Behind on the blog, I know!

Had several comment lately that I had let my blog kinda go. I have no real excuse except to say that we've at been home very little over the past 3 weeks. We went to Pepperdine for week, then back home, to Oklahoma for some family time, my dad's 80th birthday, and you know we had to stop by and see little Noah and his family. Then we took a week in Galveston. It wasn't the very best timing, having been out for the better part of two weeks prior but that's when Kim had the time so we went. Then we came back, me for an LTC Board meeting, and to take Kami back to the airport, then back home to preach for our Elder Ordination service this past Sunday. As elders, we're excited to have some additional shepherds to help keep watch over the flock at Lakewood. Harold Allen, Bo Cox, and Bill Hanna were installed and prayed for on Sunday.

Then to add to that the church surprised us with a 20th year thing at the potluck lunch on Sunday. It was a complete surprise and I guess easier to get together since we were out much of the time before then. There was a huge cake, some cards, a book signed by several in the congregation, and a gift for me and one for Kim and a few jokes by Mike Miller. It was really special to be recognized in such a way. I posted some pics on my facebook page for those who are interested. I promised to post some pics from our trip north but just haven't done it yet. Well, I've got to get caught up now. I try to blog again soon.

Thanks to everyone who said such nice things on Sunday!

Cohen is coming soon!

de

Here's a freebie!

Home Bible Study Requires a Permit in CA

According to a report on FOX News this morning, home Bible study is under fire in California. Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary, who live in San Diego, got some friends together at their house for a Bible study. However, when the county of San Diego found out, the couple was told they needed to either stop the Bible study or purchase a permit because they had too many people in their home.

Back from the Weekend!

Boy it was a busy weekend in the Efam. Friday morning I headed north to Forney where Kami had landed on Thursday. Spent a few hours with my favorite grandson and his parents and headed to DFW to pick up the bride on her way back from Florida. She finished her first full 5 day week in...well I can't remember when she had a full five day week. She was pooped but excited to be going to see Noah. We got up on Saturday, waited for the girls to go to a baby shower for Allison, loaded my girls and Noah in the car and headed for Duncantown.

There we spent Saturday and most of Sunday seeing family, my parents, my sisters, and their kids and related others, too many to mention. Everyone was together at worship Sunday morning for my dad's 80th birthday, day. Actually its, today but mum decided Sunday would be the day to have the party. We all went back to the house for lunch, some time together there, and then back to the church building at four for an awesome reception for my dad, put together by my sisters and mum. They have Sunday evening services at 5 so it made it convenient for folks to come by and wish his happy birthday and a ton of people did. It was a lot of fun.

Aaron, Kami, & Noah then headed back south to Forney, closely followed by Kim and myself to spend the night Sunday night and then drove back to H-town, with Kami, on Monday. Lord willing we'll spend a few days in Galveston later this week, just winding down some. Maybe I can post some pics of our trip, our grandson or my dad's party. Thanks for wishing him well. We are blessed to have him still with us and celebrated it so.

de

Lots On the Brain Lately

My brain is running on overload lately. Some of it is not really all that important as life goes, the Rockets playing Jekll and Hyde, hopefully is not Hyde again Thursday. Which Astros team to expect the next day. Will anyone really ever beat the Celtics. Does God really prefer Boston all that much. As I said, not really of that much importance.

Our church building is getting ever so close to being finished after hurricane Ike, just about in time for hurricane season to start again. Whoohoo, we all can't wait for another season. Lord willing, I'll never see another one like it, ever. Yes, its been a long haul. Yes, we have some incredibly talented and persistent folks who keep at it to get it all done. I still have trouble getting motivated to really get my yard back in shape after all that. I'll just keep plugging along on it.

Headed to my original hometown Duncan, Ok, this weekend to help my dad celebrate his 80th birthday. What a blessing that is for all of us to have him still with us. There were a couple of occasions recently during our elder selection process that I was ever so grateful to have him on the other end of the phone to talk to and bounce some things off of him regarding the process. He spent years and years as an elder and I valued beyond words his counsel. Happy Birthday dad. I love you.

