Cough Cough

Joshua reading Luke chapter 2 before opening presents

Coughing is the lot of my life today.  My cold is worse from that point of view.  It has been a good day in spite of the cough.  We came to Henderson by way of First Monday Trades Day in Canton and then a doctor's office in Tyler to pick up a prescription for my mother-in-law.  We went by to take a Christmas present to my  mother and enjoyed a good visit with her.  She did not come to the door when we knocked so I went to the window and saw her playing her keyboard.  I tapped on the window and she looked surprised to see me.  Janie's parents are doing as well as can be expected. Janie's uncle Trenton is not well having had very little sleep last night.  

Playing a game with the grandkids

Tomorrow I plan to spend the morning at the TBI library doing research for my thesis.  I have a sermon ready for Sunday.  It is a New Years sermon that I preached 11 years ago.  Tomorrow afternoon I have a conference call with some tech people and I am trusting that will go well.  I have been learning new things about Internet databases.  I just wrote my first one and am about to tackle a second, more complicated, one.  I may later post a link to these two database programs so you can check out my handy work.  It is good to learn new things.  Between French lessons, thesis research, and websites my mind is staying busy.  On New Years day I am going to order a hard covered book of my 2010 blogging.  This completes my third year of blogging.  I plan to keep it going as long as I can.  God bless you. 

Rain and Fog

Joshua play with his sidewalk chalk

It rained today.  Janie and I overslept the alarm this morning and so we were a bit rushed getting ready for the arrival of the ladies Bible study group.  It was a good time as usual.  We are getting close to the end of the study of the end time events.  I have really enjoyed covering this subject with them.  I worked this afternoon as did Janie.  We stopped to head down to Lorena for services there.  It was foggy and raining so we had to drive carefully.  We had really good services. We have the boxes about ready to mail to Jason.  We will take them to the Post Office tomorrow.  It is going to cost a lot to send these two boxes but it is worth it.  I just wish we could carry them over ourselves.

Christmas eve 2010

Janie's father fell out of the bed yesterday and her mother had to call 911 for help getting him up.  He stayed in bed all day yesterday.  He did get up today and is still a bit confused in his mind due to some medication he was taking. We will go over there tomorrow night.  I plan to spend several hours in the library at TBI working on my thesis on Friday.  We need to stop in for a visit with Sister Davis if we can work it in.  My mother is doing well.  She spent Christmas alone turning down an invite from my older brother.  She is staying busy and seems to be enjoying her life.  It's off to bed for me.  I felt bad yesterday but much better today.  God bless you.

December 27, 1973

Janie and Paul the summer of 1973

What a wonderful service we had on Sunday morn.  The attendance was very low as was the outside temperature. Our attendance Sunday night was as great as Sunday morn much to my delight and surprise. I have undertaken the task of teaching lessons whose subjects come from happenings in the news.  The sound room man shows upon the big screen a video clip of some news event and then I endeavor to shine the light of Bible truth upon it.   The people of our congregation seem to love this new venue and have shown so by their attendance and obvious interest. I could not help but notice that many lingered after the service Sunday night and visited in the foyer.  This is a thing that brings me joy as it is a sign of harmony and brotherly love.

December 27, 1973 at County Line Baptist Church

I have been sick today.  I caught a cold over the Christmas holiday and felt very poorly today.  I slept little last night and just did not have the energy to get my work done.  I spent much time in bed and feel much better now. This is not the way I intended to spend this day.  It is the 37th anniversary of our marriage.  God has blessed me beyond measure with a good wife.  My sister, Jean, introduced us on July 11, 1973 just after the close of the Wednesday evening services at Calvary Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas.  I still remember the spot on the porch where we met.  I remember watching her during the service and how smitten I was with her beauty.  It turned out to be that her beauty within far excelled that without. I asked her to marry me on August 25, 1973 at the Lake Forest Park in Henderson, Texas.  She said yes and 37 years has gone by so quickly.  Having her at my side walking with me each step of the way has made the journey wonderful. She is still beautiful to me and I love her so.  Thank you Jean Farrington and Charlcye Taylor for getting the 2 of us together.  God bless you.

Christmas Day

Hannah loved her Pillow Pet

It has been a great day. I got a knife, bread machine, Some gift certificates, a flashlight/alarm clock, DVD player, among many other gifts. I enjoyed playing with the kids and Skypeing the ones in France. I enjoyed cooking a corn casserole, roast, and peas for lunch. It has been a Merry Christmas indeed. God bless you.

Christmas Eve Eve

I took the kids to Whataburger for breakfast this morning.  They all wanted pancakes.  We went to the bank and the church then back to the house where I made them chicken nuggets for lunch.  They watched a cartoon movie while I got a short nap. Come evening time I built a fire and sat by it until Sarah and Justin arrived.  We had supper and then visited out by the fire side until bedtime.  I had a little work to get done and with that out of the way and this blog done I am off to sleep.  God bless you.

Jonathan at Whatabuger.  He put a hash brown in his milk then poured half out trying to retrieve it.

Ruth and Hannah, breakfast at Whataburger in Hillsboro, Texas

Toasting Marshmallows over the fire

Joshua and me at Whataburger this morning.  Ruth took the picture.

