Newest Addition to the Sizemore Family

From Heidi:

Friends, and Family,

We are excited to share with you the pictures of our new Boxer puppy Abby, she is precious. Enjoy, we sure are. (Besides the loss of sleep!) She will be a lot of fun!
Hope all is well!

Take Care

Love,
Michael, Heidi and Abby

Revival in the Midwest

Church members from Denton UMC will be heading to Fort Scott, Kansas to unite in prayer and worship on Sunday. They will be praying for the church and that God will revive their quenched hearts and provide healing for their souls. I am excited for this opportunity, because Eric will be facilitating the worship service and praying with many people for God to touch their heart. Would you join me in praying for a Word from God? Would you join me in praying expectantly for the Holy Spirit to move in an awesome and powerful way so that no one can deny God's power and grace?

I am going on Sunday expecting that God will show up and that he will bring a fresh Word. I know that he has already ordained this important meeting with other believers of Christ and we are praying that the lost and hungry people who need to hear about Jesus will show up as well. I am looking forward to the praise and worship that we will experience and can not wait for the healing that God will bring to my heart and many others. Thank you in advance for your prayers for this revival and I hope that God will bless you for your faith.

I love this verse and it speaks to me about God's faithfulness and promise to a chosen generation, no matter how rebellious we are:

So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. "O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes," he said, "then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

Exodus 34:4-9 (New International Version)

Heidi's Wedding

It has been just about three months since Heidi's wedding and I wanted to share some thoughts and some behind-the-scenes moments.

Obviously, I never expected that Heidi would have gotten married before Katrina and I, but even though she is the youngest, she has it together. Her husband Michael is a very lucky guy and I hope that he knows it. I was so thankful that Heidi found the perfect person to compliment her in every way. Mike is full of life, just like my little sis, and has a great family, making him the package deal. Not only is Mike a perfect addition to the family, but his parents, Kenny and Patricia are as well.

The day before the rehearsal, all of us girls, including Patricia (Mike's mom), went to the beauty parlor to get manicures and pedicures so that we could be primped for the event. It was so fun to get to spend some quality time with mom, Heidi, Katrina, and Patricia. I hardly remembered what we talked about, but it was so good to be pampered. I wish that I had pictures to share!

On the day of the wedding there were many memories that I hope I don't ever forget. While we were taking pictures at the front of the church before the wedding, Heidi and Miranda, the flower girl had the cutest exchange. Heidi bent her knees to be on the same level as Miranda. It went something like this:

Heidi: Miranda, you look like a princess. (She really was so cute)

Miranda: Well if I'm a princess, you must be a queen.

I thought it was so precious that I had to share it. She is right that Heidi is a queen, she is Michael's queen. I am confident that he will treat her like the queen that she is. Here is a picture for a visual.


Another very touching moment for the bride and groom happened right before the wedding when Katrina and I, both Maids of Honor, delivered a card to Mike. Heidi penned some very private thoughts and feelings on it. It must have had a very touching message, because Mike's eyes started watering up. I imagine that he will keep that card and hopefully, they might share it with us and their children someday.

The wedding was beautiful at the First United Methodist Church in Wichita. It was so special also to have our friend, Anne, and our uncle, Brent, preside over the ceremony. They made a great pair. We also enjoyed two songs that were sang by Brent and Diane, our aunt, that just really moved everyone in the entire sanctuary. If I didn't have to stand up front, I would have been crying in the front pew right next to mom and dad.

After the ceremony, we busselled Heidi and her dress and let them drive off in a 1909 AMF Touring car with a driver dressed in authentic clothes from that Era. It was quite unique and unforgetable. It was also one of Heidi's surprises for Michael. He was blown away along with Heidi's hair as they drove around the dowtown area of Wichita before the reception.

They arrived at the reception ready to let loose and have some fun. A toast to the bride and groom was first and then greeting friends that we hadn't seen in a while. Heidi shared a dance with dad and here is a picture of her dancing with Michael.

We love you Heidi and Michael!

Celebrity Look-a-like

Okay, I had a whim to try this just to see who I would look like and here are the results. Pretty cool, eh? I think that Amanda Bynes is just the cutest. I was surprised by the results, because I would have never guessed that my face is most like Eva's. I adore Summer Sanders because she is an awesome swimmer. I used to love watching her at the Olympics. Try it yourself and let me know who you look like.

I've still got it

34.61 -

Well, I am very pleased to report that my 50 yard backstroke event for Kansas City's Corporate Challenge went well by my standards. My time was a stunning 34.61 seconds and I was just praying that I would break forty. Talk about nervous... I was on the edge of my seat up until jumping in the water. Since retiring from swimming in 1997, I have been in the pool probably a maximum of 50 times and haven't really worked out since enrolling in the event in April.

I had the best of intentions, however, I worked harder on my tan than I did the event that lasted no more than 35 seconds. It was lots of fun, because I still have a competitive nature, but I had no idea how well I would actually do.

Of the three heats in my age bracket 25 to 29, there were some really good swimmers and then there were average people like me that swam for recreation. I placed first in my division and 6th overall. Whoa, I had no idea I still had it in me.

Maybe next year, I will swim more events, but I need some practice for that.

10 Year Reunion at Exploration Place

After anticipating the 10 year reunion for months now, I am able to give the full report. The event was lovely and the evening was somewhat different than I had expected that it would be. I was excited to see some people that I hadn't seen in over 10 years and was able to catch up with their lives and the changes that they had been through. Some had families and some of my friends lived closer to me than I knew and some were very far away. One of my friends, Kerri (Morgan) Scheufler, was a mom to twin girls that were five months old. I am still in awe of how she does it. I missed the people that weren't there, like Brian Pumphrey, whose little sister, Jenaca, was my swimming buddy, and Jennifer Endicott, who was one of the fastest freestylers that I know. Unfortuneately, I didn't get to see the slideshow that was over 40 minutes long. I hope to watch it when I get it in the mail.

It was really nice to relive exciting times during the walking tour of the high school that had been through some renovations during the last 10 years. I was so thrilled to show Eric the swimming pool that I had practiced in and had several meets at during the four years that I was attending school. I was awed that my name was still on the record board for the 400 freestyle relay. I can't say that it was my best event, but I have really missed the comraderie that my team members shared with me. Those truly were some of the proudest moments that I have had.

I was reminded by how life sometimes turns out differently than you would expect it to. I have thought about how my life would be radically different, had it not been for Christ in my life and the choice that I made to follow Him instead of my friends. There were definitely times where I have wandered astray like a lost sheep. I just can't help praising God for all of those times that He kept me safe even when I was a willful and disobedient child. He has always welcomed me back into His gracious and loving arms. Praise God that He provided a Saviour when I wanted to do things "my" way.

The best part of the evening was that I was able to share it with Eric. He was a huge help this past weekend, between cleaning water out of a leaking basement and spending time with some of his high school buddies, we had a whirlwind of a weekend. Hopefully, things will calm down and we can have a vacation soon.