Oh yeah, we have new elders. We have some who were given the high approval they felt they needed from the congregation and some who were just short of that. I think daily about both groups and their future impact on the family here at Lakewood. Lord willing we'll make an annnoucement soon as to who they are. Oh yeah, gonna have a new grandson in 37 days. Oh yeah, this past Sunday was the day my family planted ourselves officially at this congregation 20 years ago. Wow, some days it seems as it were yesterday, well, you know the other side too. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways. It's a lot on the brain lately.

cya,
de

Back in H-town!

The bride and I flew back into Houston on Saturday evening past and were glad to be back. Unfortunately for her she got to go back to the airport after worship on Sunday and won't see our front door for another 10 days or so. But we really enjoyed our 6 days just me and her and California and Pepperdine. Honestly we didn't prefer LA freeways, their drivers, Lakerfan, wildfires, tarballs on my feet, but there was much to enjoy. It sure was good to be home, back preaching at Lakewood, and enjoying those amazing Rockets yesterday. It just goes to show, you never know. As Forrest Gump's mom said, "you just have to do the best with what cha got." Amen.

I especially enjoyed this column from the LA Times. Here's a couple of quotes.

"I know you're expecting a full column effort, but the Lakers' opponent was only the devastated Houston Rockets, so why should I have to work hard to write about them?

Why should I put passion into describing a game that the Lakers didn't show passion in playing?"

"The Lakers lost as if they didn't care that the series was now two games apiece. The Lakers lost as if they know they can turn it on this week and still survive.

Good point. I'll write better columns then. This one, like them, I'm sitting out."

No blood, no one being thrown out, no flagrant fouls, just a gutsy effort from the Rockets. Boy, that was fun to watch. I'm guessing the next one will be a bit more competetive. Glad I'll be watching from friendly H-town instead LA.

de

Interesting Week So Far

It's been an interesting and enjoyable week so far in LA LA land. We spent Tuesday prior to the opening of the Pepperdine Lectures driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. It was sunny but pretty cool as we drove northward. We stopped periodically where there was beach access to put our feet in the water. Nice sun, pretty beaches, but cooold water. We did get our feet in the water but it was just too cold to enjoy any swimming. We stopped near a town called Carpenteria, a quaint small town on the coast. We walked a long nature trail down to the cliffs to see the ocean and down a longer path to see the seals. The bride stopped counting at about 200 seals who were for the most part laying out, enjoying the bright sun. Just off the coast you can see the Channel islands which apparently are home to 1000's of the same kind of seals. We headed on north to the Santa Barbara area where we could see a massive smoke cloud coming from the mountains. It's a big city and we again headed for the coast and enjoyed the beautiful view and large eucalyptus trees. Posted below are a couple of pics. Just north of SB in the Mts it was burning hot, smoke rising upward and coming towards the coast, fortunately the smoke was rising high up into the sky. It was all over the news with many homes threatened and not much to do but let it burn.

The Lectures have been outstanding. There are many of the well known speakers in the brotherhood and the theme is "The Lord of Creation" messages from the book of Colossians. There's Walling, Cope, Atchley, Harris, Keith Lancaster and many more, all very challenging and encouraging to hear. It has been a much needed boost to hear others struggles and encouragement. As at all lectureships the singing is one of the highlights. There's Zoe, Hallal, and all the best singers and leaders in the brotherhood.

