In Memory and Honor of all of our Veterans.
Tugger Bear
8 months ago
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
A Life Lesson: A Lesson From A Life
I took a trip down memory lane yesterday. The trip was initiated by an email from Tina about one of our friends and their special needs child. This took me back 15 or 20 years to another special needs child that was in our life. Her name was Kathryn, and she must have been somewhere around 5 years old. I can’t say I knew her well, but we worked with her about once a month during children’s chapel. She required a little extra attention. For instance, if you wanted her to sit down, you had to lead her to her seat. She always insisted on holding on to your hand when moving from one place to another. She was not verbal at all. She could make sounds, and interpreting these sounds into what she wanted became easier the more you got to know her. Kathryn always had a smile and a hug for anyone who was willing to be loved.
Kathryn’s life on earth ended somewhere around that time. She may have been as old as seven years old, I don’t remember exactly. Her earthly body was just not created to last that many years. What I do remember is her funeral. Our pastor, Brother Ken, officiated at her services. For those of you who don’t know Brother Ken, let me give you a brief biography. At the time of this funeral, he had been pastor of this church for somewhere around 35 years (It’s been over 50 now). He is an incredible man. He had served as chaplain of the police department and fire department in this metropolitan area. He had also served as chaplain for the Texas Highway patrol. All this as well as being pastor of this church with somewhere around 500 attending at the time. I mention this to point out that Brother Ken had seen a lot of tragedy. He had stood beside families who had lost loved ones way too early in life, sometimes multiple family members. I’ll let you think through what all kinds of things this man may have experienced in these roles for 35 years.
But I watched him at Kathryn’s funeral. I remember the tears streaming down the cheeks of this man who had always shown strength while showing compassion at the same time. Yet now emotion overtook him. Through the tears, while choking back the nearly uncontrollable sobs, he spoke of how he had learned so much from Kathryn. Kathryn had taught him about love. Specifically, he had learned from her what unconditional love meant, the same love that our God has for us. I am still learning this lesson, as I remember this young girl. I’m not sure what Kathryn’s new heavenly body is like. I’m sure it’s perfect, and I wonder what it might be like. I have seen perfect love, through Jesus, and an example of that through a young girl who touched so many lives simply by having, showing, and giving unconditional love.
Kathryn’s life on earth ended somewhere around that time. She may have been as old as seven years old, I don’t remember exactly. Her earthly body was just not created to last that many years. What I do remember is her funeral. Our pastor, Brother Ken, officiated at her services. For those of you who don’t know Brother Ken, let me give you a brief biography. At the time of this funeral, he had been pastor of this church for somewhere around 35 years (It’s been over 50 now). He is an incredible man. He had served as chaplain of the police department and fire department in this metropolitan area. He had also served as chaplain for the Texas Highway patrol. All this as well as being pastor of this church with somewhere around 500 attending at the time. I mention this to point out that Brother Ken had seen a lot of tragedy. He had stood beside families who had lost loved ones way too early in life, sometimes multiple family members. I’ll let you think through what all kinds of things this man may have experienced in these roles for 35 years.
But I watched him at Kathryn’s funeral. I remember the tears streaming down the cheeks of this man who had always shown strength while showing compassion at the same time. Yet now emotion overtook him. Through the tears, while choking back the nearly uncontrollable sobs, he spoke of how he had learned so much from Kathryn. Kathryn had taught him about love. Specifically, he had learned from her what unconditional love meant, the same love that our God has for us. I am still learning this lesson, as I remember this young girl. I’m not sure what Kathryn’s new heavenly body is like. I’m sure it’s perfect, and I wonder what it might be like. I have seen perfect love, through Jesus, and an example of that through a young girl who touched so many lives simply by having, showing, and giving unconditional love.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween at Our House
Pumpkin Carving
Tate's Costume
Atlanta Braves hat - $14.00
Old Navy Jacket - $35.99
Gap Jeans - $29.99
Getting free candy from a complete stranger - Priceless
Too much sugar!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
This Week, Well some of it anyway
Tate celebrated his birthday with friends
and a movie
We hosted a chili cookoff
good times
Teal is inducted into Beta Club
and a movie
We hosted a chili cookoff
good times
Teal is inducted into Beta Club
Friday, October 10, 2008
Nothing Like A Good Night's Sleep
So last night I nestled down in bed around 10:30 and watched the ending of the Clemson – Wake Forest game. Good game, WF wins. Anyway, I was ready for a good night’s sleep. Then:
10:45 p.m. Turned off the TV and the light.
