The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Today….

Terri and I are going up to Vancouver to hear Beth Moore teach. It’s going to be great! I am looking forward to what God is going to say through her to this group of women. It’s exciting that 50+ women from CTK are heading up to the event as well. Bring it Beth!

ready, set, fly…

We bought our plane tickets for our D’land trip in May! We are very excited!

a few more from the wedding

quote:

“Family unity is not automatic. It’s democratic. It takes a majority of people in a home casting their votes toward getting along. Lest you give up, keep in mind that every majority begins with one contagious person. Filled with Christ’s Spirit, that one person can be you.”

~Beth Moore (from Stepping Up)

Aliza in a few years?

if Sean and Caleb have their way! They’ll make a Star Wars fan out of her.

Introducing….

Mrs. Baldetta, pictured with Mrs. Herzer, Mrs. Watters, and Mrs. Kallin.

The last of Cooper girls is married!

(click picture to see more on Jen Fox’s Blog)

What a beautiful bride Heather was! I am still absorbing all the details from the big day. I’ll do my best to put together a cohesive run down of events from my perspective.

Thursday we began all the decorating at Melody Hall. We actually got quite a bit done that night thanks to all the help we had. Colleen and John are great friends and jumped in to help in every way.

Friday morning Colleen and I met up bright and early to begin working on flowers. I have to say, Colleen is one of the most talented people I know. She did an amazing job creating the style for this wedding and designing the flower arrangements. She is a true artist. Colleen and I spent all day Friday at Melody Hall working on flowers and decorating. Sara joined us in the afternoon and brought all the linens and dishes we had rented. BreAnn, Sara, Colleen and I finished off the majority of the decorating during the afternoon and evening. Around 5pm we did a little run through of the ceremony with Heather, Vince, Dad, Mike and myself. After Heather and Vince left we stayed to finish up a few more things. Holly and Shane arrived a little later and then we all headed out for the night.

Friday night we had a sister party at my house (while all the boys went to Mike and Terri’s to play Rock Band). Sara brought her massage table and gave the 3 of us massages. It was very sweet of her! We did manicures and masks and just enjoyed spending time together. Aliza was here too but slept most of the time. Sara left around 12:30am and we started to get ready for bed. We visited a little longer and then it was time for sleeping (well at least for Holly and Heather). I could not sleep ALL night! I wasn’t nervous or anything– I just could not fall asleep. I laid in bed til around 4am and then finally got up because I was afraid I’d wake up my sisters. Deciding I should use my time wisely, I wrote a toast for the reception and put together a list of pictures we wanted to make sure we had Jen get.

Saturday morning around 6:45am, Heather woke up and she and I had a chance to visit for almost an hour before Holly woke up and Sara returned. I really appreciated having that time with her. Sara came back and brought some really yummy homemade juice and made us all breakfast. Heather and I left my house around 8:45 and headed out to get her hair done. I had to leave about half way through to run up to Melody Hall to unlock it for Andi (the Cake lady). I ran back over to watch Heather’s hair get finished up. It was really cute but a little Shirley Temple initially. We hoped the curls would settle down a bit by the afternoon, which they did. We left there to pick up a friend of Heather’s, who was going to do her make-up, and to kill a little time we drove through the carwash. We picked up her friend Kelsi and went to Melody Hall. Heather was getting a little stir crazy waiting and sitting still to get her make-up done. Once she was ready to go it was time for pictures to begin. Jen had Heather and Vince meet up outside to see each other for the first time that day. She got some great shots I’m sure.

After all the pictures of the two of them we did some family pics. Soon it was time to hide Heather away and get everyone a little snack before the ceremony started. The ceremony began at 3pm. It was short and sweet. My favorite parts were when:

• Vince and Heather were handed their vows and they were switched so Vince began with, “I Heather take you…”. It was so sweet and funny.
• When Vince was nervously chewing gum during the ceremony and Heather put out her hand to have him spit it out.
• The boys carrying the candles from my mom and Vince’s mom up the stairs to put them in the candle holder so Vince and Heather could light the Unity candle.
• The song that Seth and Beth sang (God Bless the Broken Road).
• When Mike forgot to tell them they could kiss and Vince asked “When do we get to the good part?”

It was really sweet and very real. I loved that they just rolled with everything. Directly after the ceremony they headed out in the Limo to Squalicum Beach for more pictures. While they were gone we put all the final touches on the reception stuff and then we just waited.

The reception began at 4:30pm and it was the typical– dinner, toast, first dance (to the song These are the Moments), cake, and more dancing. It wasn’t a big dancing crowd but we had fun anyway.