Last night we left out a bit early and ventured to downtown to take in the Lakers/Rockets game. Thanks to son J, we had his GPS which led us downtown and even rerouted us around bad traffic so that we got there in plenty of time. The game, well, it was a knock down drag out kind of affair. We really had little expectation that the Rockets would take two in LA but it was enjoyable nonetheless. We both really enjoyed wearing red and representing the Rockets. We were certainly way in the minority in "Rockets" gear. Just walking around brought us a constant chorus of boos and other negative reactions. I personally enjoyed that until it got uglier as we entered the arena. Maybe if we had seats closer to the floor those folks would have been more hospitable. Where our seats were, two rows from the top, well...many of those folks were downright ugly. I think they may have been handicapped because many of them could only lift one finger on their hands. You can guess which one. Not only that but several of them expressed the words that go along with that gesture. And we thought it was just a game! By the time the last 2 minutes of the game came around and the outcome was clear we went ahead and headed out. It just felt safer. No one was happy we were there, except us. Oh yeah, did you know that most everyone in the Staples Center is certain that "Houston Sucks?" That was a constant throughout the game. By the time we were through it was time to get out of there. By the time got back to our motel, it was time to shower and get that 'dirty' feeling off of us.

All in all it was quite a contrast going from the high of the lectures to the low of all those people who were full of profanity and derision. Truth is, we shelter ourselves from what a great deal of the world is ready to give us. I guess for good reason but everyone needs the love of Christ. Given the choice I have to keep my feet and mind centered on why God put me here and here this week in California. Rockets lose, believers win.

cya back in H-town soon,
de


game pic eucalyptus tree

coast pic seals


nature trail flowers

A Week in LA LA Land!

It's been a few years since I took in a sermon seminar or church lectureship anywhere so this year, Kim and I decided to attend the Pepperdine Lectureship. We've thought about going and said we were going to do it, so here we are, spending a week in LA LA land.
Yesterday was pretty much for travel to LAX, find the car, make our way to Westlake Village, CA, about 15 miles from the campus. There's not much lodging in and near the campus and dorm rooms are really not our preference so we opted for a bit of drive to stay at the Residence inn and drive. Breakfast and evening snacks are served everyday so we can forgo trying to figure out much about food. We checked into the hotel, found an Albertsons and bought us a few essentials, water and such, then settled in for the night.

Our first highlight besides getting upgraded for the flight, thanks to the bride, was staying awake to see the Rockets win and win they did. I think we may have disturbed the rooms around us yelling as they closed out the Lakers on their home floor but, really, who cares about that. They
played one heck of a gutsy game and took to the home boys. We had a hard time going to sleep even though it was almost 1 am home time by the time we got into bed. Then its wakey, wakey, Texas time. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. The Lectureship doesn't kick off until this afternoon so we're headed out that way to find our way and then up the Pacific Coast highway for an afternoon drive. The weather looks to be fantastic. My bride has been to CA dozens of times I'd guess but never for pleasure. Its always airports, hotels, work, and back to the airport. We're looking forward to an enjoyable week. I'll try to post a pic or two as we go along. My last time to to the West Coast for any kind of trip was the summer of 1975. (I think) A close friend in HS and i decided to travel west and headed for CA. We did officially make it to the coast but didn't stay long. We were running out of money and he wouldn't sleep in the car! Imagine that. Thanks Steve! What is that 34 years. Hopefully, we'll see more of it this time.

Thanks for checking in on us!
de & ke in the land of fruit and nuts

Rain, Rockets, & Swine Flu?

Boy how things change. For most of the winter it has been extremely dry around these parts. I know, some of you say, me too, me too. Drought is unusual for the Gulf Coast. I think our average rainfall is around 54 inches a year. That's an average of 1 inch a week or little more. No wonder I seem soggy as of late. In the Houston area we have officially gotten over our drought and gone straight to flood stage. Some areas of west & NW Houston got 10+ inches of rain early and through midday on Monday. Lots and lots of flooding, stranded cars, likely a death or two. We had gotten 10 inches Saturday before last, 5 inches on Friday, and well more on Sunday. Not the ideal way to catch up from the drought but thats the way it goes here sometimes, rain, rain, & rain.

