here are the purposes I came up with other than those previously listed: I want to encourage anyone who happens upon this page. I want you to have a smile on your face and feel like someone has given you a pat on the back. I want you to get to know me and my family. I'd love to tell you about my friends, my church, and my passions. Hopefully I can keep it up to where you will walk through some of this short life with me.

I think that in order for you to get to know me, you need to know my heritage. So, fresh on my mind (since he and his family were here this past weekend) is my brother, Darin. Darin is my older brother by 3 years. He was a Senior and I was a Freshman. I've always said that he got "the brains, the height, and the looks" and all I got was coordination! Sorry, bro, but truth be told, you were in college before you had full control of those long limbs of yours! My parents have said the whole time we were growing up, "oh, this is our favorite age!" Now they say that this is their favorite age because we have both given them grandboys. Well, if I'm honest, the same is true about the way I feel about Darin. You see, with Darin being my older brother, it was his job to make sure his little sister didn't grow up a wimp. It was his responsibility to beat me up but also to protect me.

When we were young, we didn't really get along so well. He was my brother for crying out loud! We weren't supposed to get along! On road trips, there was a line in the minivan seat. You didn't cross, touch, or even think about touching that line. On many occasions I'd yell out, "MOM! He's looking at the line! I know he thought about crossing my line!" Ugh...my blood is boiling just thinking about how frustrated I got. He acted all innocent, but he was the instigator. I ALWAYS got in trouble. ALWAYS. It wasn't fair! He would egg it on and I would be the one to get in trouble. Was I usually to blame? Sure (mom, don't take this as admition to anything), but HE WAS TOO just for pushing my buttons.

When he turned 16, he gained some independence and of course was in high school. It took him away from a lot as far as I was concerned. If he had a ball game, I had to go. If I had a ball game, he had something else to do. That's life. It really didn't bother me that much then.

Then our life got "flipped turned upside down" in 2000. Our dad was asked to consider moving us from Missouri (where I was born and raised, and Darin had lived there since he was 2) to Oklahoma to his home town. After much prayer and consideration, our family felt that the Lord was leading us to Locust Grove, Oklahoma. For Heaven's sake, the nearest Wal-Mart was 20 minutes away! We were used to being 5 minutes from everything but a mall, not that we even lived in a huge town in Missouri. So, we packed up and left. Darin and I moved to Oklahoma the day before his Senior and my Freshman years of high school. The church had given our family the opportunity to stay in MO until Darin graduated, but he felt that we needed to GO! Boy, in the back of my mind, I wanted to slap him silly! How dare he (or God) take me from everything I knew! But we went. On the first day of school, Darin was practically the only person I knew. There were a few familiar faces from us going there as kids to visit our grandparents, but that was it. We lived there for a few weeks with some family friends before our parents sold our house and moved down. I leaned on him. He was my family for that time. We still had our disagreements and such, but we were all each other had.

He graduated and moved to college about 40 miles away from home. I continued playing sports and trying to get involved in school stuff. I saw him very little, but looked forward to him coming home. That's when I started really appreciating him. I saw how hard he worked. I knew he was an outstanding student, follower of Christ, and human being. Oh, to be like my big brother....  My senior year, our softball team was playing in the District finals not far from where he went to school. It was finals week for him. Again, he hadn't been to many games of mine at all for all of my life, so why would he come to this one? During about the second inning, I heard a familiar voice from the stands. He had taken a study break to come see us play and we won! More than a victory for me was my brother being there. As I choke back the tears, let me tell you that from that day forward, our relationship changed. I respected him as a man. It meant the world to this little sister and he even came home a few times to watch me play basketball that year too.

He went on to graduate with a Pre-Med degree, got married that summer, and I had gone to college in Nashville. We didn't get to talk much because of busy schedules and lives, but each visit home was great to see him and catch up like we were never apart.

He and his family came this past weekend to cheer my dad and I on during the marathon. Most importantly, though, was Lincoln's baby dedication on Sunday. He made sure that I knew he wanted to come for that. Again, it meant so much to me!

Darin is graduating from medical school next weekend. He not only has passed med school, but has EXCELLED in everything he has done. I will be there with a smile on my face, and probably a proud tear in my eye. THIS IS ONE PROUD SISTER! I love you, bro!