Heather and Vince left around 7:30pm (I think). Cam drove them in the Limo to the Chrysalis (a gift from Holly, Sara, Mom & Dad and us). Meanwhile the rest of us began the clean-up job. It went relatively quickly, although we didn’t finish everything up that night. Cam and I went back over there yesterday afternoon to let Heather and Vince in to pick up all of their gifts, decorations and flowers. They said they really had a great day and enjoyed their stay at the Chrysalis. Cam, the boys and I did more cleaning then and packed out all the garbage. Cam ended up going back again later in the afternoon to put away some tables and chairs, to vacuum and mop (he spent another couple hours there getting it extra clean).

Weddings are a ton of work! Being the person to coordinate all the details and being the Matron of Honor was a big job. I am thankful for the help Colleen was to track on stuff I missed and to just be supportive and helpful in any way she could. She is a great friend and I love her. Cam was a huge unsung hero of this whole event. He took care of stuff at home and with the boys so that I could be free to work on wedding stuff. Without his support and care for me, I couldn’t do everything that I do.

It was a beautiful wedding and I am really excited for Heather and Vince. I am proud of both of them and I look forward to seeing them grow as a couple. We are all happy to welcome Vince to our family!

going back!

Looking through our Disneyland pictures the other night (trying to find a picture of Kelly and the boys) reminded me of how much fun we had! It was such a great trip, full of so many wonderful memories! And we get to go do it all again this May (our Christmas gift from Mike and Terri– Thank you!). We will be going with Cam’s parents, Kelly, Cory and cousin Katie. Cam’s grandparents will also be in California while we are there.

We will be leaving May 24th and returning May 31st. This time we have City Passes so we will spend 3 days in Disneyland, go to the San Diego Zoo, Universal Studios, and Sea World. Cam will celebrate his 30th birthday while we are in California.

We are all very excited. 95 days to go!

we love you kelly

We love you Auntie Kelly! Hope you get well soon. We are praying for you.

Love,
Sean & Caleb

reflecting

I haven’t been inspired to post much lately. There’s plenty going on right now but nothing is resolved and when I am unsettled I find it difficult to know what to say. As it looks right now, things will be likely unchanged for sometime and I am realizing that I need to not get stuck here and fixate on what I can’t change. I have spent a fair bit of time thinking and reflecting on where God has been at work and what He has been trying to teach me. I figured it would be good to at least post my reflections here for myself so that I can remember someday in the future.

God is definitely at work and I see His fingerprints all around us and in us. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say Cam and I have grown so much in the last 18+ months. We have grown personally and more importantly as a couple. We have learned to depend on each other for support and to cheer each other on. It seems silly, in a way, that we have struggled so much through this time of challenge considering the other types of true hardship and tragedy people face everyday. Fortunately, this struggle originated outside of our relationship, our home, our health or our church. The boys and I have watched Cam wrestle with God’s plan for his life and ultimately choose to surrender his will to God (and we couldn’t be prouder of him).

This past Friday (February 8th) Cam and I celebrated the 13th anniversary of us as a couple. I can hardly remember the beginning because it just feels like we have always been a “we”. We have come a long way! As I think back on that time in our lives I realize I really put Cam in the place of my savior in my life. I saw Cam as an answer to my fears and insecurities. I found someone who loved me for me, who wanted the best for me no matter the cost, who would stand up for me, who would challenge me and who wouldn’t give up on me (I think/hope he saw some of that in me too). But eventually my “savior”, who was really just a boy doing his best to love this girl, couldn’t meet those needs perfectly, and disappointment followed. It was an unfair position to put Cam in and it was a huge relief for both of us when Jesus was restored to His rightful place as Savior in my life.

Although our relationship began in a rather co-dependent and dysfunctional way, God has been so faithful and patient to teach Cam and I how to love each other well. To be filled with His love first and give from the overflow. I can honestly say that I think being married is the best! I absolutely love sharing life with Cam. I love that we have grown up together and have shared our most precious memories. We don’t get it right all of them time. We still struggle to be selfless and to put each others needs above our own. Our personalities and love languages couldn’t be more different from each other. We’ve had to really trust each other and see past what’s on the surface and into each other’s hearts. One thing I am confident about is that our boys know we absolutely love each other and that we are all-in — forever. That is the legacy we will leave in our family.

As Cam has faced challenges and discouragement over the last year I have been praying that God would bless him. I shared with him the other day that I had been praying for blessing for him and his response was so much more than I expected. He said that I am the blessing. It hadn’t occurred to me that as I prayed for Cam, God was changing me and that I would become an provision of that blessing I had been praying for. These last months have taught me how to be the kind of wife Cam needs, someone who loves him no matter what, who challenges him but is also a soft place to fall when he is broken (and at times it has felt like a full time job). The work that God has done in my life to help me become that person is unbelievable to me and I am profoundly humbled by His grace and patience with me.

Reflecting is important from time to time but I think looking back too long can be detrimental. I am not satisfied to stop here. I want to continue to pursue God’s best for me, for Cam and for our family.