Grand Indeed

Jonathan at Mcdonald's this morning

Janie came to bed about 5:00 this morning.  She stayed up wrapping Christmas presents.  We were awakened by the grandkids and so I got up and took them for a ride.  I gave Hannah a hard time about tying her shoes.  She is five years old and I told her that when I was five years old not only could I tie my shoes I was teaching my younger brother how to tie his. We went to McDonald's for breakfast and I let them play there for a while. We went to the church next where I needed to take care of a few things.  I have a bowl of candy in my Sunday school classroom.  The kids saw it and of course wanted some.  I allowed them 2 pieces each. After consuming these they desired more. I gave them a long biochemical speech on the function of the pancreas and how too much sugar may lead to type 2 diabetes.  They listened patiently somehow knowing that after Papa finished with his soap box he would put it away and yield to their desire.  They were right of course for their pancreases are the responsibility of their parents not Papa.  After our work at the church was done it was off to the bank and the Dollar Store.  I let them spend $2.00 each on toys there and then we returned home.

Hannah watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I made them spaghetti for lunch.  I was a bit concerned when Jonathan came up to me at the stove where I was making the spaghetti sauce and he said "I smell Hannah's socks."  If the sauce smelled like socks you  would not have known it by the way they consumed the meal. Grandchildren are grand indeed.

Shoe Tying 101

We had our usual crowd at services tonight plus my daughter's family.  Absent were Janie and Ruth.  Ruth had a temperature of 102.1 and so Janie stayed in with her and Elijah.  On the Wednesday night before Christmas I bring refreshments and after singing and prayer we have a fellowship.  We did that tonight and had a good time.  After getting the kids in bed the adults of our house watched a Christmas movie.  The last thing before heading for bed is blogging and now that's done.  God bless you.

Eclipse

Scott losing a game of table soccer to Hannah.

Stacie and Scott arrived Monday night and got settled in.  We went outside and started a fire in the fire pit and stayed up to see the lunar eclipse.  They got the older kids out of bed and let them see it as well.  We had a good time and slept fairly late this morning.  I took the kids to the post office and the grocery store.  At the grocery store Hannah kept asking me if I knew the person to whom I would speak.  I spoke to everyone in the store and each time the voice from beneath the cart would say "Do you know that person?"  When we got home we made fruitcake and homemade rolls.  I also made some hot sauce.  Janie went shopping with Stacie for four hours and poor old Elijah was really missing his mom.  The pictures below are some I have taken today. God bless you.

Jonathan playing with his Sidewalk chalk

Watching the lunar eclipse

Me and Joshua making rolls.

Grocery Shopping with Papa

It was 85 degrees today, the kids are shelling pecans.

Christmas Services

Flowers given to us by the Bible Study girls.

Janie and her mother working on Christmas cards

We had outstanding worship services today.  The choir remained in the choir loft during the sermon.  Tonight we had a good crowd for the Christmas cantata.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  I sang a solo entitled "Joseph."  I made it through it with only a couple of fairly minor mess ups.  The rest of the choir sounded great.  Janie and I will have a very busy day tomorrow finishing up some shopping and some chores getting ready for our company and the Christmas.  I will not be at the nursing home services tomorrow due to my busy schedule but will see them next week.  Well its off to work now. I will try to blog each day during the week to keep you posted how the visit with the grandkids is going.  I have a lot of activities planned for them.  It is going to be great fun.  God bless you.

Good Secrets

Janie and Hannah

I am certain that everyone has secrets.  I am talking about secrets that you will take with you to the grave.  Some of these involve bad things like sins you have committed or embarrassing moments you tell no one about.  Some are thoughts that you share with no one. Some of these thoughts would be considered bad and embarrassing.  But there are secrets that are good.  Things you have done and experienced that are godly, noble, joyful and which go unknown by those who are apart of your public life.  You never bring them up and never tell a soul.  These secrets will go with you to the grave.

Janie and Elijah

There are wonderful things that only I know.  There are wonderful things I have done and experienced that will never be known.  Part of what makes these secrets so wonderful is the very fact that they are secret.  If they were told it would diminish and degrade their value.  What helps them to remain concealed is the fact that it would be impossible to describe them.  Without a proper frame of reference or some commonality you simple cannot express such secrets.
I believe that God puts these secret things in our lives so that we may have a special relationship with Him.  God knows all my wonderful secrets having given them to me and shares them with me.  He knows what joy and satisfaction they bring. I thank God for my blessings.  I would guess that a full one half of my blessings are secret and will not be known by this world.

My mother and father would have been married 64 years this Sunday.  My father has gone to his "long home" (Ecc 12:5) and I wonder what wonderful secrets he took with him.  I wonder what joys he had but never shared and could not share.  I think that my life surely is not unlike his.  These secret blessings, though not the same as mine, must surely have filled his life as well.

Mother and I had a good day together.  I fixed her plumbing problem and took her out to eat.  After the work was done we enjoyed a cup of hot tea, a slice of  caramel pie and good conversation.  She gave me some homemade bread, a Bible in a wooden box, and also sent a loaf bread by me to the Taylors for their Christmas.  
Janie is working hard helping her mother.  We will be heading back to Hillsboro tonight.  God bless you.