G.G.

A few weeks ago, G.G. joyfully went to heaven.

There aren't many words to describe G.G., which is one reason it has taken me so long to get this post up.

G.G. lived every moment of every day by the truth she held close to her heart. She poured over scripture and, as her grandson pointed out at her funeral, could recite most of the Bible. The day she died, when she was sitting in the hospital, they told her Grandaddy was headed back to the hospital from their house. She promptly asked, "Where is my lipstick?" G.G. dwelled on truth; She didn't worry about what she didn't know to be true. She didn't know when she was going to die, but she knew her husband was coming in the room soon and she knew she loved looking pretty for her husband.

Every time I've gone through something difficult in my life, and a hundred times in between, I've received a letter from G.G. Her letters were full of encouragement, insight, wisdom... and they always included a Bible verse. She sent them to everyone she loved. As I've thought about where I want our desk in our house, my main goal has been to make all of my stationary and stamps readily available so I can correspond like G.G. There is nothing in the world that makes me feel more thought about than a hand-written letter. G.G. loved people and the Lord in the best sort of way. When she was with you, she "loved your neck" and when she wasn't with you, she was thinking about you and praying for you and writing you a letter to let you know. And there was nothing you could do to make her love you any less.

I cannot speak of G.G. without talking about her love of people and the Lord and His Word, and I cannot speak of G.G. without talking about her killer style. If I could have half of G.G.'s taste in clothes, then I would always be the most stylish girl in the room. She was always the most stylish girl in the room- at 23, at 83.

She was a woman of truth.

She was a woman of love.

She was a woman of grace.

She was a women of style.

She was a woman of friends.

She was a woman of family....

G.G. stands for Grandmother Gravlee... And G.G. was Tupelo's grandmother, but she also had 5 of her own, and how she poured herself into them! Every Tuesday night, all the grandchildren spent the night at the Gravlee's. You can't help but look at the Gravlee's and hope to have a family like they have one day. And now I look at the Kellum's and think the same thing, because the Gravlee's legacy of love is so present in their children's families.

I have the privilege and blessing of being close to two of her granddaughters and seeing all the G.G. that she left behind in them. Tyler has G.G.'s personality, Darby her spirit. Darby has her style, Tyler that look G.G. gave when she was content.

They both have her heart.

So we have so much of her and her legacy still here, but who will call Tyler "Tylah?"

May we all live and love a little more like G.G. today.

Weesie.

On May 29th, Louise Saunders became Louise Price.

Because Louise and Bradford are loved by so many people, I never had a chance to do a toast at the rehearsal dinner, so I have decided to write mine here...

I haven't known Louise as long as many people who were in or at her wedding. We met on staff 3 summers ago at Camp Desoto, and have only lived in the same place for 2 summers. But my life- my day to day life- is full of Weesie. As many who know her can tell you, Louise is a woman of tips- she loves to share pieces of wisdom that she has and she loves to hear yours. My days are full of her tips- so when I use Purpose facewash every morning and when I use my MyAgenda all day everyday- with little pieces of truth written on each week- I think of Louise. And when I open my Bible, I usually think of Louise. The thing about a conversation with Louise is that it feels light and fresh and fun and usually full of laughter- sometimes some tears- but many times just smiles. Then later, you'll think back on something she said, and you'll be deeply changed. This is because Louise knows truth and she hides it in her heart. It flows out of her and she loves people so well just by being Weesie. Louise just gets it. I love you Weesie! Here's to Louise and Bradford! Cheers!

As for the Big Day... Louise hates having her picture taken- she just wants to be in that moment without posing, so I didn't take my camera out at all. But here is a description...

It was the sweetest wedding I have ever been to. Ever. It was a perfect wedding at the lake. The groomsmen walked us to the tent because there was a little bit of rain. Louise and Bradford were so intentional about making the weekend not about them, but about the Lord, and as soon as we walked into the tent, I could feel God's presence. It was so reverent and sweet. The music- 2 guitars with a keyboard and singing- and the pitter patter of the rain were perfect. If it was a movie, it would have been exactly that way- rain and all. We walked down to a guitar rendition of Canon in D, and Louise walked down to the girl singing Be Thou My Vision.

It was precious. She was beautiful. I never stopped crying.

Rachel

All-Star.

Sorry once again for the long delay, but I have been living a life in which computer space and time is limited... and I'm loving that life. But I have really missed updating.

