On November 12th, we are having a fundraiser to help support our Honduras trip this summer. Last year was an absolutely amazing experience, and I hope this year is even better. The festival will be at Sugar Grove church from 11am-2pm. There will be lots of fun games for kids! Come out and support us!
About five years ago, my friend JMO told me that we should date. I told him that was a crazy idea. I told him it would mess up our relationship as good pals. We were great friends, and I always felt comfortable and excited around him. He made me laugh, and we played board games. The first year we dated was my senior year of college. I was 22 and he was 21. We had fun.
(JMO is eating candy bacon in 2006.)
(JMO and I at the CARPOOL Gala in 2007.)
(JMO and I at Universal Studios in 2007.)
Now I am 27 and he is 26. We still have lots of fun. JMO helps me grow everyday. He pushes me and challenges me to go outside my comfort zone. He reminds me what I am good at when I am down, and he is proud of me when I do well. I am very proud of the person JMO has become in the last five years. He has always known what he wants, and he makes great efforts to make things happen. Love truly does grow and change over time.
Thank you for still being my pal. It turns out that us dating was not a crazy idea at all.
Happy Birthday Mom!
My mom is always looking for a local adventure. She made the most of everywhere we ever lived, and she made my siblings and I appreciate what is around us. Pam Pickert is a marvelous mom, a caring person, a bargain hunter, and an inspirational teacher. She has worked hard to become this woman, and she radiates positivity.
My mom taught me what it is like to deeply care for people. As a toddler, she brought me along to handicap preschool. In elementary school, she brought my brother and I to puppet shows. She put on these shows to explain what it is like to be handicapped to normal children. When I was in high school, she asked me to lifeguard for the residents of a group home where she worked. My mom has never been someone who just does a job. She showed me what it was like to create meaningful experiences for other people.
We moved about every three years. My mother was never your typical military wife. No one could confine her to a base, there was a new town to be seen. When we lived in Maryland we travelled to Washington D.C. once a month, she wanted to be sure we got it all in before we moved. When we lived in Ft. Walton Beach, she took us to the beach every Wednesday afternoon to picnic and play superman with our beach towels. She never told me I was being dramatic when I cried; she always listened. Then she would dispense advice that I would ignore. Inevitably, months later I would realize she was right.
Books are treasures, they hold adventures and lessons. My mother has been taking me to the magical place where you borrow books my entire life. She opened doors to worlds I will never have time to explore entirely.
My mommy is from a small town in Alabama. She was the first to graduate high school in her family. She went to college, and earned two masters degrees. Without knowing it, my mom was leading by example. My problems in life have been minuscule, because my mother protected me and loved me. She is an amazing woman and I am truly truly blessed to call her my mother.
I can’t begin to explain what my mother means to me. My rambly account of my mommy doesn’t give even a hint at her impact on her piece of the world. I love you momma, happy birthday.
