Oh! It's Nothing....

In 1983 our family lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. At the time it was the fastest growing city in Oklahama. (In spite of the fact that their annual festival was the "Rooster Day" ??? .... no roosters around that I saw). We had a big yard that joined in the back with the other neighbors yards and no fences. That year we were into model rockets. We (er the kids!) had a lot of fun shooting them up then chasing them. But not Shane, he was off to the side building his own rocket. Now I'm not sure if you've ever seen a model rocket go off, but they're fast, scary, and they go high, really high. So here's Shane with some gift wrap tubing making a super-duper rocket. He puts one long tube on top of the other in the center and 3 or 4 shorter tubes around the bottom. Then he takes masking tape and wraps it all up. (Have you ever seen the Red-Green show?) The center tube is not quite straight where the extended tube meets, but hey, the masking tape holds it all together. Some of the neighborhood kids are enjoying the fun when they notice Shane building this "rocket". They start laughing and kind of making fun of him. "That homemade thing will never get off the ground!" Smirk, Smirk, Chuckle, Chuckle!

But Shane's not one to care, he's too busy building his rocket. Finally, it's done and it's time to shoot it off. Everyone gets serious as when these things take off they really fly, and this one, well, this one looks like it may go in any direction! Shane puts the rocket on the launch pad hooks up the rocket engine to the wires that lead to a launch button about 20 feet away. We all get behind garbage cans, or garbage can lids and wait for the count down. Now the kids are starting to laugh again, but then it's time. "....5, 4, 3, 2, lift off!" Whoosh! The unlikely rocket shoots up above the trees as we all look in awe.

"Wow!" Smiles break out on everyone's faces. "Did you see that" All of a sudden the heckling turns into admiration. Shane has the biggest smile on his face. It actually worked!

That's the way Shane's childhood was, always thinking, always inventing. Now cut to his adulthood. Shane falls in love with his soon to be wife and decides to make her a present. His brother Jason had gotten some carving knives for a present and Shane asked him if he could use them. The next thing you know he was carving an ornate Victorian style photo album out of wood!. Never having carved anything before it looked like a piece of art when he got done with it. In fact it was so good that it was accepted into a national Woodworking Show held in Detroit where it was displayed with only about a dozen other pieces of woodworking art under glass!

Last year I was over their home (Shane and Holly's) and Holly says to Shane "did you tell your father?" "About what?" he said. "Your patent". "You got a patent?" I said. "Oh, It's Nothing..." "Nothing! You're the only person I actually know that got a patent!" Since then he's applied for several patents and have received 4 so far. Here's the name of one of the patents: "Lean burn engine control nox purging based on positional loading of oxidants in emission control device" That's a mouthful.

Shane is a humble guy. He's a hard-working father, deacon at his church, a loving father, and still an inventor. College came hard for him. He worked his way through college and graduated on his own. Amazingly he graduated from a Christian college (unrecognized in the workaday world) competed against engineers from some of the finest college in the U.S. and today he is rated as one of the top research engineers at Ford Motor Company!

Shane and Holly haven't forgotten their roots and still remain humble.

Once again, I'm blessed by the Lord to have a son like Shane.

Oh, Happy Birthday Shane!

My Hero

Dad (Dr. Ray Elwart, 1926-1999) was one of those rare men of history. The ones you wish your kids would grow up to be, but who seldom gets the credit they deserve. Like most young boys, I grew up thinking my dad was the smartest, greatest dad alive. Dad was a person who wasn't satisfied with life unless it was for a purpose. And when he did something, he put his all into it. He had a zest for life that I've seen in few people.

When you grow up like that, you (meaning me) take that for granted. I thought that's the way all dads were. Dad was a family man, a tool and die maker, a cabinet maker, an usher at church, a builder for his church, a woodworker (built several houses), a boater, a boat-maker for Chris-Craft wood boats, an inventor, a hunter, the first in his family to go to college, an airplane/helicopter pilot, late in life (36) a college grad, a Chiropractor, the first in his family to become a doctor, a defender of free choice, a giver.

