Backyard Anniversary Celebration

June 26, 2026June 22, 2026 RefreshHer2 Comments

Our 45th anniversary was last Saturday. What a blessing to have this milestone to celebrate! We both consider our marriage a true grace gift from the Lord. Oh, how He kept each of us from foolish decisions that obviously would have changed the whole trajectory of our lives! I know that Dale is the one the Lord had for me. He completes me so well, making up for all my weakness, leading me spiritually and also helping to equip me to serve God. I am a blessed woman!

As we considered how we would celebrate, we knew we wanted a date night with just the two of us (which we thoroughly enjoyed on the 21st). I also suggested to my husband that we have a family dinner celebration on our back patio on the day of our anniversary. He was in agreement, so we planned together for a wonderful night.

A young woman in our church is a culinary arts major. Dale asked her to make two charcuterie boards for appetizers. He also had her make a celebration cake!

We had the dinner catered by Olive Garden and they did a fantastic job! Everything was provided for the meal, including serving utensils, tea and even Andes mints!

Their salad and breadsticks
were so good!

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Sentimental Anniversary Celebration

June 12, 2026June 11, 2026 RefreshHer2 Comments

With the upcoming of our 45th anniversary on June 20th, we decided that we would try to do something each day of the month of June that would “celebrate us!” Dale’s taking the odd days, and I am taking the even to create a tiny remembrance. These have been very ordinary events, but we’re trying to use our celebrations to reminisce over the early days of our relationship and marriage. It’s been fun – both to create the ideas for each day, and then do them! How about a little peek into a few of our “celebrations” so far?

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Celebrations · Family life · Marriage

The Best Anniversary Celebration

April 30, 2021April 28, 2021 RefreshHer15 Comments

Last weekend our sweet daughters planned the most lovely early 40th anniversary celebration for my husband and me! Their gift to us was a family photo session with some great photographers from our area.

Plan A was to go to a park in our area, but the day turned out very wet.
Enter Plan B!
We used our newly decorated family room’s lovely blue wall as our backdrop! It ended up being really great (God’s interruptions always are!). I’ll share just a few of my favorite photos from the day.

Our twin grandsons were so cooperative and full of smiles!

I couldn’t ask for sweeter daughters. They are so dear to me.

This next photo is from our wedding day, June 20, 1981!

Lots of things have changed, but Dale’s fun-loving spirit is not one of them!

After the family poses were all taken, the photographers invited each couple to come outside and stand in the rain under their giant umbrella for some really great rainy day shots! I love this one of Paul and Whitney!

And Alli and Andrew…

Here are the “Oldie-weds!”

After a delicious lunch at Carrabba’s, we went to Alli and Andrew’s for dessert, consisting of a scrumptious Strawberry Cake. Whitney decorated for the party in her typical flare. It was so much fun and so pretty!

We can hardly believe we are staring 40 years in the face, but we are so thankful. God has been faithful, spite our old sin natures and imperfect love, He has guided us, provided for us and grown us. We pray that the years we have remaining will find us pointing others to the glorious Gospel where Jesus demonstrated the perfect sacrificial love, forgiveness, mercy, kindness, grace, and submission.

Here’s praise for (almost) 40 years!

Celebrations · Marriage · Refreshment in marriage

Anniversary Moments

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 RefreshHer16 Comments

Our 39th Anniversary is tomorrow, June 20th. How in the world?!

We started our celebration on Tuesday when we had a spur of the moment opportunity to go to Pigeon Forge and stay at the Wilderness Wyndham for four nights! Yes, please!! This was a special blessing after our summer vacation got cancelled, due to the virus. We had been praying the Lord would open up a time for us to be able to celebrate our anniversary and this was the perfect get away!

We had no specific plans – only be together, rest and celebrate US!

This Wyndham has lots of fire pits on the property and with the temps dipping into the 60’s, we took advantage of the warmth of the fires!

Our favorite restaurant is Pottery House Cafe. Due to Covid, they have put outdoor tables in front of the restaurant in addition to their back patio. One table was put inside the gazebo. We didn’t know it at the time, but each of had asked the Lord if He would be so gracious as to allow us to be seated at that table. After our 30 minute wait, our names were called and they headed straight towards the gazebo! It was so beautiful and romantic. It also protected us from the sprinkles that came while we were eating our meal. The Lord is so kind to us.

My husband suggested we come up with 39 of our favorite memories during our time away. He recorded each one on his phone. How special it was to recount so many blessings of dates, trips and special moments over the years. God has been faithful through all the years in the good and hard times.

We don’t do events in the area, we just pick a spot for our main meal, shop a little, sit and enjoy one another and the place where we’re staying. We read, journal, nap, chat, and create more memories.

If that sounds boring to you, you’re terribly wrong. Spending time together is what we got married to do. He’s my favorite person and “we like us.”

Here’s to many more memories!

Did your vacation get cancelled, too? Pray about how the Lord might open up a time for you and your spouse to get away and watch what an almighty God will do!