Snoring Makes Me Smile

Reason 12: He snores

I know that might sound really wierd, but I really have been thinking about this for awhile now. I love my dad because he snores when he is sleeping. I can say this because I don't have to sleep next to him every night. Here is my reasoning behind all of this...
I have been kinda sick since last week, so I have been sleeping a lot and not really doing much of anything. (Except for the awesome retreat we went on this past weekend that I was really sick during but couldn't stop me from making it happen and having a lot of fun in the process.) During this time, I have had a few friends over to take care of me or just hang out. Well usually we all fall asleep at some point during the time, little cat naps, and when I hear them snoring I know they are really asleep. And I actually enjoy it because I know they are resting and comfortable. So it got me thinking back to when I lived with my parents and even times when I go back to visit. The room I stay in is right across the hall from my parents room and they usually go to bed before I do. So when I go to bed, or if I go to the bathroom after they are already in bed, I always really like to hear my dad snoring because that means I haven't woken him up. Likewise with my friends, if they are snoring that means they are sleeping and resting and whatever I am doing at the time is not bothering them. And you know since I have started looking at snoring in this way, what used to bother me about snoring, doesn't anymore. I don't really know what it means when you snore, like if you are really sleeping good or not, but when I hear people snore, I always think they are really sleeping good. And I like knowing that my dad is sleeping and getting good rest, and that whatever I am doing is not disturbing that. Soo, that is why I love my dad for snoring...its a sure fire way to know he is still asleep.

both sleeping peacefully

Braves all the way

Reason 11: Loves the Braves

I don't know why I started to like the Braves, it was too long ago and I was too young, but I am going to give the credit to my dad cause that is how see it. I started liking the Braves when we lived in Texas, then we moved to Kansas and my love for them only grew. I can remember trying to stay up to watch the Braves when they were in the World Series against the Blue Jays. I don't think I ever made it through a game without falling asleep, but I sure tried.
When we decided to move to Georgia I was really excited and thought I would go to all the games, however, I still watched most of the games on tv even after moving to Georgia. But my love for them has not faded and neither has my dad's. Even when they are in a slump (like right now), my dad still always has the ballgames on the tv for all of us to watch. I love my dad for putting a passion for the Braves in my heart that has lasted through the good times and the bad times.

I actually just got off the phone with my dad and since I was about to publish this post, I asked him why the Braves were the chosen team since we didn't live in Georgia and he wasn't from Georgia or even close. He told me that he used to like the Cardinals since he was from around that area, but when he went into the Army, no matter where he went, he could see a good number of Braves games on tv (more than any other team).  Soo the Braves became the favorites. And I am pretty confident that as long as he or I am around, they will stay the favorites. This is kind of ironic...just last week I watched the Braves play the Cardinals on ESPN2 down here in Puebla.
My roommate Kami brought back some cups from a game she went to over the summer...so now my house can once again officially be labeled "BRAVES COUNTRY"

can you see it?? THIS IS BRAVES COUNTRY

Since I don't have many pictures that relate to this post, so I am going to take advantage of this opportunity to post some older pictures of my dad you might enjoy.

Check out how much hair he had

I wonder when was the last time he sat indian style like this

luke, me, donnah and my dad (prob in Texas based on how much the boys are sweating)

Let's Go Braves

Ministry Update

Ministry Update

This weekend we are going on a retreat to the mountains. Last year it was lots of fun and this year we plan to make it even better. The theme is going to be relationships. Pray for students to have the desire to go and hear from God, for our speakers (Tom and Sandy Basile), the weather to be nice, relationships that will be formed and strengthen,  and for everyone to have fun.

Today Nate will be giving a talk on the prophets as we continue to work our way through the bible. Then on Thursday I will be giving the talk at our devotional lunch...retelling the parable of the unmerciful servant. Prayers for both of those talks would be awesome.

Every now and then I want to feature someone from the ministry in the blog so you guys can know a little more about who I am around on a daily basis. Today we are going to start with my roommates Kami and Isa.

