Celebrating 25 yrs of ministry at Boulevard

We pulled off surprising my parents by coming in from Colorado to Muskogee and showing up on Sunday morning. They had not one clue and were so very surprised.

Let me start from the beginning.

A month ago I received a call from my sister Jamie. She said there is something I want to talk to you about Mom and dad. Thinking of what it could be I thought it might have to do with their wedding anniversary which was January 8th. However, Jamie was thinking of another anniversary. Their 25th anniversary of ministry with Boulevard. She told me I must call Lisa Able and talk with her about all they have planned. When I called her she began to tell me all of the wonderful things they had in store for my parents. One of which was to fly us down to surprise them at church on that Sunday. But we had a month to keep this a secret. I was not sure how were going to pull this off. But we did.

Paul and I flew in Friday night and the girls were such good passengers. We went immediately to Paul's parents house. We were going to stop by Tara's to say hi before heading into Muskogee, but Tara called with urgency to not come, because Mom was insistent that she come to see her gandgirls and to celebrate Tara's birthday, which was a few days before. So went went on to Muskogee. We stayed at Paul's house all day so not to accidentally run into anyone who may give us away. This was also a huge blessing to Paul's parents, because they were itching to see the girls too. It also happened to be Greg's birthday weekend.

Sunday finally came. We arrived at the church and waited for the cue to come in. When we did we were debriefed on how it was to go down.

Boulevard has two services. So at the first service Dad was surprised with the fact that he was not to preach, even though he had prepared a wonderful sermon for that day. Instead one of his really good friends came, who has a very busy schedule, but made room for this event, to preach. This come very unexpected to Dad and was pleasantly surprised to both hear and see his long, old, good friend.

But unknown to Mom and Dad, there was another surprise in store for them during the second service.

When one of the elders was explaining to those at the second service what had happen during the previous service. We, Tara, Ken, Jamie, Paul, Aunt Nada, Grammy, Uncle Carlos, and I walk in from the side with Piper, Miley, Haddie, and Eden leading the way. They were so very surprised, they had all their children there. It was a Success!

After church we had a lunch at Maylon's with leaders of the church, family, and a few friends.

Then we went home a relaxed a few hours, talking about the morning and with Mark and Carla Scott. At 5:30 we went back to the church for a banquet in honor of Mom and Dad's ministry.

There they were graced with many stories of Dad in his ministry. Jay then invited them to play "the price was right, couple addition." during which they won an Ipod and a 7 day cruise to the Mediterranean! This came as a huge shock to both Mom and Dad. They had no idea this was all planned for them. They both said they felt very loved and honored by all that happened that day. They also said they were just content with the first surprise of the morning, but that it just kept coming and were overwhelmed by the end of the day by the generosity of all who were involved. Thank you boulevard family for taking such good care of my family. Thank you for helping them raise us. Thank you for supporting my mom and Dad through their 25 yrs of ministry at Boulevard. Thank you for loving us!

I am in ministry because of my Dads great example and he is in ministry at boulevard because of you! THANK YOU!