I do enjoy the NBA playoffs, especially our local boys the Rockets. Been following them since we moved here in 89'. Saw them win most of both championships in 94 & 95. They've pretty much been in a drought since then. Oh, yeah, they've made the playoffs but haven't gotten out of the 1st round in forever. I think its the T-Mac curse. Some guys got it, other guys don't, the "take over the game" mentality and will to do it. Not sure if that guy exists on this years Rockets or not. We will see. Ron Artest thinks he may be that guy but he hasn't showed up the last two games. I'd like to think its Yao but he's not learned to dominate yet. Don't know if he will. Scola is impressive and if some of the other guys contribute, we'll see. Has anybody gotten the kind of calls that Brandon Roy seems to get and that Yao never seems to get. Come on!
The Mavs are looking impressive. Couldn't be happier to see the Spurs lose. Duncan's first ever first round loss if I heard correctly. Looks like it will certainly be the Cavs & Lakers. Not sure anyone can derail either. Game 6 on Thursday, yo! Go Rockets.

The media never ceases to amaze me with their hype. Surely a "pandemic" is coming they say. There's only been a few pandemics, which means a new serious flu strain that kills millions of people. The government already has a website out, that must mean its real. The big ones were the spanish flu of 1918, asian flu of 57-58, Hong Kong flu of 67-68, and some say the avian flu, but it never really made pandemic status. My thoughts, its the flu, albeit a new strain. Watch yourself, watch your kids if you got em. If they get the flu or you get the flu, take em in as a precaution. Try not to cough on people and wash your hands. Come on folks, use some common sense. Its unlikely millions of people are going to die. More will die in poor places where they don't have access to health care and medicines. Please don't start wearing a mask everywhere, it looks stupid and doesn't do that much anyway. Wanna talk pandemic, lets talk traffic fatalities which are holding steady at 40,000+ a year for the past 15 years. Hey, wear your seatbelt. Don't drink and drive. Watch out for the other guy. That will probably come closer to killing you than the swine flu. Hey, I'm thinkin pork chops for dinner, how bout you?

So I rant once in awhile, ;0)
de

My coworker Paul, sent me a surefire thing not to do if you want to avoid the swine flu.

Quiet Lately

I was going to say it was an ordinary week, but one might assume that its quiet or that there's nothing going on. I guess thats really opposite the truth. We continue to do construction on the building that was damaged during Ike. We ran into a bit of a snafu that has delayed our completion of the blue room for another couple of weeks. I may be able to tell you about that later. The rest of the building is pretty much done, all the classrooms are ready to be occupied, some already are the rest should be starting this week or the next. We've been without a regular slate of kids classes for some time. We started a makeshift lineup of classes several weeks ago but not in our regular classrooms. I know everyone is excited about having our building back.

The Lakewood Talent Show is this evening. We had our first one last year and it was a lot of fun. It will be the debut of our newly formed, Lakewood Praise team. With the go ahead from the elders, we've been practicing weekly for about 6 weeks. We'll sing a couple of songs at the close of the talent show. We sing live in the worship for the first time tomorrow. We are all excited about the opportunity to help make our singing the best possible. We'll not be standing in front but seated in the audience. Lord willing we'll not even really be noticed but if you are listening to hear your part, you'll be able to hear it better over the speakers.

Jared and I attended the Rockets/Blazers game last night and had a great time. The Rockets won. It was an ugly win, but any win is exciting. Nothing quite like the energy of a playoff game or Bowl game or something like that. The only down side was that pesky 20% chance of rain we had, on the way to the game, walking into the game (pouring), after the game on the way to my truck, and all the way home. I think it rained at least another hour after we got home. It was the wettest 20% chance I've ever seen but...we really needed it even though it rained 10 inches last Saturday, the wind came up right after and blew for days and quickly dried it out.

I'm sure there's more but I gotta go home now and get ready for the Talent Show.

Thanks for reading,
de

Amazing Instruments!

If you have any question about whether the human voice is the most amazing instrument ever created, you've got to see and listen to "The Voca People."

Who are The Voca People?
The Voca people are 8 friendly aliens from the planet Voca, a musical planet that has no verbal communication but use vocal expressions only. They have heard the music from earth for decades now and with their imitation abilities they have decided to pay a one evening tribute to humanity and to perform the songs they love as musical- gratitude.

This video is only a short clip, 3 min 15 sec, and is nothing short of...well...amazing! The costumes are kinda weird but the vocals are great.