Kami is the other single person that works here at El Pozo with me. She arrived in January of this past year. I met Kami at Georgia Tech in 2005 where we became friends. Then in 2007 when I first arrived in Puebla, she was an exchange student with the ministry studying at UDLA which only strengthened that friendship. We have been good friends for many years now, but we continue to learn more about each other everyday. We got a good system working here as roommates, teammates and friends.

Me and Kami at a graduation dinner of one of our good friends

 Isa started living with me in January around the same time Kami arrived. She is in her third year of college and will be graduating soon. Isa and her boyfriend Luis started to come to the ministry because of 2 friends (Raul and Beto, both have graduated and are not around anymore) about 2 years ago.

Luis and Isa

Watching her learn and grow and make true friendships is a blessing everyday. Isa loves to clean house, which is another awesome blessing, as well as go bowling with me on Thursdays.
Recently we all went to Mexico City to visit her family.

Isa, Kami, and me in Coyocan

Isa and me on her first women's retreat

Thanks for the support and prayers and encouragement. 
Love you all. Peace.

Chef Larry

Reason 10: Great Chef

Apart from the world famous ribs he makes, he can cook just about anything with any ingredients and it turns out good. I can only remember a few times in all my life that I didn't like something he made. We always had good food for dinner when he was around.

cooking with friends

he is such a good cook he knows only fresh ingredients will do

I remember that going out to eat or ordering pizza was a big deal for us...something that was special and hardly ever happened. So when my dad had to be out of town for something, which didn't happen much, we got really excited because that meant we usually got to go out or order pizza. My mom is not as good a cook as him, and when we were growing up she was even less of one. But she has learned over the years and is actually good at it now. She is very good at sooo many other things, but cooking just wasn't her thing back in the day.
They only bad thing about him being such a good cook is that I never had to cook for real. I might have had to make the vegetable or some side item now or then, but never really the whole meal. And he is one of those people that can cook without a recipe...not so with me. Anything that is more than pasta usually requires a recipe for me to be able to make it. Since he was so good at it, I never really learned all the different techniques. I remember being at a friends house just a year ago and calling my dad to ask how long a type of meat had to be on the grill. Like my mom, over the years since getting out of the house I have learned more and more. I would say I cook pretty good now, I just don't have a huge range of dishes. Since January I have been making it a point to learn to cook more things...and learn to cook more without a recipe like my dad. So just recently I decided to get myself a personal chef.
Don't worry, I didn't actually hire him nor am I paying him or anything like that...He is a friend of mine that went to culinary school before coming to Puebla to be one of the American football coaches at the university here. His name is Hector but everyone calls him Ratatouille since he used to be a chef.

i think he was making a pasta dish this day

he is as happy cooking as we are eating it

He usually comes over to cook at least once a week and sometimes more than that. He cooks like my dad...without recipes. I still haven't quite made it to that point where I can cook like them but I am learning. And until then, I will be happy eating whatever my Dad or Hector want to make for me. And just so yall don't think this is a taking relationship only, I cook for him and my roommates once a week as well so I can try out new dishes and perfect the ones I already know.

I love my dad for being a great cook and passing along some of  his secrets along the way. Also I would like to thank my mom for teaching me that if you can't to it well...learn, but in the meantime get someone in your life that doesn't mind doing it for you.

Good Choice

Reason 9: He Married My Mom

I have mentioned this before, but its worth talking about again. I love my dad for getting married to my mom some 30 something years ago. I don't know exactly what year they are going on, but I am pretty sure they are closer to 40 years than 30.
Their marriage is impressing to say the least. It is an example to follow, a gift from God and a blessing to all who are around it. Over the years, they worked together to raise us kids, to give us examples to live by and teachings that would form us into followers of Christ. Like in any relationship, they had disagreements and maybe some fights, but they never did it in front of us kids in a disrespectful way. I never saw my dad disrespect my mom. That is hard to find these days. They love each other and show it. They work well together...what my dad lacks, my mom makes up for and vice versa. Their marriage has set a standard for me that will not allow me to settle for less. They are proof that godly marriages are possible.
Here are a few pictures of them over the years...

wedding day

in their fancy sports car (before kids of course)

in Jamaica

Destin at the beach

still lovin it

Thank you for choosing wisely, marrying mom and making your marriage worth following

It's Independence Day

Ok, sorry about that 4 day lack of anything. But no worries, we are going to play a little catch up over the next few days.