11:00 p.m. - Dog is still whining. He went out right before bedtime. He must not like the temporary location of his kennel where he sleeps at night. “Gizmo hush”. Finally, 10 minutes later, he seems to have quieted down.
12:00 a.m. - I hear Tina roll over and say, “What’s that” in a very sleepy voice. I wake up and see that my nifty little I-Pod radio alarm is trying to go off. The light comes on, but it’s not on a radio station so there is just low level static. It has two different alarms that can be set, and one of them has accidentally been set to midnight, I think sometime during a power loss. I wish I could figure out how to work this thing. I’ve only had it about 10 months. Tina suggests we give it to Teal.
12:10 a.m. - Finally get the alarm off. I’m not sure which combination of button pushing worked, so I’ll probably get to do this again tomorrow. If you’re up, give me a call.
1:00 a.m. – I hear a deep voice. “Mom”. I wake up to see Tad standing in our doorway. “What’s up Tad”.
“I threw up”
Uh-oh. Visions of cleaning up vomit, and memories of nights doing that when the kids were small and would catch a virus, flashed through my mind.
Tina – “Do I need to clean something up?”
Tad – “No, I made it to the bathroom”.
Whew, that was a close one. That would have been a huge disaster.
“Get some water and go back to bed. Make sure you stay hydrated.”
1:15 a.m - “Gizmo hush”
1:20 a.m. - Finally silence.
1:21 a.m. - Bathroom trip. I’m awake; I might as well pee so I can sleep later tomorrow morning.
1:30: a.m. - “Gizmo hush”
1:35 a.m. - Finally doze off to sleep.
3:00 a.m. - “Mom”
3:01 -3:25 a.m. – Disaster clean up.
3:30 a.m. - Take Gizmo outside and make another bathroom trip. I’m sleeping very late tomorrow.
3:35 a.m.- Move Gizmo’s kennel to another spot.
3:38 a.m. – “Gizmo hush”
4:00 a.m. – I hear Tina rollover and get out of bed. “What’s wrong?”. “Can’t sleep”, she says. I haven’t been asleep either, but I stay in bed and doze off.
6:00 a.m. – The second alarm on my “nifty” Ipod alarm goes off. Crap, I should have remembered to turn that off during the night. This one I can turn off easily, back to sleep.
6:02 a.m. – Tina’s alarm goes off and she gets up. She apparently made it back to bed some time.
6:10 a.m. Tina’s alarm is going off again. She must have shut it off with the snooze.
6:13 a.m. – Finally manage to fumble around with the buttons and get her alarm off. Good, now I can sleep until 8:00, rush around to get ready and still make it to work by nine-oclock.
7:15 a.m. - “Tim, can you take Teal to school”?
“What time do we need to leave”?
7:20 a.m. - Tina and Teal have ended their conversation about what time to leave, so I get out of bed.
7:20 – 7:35 – Not sure exactly what I did during this time.
7:35 a.m. – Leave the house and drive Teal to school, then continue on to work.
Yes, this was nothing like a good night’s sleep.
10:45 p.m. Turned off the TV and the light.
11:00 p.m. - Dog is still whining. He went out right before bedtime. He must not like the temporary location of his kennel where he sleeps at night. “Gizmo hush”. Finally, 10 minutes later, he seems to have quieted down.
