Family Picture

Here we are at Shawn and Jennifer's for our annual "Cousins Party". One notable fact is that I did no retouching this year. In years past I have had to cut and paste someone in that didn't make it.

A conversation with Jessica

Me: "When you marry, what will your husband be like?"Jessica: "My Daddy."

(Jessica turns through our book of wedding pictures...)

Jessica: How old are you when you die?
Me: "Well, some people live more than a hundred years, but most people don't live much more than seventy years."

(Jessica reflects on the answer.)

Me: "How old do you think I am?"
Jessica: "Seventy two."

Me. "Well, I'll be sixty two next January."

Fishing at Bringle Lake

Scott took his girls fishing at Bringle lake last week.

Thanksgiving Acrostic

I am thankful for...

Amy my daughter who gives me great joy. She taught me the value of saying "I love you."
Belief God made me with a heart and mind that can trust.
Cheese This list needs a food entry and I guess cheese is one of my favorites - medium or sharp cheddar, gruyere, bleu, and gouda are some.

Days Off This is a late addition to this list (Dec. 24th). Laura asked, "Where's 'D'?" So I'm adding this now. I'm off work, on vacation, until 2008! I'm grateful for the time off and for the blessings that come with the holidays.

E. Ritter, Jr. A business man who helped me through school. I'm thankful he helped me. But, more than that, I learned a lesson that I need to be reminded of occasionally. He was killed in an auto accident at a young age. I had been intending to write him and thank him again for his kindness, but kept putting it off. Procrastination - it has brought me pain more than once.
Fathers My dad and my father-in-law. Both loved me and helped me to be a better father and husband. My sons, Scott and Jason, and my son-in-law Brent. All three are doing better as fathers than I did. (At this point, I'm trying to decide whether to put all my family in this list...I do know I what I have to with the next letter...)
Granddaughters Bethany, Jessica, Lauren, Kaylee, Chloe, Myra, Molly, and the newest one, developing in Amy's womb.
Ham and Turkey More food sneaking in the list, but it is nearly time for the tradional meal and to get together as a family.
Imperturbability (That's patience.) I thankful for what I have and know I need more.
Jehovah God The source of these and all blessings.
Kisses or Kissing I sometimes think (when we're kissing) of how odd it is that God gave us this way of showing affection. We've talked about it more than once, each time coming to the same conclusion - one does not have to uderstand it to do it and enjoy it!
Laughter The LOL kind.
Medicine For most of my life, I have seldom needid it, but now I realize its importance to me, and I see better how much impact it has on people and their lives.
Nuts I think there are some squirrel genes in my ancestry! I roast almonds and pecans to add to my breafast cereal most every day.
Oils They keep our machines running, cook our food, soothe us, and generally make our lives better.
Papa I never knew what a delight this word could be. Lauren, Jessica, and I were on the way to pizza hut. Lauren sat in the back seat, saying "Papa, Papa..." over and over, seeming to enjoy the sound of the word, calling for my attention, and giving me great delight. One of my favorite things to hear is "Watch me, Papa."
Questions They bring wisdom, and humility.
Rivers I enjoy fishing and flowing water.
Susan The wind beneath my wings, the one who understands me better than I do (and still loves me,) the love of my life!
Thelma's Newspaper Thelma brings her newspaper to our house after she reads it. She's been doing that now for a long time. (She's an amazing woman!)
Unspoiled Food (Another tough letter.) I'm thinking of all the processes, machines, and technology we have that protects our food. Eating is a "God Thing." It should remind us of who sustains us.
Vision Having lost some of my ability to see well, I'm even more thankful for the sight I have, and for glasses.
Work A job that pays well, is fulfilling, with good co-workers and a good boss, and for strength to work each day.
X-rays I remember seeing the picture of my compound fractured leg in a Memphis hospital in 1955 9I think). Without the x-ray, I don't know what the oucome would have been. But the traction, body cast, and God's healing worked, and I have never had any problems related to that broken bone.
Yawns Most nights, I ask God to grant us "rest and strength for tomorrow." I'm thankful for peaceful sleep and for the rest and renewal that comes with it.
Zip Lock Bags O.K., so this is a hard letter to fill. Aren't you thankful we have them? I buy the big boxes at Sam's and use them for everything.

So, there's my list of 26 things to be thankful for. Anyone else want to make one?

Church Drawing

Bethany created this interesting drawing last week at church. It shows quite some insight into some things she's heard.

Race weekend at Jason's

We are at Jason's for the weekend for our annual get together. This is the only picture we have to post. It's Saturday's breakfast. Actually brunch would be a better word, since we slept in. Smoked Pork Chops, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and a huge pan of Jason's home made biscuits kept us going all day.

We went to I-30 Speedway for a great night of racing Friday, then back on Saturday night where Jonathon, Ralph, and Josh joined us. We got to bed at 2:00 a.m.

We had a great time!

Happy Birthday Scott

Scott's birthday is tomorrow. He will be 37!

"Blowing-out-the-candles" is always a favorite snapshot of mine. That's a White Chocolate Strawberry cake.

It's Another Girl!

