One of the favorite movies we watched with your mother when she was a young child was the original Parent Trap. In one of the scenes, the grandfather asks one of the twins, “did we make a memory?” Quite often through her life and even sometimes since she has become an adult I still ask her that question. Your mother’s response was never as enthusiastic as the character in the movie. Hopefully we will watch both versions of this movie some time! Also, I am glad to know she wants us to make some memories together!
Harper, since you are the oldest I probably have the most memories of you! When we inherited the GEM Electric Car you named it the GoGo. You were about 1 1/2 years old when we started taking trips around the neighborhood in the evenings looking for Deer. To give you a little perspective of something that happened when you were young was the COVID Pandemic. Starting in late March of 2020 and for several months we spent a lot of time at our homes with family and close friends. Riding around the neighborhoods with you that spring and summer provided joy and peace during a worldwide tragedy. During that time we also started taking trips to the neighborhood playground and spent lots of time by our pool. You were just getting used to the water and we played on the deck as you threw toys for me to retrieve. At this time, we have taken two trips to Disney, a summer and winter trip to Copper Mountain (where you played in the snow and on the frozen pond for the first time), and this past year we had some fun walks together at the Waynesville Mountain House rolling down the hill, jumping into the leaves and playing in the bounce house!
BP, we are just starting to form some memories. When your mother went back to teaching, you started spending Mondays with Sassy and me. You have also been spending more mornings at our house before you go to childcare. In the mornings as I sit and drink coffee on the back porch, I hear the garage door open and you saying DadGee and you make your way to the porch and climb up on my lap! After a moment, you climb down in search of the golf bag and start pulling out clubs and balls, as we putt around the porch. Your first trip to Disney was quite high maintenance. It was Harper’s second birthday and you were barely even 5 months old. The second trip you were still too young to really experience things, but I am sure our next trip will be very memorable! You are a perpetual motion boy. It’s fun to watch you move from one activity to another. When we sit on the pool deck of the pool, you have to be watched all the time. Summer of 2022 we learned in the blink of an eye you would crawl off the deck as soon as you were set down!
Your mother should have a lot of these pictures that will help you remember some of these events.
Blake, even though you are not born yet, you are already bringing a lot of joy into our lives and memories have already been made. On Christmas Eve 2022, at our Douglas/Sprague Christmas dinner and gift exchange, your parents had planned a gender reveal. The highlight of our night was a balloon Sassy and BeeBee were given the task of popping to reveal your gender. As pink confetti blew through the air, Sassy and BeeBee jumped up and down while Sassy was still holding a knife in her hand! Thankfully no one was stabbed! You are already celebrated and the day of your birth will be a great memory!
Since I retired in 2018, I have been spending 10-12 weeks of the winter at Copper Mountain. People come to visit me so I am never alone for too long. I started bringing a digital picture frame filled will pictures of you and our family. As they scroll through a loop of pictures my heart is warmed by many of the events we have shared and some shared while I am here alone. Though I miss you, the pictures bring me Joy and Happiness!
This is a great time to talk about memories. There are two types of memories: Good and Bad. If you aren’t careful Bad memories will define your life. Many people dwell on them and consequently never reach their God-ordained purpose. There will be bad and sad memories in your life, but they do not have to define you! It is so important to celebrate the great and happy times. Quite frankly, most people’s good and happy memories greatly outnumber the sad and bad, but it is our nature to dwell on the sad and bad. Don’t do that! Remember! Celebrate! Give Thanks!
In the years I have left with you I want us to have Great, Joyful, Happy, Memorable Memories! Probably my greatest purpose in life is to help provide those for you.
It was a special gift from your mother to ask these questions of me. By the time you are able to read and comprehend them, I will be very old and may even be in heaven. Many of these notes have reminded me of happy memories and events as well as lessons I have learned. Writing these has been a great way for me to celebrate how Good God has been to me and what a wonderful life I have had. I hope I have passed on these memories to you and they will be part of your life! Not memories of me for my sake, but memories that, I hope, will remind you of my love for you, wanting God’s best for you and sharing my memories to help you on your journey.
Just a few weeks ago we celebrated BP’s baptism. I have written about Harper’s baptism that was in September of 2020! Blake, I look forward to your baptism in the near future! Baptism is a celebration of Jesus’ death on the Cross and His resurrection from the grave. As the water was poured on your head, it symbolizes your death to sin which is also covered by the blood of Jesus Christ (It is a lifetime journey to fully appreciate this) and now the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is in your life. Some versions of Christianity wait until a person is able to make their own profession of faith. Infant Baptism is an act of faith that states even before you could decide for yourself, Jesus died for your sins.
Romans 5:8 NKJV “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
These moments are acutally my greatest memories of you and the ones that I pray you will embrace for your lifetime. There were many witnesses that you were baptized. We affirmed that you are a Child of God. It will be up to you to make this memory a part of who you are!
Our faith as followers of Jesus Christ is based on the memory that Jesus Christ shed His blood and gave His body so we could have abundant and eternal life. During Jesus’ last meal with His closest friends he shared how and what He wanted them to remember!
Matthew 26:26-29 NKJV “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.””
Luke 22:17-20 NKJV “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
I Corinthians 11:23-26 NKJV “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
Throughout my life I have relied on this celebration to remember that I am a sinner saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am adopted into God’s family and have the reminder nothing can separate me from the love of God Jesus shows the world. My prayer is at an early age your parents will be faithful to having you attend worship and regularly celebrate the Lord’s Supper. When you see another person Baptized, infant or older you will embrace the memory of your Baptism. Even in times of trouble, trials, doubt and possible seasons of separation from God, something inside you will bring up the remembrance of your Baptism. Martin Luther, a great leader in the church during the 16th century, while enduring times of struggle was known to write the word’s “I am Baptized!” He did this to drown the negative words of doubt and despair, the bad memories of life and to remember that he was a sinner saved by the washing of our sins through the grace of Jesus Christ! I imagine, when he celebrated the Lord’s Supper he was reminded as well.
Something I hope that you will remember about me, is when I pray before a meal it is not just to ask God to bless it! I am giving thanks for the necessities of life: Food, Family, Friends, a warm place in which to eat it, but most importantly for the broken body of Jesus Christ and for His blood! Everyday, every meal, every moment I try to remember that and give thanks!
Below are some pictures of Harper and BP that I take the credit for teaching you!
This is probably why your parents rarely left me in charge of you alone!