12:00 a.m. - I hear Tina roll over and say, “What’s that” in a very sleepy voice. I wake up and see that my nifty little I-Pod radio alarm is trying to go off. The light comes on, but it’s not on a radio station so there is just low level static. It has two different alarms that can be set, and one of them has accidentally been set to midnight, I think sometime during a power loss. I wish I could figure out how to work this thing. I’ve only had it about 10 months. Tina suggests we give it to Teal.
12:10 a.m. - Finally get the alarm off. I’m not sure which combination of button pushing worked, so I’ll probably get to do this again tomorrow. If you’re up, give me a call.
1:00 a.m. – I hear a deep voice. “Mom”. I wake up to see Tad standing in our doorway. “What’s up Tad”.
“I threw up”
Uh-oh. Visions of cleaning up vomit, and memories of nights doing that when the kids were small and would catch a virus, flashed through my mind.
Tina – “Do I need to clean something up?”
Tad – “No, I made it to the bathroom”.
Whew, that was a close one. That would have been a huge disaster.
“Get some water and go back to bed. Make sure you stay hydrated.”
1:15 a.m - “Gizmo hush”
1:20 a.m. - Finally silence.
1:21 a.m. - Bathroom trip. I’m awake; I might as well pee so I can sleep later tomorrow morning.
1:30: a.m. - “Gizmo hush”
1:35 a.m. - Finally doze off to sleep.
3:00 a.m. - “Mom”
3:01 -3:25 a.m. – Disaster clean up.
3:30 a.m. - Take Gizmo outside and make another bathroom trip. I’m sleeping very late tomorrow.
3:35 a.m.- Move Gizmo’s kennel to another spot.
3:38 a.m. – “Gizmo hush”
4:00 a.m. – I hear Tina rollover and get out of bed. “What’s wrong?”. “Can’t sleep”, she says. I haven’t been asleep either, but I stay in bed and doze off.
6:00 a.m. – The second alarm on my “nifty” Ipod alarm goes off. Crap, I should have remembered to turn that off during the night. This one I can turn off easily, back to sleep.
6:02 a.m. – Tina’s alarm goes off and she gets up. She apparently made it back to bed some time.
6:10 a.m. Tina’s alarm is going off again. She must have shut it off with the snooze.
6:13 a.m. – Finally manage to fumble around with the buttons and get her alarm off. Good, now I can sleep until 8:00, rush around to get ready and still make it to work by nine-oclock.
7:15 a.m. - “Tim, can you take Teal to school”?
“What time do we need to leave”?
7:20 a.m. - Tina and Teal have ended their conversation about what time to leave, so I get out of bed.
7:20 – 7:35 – Not sure exactly what I did during this time.
7:35 a.m. – Leave the house and drive Teal to school, then continue on to work.
Yes, this was nothing like a good night’s sleep.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
El Presidente
Yeah, it's been awhile. I have been busy, and have so much to blog about. Some of which will have to wait until I read my company's policy on blogging, as it is work related. Suffice it to say that is part of the busyness. Hopefully having so many of these thoughts and ideas will keep me motivated to post more frequently.
With so many topics to choose from for this blog, I asked Tina to give me a topic, then I basically forced her to ( in a nice way), and she came up with the presidential election. That wasn't really one of the topics I had in mind, but if it takes me this long until my next blog, well it would be to late for this topic. I won't get too political for you here hopefully. According to most polls, whatever I say will not sit well with about half of the people in our country, but oh well, the other half will think I'm cool.
My favorite candidate did not make the final two. Actually, I think there were a couple of candidates I would have wanted to vote for over the final two. I think Huckaby and/or Thompson would have been good choices. I've had trouble getting excited about McCain. So that leaves me with Obama. He seems likeable, is a Christian, and is fairly new to the political arena. I am a little disappointed with the state of the Washington climate, so a new guy sounds like a good idea.