Dad had to work hard for everything he had. Nothing came easy for him. Try to imagine going to college after being out for 18 or more years, with a family of 5, going to school for 7 hours per day 5 days per week, working 30 hours a week, studying for those 35 hours of classes per week, plus raising a family! He became a Chiropractor because after making the rounds in the medical arena with no success with his sleeping sickness, he finally found something that helped him. And dad's response to his being helped, he wanted to help others.

Looking back now, helping others was what dad did. Maybe because he grew up poor, or maybe because he had to help raise his youngest brother (his mom died when his brother was born), but whatever it is, he did it for the rest of his life.

When I was a child, kids my age played "war". It was only a few years after World War II, so that was what we did. When I asked about what dad did in the war, he would say with a somber voice, "the war was nothing fun, and nothing to talk about". Boy that put a damper on me. I wanted to know about all the exciting and dangerous things that went on! But I was never to know until....

... my children got older... maybe in their early teens. One day one of the boys were talking about how grandpa was in the war and he did...."where'd you hear that I said?" "from grandpa." "When?" "He told us about when he was in the war." Boy was I surprised! That had to be 30+ years since the war before he even talked about it. Come to find out, dad's job in the army was to go with some guys at night time and pick up the dead bodies and parts and bring them back to be taken care of properly! No wonder my mom would tell me that dad use to wake up sweating with nightmares! All my life I thought my dad was a Private. It wasn't until I went to look at the stone on his grave that I found out he was a Corporal!

There was a lot of things I didn't know about him, but what I did know could fill volumes of books. Things like how he would give shelter to his relatives when they were having problems at home, or when they needed money, or how we went to an out-of-practice Chiropractor to encourage him to get back into practice with an offer to help him in any way (including financially) to get back into practice. This Chiropractor did go back into practice, became very successful, bought a beautiful home in an exclusive area of Farminton Hills, travelled and eventually retired in the Virgin Islands. Dad would spend his waking hours, taking care of patients who came to him as a last resort after everyone gave up on them, and helped them to regain their health (often for little or no money), and going to other doctors to encourage them to let the world know about chiropractic. Whatever would help others, dad and mom were there.

Time after time, I would see patients get well after other methods failed, only to have the patients benefits denied (meaning the payments to dad) because the local MD didn't like Chiropractic. But dad still took care of them. He'd get so disgusted with close-minded people. "don't confuse me with the facts", he'd say. He cared more that people would get help than if he got paid. Many times he would tell me, "you take care of the patients, and you'll be taken care of".

When I was in college there was a couple years (at least) that I had to be an embarassment to them. I looked like a "hippie", and when mom and dad came to visit me, they just loved me like I was the best thing that ever happened to them. Looking back now, they remind me of how God loved me even when I was awful. There was nothing that I did for them to be like that, but they just loved me anyway. All the time I thought I knew better than dad.


I wish that I would have spent more time trying to find out why he did the things he did. I wish I would have supported him more during my stupid days.


Fortunately, as I got older (a lot older) dad got wiser :) and I became, well, a kid again, he became a great man to me again. The last several years of his life were a blessing to me. We had a good relationship together again, finally.

You know, they say that Babe Ruth became great because of his home runs and his record lifetime batting average of .711 , but he also struck out plenty too. Dad had his strikeouts too. When he was down, unfortunately, many of his friends abandoned him. Like Babe Ruth, at the end of his career playing in Yankee Stadium ("the house that Babe Ruth built"), Babe Ruth was offered a job as manager, not of the Yankees, but as the manager of a farm club team! When dad died after having a massive stroke (I think it was a broken heart), many people came to honor his life. I wish they would have been there for him when he was alive. (for that matter, I wish I would have been there for him all of his life).

What did dad bring to this world? A loving dad, a husband who believed once married always married, a giver. Because of him we have about 25 Chiropractors in our family and friends who by this time have given care to tens and tens of thousands of people so they can live a better life. He gave me many of my values, and my childrens, and my grandchildren. He in part was responsible for keeping Chiropractic alive during times when Chiropractic "wasn't cool".

