Thanks For The Memories

It is another Thanksgiving, a time to reflect and realize all the blessings and memories which surround me. First I am so very thankful and blessed that the Lord is in my life day in and day out! Without Him I would not be able to accept all that has happened this past year!

I am so very blessed to have a wonderful husband he is the best even at his worst! Does that make sense? To me yes, to you perhaps not. He is my life, really, we live together, love together, worship together, work together, laugh together, share together, squabble together and survive together. He is my REAL BETTER HALF, without him I wonder if I would be. God placed him in my life at the right time.

This year has brought about many changes. We had changes in our Photography business, mainly with employees, but it has been a good change. There was a time when we needed people to work that really did their job so well, they had a great work ethic and to this day I miss them dearly and then there were those that took what they could without any work ethic, they just put in their time and took their paycheck.

We finally opened The McClure Guesthouse and it has been an experience. I am so thankful for the craftsmanship put in to the restoration and then for the help from family and dear friends in the decor and set up of each room. And once again I thank Mike for letting this dream of mine come true. And of course without my Mom and sister Kathy in dealing with the finances it really would not be. I appreciate all who helped!

A major change has been our church life. Sadly we have lost our St. Andrew's church family, but I can only hope the Lord has a much better plan for us. There is an empty church here in Olney and I believe there is a reason it has remained empty, we shall see and I shall pray and perhaps next year I will be thankful that we were able to open the church once again. It is in the Lords hands though.

I am thankful for the many friends I have in my life both near and far. Many friendships have been renewed and born this year, thanks to the Internet. And many friendships continue on, even though the friends have moved away, this too because of the Internet.

Finally, I am so very thankful for my family which includes Wards and Spieths. Parents, siblings, children and grandchildren they are all wonderful blessings and help create grand memories!

So as I look back, yes I am thankful for the memories of the past year and I am thankful for what will come in the future.

Have a wonderful, Blessed Thanksgiving!

Turn Around and Where Has It Gone?

"TIME FLIES", yes it does. In 10 days I will have been blessed to have been the wife of Mike for 22 years! It seems like it was just last week that we headed out with our secret. We were going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to "tie the knot"; no one except Mike's sons and my sister Patti, knew we were doing this. We had our announcements to send out and our clothing, rings and video camera to capture the ceremony. I had just returned home from 7 days in Florida with my sister Patti and my 2 month old nephew Joey, his Dad was away so I had helped out and threw everyone off from our secret.

Mike and I left on Sunday and arrived on Monday at the courthouse in Sievereville to get our marriage license and send out our announcements, so they would arrive on April Fool's day.....our wedding day. I joke that we got married on April Fool's day 'cause "only fools fall in love" but you know, I do not feel foolish at all!

Now back to "time flies" ....that 2 month old nephew is now a handsome, charming 22 year old, we are grandparents, have 2 great sons, 14 additional nieces and nephews and one great niece. Four Surrogate daughters, a great church family and many great friends. Last year was our 25th year of being owners of our photography business, and we are about to begin a new business, the McClure Guesthouse. Of course there have been sad/bad times...loss of family members and dear friends, illness, business problems, but the good times far outweigh the bad and we are lucky.

Over the past three weeks Mike and I have been apart quite a bit. It is amazing just how slow that time flew. We are back on track now, together almost 24/7, many people find it hard to believe we can be together so much and have such a great marriage, but I can honestly say it does work.

I do turn around and wonder where the time has gone, but then I realize that "time flies", and it is such a beautiful flight! I am truly blessed with my husband, family, friends and business and I thank God every day.