Character Influences

Day 22:  Who are three people who have had the greatest impact on your character?

Chet Lee Wilson (Chettles)
Real Estate Agent, Keller Williams
A long-time, trusted friend with the highest number of shared good memories.  Chet sees value where others overlook it, leads with integrity, loves his family well, and models what it means to be a grounded, Godly man! 
*Pray for strength and good weather as he runs the Route 66 Full Marathon tomorrow - excited to see how this goes with the Relay team!!

Maxine Muecke (Mom)
Federal and State Court Reporter, Retired
My protective and loving mom, and the defining influence of my childhood.  My most frequent phone call, an involved Mamaw, an ardent patriot, the Christmas Queen, and a devoted sports fan.  I am very grateful for her consistent support and love!

Dr. Ryan M. Burkhart (Dr. B)
School of Counseling Dean, Colorado Christian University
My Leadership and Advocacy professor whose feedback meant more to me than any teacher feedback I’ve received in my 21+ years as a student.  A Godly mentor, respected friend, and (Lord willing) future boss whose guidance has significantly shaped my leadership identity and vision for a future at CCU!

Okay, I’m proud of myself for not including Josh or Malori here.  Yes, those broken friendships shaped me deeply, but the reason the story turned toward beauty-for-ashes and healing was because of Jesus and the steady, loyal friends and family members who helped me rebuild strength and move forward.  With a history of feeling overlooked, it means a great deal to me to truly be seen, valued, and supported.  The above three represent quality relationships that hold me to a high standard while also offering high support, and I believe that combination is what inspires personal growth and builds good character! ❤

John Eldredge and Donald Miller were also contenders, as their books reoriented my worldview and life goals.  But at this point, Dr. Burkhart's direct influence on my leadership identity + the real possibility of a future path at CCU placed him in my top three.

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Movie Friday!

Day 21:  If your life were made into a movie, what is the title and genre, and who would play you?

My life story is still very much unfolding, so my movie title is a work in progress, to be determined. =)  I'm going with inspirational drama with lighthearted strength and grit as the genre, and either Kate Winslet or Rachel McAdams as lead actress.

P.S.  I'm still proud of my "casting choices" from 11 years ago for our Vegas 7 movie! =)

❤

Karli Marie = Amy Adams:  Warm, versatile, and intelligent, Adams brings a grounded sincerity to her roles.  She radiates quiet strength and an ability to convey vulnerability without ever feeling fragile.

Chet Lee = Ashton Kutcher:  Charismatic and easygoing, Kutcher often brings a playful charm to the screen.  Beneath the humor, he carries an earnest loyalty and boyish sincerity that makes his characters feel approachable and heartfelt.

Kelly Marie = Claire Danes:  Emotionally intelligent, kindhearted, and fiercely committed, Danes excels at portraying complex inner lives.  She brings a raw vulnerability paired with a sharp and perceptive strength.

Jeffrey Edward = Josh Radnor:  Thoughtful and introspective, Radnor often embodies the hopeful idealist.  He brings a gentle honesty, comic storytelling, and a soft-spoken warmth that makes his characters feel relatable and deeply human.

Lindsey Claire = Kate Winslet:  Graceful, vibrant, and fiercely authentic, Winslet brings emotional depth to everything she touches.  Balancing strength and softness, she often portrays women who feel fully alive, layered, and resilient.

Kyle Brandon = Ryan Gosling:  Subtle yet magnetic, Gosling often uses restraint to convey profound emotion beneath the surface.  He blends quiet intensity with soulful vulnerability, creating characters who feel both mysterious and deeply empathetic.

Laura Allison = Drew Barrymore:  Bright, quirky, and effervescent, Barrymore radiates warmth and playful charm.  She brings a natural, heartfelt sincerity mixed with a light, nostalgic sweetness that makes her instantly lovable.

Actor/actress descriptions courtesy of ChatGPT... but pretty spot on casting and photo choices, if I do say so myself.  (And with that cast set in Vegas, I would totally see this movie. lol)  Yay!

In other new, today is my 12-year Friendiversary with Tiffany Joanne!  (Kind of.)  We had met before that at Kelly's LifeGroup, but had never hung out one-on-one until I mentioned having an extra ticket (courtesy of Malori defriending me) for the JT concert, and Tiffany was very quick to volunteer to join me!! lol  We had a great talk at Hideaway before the concert, and so many great memories since then!

Okay, that's all for today.  Happy Friday, blog fam!  I love you and believe in you, and I believe God is with you and for you today!! 

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Everyday Joys (Thankful Thursday #234)

Day 20:  What are five seven small things that never fail to make you smile or brighten your day?

