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Welcome

Welcome to my little corner of the world. I am so honored by your visit today. My name is Kristi and I am married to my college sweetheart(I refer to him here as "Mr. Incredible"), momma to my 2 beautiful girls who are growing much too quickly, a high school computer teacher, photographer, and a gardener (at times~right now I'm growing weeds). I love to laugh, drink strong Starbucks coffee, take pictures, and be anywhere my family is. Jesus is my Savior and I try so hard to be the wife and momma that He has called me to be. I often fail but He lovingly picks me up, dusts me off, and encourages me that with Him all things are possible. Feel free to join me on this journey of faith, stop in and say hello, look around, and leave a comment~I love comments. Why "Kiki's Corner?" My nephews call me Aunt Kiki and I love that too.

Encourage One Another


I Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..."
I just love that. Don't you?
I often forget that. How about you?
Yesterday as Rachel and I were watching the Presidential Inauguration (She is still only going to school half days) we were sad for President Bush. As you know from my post yesterday, he was really on my mind. Regardless of how you feel about the job that he did in office, he still deserves our thanks. I have great admiration for President Bush and Mrs. Bush.

I knew that he was coming home to Midland and that we had tickets but that the noise of the crowd would be too much for Rachel so I just resolved to watch him in TV.

God began to stir my heart that I needed to do something to encourage him.

I jumped into action. I finished my homework, printed out signs, and picked the girls up from school as soon as the bell rang. We drove as fast as we could to the exact spot where Hannah and Granny and I waved to to the soon to be President Bush eight years ago. (Hannah was only 4 at the time. It was a cold January day. She saluted Mr. Bush as his car drove by and he saluted back. It was so cool!)

We waited with another couple for about 45 minutes. I was sad that the streets were not lined with people but I just assumed that they were all at Centennial Plaza. A few minutes later a nice man pulled over and explained that they had taken a different route. Oiy! Of course they did.

I don't give up easily. We drove across town only to see the last part of the motorcade drive by. We found 3 DPS officers in the parking lot and asked if we could park with them. Guess what???They let us and the even informed us when the President would be driving by again. I think they liked our enthusiasm. They were so nice!

Forty-five minutes later, we were on! In my amazing photo taking ability (remember Hannah's basketball pictures in Monday's post???) here is what I got. Oiy!


You can see his suburban (gotta like Texas) and his posse. The girls were holding up their signs and waving and...this is the best part....

President Bush leaned as close to the window as possible
waved and smiled as big as Dallas to us!

I know he waved to us because we were the only ones right there...
(I wish I had the photo to show you. His face was all smiles!)

and we were the only ones holding signs! Delight!

It was so moving, Rachel cried...and then I cried...and then we called Daddy and then my Dad (who was in an important meeting but he answered anyway) and then Granny

and then I had 10 minutes to get to my class that was 18 minutes away.
And...I made it on time. Ta-da!!! I just figured I would name drop the sweet DPS men who kept us company if I ran into one of their fellow officers with his lights flashing. What a fun night and a fun memory.

It's not every day that you get to encourage a President. Who will God place in your path today that needs a little encouragement too? Go for it! You will get a blessing out of it too.
It's so fun to be a part of what God is doing!

Joyfully,
Kristi


42 comments:

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

That is SO neat!!! I'm glad you got to do that!

Unknown said...

Wow, Kristi, what an amazing day! I remember when we saw President Bush while in Sunriver. We heard his motorcade was going to be driving through, so we rode our bikes to the road and waited. It was a special moment for all of us!

Sheryl

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

I forgot to mention that I've tagged you for a photo meme, if you want to play along.

Melanie said...

Oh, how cool that you all were able to encourage him! A wonderful experience for each of you and I am sure it was for the Bush's, as well.

Happy WFW!

A Romantic Porch said...

That is so awesome! How wonderful. I would have enjoyed doing that too. xo rachel

Debra Kaye said...

Kristi,

I know there's the whole thou shall not covet thing...but man oh man..I would have loved to have been there with you!!!! You and your girls have my respect and a hearty thanks for taking the time to encourage President Bush like that. I have a tremendous respect for him and Laura Bush. I felt so sad for him yesterday too.

I love that you put love in action! (By the way, the pictures just cracked me up...Oiy)

OK...now for your letter for the "10 Things I love" meme...I'll throw you a 'B'. Let me know when you have it posted.

Blessings to you today!! Happy WFW

Kim @ Homesteader's Heart said...

That is so incredibly cool! What an honor huh? To be able to encourage the man that held the weight of the world on his shoulders just hours ago. Thanks for sharing this experience with us. It's like I was there.
Hugs.
Kim

Laurie Ann said...

What a precious memory and an awesome way to encourage him! I love it! Happy WFW!

12-arrows said...

WOW! thats totally amazing. If I could meet anyone, here on earth, it would be him. I respect him completely and knew that he was a real man of honor and integrity. Your post made me cry. I so wished we could have seen him come back to Texas via TV, but that was not meant to be. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of his homecoming!

Tracy said...

Wow!!! What an exciting and unforgettable moment. How I wish I lived in Texas! I SO would have loved to join you. Reading about it here put a big lump in my throat! So glad for your heart to show love, thanks and encouragement to them.

Blessings,
Tracy

God Chaser said...

Thanks for encouraging us to uplift one another- tobe instruments of encourgement. have a wonderful WFW

bp said...

I loved reading this! I'm so glad you got to do this with your girls. I totally agree that we need to be thankful and encourage the Bush's. I am going to write a post about him today and what I heard on the news last night.

