Lacey's Surgery

Well its been a little while since I have posted anything. No excuse I just haven't done so.

We just got back from San Antonio, TX last week. Lacey had another surgery on her back and she did awesome. She is such a trooper. She had it on Sept 11Th and on Sept the 12Th was back at the hotel. I am amazed. She has not complained about pain and she has almost a 5 inch incision. The morning after surgery I tried to get her to eat breakfast and she said "dad I am not really in to hospital food" She always has a line.

We are preparing to possibly go to Seattle, WA to have surgery on her knees either in late Oct or early November. Tammy went there in May with her and they are almost certain she will be able to walk after surgery and therapy. She wants it so bad. Please help us pray we make the right decision. There is no question in her mind.

If it happens I will keep this blog updated.

Take Care and thanks for your prayers!

Two Grandmothers

This past weekend was Mothers day. It would one of the most unique mothers day for me!

One grandmother has been gone from this life for 24 years. She was such a great lady. A Godly woman who prayed daily and loved her family. She didn't have a lot of money in this life but she was rich in her faith in God. Her prayer warrior spirit is one of the reasons why four of her grandsons and a great grandson are ministers today. She only knew about one of them in this life.

My other grandmother is 88 and has outlived my father. March 15th of this year she fell and broke her hip. She had hip replacement surgery and as a result has been relocated to a nursing home to live the rest of her days. She is very confused and suffering from dymentia. She can no longer walk and is confined to a wheel chair. Her independence has been stripped. Just three months ago she was living on her own and enjoying life to the best of her ability. She is also a Godly woman who raised four children by herself.

Now the reason this was such a cool mothers day. I along with my mother drove 940 miles on Saturday and Sunday to see her for mothers day. My dads two brothers and sisters were also there. When we walked into her room on Saturday her eyes lit up.

The grave yard is about a mile from where the nursing home is located. So we went and put flowers on grannys grave and then went to see my other one.

I can't tell you the feelings that were racing through my heart.

I then raced home on Sunday to see the wonderful mother of my own children.

What are you doing with your Gift?

Have you ever really thought about what a GREAT gift you have if you are Spirit Filled? It is the coolest thing you will ever have in this life. I often take it for granted.

You see we are not exempt from trials and temptations but with the Spirit of Christ we are over comers. When the chips are down and we gather together with other believers and began to worship the one who created us we immediately began to fill the refreshing waters of the spirit drenching our soul.The trials and temptations began to fade.

The enemy likes to discourage us from coming together and worshipping. Without worship we will dwell on our problems and end up discouraged and quit the race.

So now to the question of "What are you going to do with your Gift"?

2 Timothy 1:6
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.


Luke 14:23
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

We have to compel people. Is it easy? No. I have been in sales for quite a long time and what you believe in you will sell. There has been product that I didn't like or believe in and I didn't sell it.

Once we are convinced about our Gift we can sell or share the plan of salvation. We have an awesome church as many of you do. Ask the Lord to help you share your Gift with someone and watch your local church burst at the seams with growth!

The lost needs your Gift!

Watch this video presentation from the Pentecostals of Salt Lake City, Utah. They are doing something with their Gift!

Sharing Their Gift!

I AM BACK!

Who would have ever guessed my last post would have been Jan 1st. What a busy year!

I have two explanations.

The first one is I like to tell stories with pictures and I sold my camera thinking I would upgrade to an SLR. Then I decided I liked my Canon S2 and I have been waiting on the S4 to come out to replace it.

Number Two: where has the past 3 and 1/2 months gone.

I started the year off with play practice for an Easter program one night a week until Easter. It was tiring but worth it.

I went to see my grandmother in Jan. to surprise her for her 88Th birthday. She fell and broke her hip four weeks ago and had emergency surgery. She is not doing very good.

My daughter had another surgery in Texas in February. I spent a week in the Lone Star State. She did great.

We have been doing a major upgrade to one of our company websites. So I have been spending a lot of hours on that.

This is the condensed version of the past three and 1/2 months.

A friend made me stop and think the other day that I am too busy. His statement was your talking to me but your not. So I am slowing down. Camera or no camera watch for a few posts coming soon!

P.S. When I finally decided to post I had to switch over to the new blogger. Then I decided to give my blog a makeover! What fun!

Happy New Year

I would like to wish everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year!

Old Barns

I love old barns! My grandparents as I stated in a previous
post had a 40 acre farm.One of my favorite things on the farm was the barn.

Barns come in all shapes and sizes. As we were driving through the mountains of Tennessee at Thanksgiving I took a few pictures of some barns. The first one I snapped I was going about 25mph because of cars behind me.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

Cozumel

Wow, how time flys. It's been twenty days since my last post. I have been really busy.Here are more pictures of my cruise. For those of you in the north you will appreciate these pictures right now!

Carol Jean

I took these pictures as we were leaving Key West on friday afternoon around 2:30PM. When I saw this fishing boat my mind begin to wonder. They were headed to port so perhaps they had been out most of the day or even days. I wondered where did the boat get its name? Was it the Captains wife or a lady of long ago? You can tell by the pictures that this vessel has made many voyages. What kind of fish had they caught? I was amazed at the big nets on the sides. If I could I would have interviewed this crew. What incredible stories they could have told about life in the Keys aboard the Carol Jean!

