I don’t share a ton of my life online. You have your prerogative, I have mine. Someone cue the Bobby Brown cassette tape.
Seriously, 2018 was beyond amazing. Beyond. As you’ll see, I couldn’t really narrow it down to five.
Also, I do try to limit this because sometimes I think we should go for quality instead of quantity. So, five. Or more. Maybe.
And, I had no particular order in mind. Just randomly five. Or eight 🙂
My friend Brandon File and I were recognized by Love Akron for our Allies relationship. Brandon is truly a quality human being. When you hang around quality human beings sometimes people give you awards. Seriously, this provided a great memory and a lot of encouragement for both of us. Having my brother, my mom, and my mom’s friend Roger here for that day made it extra special.
This lady turned 40! And we took a family trip to the Grand Canyon to celebrate. Yes, we’d wanted to go for a long time. We couldn’t think of a better reason to cash in those airline points. My mom went along and we had a very memory-filled trip!
After our time in the Grand Canyon, I got to go to Seattle with our two oldest. David loves the Seahawks and we all loved our time in Seattle. He really enjoyed the tour of the stadium – even though it doesn’t much look like it in this photo. Seriously, a very memorable time with them – and not much sleep!
In October I got to go see Lauren Daigle in Cleveland with Alexa. Since then, Lauren has made some very unclear and unhelpful comments regarding sexual standards. But our time together was very memorable. From the unfortunately intoxicated lady next to us at the concert (who gets drunk at a Lauren Daigle concert, really?) to the patient on a hospital bed wheeled to the front of the auditorium during the show, to the super awesome opening act, this night made for some very memorable times.
Our church graciously afforded me a month off in April/May. The Sabbatical time allowed for a lot of rest, some extra travel, and this. I have never had a greater meal than this. In my life. Ever. No kidding. Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem made absolutely the best fried chicken and fixins I have ever had. Anybody up for a road trip?
In July we celebrated baptism with our friends from the Church of Deliverance. I met this couple, John and April, about 10 years ago when we painted their house as part of our Project Shine ministry. They declared their faith in Christ through baptism as part of this service with us. It made for an incredibly memorable day.
In July we went to the beach. We had a great time with lots of family on Julie’s side. All of her siblings, all their kids, and a few others made the trip. We didn’t have a lot of time together as a family this summer, so this picture represents a special memory.
For those who don’t know this is Jocelyn’s amazing friend Jamie. Our family counts Jamie (and her new husband Caleb woot woot!) as a great friend. Jocelyn talked about Jamie’s wedding for months and months. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her as happy as she was when Jamie came down the aisle. Not to get all sentimental or reality show emotional, but it’s hard fighting back tears even writing about it. I will treasure this memory as long as I live!
2018 featured many other great events, too many to tell. I praise God for this life I get to lead, and the people He has brought alongside for the journey. Not all events make pictures, some bring great difficulty and trial. Last year featured many of those as well. But through it all, God proves over and over just how faithful He is!