Enjoy and thanks Wendy for passing that along.

de

Thought I Was Saavy!

All along I was thinking I was fairly computer literate. I realize its just electronic 1's & 0's on disk but I thought I kept up and was capable. I've run ethernet cable and connected the ends, make the connections and such. Actually, you don't really have to be all that saavy, just connect it up right and it works. Most stuff now has "auto detect" so all you have to do is plug it in.

I have antivirus, antispam, adware software that I keep up to date and run on a regular basis. I have a registry checker that does the same. Apparently that's not enough. Finally got a new modem late on Friday and everything checked out fine. Yeah. Pc had internet, wireless worked, everything...until...the dreaded until...I decided to upload new firmware for the router. Guess I should've left well enough alone. I won't bore you with more of my sob computer stories. The wireless is working...the bride says better and faster than ever...the pc...well not so good...the pc is actually fine...it just won't connect to the internet.

I just thought I was somewhat computer saavy....not! Doesn't mean I'll give up though.

:) de

It's Modem Wars Week!

Usually after Easter/LTC things kind of let down a little. Time to take it slow, relax and recover from all the busyness. Then on Monday night, who knows what time, Jared shows up in my bedroom, flashlight in hand, to inform me, "the power is out." He apparently calls the problem in and by the time I'm up, everything seems normal. Ah yes, the proverbial seems normal, except for the internet. It seems to be working....but extreeeemmmeeellllllyyyy slow. So I attack the problem for a few moments in between the office and my elders meeting. Ok, power down and reset everything, you've done this dozens of times before....and whalla...is that a word? Well, it wasn't whalla, it didn't work. Call Comcast...get them to do a reset and no whalla but at least the phones working again. More trys after my meeting and the phone works and the internet works when plugged directly into my computer but no wireless router which gives internet to the brides laptop and Jareds room.

So Tuesday, I go at it again, same stuff, no router. It must be the router....so its USR support time. Oh the computer and the router for some reason are conflicting and are trying to use the same IP address...time to reset...power everything down....and up...call Comcast for a reset...and no whalla...nada.

Well, I could go on. It's Thursday now...I even have a new Comcast modem at home...installed by tech...who declared it was my router...all is well with the modem...except for a few more hours on the phone with USR and resetting the IP addresses and all. Now...I've got no internet at all...not even when its plugged up directly to my computer....comcast now says it must be my computer...to get it checked...so I trump with Kim's laptop...oh now it must be my ethernet cables...or both computers....Somebody shoot me please.

This morning a friend at church says a comcast tech told him..."they are at war with their modems." Hmmmmm....me too. Not sure what the outcome will be. Still don't have the net at home. It's amazing how dependent we are on that thing. Sorry to vent my frustration but I've spent hours and I'm worse off than I was when I started. On top of that I might have to miss dinner with some dear friends cause I'm waiting on another CC tech to show sometime on Friday.

So...I'm taking office time to blog...and vent...and hope the modem wars end soon...so I can keep my sanity....yeah, yeah, I can hear your comments now...are you sure you were sane to begin with...well no...but it shouldn't be this hard. The modems are winning!!

Go Rockets,
de

James, via Astros County Blog

If you click the following link, you can listen to an interview with James, blogger for "Astros County" on United Cardinals Blogger radio that he did last night... You need to click on the UCB Radio Hour link. He comes in on the program at about 25 minutes in for those who don't want to listen to Cardinals jabber and the interview goes for about 20 min about the Astors. Very cool.

http://www.unitedcardinalbloggers.com/

direct link to the radio hour

de

It's Back!

Ah, the hectic pace of LTC week. During the rest of the year, most of what happens with LTC is fairly quiet, an occasional meeting or contract to sign or something but its mostly quiet. Then, after the first of the year it starts to pick up with hotel questions, that's my primary responsibility, dealing with the hotel contracts, details, setups and such. Then about a month beforehand activity starts to really ramp up to this week. Really, its a great week.

