A lot has happened since my birthday a month ago.

On June 15th, a thunderstorm blew through our area.  A microburst occurred in our neighborhood.  Two houses were damaged.  One of them was ours.  We had 2 trees toppled,  One smashed into the corner of the garage roof and (pardon the expression) hit the deck, driving it about 3″ deeper into the ground.  The other, larger tree landed on the garage roof.  Insurance is paying to replace the deck and the entire roof structure of the garage.  We are about 1/3 through the project (I hope that’s right!).

At work we are servicing a customer that already has a number of machines and are paying (and assisting us) to update and modify them to run some new products.  I must remain vague, unfortunately.  I have been swamped, working between 55 and 60 hours each week.  At least the pay’s good!

In the middle of all of this, I have to leave for England soon for a service trip that I have been postponing since April.  The aforementioned customer is not very happy that I am “abandoning them” in the midst of their big project, but this has to be done too, and this is a good time for me to pause and do something different.

I’m sure there’s more, and I will update this as I remember.

But I saved the best for last:  on July 7th we celebrated our 31st anniversary.  I love my wife very much, and I hope she can stomach at least 31 more miserable years with me around.  I love you, Lori!!!

There.  I think the wheel in the cage has coasted long enough.  Time to start running in circles again!

For what it’s worth.

There’s more of me physically than at this time last year.  I didn’t know that being over 50 meant that one’s weight would increase proportionately.

Too bad the intelligence level doesn’t grow to match the waistline.

I have the utmost respect for those in the Armed Forces of the United States.  I toyed with joining the service while in college, but was convinced otherwise.  I do not know if I could do what some of these men and women are doing and have done through our country’s history.  I am extremely grateful for their service.

I am also sickened by the selfishness and self-service of the current Commander-in-Chief, who apparently considered it beneath him to visit Arlington on Memorial Day, that day set aside to remember those who died in service of this great country which he now leads.  To send his buffoon of a Vice-President (which I think that he did – I’m not sure) is actually an insult and dishonoring to those who sacrificed much more than just a family vacation in Chicago with a barbeque with “honored” guests such as Loius Farrakhan, the Jew- and white-hating leader of the “Nation of Islam” cult.

Yes, we see where priorities lie.  I am worried about what kind of country my children will be living in when I’m gone.

I hope it’s still here.

Thanks to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and so many others, it is still here now.

Thank you so much.

Big changes are in store for our son Ben.

Friday, May 21st, he graduates as valedictorian of his high school class.  We are SO proud of him!!!

Then on Saturday, May 29th, he reports for duty at the Wilds Christian Camp in North Carolina, where he will spend the summer washing countless dishes, forks, spoons, knives, bowls, trays, and probably a few fellow workers.

Changes.  Another one leaves the nest, embarking on the next phase of the adventure of life.

Changes.  The first “real” job away from family.

Changes.  The beginning of life away from the protective umbrella called “Mommy”.

Changes.  The onset of the daily grind.

Changes.  Except in the pride that parents feel for a child who has succeeded so far, and has much promise of a wonderful future, just like his older siblings.  No changes there.  Ever.  No matter what.

We love you, Ben, and we are VERY proud!  Do well!

Ben won 1st place in the state for algebra.  He also entered the photography competition, submitting both a digital and a color film photograph.  The digital photo was taken in Rockford over Christmas and showed a cherry encased in clear ice hanging from a tree branch.  That photo won 2nd place in the state, missing a perfect score by 1 point.  The photo that beat it was a shot of a coffee cup that was laughed at during the national competition.

Ben’s color film photo was an elaborate setup of chemistry beakers and test tubes filled with colored water and arranged on a black background.  He went through 2 rolls of film before he got something that we thought was acceptable.  He hated it.  He didn’t want to submit it, but we made sure that he did.

It won 1st place in the state.

So last week Ben took his photo to Bob Jones University in Greenville for the national competition.  He took an algebra test (he said it was virtually impossible) and competed with the others in our school’s choric speaking ensemble (1st place in Alabama for 10 straight years!).  The choric group made the final round of 6 but did not place in the top 3 nationwide.  Ben’s color photo?

2nd place nationwide.

Not bad for something he considered “horrible”!

Congratulations, Ben!

Oh, and while on campus, Ben talked his way into a guaranteed position on the stage crew for next year.  Way to go!

I’m one proud papa!

My wife let me know that I had omitted to post birthday greetings to our daughter, who turned 25 on April 2nd.  Of course, we were visiting her in Greenville at the time, and spent the weekend traveling home.

Oh, well, another in the long, endless list of unforgivable transgressions.