Throwing in two more so this will also count as a Thankful Thursday post! =)

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,

for His steadfast love endures forever!"

~Psalm 107:1

1.  Cute corgi puppy videos and reels!! =)

I mean, get out already with this much cuteness!  I will watch those videos every time I see them. lol  I also love American Eskimo puppies (the dog in The Proposal).  Neither breed is hypoallergenic, so I'm unlikely to ever own one, but the endless array of cute FB reels will do for now. lol

2.  The audiobook's first scene on the Hogwarts Express where Harry and Ron quickly become friends and Harry buys loads of candy for both of them whilst Ron teaches him all about wizarding life. lol  It comes right after Harry meets the Weasley fam and they help him through Platform 9 and three-quarters, which is among the many scenes that make me tear up, but this scene brings me so much joy every time - for that moment and for knowing all that Harry's friendship with the Weasleys will become! ❤

3. The family dinner tradition we've established over the past couple years... although Jace still refuses to join us in eating home-cooked food, this is where we get to hear the details of each others days and learn about everyone's thoughts on various teachers and teammates and jobs and world events and a variety of other topics. lol

4. Phone conversations with Chettles... if only because each of these photos brings me sincere joy. lol  I also very much appreciate that he listens well and genuinely cares and remembers details, a rarity in today's world!  Staying strongly connected to their family (who lead or host 90% of the fun events for our friend group) makes me feel okay about not living in Tulsa... yet. lol

5. Wednesday walks with Kristin Michelle... we don't make it every week, but even on the days when I'm feeling lazy enough to talk myself out of it if not for her, I always enjoy it and I'm glad I went - it's nice having that time to catch up on each others lives and families, and walking outside always makes you feel better!  Walk-and-talk therapy, you might say. lol

6. Summer pool parties & a happy Parker Elizabeth - two of my favorite things combined in this pic! lol

7.  Blogging!!  For real, writing here is a seemingly small thing that has brought me a lot of joy (and clarity and confidence and connection) over the past two decades! ❤

Along those lines, in my own writing and with all the people I love and care about, I really value and appreciate creative joy and attention to detail - it's a relatively small thing that many people tend to overlook/take for granted, but it brings me joy to see it!!  For example, I love seeing Mom's vibrant Christmas decor and the joy she gets out of the decorating process, or Dad's generosity and joy in making others happy, or Kyndal Faith's colorful handmade cards and her joy in party planning, or Rachael's chalkboards and joy in decorative painting, or Jace caring for his fish and loving all the details about them, or Chet and Karli planning/hosting fantastic events for family, friends, coworkers, and clients.  The details matter and make things special (and are well-documented here), and I believe God finds joy in them, too!!

Happy Thursday, friends and fam!!

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Dinner Party

Day 18:  You can invite three people (living or dead) to dinner.  Who are they, and what would you serve?

A million ways you could go with this, and there are loads of celebrities or podcast "friends" I'd love to hang out with... but in this season, my initial thought was Jesus, John Eldredge, and my cousin (a caring and introspective Christian-turned-atheist after experiencing some trauma and church hurt).  I would mostly love to observe and learn from that conversation -- I'm confident there would be laughter and a really comfortable group atmosphere where everyone feels seen and heard and valued, and I know there would be lingering deep conversation -- honest wrestling with painful topics, sharp-yet-vulnerable questions, deep curiosity, genuine care and empathy, and wise and safe men who get to the heart of the matter and gently speak truth in love. ❤

I'm not pulling a Martha and putting all the hostess pressure on myself when Jesus is invited... (yet apparently my brain has zero issues with inviting Him to Vegas!? lol)  So "I" would serve Mon Ami Gabi's delightful brunch menu! ❤

Nom nom for us, David. ;-)

Or if it really had to be dinner, I would go with family-style Maggiano's for Italian appetizers, dinner, and dessert!! =)

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Resilient Strength

Day 16:  What has counseling taught you about people’s resilience and inner strength?

I can't write about client stories here, and I don't have the time or energy to get very deep tonight (she says before diving in), but resilience and resurrection go together.  When you feel defeated or beaten or think you have nothing left to give, resilience rises back to the surface.  In both of my jobs and in my own life experiences, again and again, people find the inner strength to rise to the challenge.  To find beauty after brokenness, gratitude in grief, hope and healing after heartbreak.  While inner strength and grit are important, the value of safe relationships and rest stand out to me right now as key elements for building resilience and inner strength.  Peace matters, and it is worth protecting.  Feeling seen and known and valued by God and/or the people in our lives matters deeply for our ability to heal, bounce back, and move forward after setbacks.  And that concludes my short answer to a question I might write a full chapter on someday.