Dad was a giver... and that's why he's my hero!

Don't Be a Myth Truster - RATR

It seems like most have heard about that great little song we used to play, "Ring Around the Rosie", it turns out the myth says that this cute little song is about the bubonic plague !

Ring Around the Rosie
Where did the children's rhyme Ring Around the Rosie come from? Does it have any meaning? Or is it just a nonsense rhyme?

Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posiesAshes, ashes

We all fall down

The common folkloric explanation is that this is a rhyme about the bubonic plague. "Ring around the rosie" refers to buboes on the skin. "A pocket full of posies" refers to flowers kept in the pocket to ward off the disease. "Ashes, ashes" is a reference to death, as in "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The common variant of the third line, "Atishoo, atishoo," is a reference to sneezing and sickness. Finally, falling down is a representation of death.

A neat tale. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support it.

The earliest printed version of the rhyme is from 1881, some 225 years after the last great plague struck England, and some 550 years after the Black Death of the 14th century--the outbreak most commonly associated with the bubonic plague. For the folkloric explanation to be true, the rhyme would have to have remained underground for over two centuries, defying the efforts of numerous recorders of folklore, and then finally appear in the form of a children's nursery rhyme. Words and phrases can remain underground a long time, but not that long.

But the most convincing evidence against the plague explanation is that the earliest versions of the rhyme are different, and are less subject to the plague interpretation. The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose from 1881:
Ring-a-ring o' roses,A pocket full of posies,Hush! hush! hush! hush!We're all tumbled down
This version appears not so much as a story about death and disease, but rather about falling asleep after a day of picking flowers.

The rhyme appears almost simultaneously in America, published in an American book of children's rhymes in 1883. In that book, Games and Songs of American Children, William Wells Newell claims, that the following version was common among the children of Massachusetts in 1790 (although he provides no evidence to support this earlier date):

Ring a ring a rosie,

A bottle full of posie,

All the girls in our town

Ring for little Josie

Newell also published a different version of the rhyme, one that explains the falling down line and he provides some commentary on how the children played the game and what the words mean:
Round the ring of roses,Pots full of posies,The one who stoops last Shall tell whom she loves best
Newell comments:
At the end of the words the children suddenly stoop, and the last to get down undergoes some penalty, or has to take the place of the child in the centre, who represents the rosie (rose-tree; French, rosier).

Many other early variants exist. Few, if any, can be interpreted to refer to the plague.
OK, so if it's not about the plague, what is it about? Well, most likely it is simply nonsense, like Hickory, Dickory, Dock or the cow jumping over the moon.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ian Munro, who has compiled most of this information in his own web site. That site contains a lot more information on the subject, including a more complete list of variants

Check this site out for a Myth that was Trusted turns out to be a Myth that is BUSTED!

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth/RATR/ring.html

Not sure if you knew this...

I was over Shane & Holly's last night with the girls. Shane & Holly invite us over or come over almost every week. It's such a joy to spend time with them and with their boys. The other day they asked me to come over as they were having a yard sale. As I pulled up the boys were sitting in a little wagon hooked to the lawn mower. "Papa, would you give me a ride on the lawn mower?", little Spencer said. How could you deny him, so we did and had a fun time riding around the yard bouncing around and hearing them laughing.

Often you hear grandparents say how they really enjoy their grand children, sometimes even more than their kids. It is true that grand children are... well, GRAND!, but to be honest with you, I've always loved my kids as much. For some reason, today was thinking about a construction project years ago. We were adding on a bathroom and laundry room and I was nailing plywood decking on the floor. Now my boys were running around watching me, and said, "dad can we nail?" Well, I was trying to get the job done, but they asked again, "dad we want to nail". So I stopped what I was doing and said, go get a hammer. Boy were they eager and all ran to find a hammer or some blunt object to help me out with. They sat on the decking and just started nailing away! There was one problem, they didn't have a clue on how to hammer a nail and were bending the nails, and before you knew it we had a dozen or more nails in various stages of nailing on the deck. I don't think one of them was over a stud!

