Anniversary Celebration And A Big Birthday

Tomorrow is the 56th birthday of Kelly Jo. The last six months have been some of the most difficult months in our lives and KJo has handled it like a super champ. She deserves so much more in return than what I can provide, but I want her to know I love her very much.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Kelly Jo Boggs!!!

I made a Birthday video for Kelly last year with words from my heart and over 50 pictures of KJo through the years. It is dated by a year, but I think you will enjoy it. Below the video, you will find a few more pictures of Kelly and our Anniversary lunch on Saturday.

Here is a picture of my steak when they brought it to the table and the second picture is the steak after  finished.

As you can see, I could not eat much of it, but I have taken care of it a little at a time since then! It was an excellent ribeye!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

Jeff and Sheri Easter June 2024

Hey Friends

This is Odie checking from the beach cottage. Thanks for stopping by to visit with me. 

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad

First things first, today is my parent's anniversary! I want to wish Mom and Dad a Happy Anniversary!

Congrats on making it to number 39! I love you both so much! I pray this is your best year yet!

Jeff and Sheri Easter June 2024

Today, I am here to tell you about some fun from the first Friday of June. Jeff and Sheri Easter were scheduled to be in Hillsboro, Ohio.

I heard about this concert in March and quickly told my friends, the Stansells. They are big fans of Jeff and Sheri Easter’s music, too, and they immediately planned to attend the concert. 

The Stansells invited me to tag along with them if my schedule allowed. I was able to work my trip to visit my family in Hillsboro into that week. I met up with my dear friends for dinner and the concert and then rode back to Waynesville with them. It worked out great for me! 

Dinner consisted of another trip to Ponderosa! Yes, the Hillsboro Ponderosa is good enough to have twice in one week. Yet, I failed again to snap any food pictures!

After dinner, we headed to the Hillsboro Church of the Nazarene. We wanted to get there early enough to get a good seat. This was the second concert that the Stansells and I had attended at this church.

The doors opened at 5 p.m. We paid the admission fee and made our way into the sanctuary. We found great seats and settled in to wait for the 6 p.m. start time.

Here is a picture of me, Jeff Easter, Stephanie and Timmy Stansell.

 

This is Timmy and me, ready for the concert to start.

The setup. Before the concert, a Gaither Jeff and Sheri Easter video was playing. It was neat to look back on some of their older material that I had not heard in a long time!

Me, Stephanie, Timmy and Rick. These are my awesome cousin friends, and it is always fun spending time with them!

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Jeff and Sheri Easter.

The amazingly talented Sheri Easter.

Jack Carter now plays drums and sings background vocals. Fun fact: Jack's parents met when they worked for Jeff and Sheri years ago.

I enjoy Jeff's singing. He is one of the most underrated singers in southern gospel.

Sheri was singing from the heart that night. It was special!

The whole gang.

Jeff 

Sheri read us an excerpt from one of her devotionals.

This year, Tanner Duckworth is a new addition to the Jeff and Sheri Easter full time lineup.

Here is another fun tidbit of info for you. Jeff and Sheri celebrated 39 years of marriage this month. They were married several days before my Mom and Dad in June 1985.

Tanner is a guitar-picking machine. You can look him up on YouTube to hear some of his incredible picking.

Timmy, Me and Stephanie were able to grab a quick picture with both Jeff and Sheri Easter.

Soon, it was time for the night to end. I was so glad to be in attendance at this wonderful concert. It was a fantastic night of music, singing and fellowship with friends.

Thanks to the Nazarene Church for hosting the evening! Thank you to Jeff and Sheri Easter, Tanner Duckworth and Jack Carter for the awesome music and singing! We thoroughly enjoyed being in service with you! 

I want to thank the Stansells for allowing me to tag along with them! It was fun making more memories with my dear cousin friends! I love you all so much! 

That wraps up this concert recap. See you next time.

Odie

Kelly Jo And Ribeye

First the ribeye and then the more important subject of Kelly Jo. 

Last year for our wedding anniversary we went to Longhorn with my parents and Odie and enjoyed a great meal in celebration. I had the Outlaw Ribeye and loved every last bite. 

June 2023

Some of you will remember that a few weeks ago I ate a few bites of ribeye for the first time since the stroke in December. It tasted fabulous but it was not easy to eat and I was eating in front of KJo only. 

I determined then that we would return to Longhorn after a long absence on our wedding anniversary and try to eat some fantastic ribeye. We plan to go again with my parents and Odie and see how it goes. 

