Back to Blogging

putting vinyl siding above the cottage addition

I have been too busy to blog this summer and now that the fall has arrived and things have settled down a bit I am plan get back into the habit.  The summer was spent with Jason's family being here in the States from France.  Before that I was busy with my doctoral thesis and am glad to have that project finished.  My book on the Song of Solomon will be the next major project.  I hope to have this project done by the end of the year.  You may expect to see pictures of that book here on this blog.  I hope to get a Kindle version of the book as well.

My mother and her sister Maxine last Friday

I am the clerk for our local baptist association.  Its annual messenger meeting will be October 6th and after taking notes of the meeting that day I will have to get the minute books printed and sent out.  I am also a clerk for our state baptist association and that messenger meeting is in November.  The work on that will not be finished until the end of December.  January is "remodel and paint the parsonage" month.  I plan to start with the master bedroom and bath repairing the cracked sheet rock and fixing the doors so they will open and shut properly.  We have lived here for almost 10 years now and it is way past time to fix the place up.  This will mean that the work on the cottage addition will be put on hold.

Justin and Naomi at her 1st b-day party

Tomorrow we go to baby sit Naomi while Sarah goes for a doctor's appointment.  When we finish up there we will go to Henderson to put flowers out at the graveyard and visit with my mother-in-law.  Its back to Hillsboro for Wednesday night services and then off to see the grandchildren in Hardin on Thursday and Friday.  Saturday should find us in Kilgore to see my sister Peggy and my mother for just a few minutes and then back home again for our Sunday services.  All in all it will be a busy week.  God bless you. 

Bye Bye

One last group picture of Jason and his family before goodbye

Over the tops of the heads of the people going through the airport security at a distance of about 70 feet we got one last look at Arianna, Lilia, Jason, and Angie waving at me and Janie.  I am sure that Arianna does not understand that we will not be seeing her for a very long time.  It was a sad moment.  At present we plan to make a trip to France to see them in the spring of 2014.  We enjoyed the summer with its many hours of grandchildren time. 

Arianna turns 2 Friday, we partied minutes before goodbye

With Labor day nearing our summer is coming to an end.  We are going to relax this weekend and then get back to our work on Sunday.  I have several hours of work to get done today and then Thursday its off to Canton's First Monday Trades day.  Friday will be spent with our mothers and Saturday its back to Hillsboro. 
Our church has bought a new 15 passenger van.  It is really nice and much quieter than our old one.  We now have 2 vans and are trying to sell our yellow school bus.  We took Jason and his family to the airport in the old van only because the back seat was already out of it making room for their 19 suitcases.  Janie and I went by Cabela's which is about 15 miles from the airport.  We enjoyed shoping and ate supper there.  We bought a few things and then fought the rush hour traffic in Fort Worth making it home safely. 

My mother-in-law with all 17 of her great grandchildren

I have the MBA of Texas church letter forms ready to print out.  I am going to try to get those in the mail early next week.  There are 277 churches in the MBA of Texas as of right now.  This number is down by about 30 from when I became the clerk.  That is a trend that I hope reverses this coming year.  The last thing we need is for churches to be closing their doors.  God bless you.

Accordance

Took this picture of Janie on Tuesday this week

I have purchased a new Bible software for my MAC Book Pro called "Accordance."  It is the best I have ever seen or used.  I am heavily into the Greek and Hebrew languages of the Bible along with the parsings and grammar of the original words of a text.  This software was written for a Mac and now that I have it my Mac is unadulterated.  I no longer run any programs in a "Windows" shell or environment.  Its all Mac OS X now.  I upgraded to the latest Mac OS and I really like it.
Janie and I have spent a lot of time this week visiting with various ones of our church.  On Monday I preached at the nursing home and took care of some business in town.  Tuesday we visited with the lady who runs the "Meals on Wheels" operation at our church to discuss some things.  We mailed the above picture off to a church in Palestine where Janie will be the guest speaker at a ladies event. We visited a couple who are members of our church that live in a small town north of Hillsboro. We visited at the assisted living facility here in Hillsboro where two of our church members reside. We returned there again today for a visit and then went by another of our church member's home for a visit and to take care of some business for our son Jason.  After a stop at the bank and post office we are now back home working away.  I just finished studying for tonight's lesson from Revelation and "Accordance" was a big help with that.  We will be leaving in the morning to head for Henderson to check on our mothers. 
I was sick Sunday night and for the first time in 17 years missed a church service due to illness.  I had migraine headache.  I had what I call a "Hezekiah" moment with the Lord in prayer (Isaiah 38:2) and he heard me.  My headache ceased completely at 6:47 pm Sunday.  It was the best headache I have ever had because it took me where I needed to go and it showed to me the glory of God.  God bless you.
 