Anyway, I hope your birthday was a happy one shopping with your mother and having dinner with your parents and younger brothers.  I hope there are at least 25 more in your future!

And enjoy your job in the hospital this summer.  I’m proud of you for getting it!

Love you!

On Sunday, March 21st, Winter descended upon America and its economy.

The so-called “health care” legislation that was passed by the House of (Mis-)Representatives Sunday evening is the latest and “greatest” of the power grabs by the elite political class that believes it has the mandate to control every aspect of every American life.  Excepting, of course, the unborn life, which is preferably murdered inside its mother’s body.

There are no words to describe the feelings of despair I have for my country, my own future, and especially the future of my children.  Unless the unthinkable happens and the legislation is repealed or eviscerated (which is unlikely, since the Republican party hacks in the Senate and the House are, for the most part, too despicably cowardly to stand up for principle, ethics, or morality), this monstrosity of a government takeover will ultimately destroy our economy, our way of life, our fortunes (meager as they may be), and, ironically, our health.

What can someone like me do?  Armed rebellion is out of the question.  I could not dream of something as outrageous as committing a criminal act against the government or any elected official, no matter how despicable he or she certainly is.  I cannot refuse to pay taxes or withdraw from society, because the long arm of the government will just insert itself deeper into a very uncomfortable place.

There is something I can do.  I don’t want to do it.  I have an extremely difficult time doing it.  But it is the only thing I can do that can possibly have any effect on the matters at hand.

I can pray.

God commands me to pray for and to submit to those who are over me (see 1 Timothy 2:1-3 and Romans 13; Matthew Henry’s commentary on that chapter is most illuminating) whether I like it or not.  He has allowed the government in our country to exist in its current form and to make the laws that it is currently making.  This is all within His knowledge and His plan for me, my family, and all of His children.  We certainly cannot understand it, but by faith we can believe it and trust Him completely.  He knows what He is doing.

So I pray and try not to worry, get mad, or especially not to get even.  God will take care of me and my family, and He will take care of His enemies someday.

Now to control myself so I don’t think I have to help Him with something.

One positive thought:  since the health care legislation puts  the decision for end-of-life care into the hands of some nameless, faceless government hack, that means that I may get to heaven a bit sooner than I thought possible.  Interesting thought, that one.  Not necessarily what I would have wanted, but who am I to complain?

I never got to know him well.  I can say that it is because of his patience with me that I married his daughter.  And it is because of his love for his daughter and his wife’s love and patience that his daughter was even in a position to meet me and marry me.  Most importantly, it is because of the testimonies and prayers of the two of them that my wife is now a born-again Christian.

Thank you, Paul.  I know that soon I will have the opportunity to thank you personally in heaven.

Rest now in the presence of our God.

This was the 2nd largest snowfall that he can remember.  He and his younger brother Ralph scraped up the snow to make the heart, which is apparently about 4-1/2 feet tall.  Dad said that they would sculpt the snow a bit, then stand back and critique the work, then plaster more snow or scrape more snow away until they got the heart shape exactly like they wanted it.  Why they spoiled the picture with a snotty-nosed urchin is beyond me.

Also in this Sunday’s paper was a short blurb in the “Valley of Years Past” column:

50 years ago
Feb. 13-15, 1960

An estimated 50 to 75 cars were stranded on Alabama 67 over an area beginning some two miles east of Brooksville in Morgan County during Friday night’s snow. Attempts to free snowbound motorists late Saturday were unsuccessful, according to the local Highway Patrol. The weather bureau said hazardous driving conditions are likely to persist through Sunday.

Dad was very emphatic in his correction of the story.  There were a lot of vehicles stranded, especially on Priceville Mountain.  The National Guard sent trucks to try to help the motorists, but the soldier’s vehicles got stuck also.  They would have stayed there but for two young men in a small red Jeep who showed up with chains and pulled the Guard trucks and the other vehicles to safety.  An article in the paper a couple of days later credited the National Guard with the rescue and did not mention the red Jeep.  If you haven’t guessed yet, the owner and driver of the Jeep was Dad.  He has frequently mentioned this story, always with the (not too bitter) comment about the paper not giving any credit to those who really “saved the day”.

The rest of the family, sitting at the other end of the hall in the hospital, heard the pained screams.  One of  the other kids commented, ‘”That must be him!”

How true.  How very true.

Today that baby turns twelve.  It’s been a short trip from there to here, at least for his parents.  Of course, there have been and continue to be immense changes as he matures.  Slowing down and being quiet are not two of them.

But today is his birthday.

Happy birthday, Jon!  Hope there are dozens more!

Just slow down and be careful.  Please?