I will start with a salad which I am able to swallow most of the time and then a few bites of steak IF I can handle it. I have struggled to eat most solids this week because of tiredness so no guarantees. I sure would love to eat some though. 

KJo 

But the main focus of the day is to celebrate 39 years of being married to the beautiful and talented Kelly Jo! I have been head over heals for her for longer than that but the last 39 years have been amazing. 

The day of our Anniversary will also mark six months since the stroke. There have been a few very dark days the last six months but i have been blessed with light in Kelly Jo. She has been a shining representation of encouragement, grace, strength, courage and class. 

I am almost embarrassed at the riches that I possess it terms of a wife to walk along beside me through great times and incredibly difficult times. 

She is absolutely dedicated to helping me get back on my feet, back on the road and being instruments of revival as much as possible. She is also entirely open to switching gears and changing direction if that is required. 

I can not express how refreshing that has been to me through this journey and how much hope it gives me for our future. I am a fabulously wealthy man indeed. 

I know this and I know it well.  

However, it has amazed me how many of my close friends have observed the notable riches I have been granted in Kelly Jo. I have loss track how many have commented on her commitment to my good and her tireless energy in taking up my slack in every area. 

They are proud of KJo and astounded at the demonstration of her boundless love for me and her engagement in my care and recovery. Their heartfelt compliments have put a big smile on my face and bounce in my still unsteady step. 

Not only have friends and family noticed my riches but several hospital staffers and therapists have made the same comments. They have placed great confidence in my recovery due in large part to the devotion of KJo to that cause. 

Kelly Jo is never comfortable with the attention of others. That is not why she does anything she takes on. But she deserves every ounce of praise I can muster today. I have been blessed as much or more than any man!

Tomorrow we will mark 39 years since we stood in front of a few family and friends and said “I do”. Neither of us really knew what we were singing up for but I definitely got the far better end of the deal. 

Happy Anniversary KJo! I love you!😍😍🎂🎉🎊

Thank you very much for reading today. I believe a few Amens would be appropriate. 😎

Davy

One Year As Mr. and Mrs. Yeager

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting from my beach cottage in Waynesville, Ohio. It is excellent to have nice weather this week. I love warmth and sunshine.

Last week, one year ago, Mom and I came home to attend the wedding of Mom's niece and my cousin, Kayla. She married Trever Yeager on April 22nd 2023. 

Mom and I were happy to attend their wedding. It was a special day! Here are a couple of flashback pictures for you.

4/22/23

Trever has been an excellent addition to the Morgan family. He has joined right in on our craziness.🤣 Trever, I really appreciate you! Thanks for making Kayla happy!

Below are two pictures from the last time I was with them. These were taken two days before their first anniversary.

4/21/24

 

Trever and Kayla, I love you both! I hope you had a great anniversary! It has been fun watching life unfold for you this year. I am still cheering for you from the sidelines!

Come back tomorrow for the latest news in their world. This has been a memorable week for Mr. and Mrs. Yeager! Thanks for stopping by today.

Odie

Life Gets Real For A Seven Year Old Boy 50 Years Ago Yesterday

It is hard to remember when in life I became aware of certain aspects of the world around me. I am not sure what I knew about tornados early in life but I know exactly the day I learned about their destructive force and that it was a force that was to be respected and even feared.

That day was exactly 50 years ago yesterday, Wednesday, April 3, 1974. 

YouTube Video

The Day the Clock Stopped: 50 years after the 1974 Xenia tornado

It was dark in the afternoon at our house in Waynesville, Ohio. It was frightening. However. it was much worse in several states and perhaps worst of all less than 15 miles away from us as a storm cell with an F5 tornado decimated Xenia, Ohio. 

The tornado was part of the largest supercell known at that time and the most destructive single day of tornado outbreaks for several years after that. It was a horrific day.

When the storm was gone from Xenia 32 residents were killed, over 1000 were injured and hundreds of houses were completely destroyed. Schools were hit directly and the downtown area was devastated. The tributes I have read and watched this week about those who died have touched me deeply. May God bless their families.

If I had not realized the power of the weather by age seven, I knew it that day and the days following. 15 miles is close enough to shake people up and I remember the emotional impact. 

Kids at school had family there or they went to church or shopped or ate in Xenia. The teachers talked about the storm and all of that brought the possibility of trouble much closer than it seemed before.

Of course, there was no internet and the pictures and news spread much slower then but the Xenia tornado was the main topic of conversation for days and weeks.

Near the 25th anniversary of the Xenia tornado, we visited a temporary museum display with hundreds of pictures, videos, newspaper articles and archived news broadcasts. It was moving and nearly overwhelming. One of the most moving parts of the museum was the personal accounts of survivors.