While I was in Tupelo, I went to see my nephew Will play baseball. He just made the All-Star Team, and in a family where baseball is religion, a 9 year old making the All-Star team is huge. Notice Will's number is 9. That's because he's 9 years old. Last year his number was 8. I love this child.

There has never been a sweeter spirit or more coachable player than Will Davis. Look at that face.

Big Sister Mattie.

Daddy and Scorekeeper Patton.

Bets is that mom. The one who yells a lot and paces when the game is tense- the little league game.

And I am that aunt. I was taking pictures of Will in the dugout and he was so embarrassed and I couldn't believe I was embarrassing him! It made me want to say through the dugout screen "Will it's me your favorite aunt!! Don't be embarrassed in front of your friends!!" But then he might hate me forever so I refrained.

More to come soon.

Rachel

Bee boppin'.

Due to my recent travels around the Southeast, I haven't been a very committed Blogger. For this, I am sorry. I promise to give you the highlights of the last week and a half... the snapshots of my recent bee boppin' around.

I begin here with the 2 main events from my last week in Baton Rouge before I left to bee bop. First, these two tied the knot...

There was the rehearsal dinner...

Here I am telling Katie that God's gift to brides is no swollen eyes, even through lots of tears...

Sweet boys...

The after party ended with Brian playing and singing "I Can Be Your Hero." That's right, the boy sang Enrique. I have a recording, and will try to post it on Facebook. When Enrique comes out, you know it's been a successful night.

Then there was the wedding...

Quite the successful celebration...

My trip to BR ended with crawfish by the pool at Neal's. It was such a fun day and night.

Some things never change...

...and I'm so glad.

Rachel

86.

86 daaayyyyysssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss......

Until I get to marry this sweet thing...

Yayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom once wrote in a letter, "Isn't God precious? How much He loves me, and how perfectly." It's sad and hard planning a wedding without my mother. It just is. But the beautiful part is that I have felt the truth of God's perfect love more in the past 4 months than maybe ever in my life.

So here's a much needed recap of our engagement thus far...

First, there was The Proposal. And it was the most perfect thing in the world. I've always wanted to be totally and completely surprised, but I've always had this fear that it would be cheesy. And ever since my mom passed away, I have wanted my friends to be apart of my engagement night. On January 6th, I went to dinner with the only 2 of my friends in town for Winter Session. Brian was standing in the parking lot outside the Chi O house when I got home, where he got on one knee to propose. Surprise puts it mildly.

He also had 18 of my friends in town waiting to surprise me with champagne.

It was perfect.

Here were the sweet girls waiting on me...

Here is the joy they saw...

Mary Glenn and Marilyn couldn't be there, but squealing over the phone was so much fun.

Happiness.

Love.

Pure Joy.

Celebration.

Then, there was the search for the dress!!!! It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Ever.

Here we are on our way to Jackson where we found it!!!!

Save-The-Dates went out...

I went to register with Amy...

April 24th was my engagement party in Tupelo.

I walked into the party and I was so touched by all the sweet faces I saw. I was reminded of what a sweet community I am from. Tupelo was the greatest place in the world to grow up. When I'm there, I remember how loved and embraced and cared about I am.

The party was absolutely beautiful. The flowers, the Long's house, the weather- all so beautiful. There was a 90% chance of rain; I think my mother had something to do with the sunshine that came out instead. The toast that Dr. Fred gave was one of the most embarrassing, yet one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. The whole party was wonderful! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy having fun! Here are a few snapshots that people got from the party and the after party at Betsy's!

Pics with the Donalds...

Daddy.

Tupelo's Finest at the afterparty...

Wendy's run? Duh.

Meresy.

Love this face...

And this one...

We had the best time!

Today, Mrs. Diana and Randi came with me to my fitting in Jackson because my DRESS CAME IN!!!!!! It was so much fun putting on the actual dress I'm going to wear on August 14th. It was even prettier than I remembered. I love so much that Randi and Dee Dee got to be apart of today. It was so special having them there. The lady at The Bridal Path suggested I try on this beautiful bracelet with my dress. I didn't expect to like it at all, but it turns out that I LOVED it. It just made the whole outfit! Sweet Dee Dee bought and gave the bracelet to me. I will so love wearing her special gift on our special day and thinking of what a sweet presence she is in my life.

These highlights, plus a lotttt of time with The Wedding Bag, my cell phone, and my MyAgenda should give you a pretty good idea of the Engagement activities thus far! Get ready for exciting updates really soon... after all, we only have 86 days!!!!!!

Rachel