Reason 8: Independence

For those who don't know, today the 16th of September is Mexico's Independence Day. 200 years of independence they are celebrating today. So it seems fit that today's reason be independence.
One thing my dad was always good at was making us into independent individuals. I am thankful for all the ways I was taught independence because it shaped and formed me into the person I am today. Here are few examples that stick out. Chores around the house...from a young age we all had certain chores we had to do everyday/week. I learned the significance of "no work, no play" from an early age. We had deadlines for the chores and if they weren't met, there would be no play happening until they were finished. When I was 9, doing my own laundry was added to the list of chores. I messed up a lot of clothes learning how to wash my own clothes, but I eventually figured it out. I know people who go to college and don't know how to do their own laundry. I actually had to teach an exchange student here in Puebla how to wash clothes when he got here and he was in his 4th year in college. I appreciate learning how to take care of myself before I got out on my own.
Apart from the chores inside the house, we were encouraged to make our own money outside of the house. I learned how to save for something if I wanted it. I learned how to give back to God in the form of money. I learned responsibility and independence.
I was taught to handle and deal with issues that came up without having my parents always jump in to fix everything. My dad would say, "piss poor planning on your part, doesn't require an emergency crisis on mine." Of course that doesn't mean they weren't by my side through it all nor that they never lent a hand when needed because they did, it just means they gave me independence and with that independence comes responsibility. They prepared me for the "real life" the best anyone could, before the "real life" actually happened.

they were independent at a young age, and taught me the same

Thanks for the independence you taught and gave over the years.

Forgiveness

Reason 7: Forgiving

Like when I say I would get up early to do a blog post each day and only a week has gone by and I am already 2 posts behind...or that one time when he told us not to play ball in the house and then we put a hole in the wall from swinging the bat...or that other time we were told to stop jumping off the back deck and 30 min later I ended up with a broken wrist from not obeying...I could sit here all day telling yall stories, big and small, of the times I have given my dad the opportunity to live out that great command of forgiving that Jesus teaches us about. But seriously, who wants to read all that.
Living 61 years, having 4 kids, and being married for over 30 years will give you plenty of opportunities to choose to forgive and move on or choose to hold back forgiveness, stay mad, seek justice or revenge...
My dad has learned to forgive and chooses to do so on a regular basis. A healthy marriage of so many years and great relationships with all 4 of us kids is pretty good proof.

still loving each other after so many years

one big happy family

Now that doesn't mean he just forgot about whatever we did and we never had any consequences...we had plenty of those. But what he didn't allow to happen was the gap that gets made in a relationship when forgiveness doesn't occur. There were times of getting mad, angry and upset from both sides, but at the end of the day, the relationships were still intact. That can only happen through forgiveness.
Because of his example and the way things were modeled growing up, I think I have a better understanding of the forgiveness God the Father gives as well as example after example of how and why forgiveness works. I can forgive time after time after time now because of having that example in the home to see and be taught by on a  daily basis. Jesus commanded it, my parents lived it out, and now I am able to be that example to others.

I love you Dad for your forgiveness, the relationships we have because of it, and just for your overall example of how to do it in these days and times.

Hero

Reason 6: Hero To So Many

What is a hero? Who is a hero? How do you define "hero"?
I think for many of you, your answers would differ. And I think for all of you who consider my dad a hero (which I would bet there are a good number of you guys out there) the reasons behind why you think that would differ as well.
We moved around a lot growing up because my dad served 22 years in the Army. Beside the simple fact that he served his country faithfully for 22 years, which many consider heroic in itself, the work he did during that time made him a hero to more than we will ever know. While in the Army, he was a pediatric nurse practitioner. He cared for sick kids, some were dying and died, but others he was able to save. I am sure he has endless stories to prove the point. For the kids he made a little less scared during their stay in the hospital, for the parents who he was able to comfort and help heal their kids...to all of those poeple he was a hero.
Others would say having 4 kids who all grew up to be somewhat normal haha and lead healthy productive lives is worthy of being labeled a hero.
I say all of those reasons make my dad a hero. Then I would also add all the times he sacrificed more than I will ever know so that I would prosper. Like his money he went to work everyday to earn, his time after working all day to play with me, take me to whatever I needed to go to, help with homework....anything and everything.
All the times he cared for us when we were sick...I remember seeing a home video of one time at Christmas I was sick with a cough. He had me in his lap and he just kept patting my back to help me feel better. Parents who do that, and all the other stuff they never get thanked for are HEROES without a doubt.
I truly believe that there are an endless number of things that my dad has done to make him a hero and of those I only know of a few.