"Whoa! Let me show you how to hold a hammer. Don't put your hand close to the head, put it back down the handle further. Keep looking at the nail and then try it." I'm thinking that I need to get back to work and get this done, but then an amazing thing happened. They started learning how to hammer correctly, and before long they were actually "hitting the nail on the head" and helping me finish the floor. You could see in their eyes the satisfaction they had of learning a new useful thing. I wouldn't have traded all the gold in China for that experience.

I miss those times and many others when we worked together on various jobs around the house.

Anyway, if you're married and are contemplating the right time or circumstances or financial accumen to determine when a good time to have children is.... let me just tell you... the time is NOW. If you are privileged like I am to have children of your own, you will be blessed beyond compare!

Thank you Lord for my quiver full!

As They Say...

years ago, I started using the phrase.... "As they say".... and filled it in with whatever seemed appropriate, such as:

"As They say in the pants factory... let her rip!"

or "As They say in the glass factory ... let's get crackin!"

or "As They say at the eye doctors ... I'll see you later"

and other such memorable phrasess like that :)

So, not to let you be devoid of that pleasure, you'll see them on the top of this blog from time to time. But not to have you be left out, how about leaving a comment with one of your "As they say" phrases?

And one more thing, I need a word or words for these types of phrases. Maybe you could suggest one and I'll post them here

Thanks!

A while back I wrote about my baby daughter Joy.
I have to be careful not to overdo it so the rest of my children don't get upset! Of course, she's not a baby anymore. I pretty much gushed about her in the previous article, so read that to see what that's all about.

When Joy comes in to the room, it lights up. She has that outgoing personality that makes you just want to know her. She has a real love for missions work and is working now to get the money to go on a trip to Mexico. I love her bubbly nature.

Joy and Sher continue to remind me each day that God is good, He watches over us and takes care of us.

God bless you Joy, and happy birthday!

Leeeenda

After Linda was in China for a while, I asked her if she could speak any Chinese. "Leeeenda", she said is the way you pronounce my name!

Tomorrow is my oldest sister Linda's birthday. I wrote about her in a previous article: http://delwart.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-could-i-forget-joy.html

I was in Chiropractic practice with her for about 4 years until I retired and she moved to Zigong, China to practice in a hospital there. I always looked forward to going to work with Linda. As a brother I especially enjoyed giving her a hard time. "Just trying to keep you humble", I'd tell her. But actually she humbled me. When I got real sick a few years ago and was in the hospital and unable to work she just said, "don't worry about your patients, I'll take care of them for you and just give you the money like you were there"! And so she did for several months.

We enjoyed our work and discussing Chiropractic and life in general. I sure miss those times, but I am so happy for her! She has an astounding practice in Zigong. People wait in line for her office to open. They push and shove to get in first. Since she has been there she's been on TV a few times and have been followed around for a documentary honoring her work there. You see, the Chinese people see her as something of a folk hero. Someone who has come to China not for financial success, but to actually help them get well. From the people I've met, the Chinese people are all about financial success, so when someone comes along that isn't in it for the money, it makes big waves.

Whenever I think about how her life has turned out, it makes me smile. I'm so thankful for how the Lord has worked it out in her life.

I look forward to seeing her when she comes home to visit this winter.

Happy Birthday Sis!

I have to give her credit!

This coming week is my daughter-in-law Amy's birthday. I remember when Amy and her sister used to come to church with their own unique dress style. They had a unique look, and to tell you the truth, they were way ahead of their time.

It wasn't long before Joshua decided that "she's the one for me" and told me he was going to ask her to marry him. They seemed to be a perfect fit and I was glad for them. Now if you're a Christian parent you know that you want your child to marry another Christian. Okay, they passed that test (not that it was our decision to make), but if you know the Elwart's they come from a family of Chiropractors (25 or so and counting!). Our kids were all born at home, never had any medications at all except 1/2 aspirin when Sher had a high fever, and I think an antibiotic for Joy when she had a tooth problem. So the next thing was what will she think about Chiropractic? After all, they will probably have children and how will they be raised?

