The Sumrall Family: February 2010

My story has been through many chapters and with each one a "love" is always evident. Like when I was a baby my mother tells me that I loved black eyed peas... ME? The girl who eats nothing green? I'll even pass over a green Sour Patch Kid. Surely not. But apparently so... from what I hear I've eaten many a pea from my Boppy's garden. Blech. I have the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. I prefer to note here that it is at the very beginning of my days that I became a blanket girl... so strong was my love for a blanket that I have been through several... and still going strong. =) Also, as the youngest of four girls you can only imagine the amount of lovin' that I got growing up. Cousins that grew up alongside me like siblings. Grandparents right down the trail through the woods... parents that have been together now for 40 years.

My family is LOVE.

The next true love that comes to mind involves 6th grade and a pair of Nike Air Pegasus. Light grey with a blue swoosh. Man, I loved those shoes. Jessica Pearce had some just like them. You see, back then it was just understood that you got a pair of Sebagos in the fall and a pair of white Keds for the spring. Or at least I did. So it was very gutsy of me to step outside my norm and go with an actual pair of tennis shoes for my first day of 6th grade. I can remember getting dressed and thinking that I looked oh so cool... only to get to school and discover that everyone was wearing flourescent colored jean shorts and Vuarnet t shirts with their dad's braided belts and no one even noticed my new shoes... oh well, I still wish I had a pair just like them today.

Then it was in my early teen years that I knew that I knew that I knew that I wanted to be an orthodontist one day. My eye was on the prize... I just loved dentistry and well, teeth. Many, many years later with a handful of broken dreams and lots of life lessons noted I learned the hard way that you don't always get what you want. I tried. Hard. I actually can't really think too long and hard about it because I can still get teary eyed thinking about the passion that I had and how great of an orthodontist I would have been. I mean really... Cooper Callaway should thank me... he would definately not be as cool as he is had I opened a practice in town. =) A back up plan would have worked well on the to do list but no one could have told me that 10+ years ago. Little did I know God had a little surprise up his sleeve for the future.

After high school I headed to Northeast MS Community College. Brad has been known to poke fun at the fact that I went to a community college but that's just what most folks did from where I'm from... and I had made Tiger Dancer... I was ready for the big time! Never mind that my sophomore year I didn't make the dance line... it was mentioned that I had eaten "one too many cheeseburgers" over the summer by a certain dance captain... I wonder if she's fat now... one could only hope... did I just say that? I didn't mean it... well, kind of... maybe just a little. =) Seriously, I think I may have weighed a buck 25... if that... FYI on these big bones that is t.i.n.y. All that free time with no dance practice meant that I had plenty of time to stress over Organic Chemistry and to make some of my most cherished memories with some of the best girls I've ever had the priviledge of knowing. Yep, Brad better be glad that I'm not independently wealthy because I would build a fabulously, fabulous alumni center or dorm or something on campus known as... 3rd floor back... as a shout out to the best girlfriends a girl could want.

Yes ma'm I would. I LOVE that place. I LOVE those girls.

Then on to Mississippi State I went and my first class there would lead me to the love of my life. Genetics. I hated that class. But I will forever be grateful because that my friends is how I met Brad. He had failed to attend class for the majority of the semester and my cousin Chris knew that I was in that class (and a superb note taker at that) and at 10 pm the night before the final... what do you know... someone needed to borrow my notes. He complimented the said notetaking skills and then proceeded to make better than me in the class. From then on he figured he could just take the same classes as me, never go to class and mooch off my notes. He did that, until he figured out I was the coolest girl he'd ever known and we started doing every thing together. Including going to class. =) Once I figured out he was not after my roomie (it was ME he liked!!) I discovered that I REALLY liked this guy... yep, he was THE one. Though I pretty much knew all along that Brad would one day be forever mine he on the other hand didn't. It was a long road but he finally saw the error of his ways... I think it's safe to say that we are BOTH so very glad he did. =) I LOVE him. I do. With all that I have. He's the icing to my Cookie Mama cookie. =)

Since I'm on a roll here and we are talking about things I love I have to give a shout out to my Dr. Weiss and girls. After many failed attempts at getting into dental school in MS I decided to establish residency in TN and try there. If UMC didn't want me then maybe UT would by golly. Well, notsomuch. BUT... that train of thought did move me to Memphis where I got to work at the best place on earth and meet some of the best people of earth. Seriously, it made not getting into dental school a little easier pill to swallow. Had I not moved away, I would still be working my little heart out there. I miss them all so.

Well someone once said... if you like it then you better put a ring on it... he did, we got married and moved to Columbus. Yes, from Memphis to the land of nothing to do and perhaps worst of all, no Target. I was miserable. Then my dear friend (who just happens to be a 3rd floor back beloved) invited me to Mt.Vernon Church and my life has truly not been the same since. God knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he moved me to Columbus. Yes, yes He did. Mt. Vernon shed a whole knew light on things that I already had hidden in my heart. My daily walk with Christ is at a place that I never could have imagined and Mt.V led me to a group of friends that are... without a doubt... hand picked by God especially for me. =)

The best of the best... y'all encourage me to be a better Christian, a better wife, a better mother, a better friend and a better person.

I LOVE my Jesus. I LOVE my church. I LOVE my Sisterchicks.

Then I got a bun in the oven. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING could prepare me for the wild ride that was in store. Welcome to the world, my LOVE. I was officially a stay at home mom. What!?! Me!?! So not what I (key word here is I) had planned for my life but God knew that in November of 2007 I would have a precious baby girl that would steal my heart and that visions of braces and retainers and an actual career might still dance in my head but nothing on earth could keep me from giving my little Bessie Boo all of my attention. All (most) of the time. =) I was born to be a stay at home mom... who knew?!? It was a little rocky at first, more like a lot rocky but Bes eventually stopped crying... then I did the same =) and life just keeps getting better and better. I have caught myself saying more than once how I wished that I could freeze time and stop Bes right where she is at that particular moment... only to be saying it again a few weeks or a few months later. With each stage brings new excitement (and frustration) and my heart grows bigger and bigger from all the love that I have for my little girl. She is love... a love so strong that you think your heart could pop from all that love. It is overwhelming that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me so much MORE than I love Bes. How can that be possible? It is. And I am so grateful. Unconditional love. Praise Jesus. My cup runneth over. I am so blessed.

A post from yours truly just wouldn't be complete with out a photo...

So Happy Heart Day from Bes and the rest of the Sumrall family... now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go gaze at the beautiful roses my husband had delivered to me. =)