Day 42: Lois Parks

Lois, or "Muffy" as her family and friends call her, is one of my favorite women ever. She is a dear family friend of ours and I consider her to be basically another aunt of mine.

Lois is so many things. She is very intelligent, incredibly beautiful, funny, sweet, hospitable, graceful, and kind. She always has me in stitches laughing. She has a million hysterical stories that I love hearing! If you don't know the spray tan story, please stop whatever you are doing and ask her to tell it to you. You will never be the same after hearing/seeing her reenactment.

She has been such a fun part of my life the past years I have known her. The night Drew and I got engaged she came over and saw my ring and told us congratulations. I loved telling her all of my wedding planning tales. She is a great listener. She is also a great host! She hosted a Texan themed shower for Drew and I before we got married (when we were still moving to Dallas) which was a blast! I love going to her parties.

She and some other incredible women (who will be on here shortly) were a great help to our wedding. They made about a million (or that's what it seemed like) Oreo Truffles and other delights for the reception. She was at our wedding way early in the day setting everything up. What a blessing she was to our wedding.

Lois has the faith of a warrior. She is an excellent role-model. She encourages and inspires me in so many ways. She is just as sweet as she could be, but she is also a strong woman. She relies fully on God and never hesitates to intercede for others. She has been a constant friend to my family through the mountains and valleys of life and has helped us remain faithful. I am so thankful for her friendship to not only me, but my whole family. This woman knows how to pray and I love that.

Lois,

Thank you for everything you have done for me and my family. Thank you for being a shoulder to cry on, having a comforting embrace, an intelligent wit, and a heart that belongs to Jesus. You have been such a blessing to me. You are an amazing woman and I hope to someday be like you in many ways. You always know how to make people happy and make them crack a smile. You are one of the kindest people I know. I miss you terribly. It was so nice to see you on Christmas Eve. Thank you for being a great role model for so many young women! I love you!

Love,

Mary Beth

Day 41: Elizabeth Kerns

It was like a 911 response to an emergency- urgent, ugly, and in desperate need of professional help. This was my hair appointment with Elizabeth Kerns last week. She saved my hair. For real.

Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but in all seriousness my hair needed her. I gave myself a "homemade hairstyle" back in September because I was too poor to get it cut and highlighted. So I dyed it brown and cut it myself. Now, it was not horrible, but I hated it. So when I went home for Christmas I knew I had to call Elizabeth.

Elizabeth recently got her hairstylist license and a new fancy salon job too! Congratulations!

I have known Elizabeth for probably 3 or 4 years through family friends, but we have never really been all that close. She was always super sweet, but during our little hair get-together we talked about a ton of stuff and I felt like I got a great insight into Elizabeth. I had so much fun! She was so kind, funny, interesting, and not to mention extremely talented. She gave me awesome blonde highlights and a haircut that has easily become one of my favorites! She listened to exactly what I told her I liked and did an amazing job. I love it!

Elizabeth was so sweet to me when I lost my cat Lucy. She wrote me some really encouraging words on facebook that meant so much to me. I was incredibly blessed by her kindness and concern for me.

Elizabeth,

Thank you for saving my hair!! Thank you for being so sweet and kind to so many people. You are a great listener and a compassionate person. I loved getting to know you better last week! I look forward to seeing you again soon. I hope you had a fabulous Christmas! Thanks again for an amazing haircut!

Love,

Mary Beth