I have always been glad that we took the time to visit that display at the 25 year mark. I had never seen or heard much of what we saw and heard that day in 1999. 

I was kind of taken back Tuesday when I realized that Wednesday was the 50th anniversary of the Xenia tornado. Yes, it does seem like a very long time since I was seven but the last 25 years have passed in a moment or two.

Several states, dozens of towns and cities and thousands of people were directly affected by the storms that day, but the knowledge that emerged from the intensive research that followed the tornados has saved many thousands of lives since that day. It really is an amazing story.

Maybe there really is a silver lining in the dark clouds of life.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

Quite A Mile Marker #5000!

5000

We first posted mile markers which are descriptions of our travels, revivals and other fun and interesting events on our first website davykellyandodie.com. It was difficult for me to post on that platform and our updates were few and far between.

In 2009 we began boggsblogs.com and called it Mile Markers from day one. This site started as we prepared for our second Nigeria trip as an easy way to update our family and close friends on our African adventures. 

When we returned home, we were having 200 to 300 readers each day and we knew that was much more than family and close friends. 
We decided to continue posting here and eventually rolled  davykellyandodie.com into this website. 

We determined to try to put up mile markers here as consistently as we could. In 2010, we posted 243 times. 2012 we posted 349 times and by 2013 we had averaged at least one post per day for the whole year. 

We have made a concerted effort since then to post something every day and have only fallen short on a few occasions.

Sometimes we have a few hundred readers a day and sometimes a couple thousand. In January, the stats say we had 69,210 visits. That may be higher than normal from people reading updates on my health progress.

As of yesterday, we had received 3236945 visits in a little over 14 years. That is extremely small when taking in the grand scheme of the Internet, but not too shabby for our little corner of the world. Welcome, we are glad to have you.

We appreciate all the visitors here. We know that we have people who tune in on Saturday to read Odie‘s messages, others who tune in on Friday to see pictures of revival, and others who tune in on Monday to find out what the weekend held.

Some have told me you mostly read on Sunday to find out where the BoggsMobile is that weekend. Lol We appreciate every one of you. 

An unexpected benefit of Mile Markers is the fact that we use it so often to rediscover our own past. I can find out when the oil was changed in the bus or when the last time we were in California or 100 other pieces of information. 

If I need to know where we were in June 2014, I can find out with a couple of clicks. That has proven to be pretty handy and kind of cool.

After we decided to continue posting here in December 2009, I told Kelly Jo we were going to be consistent with this. I did not want to start this and then watch it fall away to nothing until I was embarrassed to ever post anything. 

Therefore, I put my heart and my time into this as I have very few things consistently in my life. If this site was going to reflect our family and our ministry, then I wanted to be faithful and consistent.

I believe today’s announcement is a testimony to faithfulness and consistency.  As of today we have 5000 published Mile Markers on boggsblogs.com.

I will say it myself. 5000? Wow!!!

How long have you been with us? Have you been with us for 5000 posts? Are you new here? 

Either way, we are glad you are here and we hope we can stick together for 5000 more. 

Thank you for reading today. 

Davy

Odie's Archives

Note From Davy: Kelly Jo and I want to wish a very happy birthday to our beautiful and lovely daughter Odie. Happy, Happy Birthday! We love you much and we are thankful God placed you in our lives. We are blessed, but sorry about your luck!

Hey Friends, 

This is Odie reporting in from Odie reporting from Oklahoma. We are thrilled to be part of the fellowship meeting at Bethany Holiness Church again this year! It is a joy to be with Pastor Toliver and the wonderful congregation of Bethany.

We have three more stops before we leave this state. It is so good to be back in the Tulsa area again. I am excited about seeing many friends during our time here. Remember to check our schedule page to see where we will be in the future. It is the third tab at the top of the page, or click here. Come be in a service with us! 

Happy Anniversary

Today is Mom's parents, Danny and Betty Morgan, anniversary. Happy 56 anniversary, Gran and Papaw! We love you both so much! I wish you were in Oklahoma with us today to celebrate. It was good to see you for a little while last weekend.

38th Birthday

Today is also my birthday. I am thankful for another year! God has blessed me beyond measure in my 38 years of life! I have so much to thank God for! My heart is full of gratitude!

I know 8 friends across the country who have a birthday today. They are from Florida to California and several states in between. Happy birthday to each of my birthday buddies! October 14th is a great day for a birthday!

Click here to see a post from a couple years ago. Each year, I like to look back and remember a little about my birthdays. In the future, I will have to update and repost my birthday memories again. That particular post stopped at year 36. 

