God's Love Story :: The Burnham Edition

In exactly four weeks I will celebrate my fifth wedding anniversary with my husband, Scott. Our love story may not be as dramatic as the past "God's Love Story" couple - but it was definitely orchestrated by our loving God. I hope you enjoy, as I take reminsce about our meeting and courtship days and finally as I look back on our wedding day.

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I had a plan. I was going to meet my Prince Charming and be married by the age of 21. For some reason, in my mind, if I wasn't married by that age I felt I would never get married. In pursuit to fulfill this dream, on my own, I was dating a young man who wasn't the right fit. We dated for awhile and began seriously talking about marriage. Then things hit a downhill spiral - and fast. He became mean to me, disrespectful to my family, took me from my church and most of all I had allowed the Devil to use him to pull me away from God. I had to get to my lowest point before we finally broke up and with God's help, I began to mend the broken pieces. This was all due to the fact that I had a dream and I was trying to fulfill that dream by myself. There came a point after the break up that I finally "let go and let God". I decided that if God wanted me married by 21, I would be married. If he didn't that was fine too. I was going to let God write my love story. It was only until I had given up full control that my God began writing.

June 30, 2006 was a normal Sunday. My whole family loaded up and went to church Sunday morning, we came home and I'm sure we ate a great lunch and had an even better Sunday nap. We then loaded back up and headed to our church's evening service. I can remember every detail of that service (except the preaching, lol) just like it happened yesterday. We walked into Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and sat in the same pew that we always sat in. However, on this particular evening a man sat in front of us who heavily smelt like smoke. We didn't want to be rude and cough throughout the whole service, so after our choir sang and it was fellowship time we moved to the back of the auditorium and sat in some overflow seats.

However, I forgot to mention that while we were sitting in the pew a couple of young men all dressed up sat in the overflow seats in the back of the auditorium. They were late and we all know that after the service begins and the doors open everyone looks back and sees who didn't make it on time :) I recognized the one guy as Jon, our Youth Pastor's brother, but didn't recognize the handsome guy who came with him.

Now back to the story ... we just happened to sit right behind the two young men once we moved from our pew. The service continued and all was well. After the service ended, my parents left and I hung around to chit-chat with my friend Leah. Leah, our Pastor's daughter, felt it was her duty to meet all the young men who were visitors ;) This time I decided to tag along. Knowing Jon, we both went and shook his hand and he introduced us to his friend. This was the first time I met Scott. He had the sweetest little smile and all was great in the world. After meeting we all left and headed our separate ways.

The next morning, I arrived at work after not being able to get Scott of off my mind. Leah and I worked together at a daycare and she could tell something was up. I began to tell her that I thought I would like to get to know "Jon's friend" and wondered how I could do that if I didn't know anything about him. That's all Leah needed to hear. She immediately got her cell phone out and began texting Jon for more details.

You must understand that going out of my way to talk to a guy was not normal for me. I was beyond shy in front of boys and wouldn't dream of talking to them first. All I can say is that it was God working. That whole day was filled with texting and giggling. We found out where he was from, what his major was and a whole bunch of minor details. Then the big moment came ... Leah asked me, "Do you want me to give him your number?" Remember, I had never done anything like that in my life! I softly said, "Ok" and she sent it to Jon. He said he would tell him and that's the last I heard ... at least for that day.

Be a Blessing

When I first began Memories & Blessings Photography I knew I wanted it to be more than a business. I wanted it to be a ministry. A ministry that served others and a ministry that I could use to be a blessing to others. I pray that over the past two and half years I have been able to be a blessing to at least one person.

As I was reading posts in a local photography group's forum this morning, I was deeply touched. A local church is giving a couple a dream wedding - just giving it to them! The couple is part of the church and simply can't have the wedding they've dreamed of and this church is showing their love to the them by giving and preparing the wedding - and it's even going to be a surprise! What an awesome way to show God's love to someone. After all, God gives us things that we simply can't give ourselves. Does salvation ring a bell? Entry to Heaven was something we could not do on our own and in God's loving way he sent His Son to make a way for us to have the ultimate wedding in Heaven one day.

I began to think what can I do? What can I do to be a blessing to others? I also wanted to be able to share this experience with you. Here's what I came up with ...