Today, Mom and I made a Tulsa trip to help decorate Chet's KW office! =)

Tate and Parker were the best helpers! =)

And movie watchers (watching Home Alone). ❤

Mom and Chettles make a wonderful and entertaining team!  Mission accomplished on the KW decor, and we got to see the model home Chet's been holding open after an Amber Marie shopping spree! =)

Throwback to seeing Mrs. Doubtfire with the Wilsons the day after we got back from Disney last year! =)  I remember voice-blogging (dictating into a phone note) about our trip on my drive back home after the play. lol

This goes with nothing else in this post, but it's fun to see Rach painting and transforming furniture!

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

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Time Travel

Day 8:  If you could visit any moment in history—or your own past—for one day, when and where would you go?

Any moment in history? 

I would join the crowd listening to Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount.  There's not really another historical event that could top hearing and seeing Him live here + paying attention to how the crowd reacted to it all.

Any moment in my own life? 

Coming from curiosity, I would love to observe and/or relive my own life on 12-27-1990, 7-23-1996, 9-12-2001, 6-12-2005, 9-28-2007, 12-17-2008, 7-3-2010, 2-17-2017, and 11-14-2024. =) 

For the record, that's the day Mom led me to Christ, the day the "magnificent seven" won Team USA gold at the Atlanta Olympics after an injured Kerri Strug landed the final vault, the day after 9-11 (it would be super interesting to me to re-experience the questions, emotions, and nationwide unity we saw at that point), the day I met JMM at 9121 and knew pretty quickly I wanted to marry him, the day I met Malori, the Christmas party where I met Chettles and Sarah, the VCGO trip on our One Republic beach concert day, my entire 33rd birthday, and my 4-park Disney day!  I'd genuinely love to revisit any or all of those and pay attention to so many little details I likely missed the first time around but would see more clearly now. =)

But since time travel is not a thing (at least until we get to Heaven), I'll continue to write about my favorite memories so I can mentally relive them here... and I'll let this post remind me to be more present and attentive, not leaning on my own wisdom but praying for God to open the right doors and close the wrong ones, and living each day to the fullest right now!!

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Not a Coincidence

Day 3:  Describe a small, seemingly ordinary moment in your life that turned out to be a defining scene in your story.

'Twas New Years Eve 2008, and I decided to host a Lifegroup NYE party at 522.  I thought a photo scavenger hunt would be fun, and for reasons unknown (probably me wanting to look impartial), I put Bobbi in charge of delegating the groups.  I mentioned to her that Laura Allison was new and didn't really know anyone but me, and she whispered, "Gotcha, I'll take care of it!"

Then she promptly divided us into 4 or 5 groups, putting Laura in her group and placing me with the random BFFs from Sand Springs that had only come one other time for our Christmas party on 12-17-2008, one Chet Lee Wilson and Sarah Elizabeth Heiskell (now Fulton). ❤

In spite of being directionally challenged and not really wanting to drive strangers all over Tulsa, I didn't really trust either of them to drive my car.  Aww, the irony.  I felt like the odd man out, and all I saw when I looked at their friendship was what me and Josh once had, so I was doubly irritated as we all left the house together. lol

Of course, I ended up having fun with them that night - it's pretty hard to avoid that when you're with two classic ENFPs.  Chettles became one of my favorite Diving Deeper Lifegroup friends soon afterward - (by July, my family was changing our summer vacation timeline so I could be back for his 21st birthday), and Sarah and I made a deep connection over FB messages before building a strong real-life friendship.  Now 17 years later, it's pretty clear to me that God knew what He was doing all along! ;-)

Relationships matter deeply to me, and I'm grateful for these long-term friendships.  And for our gun-play photo shoot that still brings me joy! lol  Honestly, there are loads of little moments where I can look back and see God's providence and plan at work in my life, but this one stands out right now.

Seventh post in four days - kudos to anyone keeping up with all this! lol

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Gender Reveal!

The wonderful Wilson family will soon be a party of five, plus one in Heaven!
...I'm realizing even as I write this that the above sentence now holds true for three of my favorite families on earth, which makes me feel even more grateful for the ironclad reality of Heaven.  For those who choose Christ, our "firm and secure hope" lies in knowing that everything that is broken, partial, and incomplete here will be healed, whole, and complete there.  Seriously, what a gift!

Anyway, tonight was the Baby Wilson GENDER REVEAL Party!!  How cute is this cookiecake by Karli Marie!?