Thank you Dad for all you have done that has gone unnoticed, never been properly thank for, but has made you a hero in the eyes of so many.

Learner

Reason 5:  Never Stops Learning

I don't know how many of you guys know this but my father has 4 degrees that he still uses on a daily basis. Also I think there is a fellowship thrown in there. Still not sure what that is but I am pretty sure it's helped him make some money recently.
Apart from actually going to school to learn stuff, he makes it a point to watch 22 hours of news on the tv everyday. HAHA ok, maybe not 22 hours worth, but he watches the news A LOT, but not because he doesn't have anything better to do. It is simply because learning is part of who he is and what he does.
In school, for the most part we all got good grades. That is what was expected out of us. To read our books, listen in class, do our homework and LEARN. I can remember many times getting frustrated because I would just want to know the answer, but my dad knew that if I actually looked it up myself, or figured it out for myself, or tried and failed, I would learn a lot more than just being given the answer.
One of the more recent things he learned to do was make wooden bowls.

making one of the bowls

All the bowls he makes are completely by hand. He just has this one tool that he uses to axe out the wood till it becomes a very nice bowl. Since I live in another country, I was privileged to get to pick from one of the first ones made. I got a rectangular shaped one that I have in my house here that we use for fruits and veggies on a daily basis and then when we have dinners for bread or salad. I like to show it to all my friends and say my dad made it. :)
Not only is he always learning himself, he helps others learn as well...A few pictures to prove my point.

teaching Susannah to read

teaching one of us (luke maybe?) to play cards

teaching me to buckle my shoes

and Isaiah to do business over the phone

Reason #5 I love my dad...He never stops learning nor lets others stop as well. 

BBQ RIBS and HOSPITALITY

Reason 3 and 4 somewhat go together....

Reason 3: BBQ RIBS
If you have never tried my dad's bbq ribs, then really you should take my advice from the first day and become friends with him so he will one day invite you to indulge in his world famous bbq ribs. Ok, maybe not world famous, but there are people in England, Mexico, Germany, Chile, and Spain to name a few who have tried and loved his ribs. Really I think it is the sauce he makes to marinate them in, but they really do taste the best when he makes them.
So when I was in college, I used to have friends over for dinner on special occasions and we would almost always eat BBQ ribs, my mom's famous mac & cheese, green beans and rolls. I remember one year I had friends over for my birthday sometime in November. Well it happened to be the day Georgia Tech was playing Florida State, and it was late in the game, really close score...Actually I can't remember if it was Tech vs. FSU or just FSU was playing.
Both Charles Wright

Charles Wright

and Robert Braden

and Robert Braden
where there and both fans of FSU since they are from Tallahassee. I also can't remember which team it was but one of them was about to score and all of a sudden my dad says the food is ready so my mom says, "lets pray" and starts praying...during the prayer one of the teams scored an awesome touchdown and even though most of us were still watching the game we couldn't cheer because we were in the middle of the prayer. Great timing.
I would have loved to post some pictures from that day, to take us down memory lane, BUT it was so long ago, we still didn't have digital cameras, which means I only have hard copies that would be in Georgia, not here in Mexico. So thankful for digital cameras.

Thanks dad for stealing that recipe from who ever it was you took it from and making it a Wilson favorite.