From the first time I set foot in Dallas back in the early 90's to scope out LTC I was impressed and thrilled with its purpose and how that culminates in the LTC Convention weekend. Even though its changed some over the years, I think LTC is one of best things the churches of Christ have going for them, the training of young Christians in the area of Leadership activity. I was going to say LTC teaches them...but the truth is LTC doesn't each them anything...parents and other involved adults...even some older teens teach the younger ones "to do something," to teach, to sing, to speak, or write, or puppet, or serve...well the list goes on and on. I really can't think of anything more practical or important for the future of the Lord's church.

So, this week, Easter week, its pretty much all about LTC. From tomorrow afternoon through Saturday night, there won't be all that much sleeping, or eating, or sitting, or anything except coordinating the Convention...and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. There's a bit of a downside to helping with all the coordinating and not getting to be all that involved with the actual kids and what they are doing. But I plan to stop in and watch from time to time just to witness those kids, doing what they do, for Jesus, their peers, and their parents. I can't wait.

cya,
de

Oh yeah, we get to see Noah and his parents who will come and spend part of the weekend with us!

Not Much of A Blogger Lately

I guess I could say I've been extremely busy (I have) or that I've spent every bit of spare time in the yard (some but not all that much) or that we've been traveling to some desirable getaway(not). I guess life has just been a bit hectic. Not to mention that I've been trying to help with our church rebuilding in my spare time, I volunteered some at the Shell Houston Open, and oh yeah...LTC is this coming weekend.

Oh yeah, we're prayerfully in the process of trying to add elders at the church too. All in all I'm feeling just a tad crazy with everything that's going on. LTC is quite enough to make me that way all on its own. And on the elder thing, I've been praying really hard about it, and I know that God will work it all out, but at the same time, I'll be getting some new bosses. I guess its my dual personality thing going on as both elder and preacher. Some days I'm not sure which I am and I know its an unusual thing for some folks to have someone as both. Some in fact don't like it at all. Oh well. God's in control, I know that. It's been a weird spring so far. It's warm for a few days, then a cold one comes rushing through at 40 mph and we're shivering all over again. Hope I can get some tomatoes planted soon. Guess I'll do that in my spare time.

Sorry for the rambling,
de

To Copy & Paste...ah yes.

With the apparent lack of time to blog lately I did take time to do this thing on FB after being tagged. So, I figure the ideal thing to do was to copy & paste. Boy that didn't take long. I only tagged Kim though cause I'm unsure about the whole tagging thing.

Copy and paste this into a new note and change the answers...If I tagged you, it means I want to see yours! Tag all the people you feel like tagging.

What are your middle names?
Ray & Denise

How long have you been together?
30 years this Dec.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
a few months

Who asked who out?
I asked Kim

Whose siblings do you see the most?
mine - hers has lived in SD for 10 years

Do you have any children together?
uh...yeah...3

What about pets?
Frazier the dog, 15 years old, mostly blind & deaf

Did you go to the same school?
Yep...then OCC.

Who is the most sensitive?
Hands down...herp.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
most...El Toro...favorite...Pappas seafood!

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Australia.

Who has the craziest exes?
there are exes? I thought I was the only one.

Who has the worst temper?
neither...we both avoid that kind of thing with all we've got.

Who does the cooking?
Cooking...what's that...me probably, but she does the dishes.

Who is more social?
Neither of us is all that social.

Who is the neat freak?
Uh...neither...although if there is one...its her.

Who is the most stubborn?
Gosh...is this over yet...we can both be pretty hard headed.

Who hogs the bed? (i understand she does not hog the bed, hey, its a king)
she does.

Who wakes up earlier?
when both at home...me.

Where was your first date?
The Oklahoma State Fair of 1977...a Ted Nugent Concert. "Catch Scratch Fever tour" really.

Who has the bigger family?
close fam...me...extended fam...hands down its her.

Do you get flowers often?
only when I do a funeral but sometimes I bring em to her.

How long did it take to get serious?
Is it serious? We try to keep it light...really. What does that mean? Maybe a few months...not all tha long.