Today was the Big Day! The verdict is in. Number Eight is going to fit right in with her sisters and cousins. Brent is definitely outnumbered now, by a factor of 4 to 1.

Here's Brent's reaction:

Shoes With Names

Sunday, Jessica noticed Susan's shoes and said, "My teacher has shoes like that, but they have names."
Susan said, "Really??"
Jessica said, "Yes, one is named Leather and the other is named Pat!"

The Cobb Cafe

It's so great to have friends!
Katie fed us an excellent dinner at her house in Searcy Saturday night. We had spaghetti and salad. Katie sent her invitation after learning we would be coming for Kimberly's mom, Letha's memorial service. She offered for us to stay overnight, but I needed to get back to Ashdown on Sunday, having been gone for two weekends in a row.

Children's Letters to God

Check Ben Wirthington's web site (10/16/2007) for some neat letters from children like this one.

Conference

This is the only picture I took on our trip to Nashville to the Zoe conference. We stayed at the Hampton. I thought we were getting two queen beds, but they were barely larger than twins! So Jason made a pallet in the floor the first night. The next day I bought a large self-inflating camping mattress which was much better (according to Jason).


It was a great trip.


I drove all the way. Nobody complained, at least not to me. These two are good to travel with. When it's time to eat, both are willing to try something different. Once we found a Caribbean restaurant. It wasn't fancy, just a neighborhood place. They had salads, and I had roast chicken, greens, and cornbread with coconut on top.


My favorite stop was Johnny Rocket's. I ordered their "Smokehouse" burger with cheese, bacon, onion rings and barbeque sauce. The onion rings come inside the burger! It was ok, but next time I'll get one with some greenery inside.





We visited the Otter Creek church on Sunday morning. They had the largest praise team I have witnessed, at least fifteen. My favorite song of the weekend was "Oh No, You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman. We sang it several times, but I enjoyed it on Sunday morning the most with over a thousand people singing. (could be that It took me that long to learn it.)

I'll say it again, it was a great trip.

Birthday Girl

This picture always puts a smile on my face. I didn't know my future wife when she was in high school. I have always thought that was a good thing, because I'm confident she wouldn't have given me a second look.
In fact, I'm not sure why she gave me a chance when we met in college, but she did!
I met and married the girl of my dreams, and she has become the woman of my dreams.
Wednesday is her birthday. (I'm doing good this year. Once I gave her a gift in October - a month late. Not good!)

But she is so beautiful,

she is so devine

Yes she is so beautiful,

and she's mine, she's mine

She can make me smile,

as we start the day

And to hear her laugh,

takes my breath away.

Will I ever find,

any words to say to her...

Paul McCartney

Pretty Pooch

Five Generations

Cousins

Cousins Wyatt and Chloe at the reunion.

Reunion

This is Mother and her only surviving sister, Leon, at their annual reunion, held at Jacksonport on the White river.

Grandparent's Day

Grandparent's day is a great day. I've never seen so many kids missing teeth!

me and other idiots

Garrison Keillor on Pavarotti's death:

...the times I've wanted to plant my feet and sing in my upper register and sob in Italian have all been for the exquisite grief of being a dad. Romantic turmoil is a picnic compared to the emotional turmoil of parenting - the load of guilt, the sense of incompetence and failure, the night thoughts, the terrible scenarios that come to mind, the agony of watching your child perform in public, the fear of your bright young thing entangled with brainless self-destructive people - O God! God! God, save my child! From me and from other idiots. My little girl shoots baskets in the driveway and I get tears in my eyes, thinking of her deprived of my protection, as someday she will be. O my darling.

Smile Molly!

This is what you get when you say "Can you smile?" to Molly.

Deep in thought

Here's another shot of Jason with his friend looking over his shoulder.

I wonder what they are thinking?

At Colton's

Jason and his family, on the front porch of Colton's, in Benton.

Molly just got another tooth. She looks pretty happy here.
Here's Myra, peeking around the post at me in front of Colton's. We met Jason and his family there after leaving the memorial service for Robert's grandmother in Sheridan.

We visited on the front porch of the restaurant after eating, and I found the light there perfect for some pictures. Myra danced in the light rain while Molly watched.

Jason posed in front of the mural for this portrait. Handsome!

Three Beautiful Women

Wow!

Look-alikes

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's still a mystery to me how daughters can look like their fathers, and still be beautiful!

Lava Lamp

Does anyone have a lava lamp?

We have a great one that Susan found in a garage sale three years ago. It's hooked up to come on anytime the bedroom light is on. I find it very entertaining.

Sometimes, it begins by generating dozens of stalactites. Other times it begins with columns of bubbles, starting small, rising and falling.

Ours is red gel in a clear liquid. I think everybody should have one!

These girls really do get into their birthday cakes. We had to douse that candle so Myra could work on the cake.Check out this sophisticated candle lighting outfit....

Chocolate Cookie Cake

I like the "blowing out the candles" pictures. When I saw that Bethany was blurred in the first one, I had her do it again. My timing just wasn't on. This chocolate cake with its cookie decorations went fast!

Does a blog ever die from lack of posts? I guess not, or this one would be d-e-a-d.
I've definitely got to put new pictures up here!