However, after doing more research and listening to the first debate, I can tell you the vote is going to be for McCain unless something happens to change my mind. Obama's policies and ideas are either unrealistic or socialistic. His goal in the debate of trying to link McCain to Bush seemed very political and did not address the issues. His ideas on the economy seem to want to punish the top 5% of income earners. Now, I'm nowhere near that group, but the idea seems to be one that would stifle the ingenuity and creativity that have made this country strong. Also, McCain was correct in saying that Obama's ideas on giving everyone access to free healthcare is turning over our health insurance to the federal government. That is the wrong answer.
McCain's answers on cutting spending were just what I wanted to hear. Yeah, I know, they always tell you what you want to hear. But he has been enough of a maverick for me to believe he will at least attempt to curb spending. When the questions switched to foreign policy, McCain basically delivered the knock-out punch. McCain is head and shoulders above Obama when it comes to being knowledgeable and able to make foreign policy decisions.
As for Vice-Presidents I don't really have a strong feeling between the two choices. Biden has more experience in Washington, but Palin brings experience at an executive position, plus she has dealt with governmental reform, which I think may come in handy in the current economic environment. I will say this, Palin has sure taken tremendous abuse from the media, and is still handling it well. The interviews she has done have been so widely distributed, edited, and misconstrued that many people I think are believing some of the false accusations against her strictly because of the volume of stuff they read about on the internet. Just because a lot of people or media say something false, it's still false.
There are many other thoughts, ideas, and reasons for picking the candidates, but this hits the highlights I suppose. At least the highlights of my thoughts right now. Anyway, I usually stay away from politics, and many people who have made it this far would say I should keep it that way, but hey it's my blog.
With so many topics to choose from for this blog, I asked Tina to give me a topic, then I basically forced her to ( in a nice way), and she came up with the presidential election. That wasn't really one of the topics I had in mind, but if it takes me this long until my next blog, well it would be to late for this topic. I won't get too political for you here hopefully. According to most polls, whatever I say will not sit well with about half of the people in our country, but oh well, the other half will think I'm cool.
My favorite candidate did not make the final two. Actually, I think there were a couple of candidates I would have wanted to vote for over the final two. I think Huckaby and/or Thompson would have been good choices. I've had trouble getting excited about McCain. So that leaves me with Obama. He seems likeable, is a Christian, and is fairly new to the political arena. I am a little disappointed with the state of the Washington climate, so a new guy sounds like a good idea.
However, after doing more research and listening to the first debate, I can tell you the vote is going to be for McCain unless something happens to change my mind. Obama's policies and ideas are either unrealistic or socialistic. His goal in the debate of trying to link McCain to Bush seemed very political and did not address the issues. His ideas on the economy seem to want to punish the top 5% of income earners. Now, I'm nowhere near that group, but the idea seems to be one that would stifle the ingenuity and creativity that have made this country strong. Also, McCain was correct in saying that Obama's ideas on giving everyone access to free healthcare is turning over our health insurance to the federal government. That is the wrong answer.
McCain's answers on cutting spending were just what I wanted to hear. Yeah, I know, they always tell you what you want to hear. But he has been enough of a maverick for me to believe he will at least attempt to curb spending. When the questions switched to foreign policy, McCain basically delivered the knock-out punch. McCain is head and shoulders above Obama when it comes to being knowledgeable and able to make foreign policy decisions.
As for Vice-Presidents I don't really have a strong feeling between the two choices. Biden has more experience in Washington, but Palin brings experience at an executive position, plus she has dealt with governmental reform, which I think may come in handy in the current economic environment. I will say this, Palin has sure taken tremendous abuse from the media, and is still handling it well. The interviews she has done have been so widely distributed, edited, and misconstrued that many people I think are believing some of the false accusations against her strictly because of the volume of stuff they read about on the internet. Just because a lot of people or media say something false, it's still false.
There are many other thoughts, ideas, and reasons for picking the candidates, but this hits the highlights I suppose. At least the highlights of my thoughts right now. Anyway, I usually stay away from politics, and many people who have made it this far would say I should keep it that way, but hey it's my blog.
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