45 Years Ago

This is part 3 of a fun anniversary shoot that Whitney did with my parents.  Here’s part 1 and part 2.  I am so incredibly grateful to Whitney for these precious pictures of my parents!

My parents started dating at North Little Rock High during their senior year.  Daddy asked Mama to prom that spring and the rest is history.

She went off to California to college the next fall, while he attended the University of Texas.  At Christmas, he talked her (and her parents) into moving to Baylor.  He would hitchhike from Austin to Waco to see her.  Before long, he had her packing her bags again to move to Austin.

I remember one time my grandmother was warning my dad about a deal he was working with someone.  She told him, I’ve heard that man is kind of a horse trader.  He kept quiet while Grandmother was giving him her opinion, but later when I asked him what a horse trader was and why wasn’t he worried about this other man’s potentially being one, he said, Honey, it takes one to know one.

horse-trad·ing (hôrs tr d ng). n. Negotiation characterized by hard bargaining and shrewd exchange

Daddy’s fast talking worried my grandfather.  He could see that Mama was hooked, and he was not so sure about this young buck.  He paid for my daddy to go to Young Life camp in Colorado, hoping to God and Jesus that he might become a man worthy of marrying my mother.

My grandfather was a praying man.  And the Lord heard his prayers.  Daddy had a Come to Jesus meeting in Colorado, literally.  From that moment, he never looked back.  He came home a changed man, and he married my mom just a few years later.

After college, Mother and Daddy moved to Chicago so Daddy could go to seminary.  I was born two years later.

When Daddy finished school, they moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas to do ministry with Young Life.  My sister and brother were both born there.

Eventually they came full circle back to North Little Rock, where they have both been planting seeds for more than 30 years.

They are in love with the Word of God and have strong hearts for seeing the local church become the hands and feet of Jesus.  They have traveled together multiple times to Kenya to be an extension of that church.

They are hanging on to Jesus. And to each other.  For always and for good.

Happy Anniversary, Y’all!