Who eats more?
meep.

Who sings better?
she sings better alto...I sing better tenor/bass. We sing great together.

Who does the laundry?
today...its her...for the past few years it was me. We both do it. (i was corrected on this one)

Who's the smartest?
Herp.

Who’s better with the computer?
lol...meep!

Who drives when you are together?
Meep!

Who picks where you go to dinner?
either or...depends on if she's been out of town and for how long.

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
What? I hope meep.

Who wears the pants in the relationship?
I wear pants and briefs...she wears pants and panties.

Who has more tattoos?
Golly...my kids get those for us.

Who eats more sweets?
Herp, maybe...we try to be easy on the sweet stuff.

Who needs sugar when you're sweet to begin with...I know..yuch!

cya, de

Oh yeah, Elton John & Billy Joel was as good as any concert I've ever been too. 3 1/2 hours without a break. Nothing short of fantastic.

Concert Tonight

I'm anxiously awaiting this evening. Tonight my bride and I, and our youngest are going to H-town to see Elton John and Billy Joel together. Hopefully it should be some kind of concert. We've seen Billy Joel 3 times I think and he's one of our favorites by far. We had tix to Elton a few years back by himself but it was Easter/LTC Saturday night and we were just too pooped to go so we sent K&J & A&A. They said it was terrific. We are anticipating that tonight will be terrific too. So, we'll head in afterwhile, find something good to eat and head to the Toyota Center for a night of singing along with Elton & Billy and some terrific piano playing. That's all for now. Till the next time I'm on the blog.

cya,
de

And as always, thanks for reading!

Too Busy...Too Tired

Haven't spent much time at all on the computer over the past few days. Been too busy...too tired to do much of that. I've been trying to help around the church building with our remodeling project...which by the way is quite a big project. I wonder at times if we haven't taken on too much of it for our own good...we will see. This past Thursday and Friday afternoon I spent with Harold Allen trying different ways to get the old mastic glue off the floor so we could lay new tile on the floor. We did eventually get it to come off after varied attempts and with the right chemical it came up pretty easy...it was the getting it up and off that was the disgusting part. And labor intensive let me tell you. Thanks to a second crew who came in late Friday we did manage to get 1/3 of the blue room floor ready for tile. Then Saturday morning we spent laying that much of the tile floor. I'm still way sore from 4 1/2 hours on my knees laying and slapping tile around on that floor.

After our tile excursion I went home, showered, laid down for 20 minutes then drove to Kirbyville, TX where the STB quartet sang on Saturday night. Turn around to arrive home about 11 pm pooped. Then yesterday afternoon Kim's brother and fam came in to spend a few days for their spring break. In between all that other stuff we were trying to get the house back in shape for company. It still wasn't all the way back from hurricane Ike, so I helped the bride as much as possible to get it ready. Oh yeah, I preached yesterday and our Life group had a pounding party for Mike and his new bride. Boy it was a busy weekend.

Today is rodeo day. We're going to see all that is RodeoHouston and Darius Rucker as the Concert entertainer for the evening. Hopefully the rain is over and the sun will shine before the day is out. Not sure when I'll blog again...maybe after some rest. Right now I'm just too busy...forget the tired part...I'll rest later next week.

cya, de

Insurance Poor

If your like most Americans to some degree we're all insurance poor. We've got insurance on everything. Of course it is a good and necessary thing...say...when you have a hurricane blow by and it blows the roof off part of your house and the rain comes in a makes a terrible mess...and they pay. By way of the constant commercials on TV here in H-town, some insurances did not pay or people thought they didn't or something. Our insurance did ok...they did pay...maybe not as much I thought they should...but we managed to get back to where we were without having to put too much of our own money back in.

One of our biggest issues since Kim went to work as self-employed has been the health insurance issue. Never take for granted if you have access to group insurance. Once you don't have access everything changes...especially if you have any health issues at all. That's been our deal for the past 5 years or so. If you're diabetic like I am...insurance companies just won't write you any reasonable insurance for anything close to a reasonable price. So, if you can get it, its poor coverage and very expensive. So you make do the best you can.