My older boys sat us down and told us not to "lecture" their girl "friends" on Chiropractic, so we didn't. But after they got married, guess what?... They had to talk about it. Amy came over to our house and we talked to her about Chiropractic and she went home and thought about it. I don't know exactly how she came to accept Chiropractic, but she did.

That's a tough decision to make in a society that has blinders on about anything other than the "way we always did it". It took a real paradigm shift to look beyond what you've always known, and look at the facts and not the myths.

Accepting Chiropractic as part of her life was a good thing to me, but the greater thing was that she looked at the facts and made that decision. Why is that a good thing? Because with that mindset I know she will look at life not through a filter, but look at it honestly, look at the facts and make a decision based on it. That will be good for her and her family.

Amy and Josh have 3 daughters and are consistent in raising them up in the way they should go. It's a lot of work raising children in a Godly way, but it's worth it, and you can see the results in their girls.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Isabelly!

She's so cute! Isabelle's 6th birthday is Monday. When you see her you just want to hug her! She's sweet and quiet around me. This summer her and her family went to her uncle's farm in Kentucky. Her uncle taught her and her family how to ride a horse and even back it up.

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

He's All Boy!

Zachery turned 8 this week. His dad tried to bring him up tough. Always throwing the ball at him at full speed, not letting him slack off. He does have great talent and is a fast runner. He catches, throws, runs like you'd want a guy to do.

But when he's around me, he's polite, quiet, and respectful. When he was real little, I think about 3 years he and one of his sisters were kidding each other. Now I have 15 grand children, but I had never seen a little kid kid! I didn't think they were capable of comprehending kidding, but they did!

Zach's mom Liz told me that he tried out for Little League and wanted to play in the outfield so he could "dive for the ball".

As Zach grows up, I'm looking forward to see what the Lord has in store for him. The path he's going, and the way his parents are raising him, I believe he'll be a blessing to us all.

Right now, though, I'm looking forward to seeing him play in little league!

The Good Guy Won!

When my boys were living at home (6 teenagers at once), we used to watch games together. They would be for the team that was the most proficient, and I was for the team with the best attitude. The most proficient team usually won. Alas, it's not right, but that's the way it was.

Last night the end of American Inventor awarded a million dollar prize to the person I thought that had the best attitude. The show was about a bunch of inventors that worked their way to the top 4. Each one had an opportunity to develop their product and present it to the judges each week. Each inventor was passionate about their invention. But as the end drew near, the attitude of each person became clear. One man invented a game (a pretty cool one... Word Ace), and the man developed it because he was trying to help kids learn to spell. But it seemed that as he drew closer to winning he got a little cockier. A few weeks back you could see a little cockiness start coming out, but hey what do I know. Last week when the announcer asked him how he was doing, the guy came back with "Well, wouldn't you like to know!?" ???? hmmm, well, okay, then when the guy asked him to announce his commercial he had made, the inventor said, "Wait a minute, it's not my commercial, it's our commercial" ??? But hey, he was probably under a lot of pressure and just wanted to express that it was a team effort, right?

On the other hand, one of the young inventors had made a bike that a 2nd person could ride on. It was an interesting invention, but the inventor responded to questions by saying pretty much that it was all about me.

The guy that won though was the one I thought should have won. This man had lost his daughter in a car accident, and it troubled him so much that he invented a car seat that swiveled in a crash. His attitude through the whole thing was humility. It was all about saving lives. Every time he spoke, it was "thank you", "please help save childrens lives", "it's up to you America", etc.