...I don't like incomplete story loops, so for the record, I found out Karli was pregnant back on August 9th when she was too sick to join us for this hangout at H-Tea-O and Woodland Hills!  They found out the week they finished their foster parenting classes and got their home study approval with DHS, so that timing was entertaining and ironic!  Karli has dealt with more fatigue and morning sickness this time around - it's finally beginning to lift a little.  Chettles is training for a marathon and was pretty sore and exhausted after running 20 miles this morning.   Right now, they are serving as respite foster care support, which means low-sleep weekends caring for a newborn as they prepare for their own baby due late March or early April AND continue to parent their children well and serve regularly at their church and help out at the kids' schools and process grief and hold onto hope and train for a marathon and attend/lead weekly Bible studies and support their family and friends well and handle ongoing work and life responsibilities and plan and host multiple big events!   They are truly exceptional and deeply-loved and valued people, so please join me in praying for extra grace, good health, and renewed strength for all of them in this demanding season!!

From learning Karli was pregnant during the summer 2017 Mercantile trip to now, today is the first time anyone has known the gender before the birth of their children.  Chet and Karli did not find out early with Tate or Parker, and the wait was rough on me and Melissa and Teresa. lol  Chet loves a good surprise as much as I love being the first to know something.  I very kindly offered to go pick up the cake today, and he said, "Girl, I don't trust you (not to look)."  I will say he was not wrong, but I wouldn't have ruined it for anyone else. lol  All that to say, I'm very thrilled that they decided to find out ahead of time with this baby!  They've had the envelope containing the gender from their doctor since our Los Cabos hangout on September 27th, but Bill and Melissa were on a cruise through most of October, and Chet and Karli were in no big rush about planning this event, in spite of Melissa and I thoughtfully offering multiple date options for them. lol

Today was FINALLY the big day.  And when I realized that they were mourning a miscarriage two years ago, this really felt like God's perfect timing to give them something joyful and redemptive to counterbalance that painful grief anniversary!! ❤  With my own circumstances, my heart feels every bit of this more this year, but there is so much joy to be found in life, and I would sincerely rather my emotions be heightened than numb.

Before they cut the cake, we all went around the circle with every person guessing/voting the gender they expected.  A classic Chettles move...

Predictably, Tate wanted a boy and Parker wanted a girl, and the other kids at the party mostly voted for their own gender.  Chet was hoping for a girl, but they had convinced themselves it was likely to be a boy.  Sarah and Melissa both guessed boy, as well.  I said girl, just as I did when we all voted on the chalkboard at the Farmhouse back in 2017.  I was obviously wrong back then, but I got it right this time!  They used two knives to cut this cake together, revealing the pink icing for a beautiful baby sister for Tate and Parker!! ❤

The cake was a Laurannae bride's cake, so yay for that!  (It wasn't quite as good as their cupcakes I have loved, but still highly preferable to earl grey and lavender.  lol)  They told Chet this size would serve 8 people, which was quite the understatement!  Also, since Chet vetoed me grabbing the cake for them, I came over around 4:30 to help Karli decorate, and my job was tying the pink, blue, and silver streamers for the backdrop behind them here, so I just felt compelled to point out my hard work there!  ;-)

Gracious, I love this group, and love this group pic taken with Kristin Renee's phone!!  Note to self: Find out what type of phone she has and get it next time I upgrade... look how crisp and clear the photo quality is here - umm, yes, please!

We had Chick-fil-A nuggets and wraps + CFA tea + Honest juice boxes for the kids + fries + salad and fruit salad, along with cake and cookiecake - thanks, Wilson fam!!  Top middle pic = the actual envelope from their doctor.  Top right is Evan and Jon moving a recliner downstairs.  Bottom row = a cake closeup and Chet and Karli hanging the banner!

The Wilsons are the most fun!!  They have permanent LED lights outside where they can use an app to change the color for different holidays/events.  They set it to blue and pink before this party, then changed them to all pink after cutting the cake - FUN!!

Speaking of quick changes, I went from Halloween fun to Christmas queen in less than 24 hours! #bringonChristmas  (Right pic = me texting Rach to ask which headband to wear with my new sweatshirt, which felt like a perfect choice to ring in November. lol)

We stayed and chatted longer than I'd expected, which means I'm up late and back-dating these three blogs now! lol  This = one final pic with the Wilsons and Fultons as we were leaving!

I was already feeling this. lol  Not loving how early it will get dark now, but this meme made me laugh! =)

Okaaaay, I had a lot to say today, but I can promise you I won't write three posts a day moving forward. lol  

Hold on to hope and joy today, friends!  The God of all hope and comfort is with you and for you, working everything out for your good and for His glory.  Heaven is real, redemption is real, and the best things we experience here on earth are just a sneak preview of all the wonderful things God has in store for us when we get there!

I love you and believe in you, and Jesus does too!
Enjoy the extra hour of sleep!!
See you tomorrow!

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