My Daughter - Lovely Lisa

August 26, 2012

My Daughter - Lovely Lisa

My daughter Lisa Marie

Today is my younger daughter Lisa's birthday and I am so thankful for her. She is 15 months younger than Shana so they both had sisters and playmates growing up. They are still wonderful friends.

Sweet sisters!

As a child, Lisa always kept me on my toes as she was very inquisitive and always pushed the boundaries. Dr. James Dobson wrote a book titled, "The Strong-Willed Child" and I thought he wrote it just for me to provide a guide in raising her. I had been teaching the girls the importance of loving everyone and one day Lisa challenged me and asked me if we had to love the devil. Well, I sputtered a little trying to think of a good answer and finally said that the devil was the exception to the rule as far as loving everyone. But she had such a sweet, outgoing personality that it wasn't always easy to correct her.

Lisa was a spunky little girl

Wherever we lived it didn't take her long to know all the kids in the neighborhood. After school, the doorbell would start to ring and usually, it was little boys that would ask, "Can Lisa come out and play?" We had a rule that they had to practice their piano each day after school so she would rush through her scales and assigned piano lessons so she could go play.

In early elementary school

Lisa has always been a leader and when she invited Jesus into her heart at age five she was eager to share with the neighborhood kids and family members. She would set up chairs in the garage and invite the kids over and she and Shana would tell them Bible stories using my flannel graph Bible story characters.

School days

Grade School

She has always been a people person and is to this day. In grade school, she always knew who got disciplined and who was having the latest birthday party, which she was always invited to. When she got in junior high and high school she would tell us at dinner time who liked who and who was going with who. She would test us at the time in what she wore or where we would allow her to go and what we allowed her to do. She would say, "but mom, everyone is doing it or everyone is going there or everyone is wearing it!" I would reply, "not everyone is doing it and not everyone is going there, and not everyone is wearing it because in this house we are not doing it or going there and we are not wearing it." I know she was just looking for boundaries and once they were set she would go on her merry way and we would never hear about it again.

Lisa's graduation picture, look at all that hair!

We always opened our home to her friends and she had guy and girlfriends that we would entertain at our house with volleyball, badminton, movies, board games, and lots of food. But the day came that she brought home a young man she met at Oral Roberts University who just happened to be majoring in telecommunications which was also her major. It didn't take us long to know she was smitten with this young man and he with her. They dated about a year or more and then Jeff asked us out to dinner at Olive Gardens and after the meal, he asked my husband's permission to marry Lisa. He had always been a quick-witted young man and I found my husband telling him, "well we will have to pray and fast about that!" I was shocked when he said that and so was Jeff and Lisa. All of a sudden my husband broke out in a smile and said, "just kidding and yes we would love to have you marry our daughter and be part of our family." I think we all breathed a sigh of relief!

Jeff & Lisa in their dating days

Jeff and Lisa have been married for 20 years and to this day Lisa says that Jeff is her soul mate. They are very compatible and like to do many of the same things.

Jeff & Lisa's wedding day

Lisa is a wonderful hands-on mom to three children, Zachary 13, Jonathan 9, and Kate 5. She loves to read with them, play games, take them to visit friends or host friend events at her house. With Kate, she plans play dates with her little girlfriends. Lisa enjoys sewing and recently she took Kate shopping for material for a new dress. She let Kate help pick out the fabric and this is the end result. She is truly enjoying this season of being a mom to school-age children.

The Goforth Family

Dress she recently made for Kate

Lisa also has a wonderful ability to decorate and design things. She recently said that for her creativity = refreshing of the soul. I am grateful that I am often the recipient of her decorating talents. She is also the one I take with me when I go clothes shopping as she will sometimes give me a look and say, "no mom!" on something I picked out to try on. I am very traditional in my decorating and conservative in my clothing and she will gently move me to branch out from my tradition and conservative taste.

She will tackle home projects that amaze me! Last summer she totally remodeled and redecorated her master bath. Then she posted it on Facebook with all her tutorial information and 32 photos on her progress. This summer she tackled painting her hallway with five doorways, entry, and kitchen. She painted ceilings, walls, doors and trim! When I looked at the paint I would have described it as off white. When Lisa described it she said it was Wool Skein by Sherwin Williams gray/beige and it was very light, crisp, and sophisticated without being cold. She described her trim as the original color being dull but the new color is rich looking. She just has a flair about her that I love but I know she didn't get it from me!

She is very involved with her children in Classical Conversation home educating. She also works part time for Classical Conversation and hosts many tutor and parent events at her home and is a great hostess. She has the gift of hospitality and makes people feel at home.

I am so grateful for her in my life as she is always there for me if I need her. She was the one that encouraged me to become a blogger and set up my first blog site. She told me with 30 years of working with people in the ministry I had a lot of life experience and also being involved with my children and grandchildren I would always have things to blog. She does my final proof on all my blogs and gives me words of encouragement.