Well, at the awards last night, the Word Ace guy came in 2nd and he really revealed his real attitude. He was ticked! You could tell that he thought he had the prize, but was a sore loser. One of the cool things I liked about this show was that all 4 of the finalists actually won. Each one, had some company that came out and offered to let them work on their invention. The Word Ace guy had the vice-president of Hasbro (you know, Monopoly, Scrabble ) offer the inventor to come to their company and work with their development staff for several months. Now that was a great consolation prize but the Word Ace guy was not the same enthusiastic guy gushing with praise on every one he met. I saw that and I was glad he lost, but I think the guy didn't have a clue why.

The winner, of course, was very happy. They asked him to say something. He stopped, thought for a moment and said in his humble way, "Thank You America".

It was a perfect ending.

...neither are your ways my ways

12" = 1 yard
4 quarts = 1 pint
125 inches = 1 mile
2 + 2 = 5

I was getting a haircut today (3rd one in a year!... a record for me), and I was listening to a man in the chair next to me. He was telling the barber that he was glad that they finally came out with the Judas book. "Finally a book that gives Judas the break he deserved. Even Jesus told him it wasn't his fault as he didn't have a choice"!

... "if I were god, I wouldn't punish people for bad decisions" is the attitude some have. It seems like we always know better than God, how to be God. I think it's our sin nature, it' our rebelliousness talking. What we may really be saying is that we won't hold anyone accountable for wrongdoing because we don't want to be held accountable for our own wrongdoing.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

If we only could run the world, "we'd all get along".... right! Each one of us using our own standards for what is right and wrong would be a disaster. Imagine building a house with everyone have a ruler that measures different. One ruler is 5" to a foot, another is 8" to a foot, etc.

It doesn't really matter though, because the only standard that matters is God's standard. He's not taking a poll to see how we'd do it!

Happy Mother's Day

Proverbs 31

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate

Complimenting one another

Now if you know the Elwarts', you know we're wild, loud, and crazy people. Hearts of gold, but impulsive and quick-decision makers. That's a good thing sometimes, but other times, well.....

In our month of birthdays (10 so far), today it's Jennifer's birthday. Jennifer came into our lives when Sher, Jacob, and Scott were going to Inter-City. Whenever their group would get together, they'd go to the "Orchard house". One day Scott didn't join them, and Jacob "made his move" and started seeing Jennifer as more than just a "friend". Eventually they got married.

Jennifer is quiet, Jacob is not. Jennifer is a careful planner, Jacob was (notice I said was) not. Jennifer was a careful buyer, Jacob WAS not, etc. Now that they've been married about 7 years you can see how they've "worn" on each other. It's pretty cool really. I've seen some positive changes with Jacob as he pursued his degree in accounting, and now as he pursues his Master of Divinity. Jennifer has been good for him! ... and hopefully vice versa.

I believe they compliment each other, and that seems to be the makings of a good marriage.

Happy birthday Jennifer!

"Glorifying God by training men to fulfill the Great Commission"

Last night I went to the commencement exercises for the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park.

It was great to see some of my friends graduate from a long and arduous task. That night the wife's were also honored and stood alongside in the greeting line after the services. Congratulations to Ben E., Jay S., Matt O, Jeremy P., John A.!

Now I only knew a handful of the graduates and it was kind of awkward going through the line congratulating people that I didn't know and they didn't know me. After congratulating one of the graduates, he looked at me puzzled like "who are you?". Reading his mind, I quickly assured him with, "I'm with the bride's side of the family!" :) Phew! That went right over his head, but that's okay, as I was helping prepare him for his ministry with people like me that didn't have a clue!

Another blessing of the night was to talk with some of the seminary professor's. They are a rare, dedicated breed of people. Working at Inter-City a few years back, I had the privilege to get to know some of them. They are serious about their work, but amazingly are still personable. I consider it a joy to know them and appreciate them allowing the Lord to work through them.

My Chinese sister

er... my sister in China.

My sister is a practicing Chiropractor of 25+ years and is now in practice in Zigong, China. China just had a 1 week national holiday so she went to Tibet on vacation. It was good to hear from her. I've posted some pics of where she went. Boy is it beautiful!