The Island of Key West

These pictures are of Key West and I took them on the top deck of the ship. It gives you a great view of the Island!

The red building is a museum and it just pops out of the picture.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The Gazing Ball

I took this shot on the pool deck of the ship. If you have looked at my previous posts you would have seen this complete piece of art. The reflection of this ball tells a story.

Ernest Hemingway House

One cool piece of history that I visited in Key West was the house of famed author Ernest Hemingway. There was a guided tour and you could just feel yourself stepping back into the 1930's. I love history so for me it was a highlight!

It was in Key West that Ernest would produce up to 700 finished words a day for nine years. That's amazing! No computer, no spell check, no book writing software just him and his type writer. You will see a picture of his second story studio.

Pauline his wife when he lived in Key West spent $20000.00 dollars on an inground pool. It had to be dug by hand and took over three years to build. It had to be filled with salt water because in the thirties there was no running water on the island. This process would take three days and it would last for five days and then have to be drained and refilled again. He was not happy so he took a urinal from the old Sloppy Joes and laid it down for a drinking pool for the cats to get even with her. She said THAT urinal has to go. He said get rid of your pool and I will get rid of mine. The vase that flows into it is from Cuba. The guide said the cats would not drink out of the pool. There is such a thing as a smart cat! There are 46 cats on the property that are the descendants of Ernest's polydactyl cats. Thses are cats that have extra toes.

There is a lot more to see and learn just go to http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/house.htm

The Key West Lighthouse

The Enchantment of the Seas

Day 1 Leaving Port

Cruising

My wife and I along with another couple went on a cruise together to celebrate our anniversaries . It was our 17th. Our ports of call were Ft Lauderdale, Fl , Key West , Cozumel Mexico and Ft Lauderdale. It was a blast! If you have never been on a cruise you owe it to yourself to go. I ate more food in four days than a man should. The weather was perfect except for some short showers. I will be posting a few pictures over the next few days I hope you enjoy them Please feel free to give me feedback!


Day 1 Waiting on the top
deck to leave the port!

Day 1 This is one of my favorites. I turned
around and here is this pirate holding
his head in his hand!

Day 1 We are headed out to Sea!

Golf Balls that go Splash

Have you ever thought of how ingenious a golf course is with all of the shots over water? It makes me wonder if the golf ball makers sponsor some of the holes. A dozen Titleist balls cost around $45.00 and one lousy or should I say challenging shot can cause you to lose a dozen balls if you so desire.

I remember a few years back I was on a course and there was the intimidating tee off over water shot. It was maybe a 250ft long by 150ft wide pond. The drive was not over the entire pond but the green was just off to the left enough for THE DREADED WATER SHOT. I squared my shoulders back to do battle with this little menace pond. You guessed it, plunk splash and it was gone. I said to the pond you want some of me and I pulled another ball out of my bag. Plunk splash just like the first one. I said to myself ok you have had it now pond and I pulled another ball out and plunk splash. After plunk splash number five I gave up and I am sure the little pond was laughing hysterically. By my calculations if I hadn't stopped I would not have enough balls to finish the course.

I watched and heard people at the Golf Tournament that I just photographed say I am out of balls do you have any extra. That last water shot did me in. It felt good to know I am not the only one who loses balls in the water.

If you think about it a Golf Course pond is like a wishing well at the mall only it cost a lot more money. Your not throwing in nickels and pennies but round dollars.

Now you may ask what happens to all of those round dollars when they land in a Golf Course wishing pond. I can assure you there is no lost and found to pick them up.

This is where golf ball diving comes into play. Jeff Lehman from Salt Lake City makes a living retreiving golf balls and selling them back to the golf courses.

The 55 year old Florida native collects 3000 golf balls a day and gets paid 6 cents each. Yes that golf ball that cost you $3 or $4 dollars now fetches a mere 6 cents and then will be marketed back to you again for $1 to $2 dollars. I wonder how many times some of those golf balls have been down to the bottom of the pond and sold over and over.

According to Lehman there are some in this line of work who have become millionaires.

While I was driving around photographing the Golf tournament I found one of those divers in the water and later on the shore. I wish I would have interviewed him because like Lehmen I am sure he would have some very interesting stories to tell.

Anybody for a game of golf?

Lehman's Story http://www.cdnn.info/news/industry/i050701.html

A Day out of the Office

I had the privilege of working out of the office this past Friday. We had a supplier meeting with our Ford Rotunda equipment division at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, Fl. There were around 150 in attendance. There were around 80 suppliers and 20 or so Ford team members.

I arrived Thursday night and checked in and the room was really nice. A big king size bed and a beautiful balcony view. We had meetings on Friday morning and in the afternoon there was a golf tournament. I had been asked to take photos of the days events by our marketing person. I drove around on Friday afternoon in a golf cart taking photos. Here are some of the days pictures. It was a great time! My favorite is the rainbow reflecting off of the fountain in the pond. I did actually take some pictures of the golfers but I took advantage of a lot of the beauty along the path of the course!