Here's something pretty cool I found to save on ordering glasses. I know you'll think its just not right to be ordering your glasses off the internet and hopefully you have insurance that covers you and your glasses are cheap. I went for my annual eye exam...covered by the way...and had the lady give me a quote for glasses like I have, progressives no-line bifocals, lightweight, metal rims, no scratch, etc...almost $650 retail but I was to get 20% discount. So I went home with my prescription in hand and went to 39dollarglasses.com.

Yeah, you read right...I order my glasses via the internet. Got my $650 glasses for just a little bit over $200. Same glasses with everything I wanted and even got transition lenses too. So if you're insurance poor or just don't want to fork over that much for glasses, check it out. Yeah, I admit its a bit unnerving but everything is there you need to get it right. Maybe you won't feel quite so insurance poor and jilted anymore.

No, I don't get anything for telling you about it. I just know how I felt when she told me my glasses were going to be $500 with my discount...some discount.

Praying for rain,
de

Changes in Latitudes

Not all that much new or exciting going on at the Elhome lately. Not that there have not been some significant things taking place. The most exciting thing has been the change in latitude of our oldest kids Kami and James. They made a successful move from Lat 42.5 to lat 36.1, yeah. That's quite a move any way you compute it from north to south, NY to Tenn, Coop to Nash, above or below the MD line, its quite a change in latitude, probably in attitude as well.

A,A&N are getting ever closer to adding a C to their alphabetic lineup. Baby Cohen is coming along quite nicely and Lord willing he comes into the world in June. They are making room changes, added a hide-a-bed couch for mimi and pawpaw, planning to paint and who knows what all else. A nephew of mine Blaine and his wife Tamara are having a baby quite soon. Baby Anton is expected any day now. My sister, her first grandbaby, is beside herself with excitement, as I'm sure Blaine and Tamara are too. Jared continues to do his 12 hour thing at Lee college in the computer dept, work 20-30 hrs a week at BB, and well...that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for much else.

Kim's getting ready around the house for her brother and fam to come for their spring break week. It's really amazing that we continue to clean up and get things situated from hurricane Ike. Yeah, we're probably slow, possibly even a bit lazy. Then when you walk down the end of our street and see the 15 empty lots where houses were bulldozed, and other neighbors just getting their roofs replaced, and well many who haven't done anything yet, I guess we're doing ok.

We've been working in the yard over the past few days and continue to find storm leftovers. I'd sure like to be done with that thing. Someone from Florida told Kim that when a huge storm like that comes through that it affects the climate, weather, airborne stuff for a long time afterwards... that it literally can suck the moisture out of the air for months or even years to come...that it sucks up dust and stuff from far off places and dumps it here. It would seem to be so for this area anyway.

Lord willing we'll be selecting and affirming some new elders at the church before too long. That's good news. Our building remodeling is coming right along. Walls are back up and even painted. New kitchen area is taking shape nicely with all the work being done by members, a bunch of them. New ceiling and flooring has to be in works soon. Talk about changes...the bathrooms in the office building finally have solid walls again...yeah! They got wet from the storm and were torn out because of mold. The only thing covering the walls were sheets...for months...can we talk privacy here. Once in awhile the only option was to head home to go. Talk about a change in latitude. Now, we've got nice painted sheetrock and panelling back where it should go. Whoohoo! That's todays update...gotta go.

de

Blankness of Mind

In view of my blankness of mind today I submit a thoughtful but truthful collection of sayings about our government as we move ever more towards complete government control of our banking system, the auto industry, and ultimately socialism. Did I say that? Sorry.

de

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw

6. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

7. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. Will Rogers

8. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! P.J. O'Rourke

9. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. Voltaire (1764)

10. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! Pericles (430 B.C.)

11. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Mark Twain (1866)

12. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. Anon

13. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. Mark Twain

14. There is no distinctly native American criminal class...save Congress. Mark Twain

15. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)