Grandchildren 2012

Our grandchildren Summer 2012

Janie and I have 12 grandchildren and number 13 is due the end of January 2013.  We love our grandkids.  They are, one and all, good kids.  It would be nice to have that many grandkids and yet still have the energy that we had before any of them were born.
Janie has been working a lot lately and I have been busy.  The summer has passed quickly and it seems as though I have spent little time with my sweet wife.  I have a weeks vacation scheduled for mid October and plan to go hiking with my brother, Steve.  Janie will spend that week with her mother.  Our next vacation we will spend with each other.  God bless you.

Prayer

Our 3 kids with their youngests

Sense it is a fact that God is real and that He is a very present help in time of trouble it stands to reason that prayer is a powerful thing.  Everytime I talk to Janie I get a response from her.  Everytime I talk to God my heavenly Father I get a response.  When we returned from camp this past week I was very sick.  I woke up Friday morning about 4:30 nauseated and having the first of many bouts of diarhea.  I felt really bad.  We had a 3 hour drive back to Hillsboro and I dreaded it.  One of the boys in our group was also sick.  We made it home without any problem and it was an answer to my prayer.  I ran a little fever with it Friday night and all day Saturday.  My old back problem decided to rear its ugly head at the same time.  So between fighting the virus and the pain I was not having a good day.  I prayed and asked the Lord to help me.  He did.  By Sunday morning my illness was over and the pain in my back was gone.  I had plenty of strength to perform my duties on Sunday.  Prayer is a powerful thing.  Now some may argue that the virus just ran its course and that my back pain just responded to my laying flat on my back on the floor but I believe with all my heart that God heard my prayer and helped me. 

Our oldest granddaughters at camp

On Monday this week our missions treasurer had surgery and Janie and I went down to Waco to be there for it.  The surgery went well.  Today we made a trip to Palestine, Texas to see our daughter and her family.  We ate supper together and had a good visit.  I helped my son-in-law with some electrical work.  He is remodeling their kitchen and needed to have some electrical wires and fixtures removed. 

My mother in her new room talking with Steve

My mother called and was all worked up over having to move rooms.  She is now in room 5 and no longer in the secure wing of the nursing home.  I scolded the nursing home official for not giving us some notice so that we could be there to help in the moving process.  My brothers went to the nursing home and took care of everything.  The Bible says that a brother was born for adversity.   I was glad that my brothers were able to drop everything and get over there on such short notice to help get mother settled down and settled in to her new room. My brother, Ralph, sent me this picture.  My brothers were an answer to prayer.  God bless you.

The Test

Me and the grandkids at the Waco Zoo

The boys passed their test this morning.  Their behavior has been great and we have had a good time.  I took them to the park and let them stay as long as they wanted.  At 92 degrees it did not take long for them to want to go back the the A/C.  Jason and Angie will be here in just a few minutes and the kids seem excited about seeing them.  This afternoon I have some work I must get done so after hearing a report about camp I will head to the office. 
I will be teaching three lessons from the Song of Songs at church camp.  I will also preach Tuesday night at camp.  Camp is a really good time!  A little quiet time will be in order week after next and then 2 five day long revivals in August will be a good end to this busy summer.  God bless you.

Back to Blogging

Caleb copying Exodus chapter 20.

Well I just wanted to blog to let everyone know I am still alive.  Most people know this by way of Facebook.  It has been a busy summer so far and though Janie and I sleep in the same bed it has felt like we have seen nothing of each other this summer.  I go to bed around 11 or so and she goes to bed around 3:00 AM.  I get up and take care of grandkids while she sleeps.  I manage to get my work done in spite of the disruption to my schedule.  It has been good spending time with the grandkids and we have made some memories that they will not soon forget.  Jason and Angie are at church camp this week while we baby sit their kids.  We have had some fun with them and we have had some trouble as well.  The two older boys were scribes today.  They spent the day copying Exodus Chapter 20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5.  It was punishment for refusing to behave themselves.  It made for a quiet day for it took them all day to accomplish this task.  We will put them to the test in the morning to see if they have learned their lesson or not. 