Here's some excerpts of us on instant messenger

Linda: It was so breathtaking and beautiful!
Dan: Where'd you see the Panda?
Linda: At Wolong Panda Center. I have over 400 photos. I took these with my Nikon camera that I bought before I left. Words don't describe God's magnificence. How beautiful it was!
It was great to have a snowball fight. I was over 4000 meters in the mountains
Dan : I'll bet the air was fresh
Linda: Oh fresh plus I could see blue sky, and the stars at night were a treat also.
Dan: How was the food?
Linda: Good because a lot was Tibetan
Dan: Which is what?
Linda: Lamb, beef not as spicy. Mountain food.
Dan Mountain food?
Linda: Yes they need protein to live on the side of the mountain.

She'll be posting more info on her blog.. http://360.yahoo.com/drlindama

Austin

Austin started out as a wee little baby. He was way undersized when he was born. There were some tough times for he and his parents, but lo and behold, today he turns 7 years old!

Austin's dad is an inventor and Austin is just like him. It was funny going over their home and Austin would be walking around with a pencil and notepad before he could even read. Jotting down his ideas and inventions.

One day Austin said to Shane, "hey dad, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" And he proceeded to talk about some invention in his mind. Always thinking, always asking questions. I've never seen a boy like that.

It's pretty cool watching your children raise their children. It's really a blessing to see.

So, I called Austin today to wish him a happy birthday and asked what he was doing. "Oh, we're just riding our bikes, and we made a hovercraft!" A hovercraft, I said, how'd you make that? "With wood and paper and plastic" he said matter of factly. "We used all the duct tape up"

I'm looking forward to seeing what life's adventure will bring him. :)

p.s. Just came back from Emily's birthday party and found out that the hovercraft REALLY worked! Shane found the plans on the internet. Somehow he hooked up a leaf blower to it and it held Shane up! So I guess they all tried riding on it..... You can't buy that in a store! The thing that cracks me up is that Austin and Brandon were so nonchalant about it. "Oh, yeah, of course we built a hovercraft... doesn't every kid?" :) :)

Emily

My son and his wife took a job in Delaware several years ago and after the job was over, they moved back to Michigan with their daughter Emily.

Emily and her mom Amy spent a lot of time together, as they were in a strange town and so when they returned, little Emily was quiet, soft-spoken, but talked like an adult (not in a bad way, just used to talking with adults). It was hard to get her to talk to you as we and she didn't know each other very well.

Time passed and little by little she started talking to me without being told to. She's such a sweet grand daughter. It's such a joy watching her grow up into being a young lady, playing piano, watching her get through school. I'm grateful for the love and care her parents have given to raising their 3 daughters.

This week Emily is 11. The years have passed quickly. We're looking forward to seeing how the Lord will work in her life.

Happy Birthday!

Love, Papa

The Mother of all rummage sales

My friend Bob emailed me and wanted to know if I wanted to keep him company today while he took his wife to a rummage sale. Sure, I answered back. So we went to the biggest rummage sale I have ever been to in my life. It was in a Methodist church in Birmingham. First of all, this was a HUGE church and I mean huge. There were multiple floors of stuff, and people scurrying around with garbage bags overflowing with who knows what. I was awestruck!

After I had enough, I sat down by the front door to relax. The next thing I knew people were bringing us their bags and trying to hand us money and having us watch their bags. One of the workers on the other side of the door came over and told me to help this lady put her clothes in a garbage bag! So, I got up and started putting her "deals" in the bag, and the lady said, "hey! if you're going to do that, I'll just go get some MORE stuff", and left me to finish stuffing her bag!

Bob and I had a good laugh as people were trying to get us to work there. We had a good time about it, and finally left after Bob made sure everyone had the bags we were watching. Who would have ever thought I would have spent some of my day working at a rummage sale!

What a laugh! :)

Thanks Bob & Suzette!

Oooh Rah!

I remember walking into the room seeing my dad after he got out of heart surgery several years ago. My first impulse was to wrap my arms around him and tell him that I loved him. He was so vulnerable and we needed him so much! It was a rough road he had to haul after that, but dad was a fighter.

