Uncle Everett...

Cecily's birth, January 31, 2001

Brock's birth, April 9, 2003

Today, a great man passed away after a long battle with cancer. Uncle Everett, Cayce's uncle, was just one of those people everyone loved being around. He made you feel loved. And important. And special. And like you were the most important person in the world to him. He wanted to make sure everyone knew they were loved - and so he spent his days sharing that news with every person he came in contact with. A neighbor, a loved one, a friend of a friend, the waitress at Cracker Barrel... it didn't really matter who it was, Uncle Everett was going to make sure you knew you were loved. And he had a way of making you believe it - even if you just met him.

Everett loved God and everyone around him knew this -- because he loved God so much, he couldn't hide it -- and he certainly didn't try to. He wasn't shy about asking how your church service was that Sunday morning or where you were in your walk with Jesus... because he wanted to make sure you WERE walking in the footsteps of the Lord. And he would be the first one to encourage you and pray for you (and with you) if you weren't. He loved to pray a blessing over babies, teenagers, new lives in Christ, marriages... basically he loved to pray and he was going to make sure those around him were prayed for.

I was blessed to live close to Uncle Everett and Aunt Peggy for many years. They were at the births of three of my children (and would have been at Reece's had they not been in Tennessee while he was being born in Amarillo). The above pictures show Everett praying his blessing over Cecily and Brock just shortly after their births. He was the first person to enter the delivery room after Brock was born, and the first person to hold Brock after Cayce and I did. I still remember how quick he was to tell me how good I looked and how perfect Brock was.

I have always loved watching Peggy and Everett... the way they loved each other so completely and so fully - the way they consistently honored each other through their words and actions - and the ways in which they brought glory and honor to God THROUGH their marriage... these are images I will never forget. I have learned from them how to be a more loving and supportive wife, mother, daughter and child of God. I still make so many mistakes but know that "near perfection" IS possible because I've seen it through them.

I already miss Everett so much but as I sit and reminisce the wonderful memories I have with him, I am reminded... "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it."