Our Wednesday night class has really grown

This year has been unusual.  I have been stung twice by red wasps. I ate the hottest pepper I have ever eaten in my entire life. I got my doctor's degree. We had our whole family together at the same time.  We added two rooms to the cottage.  I lost a filling in a tooth and then fell asleep in the dentist chair before and during the filling of the tooth.  The dentist filled the tooth without gas or any deadening what so ever per my request.  I did not feel a bit of pain.  It was just odd to doze off while having a tooth filled.  I must have been really tired.  Our Wednesday night class has tripled in size this year.  I will become the second longest pastor Walnut Street Baptist church has had when I complete my 10th year this year.  2012 is truly going to be a year to remember.  God bless you.

Our Whole Family Together, including Sarah expecting our 13th Grandchild

Thesis, Done

Me at TBI turning in the rough draft of the thesis

The thesis is finished and the three bound copies have been turned in.  Time is no more abundant now than it was during the writing of the thesis.  Work of getting the book written, that will be the end result of the thesis,  now takes the front burner.  It is not a lot of work to get the book ready but it is tedious.  It took staying up all night to finish the rough draft of the thesis just so it could be turned in Friday Morning.  It required a trip to the store at 3:00 in the morning to get ink for the printer. It was fortunate that they were open and had the right ink cartridge in stock. Graduation is May 26th and I can't wait to hang that "sheep skin" on the wall.
My next writing project is a fiction novel entitled "Tribman."  I am really looking forward to getting that book published and I believe it will really help people to understand how things are going to be in the future here on the earth.  The Bible has much to say on the subject of the future yet many of the details of what life will be like on the earth in those days are vague.  "Tribman" will help the reader to understand what is about to happen and just how drastically mankind's life upon earth is going to be changed.  "Tribman" will be based upon the prophecies of the Bible.

My daily salad

Janie and I are on a diet which I expect to be on for the rest of my life.  We are eating almost no processed foods and a whole lot of fresh fruits and raw vegetables.  We eat mostly chicken and fish as far as meat is concerned.  I have lost 8 pounds and my blood pressure is down.  (I think the blood pressure improvement may be more about the thesis being done than the diet.)  Stress really does cause your blood pressure to rise!
The work of getting the cottage ready for our son and his family to live in while they are in Henderson this summer is going well.  We are adding a second bathroom to the cottage.  It will be a half bath to start with and later we will add the bathtub.  So far we have spent very little money on it due to the fact that my son-in-law let us draw from a large pile of treated lumber that he had accumulated while working in Henderson.  It has saved us about $200.00 so far.

Janie trimming the roses at the cottage

I enjoy working on such projects and the exercise is really good for me.  As a pastor I sit, study, and read a lot and that is not good for my health.  I have been offered help with this remodeling project at the cottage but have turned it down because I just like doing the work myself with Janie at my side.  I have learned over the years to be patient and to work smarter.  When I used to work with my father on such projects he would push to get the job done as fast as possible.  He would work from sunup to sundown.  I believe hard work is good and there is a time to push to get a job done but I also believe there is a time to relax and enjoy the work without the pain.

Janie and my mother at the nursing home

I go weekly to see my mother and she is doing well.  She says she is not going to attend the family reunion this year.  I personally think that it is a good idea that she does not attend.  The routine of the nursing home keeps her from being upset.  I took her to buy shoes one day and after visiting the 4th store and finding nothing, she was crying uncontrollably.   Last week when I went by to see her she was doing great.  She was smiling and happy the whole time we were there.  
It is good to be blogging again and I have a whole host of pictures that I will be sharing here in the weeks to come.  It was almost a month ago since my last blog.  Our 12th grandchild is due any day now and we are anxious for her arrival.  Her picture will be here and on my facebook page within a matter of hours after it is taken so stay tuned.  God bless you.

Ecclesiastes 5:3

Naomi sporting new hat

"For a dream cometh through the multitude of business..." (Ecc 5:3). 
I keep dreaming about my thesis.  I suppose when you have something on your mind all day long it is bound to show up in your dreams.  I dreamed last night that I found inside my thesis a massive number of citings which I had forgotten about.  Another look at it this morning revealed it was only a dream.  I did make good progress yesterday though my work was interrupted by a meeting I had to attend at the church property with the Hillsboro city manager.  That meeting went well and I got right back to work.  I have over 45,000 words in the thesis as of this morning and have 51 citations out of the 80 that is required.  Today my goal is to reach 60 citations and 47,000 words so I had better get to it.  I am beginning to run short on sources to cite so I may have to head over to TBI and check out the Library again.  God bless you.