You will have the opportunity to nominate a family, a couple,a person, whoever, to have a FREE photo session. There will be absolutely no cost to you or them. The deserving recipient will receive an hour long session, a Photo CD and a print release. You can nominate anyone you would like. All you have to do to nominate someone is send their name and why you believe they deserve the session to memoriesblessings@yahoo.com. All entries must be sent in by Wednesday, June 27th. Pretty simple right? On Thursday, June 26th I will have someone read all the entries and pray about who should receive the session. The winner will be announced on Saturday, June 30th, once I get home from the Summer Mini-Sessions. I promise you will receive a blessing by trying to be a blessing to someone else.

I also want to do something for everyone who participates. All entries will receive a $20 gift certificate and all those who send in entries will receive a $10 gift certificate. Again, the winner will receive a FREE session from Memories & Blessings Photography. The person who nominates the winner will receive 50% off a session.

I'm sure you immediately thought of someone to nominate. If not, pray about it! God will lay someone on your heart. Don't forget to send all your entries to memoriesblessings@yahoo.com by Wednesday, June 27th. Don't miss out on a chance to be a blessing!

Twice Blessed

"We prayed for a miracle and God gave us two!" If you visit the White family's home that quote will greet you as you enter their newest additions' nursery. Korey and Myranda, along with big sister Kylee, welcomed Khloee Allyson and Kinzlee Inez into their family on Monday, June 11th. The two precious baby girls' middle names were chosen to honor their parents' grandmothers. I had the honor of knowing Korey's grandmother, Mrs. Inez, and I know she would've just loved these two little angels to pieces.

Myranda and I talked at her maternity session (which can be seen here) that we would need to make sure the girls had different colored hairbows or different outfits on so I could tell them a part. Well, there was no need for that! Kinzlee has a head full of dark hair and her older sister Khloee has lighter and not as much hair. Both of them however, are equally beautiful! Kylee is a wonderful big sister and helped so much during our session. She did so awesome holding them and kissing each of them so gently!

Thank-you Korey and Myranda for allowing me to capture these sweet memories for your family. I hope that I get to see much more of those sweet babies and watch them grow!

Here are several of my favorites from their session. Don't forget to leave a comment on this blog post - 20 comments and Myranda will get a free 5x7 photo of her choice. Also, make sure to watch for their video, featuring a sweet song by JJ Heller, on the Memories & Blessings Facebook page!

Khloee Allyson

Kinzlee Inez

The Bradford Family

The Bradfords came down to Tennessee all the way from Claymont, Delaware. I am so glad that each summer they make time for me to do some family photos for them while they are on vacation. Jonathan and Sarah, and sweet Emma, moved about 2 years ago and have since then added baby Jackson to their family.

We met up at Campbell Station Park in Farragut. Even Emma and Jackson's Poppa came and joined in on the fun! I love doing generational photos and it was neat to get some shots of the three generations together. Thank-you Jonathan and Sarah for taking time to let me have the honor of photographing your sweet family.

Here are a few of my favorites from the Bradford's session.

*20 comments = a FREE 5x7 photo*

Daddy & Me :: Eddie & Emily

Happy Father's Day - better late than never! I hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating with their fathers and with their children's fathers.

Last weekend, I met up with one of my favorite little girls for a Daddy and Me mini-session at Melton Hill Lake. Emily is a Daddy's girl through and through and we had no problems getting smiles out of her for this session. She loved the location too! Emily and her Daddy did some sliding and swinging at the park and then they found some ducks and fed them!

Hanging out with Emily and her family is always so much fun and this time was no different. Take a look at some of my favorites from Emily and Eddie's Daddy and Me mini-session!

*20 comments = a FREE 5x7 photo!*

God's Love Story

It's Not True...It Just Can't Be...

By: Raquel Dunn

It's really funny when I think about it, I mean I spent at least eight years of my life telling other people's stories with ease but when has come to my own I have desperately struggled. So thank you for supporting and reading this blog. Your comments of encouragement have been something I look forward to, not for my own glory but to know that what I'm doing is exactly what GOD would have me to do. My prayer is that lives are changed and hearts are stirred by knowing the power of GOD when they read this story. I have felt twinges of guilt for keeping quiet so long now that I've started opening up. It's made me realize that when GOD does something in our lives, big or small, far too often we keep quiet...scared to share it...afraid of how others will view us; when in the grand scheme of life (and eternity) GOD's view is the only one that really matters.