Lana said...

What a precious memory!

I posted the recipe for ya'! Tell me if you try it - it is a newbie for me. Sounds yummy!

I hope you guys are doing well!

A Stone Gatherer said...

What a wonderful experience you all had! I too am so thankful for President Bush! He didn't cave in to special interest, he stayed the course! My prayer is that history will do him the justice he deserves, and I have to admit - shut up the mouths of the awful media - but if not I know he is confident in who he is with out it! What an honor to see them go by!!!!

GranthamLynn said...

Oh what an amazing post. Lovely tribute to President Bush. What creativeness!
Thanks for sharing.
Many Blessings,
Sherry

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful story! I have tears in my eyes. How neat that you got to encourage a president. Good for you!

lori said...

NO WAY!! What a neat thing!! I listened to his address from Texas while I was waiting for my girls to finish dance...Fox carried it on XM...I thought what a GOOD man and what a GOOD woman! HOW neat for your girls!They will ALWAYS remember this!!

Prayers still for Rachel! Flooding heaven!

peace!
lori

L2L said...

My hubby and I were just talking about the same thing. And it blesses my heart that God moved you in such ways. We are never sure how the America people are really feeling as we live in Japan. I do pray that the Lord gives peace to the President Bush and his family that they did a wonderful job!!!!
Love the new look on your blog, haven't visited in awhile!!!

have a lovely said...

hi kristi! i am so glad you took the time to comment today...thank you...otherwise I would have never been blessed to find your blog! from one grateful texan who is living in pennsylvania right now...thank you thank you so much for supporting and encouraging the President and his wife yesterday! what a wonderful witness to others and your beautiful daughters {of which have now been added to my prayer list}!

CntryMomma said...

What a WONDERFUL story! You made me tear-up. ( I cried on an off all day long yesterday. :o ( )

Thanks for stop by my place!!

LORI

aspiritofsimplicity said...

What a wonderful experience. And, you are right about encouraging. How often I think about giving up on someone when I know that the Lord has not given up on me.

Anonymous said...

I so love that you and your girls got to experience that! If I lived anywhere close I would have been there with bells on. I love me so GWB and Mrs B! I am so glad they are home and can move on from the past few years. How hard it must have been for them. And I will continue to pray for them daily. They deserve some peace...

Beautiful photo and wonderful verse....My favorite this week :)

Mary Moss said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. What beautiful daughters:-)

It was just awesome that you all greeted the Bush's back home. I'm sure it meant a lot to them.

Unknown said...

This is really neat!!!

Patty Wysong said...

Oh, I wish I could've been there with you! That man (LoL, and his wife!) need thanks! I'm so glad you got to do this! (and now we get to pray harder than ever!)

Denise said...

That is totally awesome.

Tammy said...

What a great post! Thank you for sharing - a little encouragement can go along way.

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

How neat! He definitely needs our encouragement and thankfulness!

ellen b. said...

Well you just made me cry!! I'm so glad you did that! I'm sure they appreciated it too. I'm praying that God encourages and refreshes and heals their hearts and minds after these 8 hard years!!

Beth in NC said...

OH MY GOSH!!!! I AM SO GLAD YOU DID THAT!!! I wish I could have been there too. I LOVE the Bush family!!!!

I would have cried like a baby!

Praise God for encouragers!
Beth

Peggy said...

AWESOME Kristi! Thank you for blessing Mr. President Bush & his lovely wife! Thank YOU LORD for President Bush & Mrs. Bush for their heart and service. Please protect and keep them close to You!

I love your heart, daughters & a perfect verse to ENCOURAGE! Thanks for sharing your adventure and it's great to see that God had it all in His hand...and you arrived on time & safely! I'm glad it made HIM SMILE, & President Bush but mostly
Rachel, Hannah, and YOU! You all deserve it and I'm so glad you did.

Rebecca said...

What an amazing story! That is incredible. I'm so glad you got to thank him....we've felt the same way around here. We have much respect for their service to our country. Love that you put that verse with those signs. :)

Tricia said...

What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing such a sweet story with us... and what a fitting verse to go with it!


I have started a prayer blog that lists only prayer requests... if you would like me to add your daughter send me some specific prayer requests and I would be glad to add her for you... I tried to find the post entitled Rachel but was not able to find it...

Blessings!

Karen M said...

That's great that you got to see him on his way in to be president and again on his way out. Thanks for sharing.

Susannah said...

Fantastic... Happy WFW to your whole family.

Blessings, e-Mom @ Chrysalis

Addicted to Beadz said...

Kristi,

That is awesome. It cannot be an easy job for the President of the US. Thank you for welcoming him back home.

Cheryl

Anonymous said...

Okay that brought tears to my eyes! Thank you for being there for all of us who wish we could have been! Clapping big time for you and your girls! BRAVO!

Alex said...

I have been reading Rachel's story & you & your family are in my thoughts & prayers during this time. I hope you have a blessed weekend.

Joanne Sher said...

How incredible! What an experience. Thank you for sharing, and I LOVE the picture with the verse.

Erica said...

How fun is that! Way to be spontaneous and bless them. I wish I could have been right there with you!

Amydeanne said...

now that was wonderful Kristi! Thank you for doing that for those of us who cant! I know I'm not American, but I do think that is so great!

(and my fav. verse!)

Alexis said...

Oh you got me cryin again! I am so happy you and your girls go to encourage a president! That would stick with me forever!!