Last year, for number 37, we were back here at Bethany's meeting. My friends made me feel so loved! I have now spent four of my birthdays here.

Odie's Archives

My Mamaw, Martha Boggs, brought a bin to my house last year. She had saved some items from my younger days. I love baby clothes, but knowing these were mine is extra cool. I took pictures of some of the things to share with you. 

The first set I wore going home from the hospital at 27 days old and to my first church service the following Sunday! I remember seeing photos marking both of those momentous occasions. Everything was so tiny. I was a preemie baby.

 

This is another one of my cute baby outfits.

Mamaw said this was one of my Christmas dresses.

A bib from my childhood. If you are new to the blog, my name is Andrea. I go by my nickname, Odie.

This is a very special dress. I remember this one. It is a size 4T. I believe this was a gift from Papaw Bill and Mamaw Darien Houston. There was a store here in Oklahoma that sold Bryan dresses. I had several dresses from that store. I loved all of them! Most of them came from Papaw Bill and Mamaw Darien.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed a look back at some of the things from my childhood archives. See you next week.

Odie

Happy 40 Years of Preaching

Hey Friends,

Happy Thursday, welcome to another post from Odie. I decided to step in and help Dad out with a post. Did you happen to see Dad's post he published on Tuesday? Check it out by clicking here.

This month, Dad marked a huge life milestone for him. He has been preaching for 40 years! Happy 40th preaching anniversary, Dad! 

I wanted to take a moment to publicly say I am so proud of my Father. He is a true man of God and takes his calling seriously. Dad's main focus in life is winning the lost and helping people make it through life! I can wholeheartedly say my Dad does his job well!

I have not been around for the full 40 years, but I have been there for most of them. Through the good days and more challenging days, Dad has pressed on! He is a fighter and an overcomer!

Working right by him for over 20 years of his ministry has been a privilege. I have watched him in action firsthand. The size of the crowd has never bothered Dad. He ministers to 3 people or the masses. I have seen him be an instrument in the hand of God countless times in various methods! I am always amazed!

Dad has probably preached more sermons to me than any other preacher. God has used him to speak to my soul, challenge, teach, and encourage me! I love to hear my Daddy preach the word of God!

I have had the privilege of hearing my Dad preach hundreds of times for many years. I never get tired of hearing him. I absolutely love seeing Dad being used by God. It is an honor to get the front-row seat that I have to see the action!

I have proudly been a preacher's kid (PK) all my life. I have no sad song to sing about the PK's life. It truly has been a blessing and not a burden. Life has not been all roses or without bumps. Guess what, nobody has a trouble-free life. I am so grateful for my life!

Once again, Happy 40 years of preaching, Dad! Thanks for living your life for God! You have shown me how to live a good life by example. You have shown me that we can survive hardships! We can trust God to work things out for us! I have watched you help others just by being genuine and committed to God!

Thanks for reading!

Odie

5 Years And Still Thankful

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in from my Ohio Beach Cottage. I am happy to be home for a quick visit. We have a busy weekend and week on the books. Check back in the coming days to see our fun with family and friends. 

June 1st was the 5th anniversary since I officially moved into my Beach Cottage. Here is a picture from that first night.

It does not feel like it has not been that long. I am so grateful for the beautiful place to call my home! In the last 5 years, so much has happened in the world and in my life. It has been a major blessing to have my own safe place!

The entire home is a series of miracles! I do not want to forget God’s provision! The love and support from my family and friends turned a dream into a reality. My heart still overflows with gratitude!

Many of you reading this post played a role in helping us build my home. Thank you one more time from the bottom of my heart. I thank God for you! I still pray for God to bless you abundantly!

This week marked another 5th house anniversary for me. August 17th, 2018. We were joined by many of the incredible people that help us build my home for house tours and dedication. It was a privilege to show off my finished miracle. We had a sweet dedication on my front porch!

That evening was fantastic. We had friends from near and far come to celebrate with us. Lots of prayers, money, blood, sweat, tears and work brought us to that moment. It was an extraordinary day of memories that still warms my heart! 

I encourage you to read this archived blog post here. Dad summed up the wonderful dedication day in an excellent way. Below is just a sampling of photos from that night that are special to me.

I will never forget the love I experienced that day! I am blessed beyond measure! I just wanted to pause for a moment to thank God for His unspeakable gift of my beautiful home!

Thank you for joining me as I stroll down memory lane. Here is a small tour of the front portion of my home. This was recorded during our 2020 online covid revival.

See you next week. 

Odie