After Earl's proposal we immediately drove back to his parents to share the news with them. Before we got there Earl and I had devised a plan on how we were going to tell them. He still had the "other" ring in his truck and we decided we'd get that box out and give it to his mom to take back to the store, while doing all we could to make my ring as noticeable as possible. Our scheme played out even more perfectly than we had expected it to.

We walked in, sat side by side on the fireplace hearth and just started chatting with them. By this time all the company for the evening had already left and it was just the two of them. Neither was paying very much attention to us. Jerrie was curled up on the couch watching something on television, while Big Earl was sitting across the room in his favorite leather chair, rummaging through the classifieds of a paper hoping to find his next great bargain.

Earl Jr. walked over to his mom after a few minutes and handed her the ring box asking if she could just return it since I didn't want it. She opened the box and studied the ring, taking it out and admiring it. Jerrie's a little farsighted, so to get a really good look at the ring she had to hold it out (sorry Jer, but I have to). She placed the ring on one of her toes and held her foot out, twisting it back and forth so she could see the cluster shimmer and shine. Then she said, "I don't see why you don't want this ring Rock. It's beautiful, look at it sparkle. Don't you think so Big Earl...Big Earl...Big Earl look at this."

Big Earl pulled the paper down from his face and began fumbling for his glasses (he's farsighted), "What?"

He was looking around trying to grasp what the conversation was about, which he does often because his mind is always somewhere else.

Jerrie continued flexing her foot back and forth, "Isn't it pretty Big Earl?"

All the while Earl and I sat on the fireplace with my hands placed directly on my kneecaps, intending for my ring to catch even more light than the ring on Jerrie's toe. And it must have worked because as Big Earl turned to see what Jerrie was trying to show him, he instantly jerked his head back toward us and sat up screaming, "What's that?!?!?!"

Jerrie still admiring the cluster, looked up and innocently said, "What's what?"

"That!!!!" Big Earl exclaimed and began pointing.

This time she saw it and tears cascaded down her cheeks, "Oh, it's not true! It can't be! Is that...?"

She began walking toward us. By that time we were all a weeping mess, as she wrapped her arms around us. She took my hand and asked again, "Is it...did he?" She couldn't even muster all the words out and neither could we as we just shook our heads yes.

We walked over to Big Earl so he cold look at the ring and as he held my hand, he just sobbed and began praising the LORD, "I've prayed for this for so long. I knew GOD would answer my prayers. I didn't know how, but I knew HE would."

After we all gained our composure, we called my parents and let them know and of course we shed another river of tears. Immediately, Jerrie insisted we needed to talk about picking a date. I'm not really sure how we chose it to be honest, but by the end of the night we'd decided on November 29th, which was just 6 weeks away.

I realize that it was just four weeks from the time I gave the ring back Earl to the day that we became engaged. How that happened? I don't really know and I'm trying to convince Earl to share his story and how he got to that point so that we have a complete story. Honestly, I'd expected to become his girlfriend first. Never in my wildest dreams did I think a proposal was around the corner. Most people don't go from best friends to engaged couples, but that's exactly how it happened for us.

Now, I finally had a ring, however, there was just one problem, my dress. I've kept you waiting long enough, so here is the rest of the story about the dress.

Back in May I had decidedly picked September 7th to be the date that my dress would need to be here. However, September 7th had come and gone and the dress was nowhere to be found. When I called to see when I could pick it up, the shop began profusely apologizing. Somehow, it hadn't arrived on time. They assured me it would be there any day and they would call, but that call never came. After about two weeks, I called them again requesting to know when my dress might arrive and again, they had no clue. It really wasn't a big deal since I wasn't engaged and considering the way things went on my birthday it didn't look like I would be any time soon either, so I let it go.