ReSTARTs and Catch-ups

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know its been one year since I last posted. I know last time I restarted my blog I said I was going to do better. Well, this busy life got the best of me and I honestly did not even consider it much over the last year. However, I've been thinking about it more frequently in recent days, so I hereby vow to write when I have the chance. It may not be very often and then again it could be a couple of times a week. I'm not making any promises about a certain number of entries, just when I get the opportunity. So now, I'm taking this opportunity to let you in on what has happened in our lives in one year- its probably going to be a long post.
Last fall, our church had the opportunity to start feeding the football team from the high school across the street from our church. 75+ football players, managers, and coaches were in the doors of our church once a week for 9 or 10 weeks. WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY! We got to know several of them. They saw our faces on Thursday and then on Friday nights at their games. It was a HUGE door the Lord opened for us. Since then, a couple of the players started coming. One, in fact, joined our church a few weeks ago and has become a leader in our youth group. Praise the Lord! I can't wait to see what He's going to do in the future with that opportunity.
Also in the fall, I had a job opportunity arise. I have been doing medical transcription work since last August. What a blessing it has been! I am able to work from home, usually during nap time or after the boys have gone to bed, and still have a great paycheck. A great friend of mine helped to train me and for that I am so grateful!
My last post was about the flood and me running the marathon. Yesterday marked one year since the disasterous flood in Nashville. It was an emotional weekend and day, even though we were not directly impacted by the flood waters. Our church was repaired and back in running order just a short 8 weeks after the flood. The many families in our church were displaced for a while. The last of the families that were able to reconstuct their homes got back into their home in November. The Lord taught me so much through the families who had to face the disaster day after day. He showed Himself like only He can- as Provider, Comforter, Shelter, our Rock, and many other things on a daily basis. It was amazing to see how He continued to shine through each and every member of the families impacted. It was also incredible to see His hands and feet at work. The body of believers here in Nashville, in the country, and around the world jumped right in to help with everything imaginable. Although it seemed like a complete loss, much was gained through the entire experience.
Also in the last post was me running the marathon. Well, as it turns out, I got pregnant shortly after running that race. Needless to say, I didn't get to run any other races last year. (wink, wink!) On January 2, 2011, we had a beautiful baby boy named Lincoln. He weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces. After going through labor and was ready for delivery, they informed me that he was footling breech and I would have to have a C-section. That was a hard blow, but he came safely - which is all that really matters. Mom stayed with us for three weeks and it was a huge blessing. I wasn't even able to lift Desmond for 6 weeks! Wow! that's hard to do. We made it though.

In September, I convinced my dad that he needed to run the marathon with me this year. I knew I needed something to work for and motivate me after I had Lincoln, just to get the stinking baby weight off of me. After many guilt trips, he finally agreed to run it. He started training, running the least of three miles several times a week. He started a 10 week program in February to prepare for it. Amazingly, he finished the 1/2 marathon this past Saturday in 2:24!!! Not bad for an old guy! I'm so proud of him!!!  Now, I obviously did not know that I would be put out 6 weeks after having Lincoln, and that it would be so hard to train with having two kids, but I did. I finished my second 1/2 marathon this past Saturday as well. The time doesn't matter, I crossed the finish line. Needless to say, I'll continue training and working hard to run more in the near future.

My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew all came in for the marathon. Because they were all going to be here on Sunday, we had Lincoln's baby dedication that day. My brother is about to graduate from medical school next week (GREAT JOB DARIN!) and so he won't be able to be at much for the next few years because of residency. We thought we'd take the opportunity so he could be with us at the dedication. My goodness! Our church family is so wonderful. I was overwhelmed by their response during the dedication and our pastor had such encouraging words to share about our family.

Aaron and I started P90X 4 weeks ago. We just started week 5 of it yesterday. I can't believe the transformation I have seen in Aaron!  We took our 30 day pictures yesterday and he looks amazing! Its definitely not easy, but its fun to go through it all together.
In February, Desmond turned 2. I can't believe it!  He's getting so big and is talking like a 5 year old. He's so much fun, but it can be trying at times with temper tantrums and fits. Most of the time, he is only like that for us and not others, thankfully. He loves trucks, motorcycles, all kinds of sports, and riding his bike. He likes Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, and WoddyBuzz (as he says it). He loves to sing songs too. He knows his ABCs, can count to 30, and loves songs like the B-I-B-L-E, Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-o, and Jesus loves me. Its fun to watch him learn new things every day.

Well, I know that's not everything, but I think its a pretty accurate recap of the last 12 months. Check back (no telling how soon) for more updates from the Pontious household. Thanks for reading and I'll leave you with this smile: