MERRY PERRY CHRISTMAS 2014!

DECEMBER THE PERRY FAMILY 2014

Dear Family & Friends, 

Merry Christmas to you all! Here it is once again...our annual family update.

The first half of 2014 was spent in preparation for Brooke & Emanuel’s big day, June 14.

 

What a beautiful and holy occasion it was as this precious couple joined their lives together 

in covenant marriage. Loved ones came from all over the U.S. and even as far away as Australia 

to support and encourage this union. Our family was overwhelmed by The Father’s lavish love poured out in countless ways throughout the entire process. 

~ Brooke ~

~ EMANUEL ~

The newlyweds reside in Windsor, Ontario.

BRADLEY RECENTLY 

TOOK A TRIP TO ST. LOUIS TO VISIT A FRIEND AND HIS PAL, LARRY THE DOG. 

BRADLEY IS WORKING FULL TIME AT GAMESTOP 

AND LIVES WITH FRIENDS IN NASHVILLE, 

BUT HE DOES COME HOME EVERY NOW AND THEN TO DO LAUNDRY! 



BLAKE IS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR. 

HE WORKS AT FIVE GUYS BURGERS & FRIES 

AND AS AN UMPIRE WITH FRANKLIN BASEBALL CLUB. 

THIS YEAR HE GOT NEW GLASSES AND HIS FIRST CAR. 

HE IS BUSY WITH COLLEGE APPLICATIONS 

AND OTHER SENIOR STUFF.

BRENT IS 15 AND ENJOYED OUR TRIP TO THE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER MUSEUM 

THIS SUMMER.  HERE HE IS HOLDING CAL RIPKEN’S BAT. 

HE ALSO UMPS WITH FBC AND IS PLAYING BASEBALL FOR 

GRACE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY.

A New Season...

We find ourselves in a new season. 

This summer Eddy was faced with the decision to either move to Atlanta with LifeWay 

or leave LW and find something new. God made it clear we were to stay here in Franklin, 

so after nearly 28 years with LifeWay, 15 of those spent on the road, he tendered his resignation 

and has enjoyed a season of rest here at home. 

He has helped me a lot with our essential oils “biznistry”. 

In September he and I traveled to the dōTERRA convention in Salt Lake City.

We learned SO much and God really used this trip to confirm the ministry to which He’s called us. Prior to this trip He gave me the name for our ministry - Wellness 613 

based on Mark 6:13 and Isaiah 61:3. 

If you’re interested in more, please visit our blog www.wellness613.blogspot.com

and like us on FaceBook.

Eddy just accepted a job offer with Harper Collins Christian Publishing in Nashville 

and starts December 8. We look forward to all God has in store during this new season.

~ EDDY & JILL ~

In Cleveland watching the Rangers get slaughtered!

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

 Love my thoughtful gift from Bradley!

Windsor, Ontario

Sweet Lily

PERRY PONDERINGS...

Brooke, Megan, and I drove to Kansas City to ring in 2014 

with about 30,000 other passionate lovers of Jesus.Wow! 

What an amazing experience that was!

Springtime brought wedding showers, a trip to Mississippi, baseball, and of course, the wedding.

Summertime Eddy & I drove to Canada for another wedding reception 

and celebrated our silver wedding anniversary. 

Our family welcomed a new nephew, celebrated Pop’s successful heart surgery, 

road-tripped through the midwest,

and Eddy & I went to the dōTERRA convention in SLC.

In the Fall, we helped with a local dōTERRA team training event, 

ministered and were ministered to at our church’s monthly healing & equipping services, 

and enjoyed a Thanksgiving visit from Brooke & Emanuel.

Those were a few highlights from our year,

but perhaps the bigger highlights were those we experienced 

as we encountered God’s presence in ways only we as individuals 

and as a family will ever understand.

He has taken us to new levels of trust. 

He has given us fresh revelation of scriptures we’ve read hundreds of times before. 

He has performed signs & wonders in us and through us.

He has once again proven Himself faithful.

And so, once again, we turn our hearts to that humble manger, 

which led to the cruel cross and all that was accomplished there. 

It seems fitting to end with our family Easter photo,

since our resurrected Lord is the One Whose birth we celebrate.

With joyful hearts we wish you & yours a very merry CHRISTmas & a blessed NEW YEAR! 

With Love,

The Perry's

Silver Bells...

Summer 2013 a prophetic friend of ours heard God say "Silver Bells" while he was praying for Brooke and me one night. He was very hesitant to voice what else he sensed God saying, because he knows certain subjects are "delicate" and you could see on his face the internal argument he was having with God. We encouraged him to just say whatever he was sensing and we would ask God about it ourselves. He finally said he sensed there was a wedding in the near future...he didn't even know Emanuel was in the picture and he knew Brooke had never dated anyone, so this HAD to be God!  Sure enough a few short months after this word, Emanuel proposed and wedding plans were in full swing!  

June 14, 2014 we had a gloriously beautiful wedding and joyfully celebrated  the union of our daughter and new son. What a wonderful early anniversary gift to Eddy and me! Brooke and Emanuel may have heard wedding bells, but Eddy and I are the ones hearing Silver Bells...Today, July 1, 2014 we celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary!  25 years since we vowed before God, family, and friends our love and commitment to each other...til death do us part.  Wow!  

25 years ago, as we stood there in wide-eyed innocence, we never could have foreseen the hills and valleys we would travel together. The first eight years of our marriage saw eight moves, some across town, some across the country. In the first ten years of marriage, we were gifted with four amazing children. For our first anniversary we went out for a nice steak dinner, then ended the evening buying a baby stroller for our firstborn, who arrived the following month. We celebrated our tenth anniversary, also eating steak...this time cooked by Eddy's mom as we came home from the hospital following the birth of our fourth child.

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other for better or worse, we had no idea just how good the "better" would be nor how bad the "worse" would be. The "better" has come in the birth of each of our children; in the people God has brought into our lives; in His beautiful creation and fun memories we've made on numerous trips we've been privileged to travel;  in helping start a church; and in the crazy-good, mind-blowing, more-than-we-could-think-or-imagine ways we have encountered God's Presence...
The "worse" has come in the numerous ways satan has attempted to steal, kill, and destroy our family...we have found ourselves walking through tragedies that we would have called our worst nightmares, BUT GOD...Greater is HE in us than he in the world!

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other in sickness and health, we had no clue just how "sick" I would become with each pregnancy, or that Eddy would end up bedridden in 2008 and end up having back surgery...or how many injuries and illnesses our children would face through the years. We certainly had no idea we would end up in a ministry as wellness advocates with an essential oils company, educating others on natural "health" and wellness products!  Never in our wildest dreams...

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other for richer or poorer,  we naively thought "richer" was something that happened through hard work and credit cards...Little did we know the many miraculous ways we would experience Jehovah Jireh's provision and abundance.  We never would have imagined we'd be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on the first of July and that Eddy would be leaving his job of nearly 28 years on the 31st of the same month, not knowing what God has next for us...making us wonder how "poor" will we actually get??  ;-)  As God would have it, a few days before our Silver Anniversary, we achieved the rank of Silver in our "biznistry"!  God is so good and oh so faithful!!

The day Eddy told me he was leaving LifeWay, I hugged him and told him there's no one I'd rather walk through this with. We are on a faith-walk...our current theme song's lyrics give a pretty clear picture of where we find ourselves in this season...
Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
My faith will be made stronger in the Presence of my Savior...

As I look at pictures of our wedding day compared with pictures in more recent years, I can honestly say I'm a happier woman today than I was then. The difference?  Today I know who I am in Christ. Today I know HIM more intimately and because HE fills me up with HIS sweet love, I am able to love my husband, family, friends, and strangers more fully...out of the overflow of that with which HE fills me up...

Have there been bumps along the way over the last 25 years?  Absolutely!
Will there be more bumps during the next 25?  Yep!
25 years ago we truly had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into or what the future held, but we did know one thing...our vows were more than mere words and our commitment was very very real. I'm reminded of an old hymn that was actually scripture set to music...
...for I know whom I have believed , and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day...
HE IS ABLE!
If Eddy and I had relied on our own strength during the difficult days, we would've thrown in the towel long ago and made up an excuse for why our "commitment" wasn't real...
BUT GOD...
God is ABLE!  Able to keep what we committed to Him on July 1, 1989, even when we were shaky, even when we've said unkind things to each other, even when it felt like all of hell itself was coming against us...HE IS ABLE!  Able to take two weak human beings and strengthen us to do the impossible. Able to take our hands and lead us out into the unknown as we continue this faith-walk He's called us to. 

I am blessed beyond measure to get to walk it out beside this wonderful man who seeks God first, who loves, cherishes, and serves me with such a humble heart...
I truly am more in love with him today than the day we married and I'd say yes all over again!
I have a feeling the best is yet to come!