As we began making plans for the wedding, I realized I now had a dilemma. That dress needed to be here sometime in the next six weeks or I was going to be buying off the rack and had invested over a thousand dollars in dress that may not show up on time. On Monday, as Jerrie and I started making a guest list and talking about colors and all the things that go into planning a wedding, my phone rang. It was Wedding Wonderland. My dress arrived that morning. As I listened intently to the woman on the other end of the phone, my heart swelled into my throat and tears of joy flowed down my face.
 

GOD delivered my dress on the very next business day after Earl had proposed to me. It could not have been orchestrated more elegantly than that. HE knew the very date Earl would utter a proposal to me, and HE knew the very date my dress would arrive when HE told me to buy it five months earlier. GOD is so good and so patient and so loving, I wish the world to know HIS true power. Sadly, so many miss it. GOD is so much greater than we can fathom. Our lack of faith holds us back from experiencing HIS awesomeness. I have been so blessed by my HEAVENLY FATHER, in that HE has given me so great a love story to pass on to my children and grandchildren. I will tell them that GOD has a perfect plan for you when you wait and trust HIM. HE never makes a mistake. My dress being lost wasn't an accident. Wedding Wonderland or the designer did nothing different than they ever do. FedEx or UPS didn't misplace my dress either. It was GOD. HE wanted to make sure I'd never forget what HE did for me and how HE had completed a work HE had began. It was HIS finishing touch on a story with an ending far better than anything Hollywood could ever write. Oh and if you're wondering, the letter I wrote 2 years earlier (see If You're Reading This...), that I couldn't bring myself to throw away, I gave it to him on our wedding night.



Our engagement picture



Our wedding invitation



God's Love Story

What's Next?

By: Raquel Dunn

GOD truly works in mysterious ways, and as cliche´ as that sounds, it's true. This story is absolutely proof of that. For over three years of my life, I waited on a promise that seemed impossible. I dreamt of a reality that only happens in fairy tales or on movie screens. Yet, I lived and breathed every moment of this epic saga. And even though I was a central character in this romance, even I couldn't have predicted what was coming next.

Almost a month had passed since my birthday. Things were generally the same as they'd always been with Earl. However, I could tell something was different after I gave him the ring back. There was something more deliberate about him when we spent time together. I really couldn't understand what was going on, but I knew it had to be good. It was as if he was on the verge of moving forward, but with Earl it had been that ways so many times before I just couldn't be sure. Over and over, I'd gotten my hopes up that he was ready to commit to being a couple, only to have things come to a screeching halt, so this time I just waited...waited to see what turn we would take next.

It was Friday, October 3rd, 2003 and I had worked all night. I was looking into buying a condo instead of renting, so at this time I was still staying at his mom and dad's. I remember awakening to Earl laying on top of the covers beside me and just staring. It startled me really. He whispered, "Good morning to you," despite the fact that is was nearly 3 in the afternoon.


"Hey. What are you doing here?" I groggily answered.


"I wanted to wait on you to wake up. Get up and get ready, we're going somewhere, but don't eat anything," he informed me.


"OK," I told him as I sat up in the bed, "where are we going?"


"I just have some things to do, but we going to get something to eat while we're out," he advised as he left the room so I could began the process of crawling out of bed.


I could hear commotion coming from the kitchen, as I stumbled into the bathroom to shower and primp for the next hour. When I emerged, Earl was sitting at the table eating chili that Jerrie and another friend of ours had made for everyone to eat that night. I looked at him and said, "I thought you said not to eat?"

"Well, I was really hungry. I couldn't wait anymore. Sorry!" he explained.

If you don't know Earl, well, his stomach always comes first, no matter what is going on. So I sat and drank some coffee as he finished his chili. Everyone was planning to hang out at the house that night and they urged us to stay and enjoy a game of cards with them, but he was insistent that we had somewhere to go. They looked to me for an answer, but I could only shrug. With Earl being so aloof about the night, I didn't have the slightest clue as to what events the evening would entail.

Once we left, he began to complain about all the homework he had to do that weekend, so I suggested we just go to his house so he could work on it. He just looked at me and said, "You wanna go to Walmart? Let's go to Walmart. I'm sure there's something I need there."

I of course obliged. It didn't matter to me what we did, as long as I got to spend time with him.

We arrived, wondered around and ran into several people Earl knew (because no matter where you go, he always knows somebody) and then promptly left. I'm not sure we actually even bought anything other than a drink, but nonetheless, we got back in his truck and headed toward the interstate.

Again he launched into grumbling about all of his homework and again I suggested we just go back so he could work on it.

"No. I don't want to do that right now. Let's go by my uncle Mike's. I think he has a spotlight and we can go to dad's property and spotlight deer."

Now, while I may have grown up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, where deer hunting is a sport that you actually getting excused absences for in school, I am not and never will be that kind of country girl—sorry, but the whole cameo gear and big 4x4 trucks was never a draw for me (which the latter is especially one of the reasons that made Earl and I such an unlikely match from the get go). At that point, I'm thinking, this has got to be the strangest evening of my life. Did he just say we were going to spotlight deer? Deer? Seriously! I'd really rather watch him do his homework! The bewilderment on my face must have been apparent. However, off we went to his uncle Mike's.

I'm not sure how long we stayed, about an hour or more. And to Earl's dismay, Mike did not have a spotlight. A great relief to me or so I thought. After we left, he still insisted we go to 40 acres and use his headlights to catch the deer off guard.

It took about 10 minutes to get there from Mike's house. When we reached the property, Earl got out to unlock the gate. As I watched him search out the key and open it up, I remember thinking at that point, I really wished we'd just stayed and played cards.

We began climbing the gradual incline of the dark gravel driveway, slowly making our way toward a grassy spot that he planned to park while waiting for deer to dart by. Before long his truck came to a rest and he cut the engine off. There we were...sitting and waiting for deer. Oh the excitement, well, not really, but anyway.

After a moment he turned and said, "Let's get in the back of the truck bed."

Now, while it was the beginning of October, which for the most part is generally mild in East Tennessee, this night was anything but. It was around 40 degrees,  I'd only worn a light sweater and I am very cold natured, so I responded rather quickly, "No. You're crazy! It's freezing out there!"

"Oh, come on! We'll just sit and see if any deer come out."

"Umm..no. It's cold."

"Just get out of the truck," he demanded.

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, but I'm not staying out there long." I said as I gave in.

Since we were on a hill, I climbed out on his side to keep from dealing with shutting his heavy door. He helped me into the back of his truck bed and hopped up behind me. I was standing with my arms crossed shivering uncontrollably.

"Are you cold?" he asked in a concerned manner.

"What do you think? I told you it was freezing out here!" I retorted.

"Well, listen, I really just wanted us to get out here so that we could pray. I want us to pray about us one more time. I'll start and then you can finish," he said.

"OK," I told him, but in my mind I was thinking, I don't need to pray about this anymore, but whatever.

He took my hand, stood before me and began to pray. I remember hearing him tell GOD if we were really meant to be together to make it crystal clear to him. He closed his prayer and I began with mine. All I could do was agree in prayer with him because it had been so apparent to me for so very long. I don't really remember every thing else that was said, but when I opened my eyes, Earl was on one knee. In his hands, he held an open box with a beautiful, platinum 1 carat diamond ring. I gasped and covered my mouth as tears streamed down my cold, red chapped cheeks. Sniffling and choking back tears of his own he rattled out, "Will you be my wife?"

For a moment, all I could manage to do was shake my head yes. Finally my voice broke through and I proclaimed, "YES!! YES!! YES!!"

He stood up and put the ring on my finger before taking me in his arms and gently kissing me.  In that moment, the world stood still again, but this time for all the reasons I wanted it to. Finally all the waiting and trusting I had done allowed GOD's plan to come to fruition and in HIS time, not my own.

"C'mon. Let's get you back in the truck to warm up," he tenderly urged.

As we climbed into the truck, my heart was so full of joyful elation that I'm not sure there's a word in the English language that would do justice to what I was feeling. I kept looking down to see if the ring was still there, just to know it was true. This time every sparkle radiated an exuberant euphoria that I'd never known. My faith increased a trillion fold that night. I knew I could never truly doubt GOD or HIS LOVE and MERCY and PLAN for me again. HE knew what HE was doing from the moment I'd committed to trust HIM and all HE would ever ask of me, no matter how dire the situation seems, is just that, to trust HIM.

(***The dress will without a doubt be on the next post!!****)