Ok, Reason 4: Hospitality
I never remember my dad turning us down if we wanted to have friends over for dinner or to hang out at the pool, or whatever. He and my mom taught us through example what it means to be hospitable. Here in Puebla, I am always having people over for dinner or to play wii or to just hang out. I owe that to the example that was set in my house growing up. I can never remember my dad having the mentality that this is mine, or this is my family's. He was always willing to give and open his home to whoever was in need. I can remember many holidays that we would have people over who we barely knew, because my parents found out they were going to be alone for the holiday. Whenever we would go out to eat, they would always be picking up the tab for everyone.
I remember one Easter in particular that i took a huge group from Tech up on Saturday night for dinner, then we all woke up early and went to the sunrise service at church, then my parents invited all of us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I can't remember how many we were but the table was really long, maybe 16 or so. Then I am pretty sure we went back to church and then some stayed for a party at the Donley's. All that to say that I was taught well, have great memories and am forever grateful for the example that was set at home on hospitality.


Thanks Dad

People Happen

So no technology on Monday was a killer for getting things done. Today was going to be a catch up day, but poeple happened, which is so much better than a catch up day if you ask me. Today was one of those days that makes me love my life. I am worn out and tired, and nobody made any drastic changes in their life because of our time together (at least that I know of), but seeds were planted, my friends were challenged to think, and God showed up in so many different ways. Like my friend Harvey always says...People are always worth it. 
So Dad, I haven't forgot about you after only 2 days, nor have I run out of things to say. Tomorrow we will catch up with reasons 3, 4 and 5.

Peace and Good Night

taught me to throw...not like a girl

Day 2 and Reason 2 that I love dad is that he taught me to throw. And to throw good, not like a "girl" haha. Ever since I was young, I remember being involved in sports. At first softball and soccer, then some basketball worked its way in along with street football. Softball was always my favorite, probably because I was good at it and knew how to throw. Once we were of age to play sports on organized teams, he left the coaching on the field to the coaches, but continued his role quite finely in the house. I can remember him telling stories of when he was young playing sports and how they motivated me to want to get better. He was there to support us, teach us and encourage us, but it was always our decision whether we played or not. Knowing how to throw good has come in handy over the years and continues to a skill that I use everyday.
Here are a few pictures of recent throwing. They are bad because I took them off of Facebook.

The stance looks good

Not bad for a Girl

61 Days of Larry Wilson

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

If any of you guys out there don't know my father, you should get to know him. Seriously, your life will be blessed guaranteed. 

Today is his 61st birthday. He is celebrating at home with some of the family and maybe some friends. Since I am not able to be with him on this wonderful day, I ordered him an opening day Georgia Tech win which arrived a few hours ago right on schedule, as well as something else a little more from the heart. 

Over the next 61 days, I will be getting up early and posting one reason each day of why I love him and a story or memory to go along with it. Maybe some pictures will be posted. They will be in no particular order, but my goal is to make you all cry at least once, haha. Or at least give you a glimpse into the awesome man he is.

So to start it off...

Reason number one I love my father is that for as long as I have known him, he has always been a man of God. I never remember going to church without him. Although he might not have been the one who got us up early to do morning devotions (thanks mom), he was always present when it came to church, faith and God. I have seen his faith and relationship with his God and Savior grow and grow and grow over the years. He taught us through his actions more than with words what it means to follow Jesus. 

Easter Sunday 1983 going to church (Hopkinsville, Kentucky)

We have to be going to church because I am in a dress (San Antonio, Texas)

In many ways I can attribute me being in Mexico to him. From the beginning he taught us the importance of loving and following God not just a few days a week but with our entire lives. Serving God at home and afar through service projects and mission trips was always encouraged. He never overbearingly pushed us into doing certain things just because, but instead he encouraged us to find our passions, use our talents to the fullest and chase after our dreams. He has been supportive of my decision to serve God in Mexico since day one. Even after his diagnosis with cancer and very short prognosis, he continued to be supportive and even encouraged me all the more to continue to serve God where I am, even if it is in another country. When everyone else was telling me to move back to Georgia, he told me to follow God. He understands that this world is not the end but just a beginning and lives like it everyday.  

Thank you Dad for loving God 

and teaching us to do the same.