It's funny how the things we have in life are so much more precious when you know you may lose them at any moment. Your day begins and ends thinking about it.

One of the great memories I have is the times when my dad use to take Jackie around and spending time with him. Dad was proud of him and would be even more so as he served our country. They did have a lot in common.

Tomorrow (May 2nd) is my son Jackie's birthday. He's the Marine in our family and for us guys represents the "good guys" we always pretended to be when we were kids! He's everything good about America... strong, independent, patriotic, and yet when he's with his family, sensitive and caring.

You hear the words recklessly thrown about on the news... "we support the troops"... what does that mean? Does it mean were behind what they do? Does it mean we're behind the people that command them? Does it mean that we don't begrudge funding them with whatever is necessary to do their job right? Does it mean that we're not constantly 2nd guessing their leaders at every chance we get? Does it mean that we are doing everything we can to help them achieve their objective with as little casualties as possible? I hope so.

My teenage years were the start of Vietnam. Although my draft number never came up, I wonder what my life would have been like if it did. Today while I was at home enjoying the freedoms that I barely appreciate, I had no fear of going out and being blown up, or shot at or for some getting beheaded. Yet, while you and I were at work or at home, my son was at work practicing what he needed to do to help keep that freedom. Some of his conversations were probably on some of his buddies that had just returned from war, or were just going into war, or it may have been about someone that was lost in battle. It seems so strange that as we go about our "normal" lives, his life and the lives of millions of others who have gone before him dealt with putting their life on the line.

It was only a few months ago, that he was constantly in our thoughts and prayers as he served in Iraq. Many nights I was burdened for his safety and the safety of his buddies that were there to bring freedom to a people that were killed and tortured by their leader. Our family travelled down to North Carolina just to welcome him and his buddies back. It was such a joy just to see his face as he got off the bus to return back to the base. You could tell it must have been bewildering to be one day being shot at and being aware of every little creak or groan, or suspicious face, or new dug up dirt in the road, to ... "hey, let's go have breakfast at Ihop!".

But lest I digress, Jackie, like the other Marines always downplayed the importance of what he did. "It's just my job", he'd say when you tried to make him out a hero (like he is).

Jackie being in the Marines brought into focus how fortunate that we live in a country where there are people that put their life on the line for our freedoms....and ask for nothing in return.

I'm thankful for Jackie, for his service, for being my son, and for the privilege of knowing him.

Cheryl, Sharon, Sherri....no.. it's Sher!

Little did we realize when Sher was born, what a blessing she would be in our lives! Now we had 9 children and each one is special in their own way. There's not one of them I could live without. Read How Could I Forget Joy? to get a little background.

Sher is a one in a billion person. She has qualities that any person would desire. She's loving, loyal, selfless, generous to a fault, longsuffering, humble, quick wit and much much more.

It's hard to remember when Sher ever asked for anything. She was a hard one to buy presents for as she never "wanted" anything for birthdays, or Christmas, etc. To prove that, last Christmas my daughter-in-law, Holly, brought Sher a present after Christmas. She said, "I just had to get this present for Sher as it's the only one I think I've ever heard her ask for"! And what was the present? A Nintendo game. The latest XYZ super-duper gotta have the best one? No, not Sher, she wanted one of the original ones to play Mario brothers!

A lot of us like to do things for others as long as it doesn't take a lot of time or effort. But Sher, is not like that. When Sher was in her mid-teens her mom got very ill and required a lot of hands on care. This became a full-time devotion. I say devotion because she never looked at it as a "job". If you've ever cared for a loved one you know what I'm talking about. After the company has gone home, and you've been praying for a person for a week or month or two, we just want to go on to something different. But not Sher, she wasn't in it to fulfill her good deed for the day (although she did). She just stepped up and did whatever it took to take loving care of her mom. Never complaining. Never bitter because she didn't "get" to go out like other girls her age. She wasn't looking for the "praise of man".

I talked to her about that a few times (the fact that she might have been "missing out" on her teenage life) but by the look on her face and what she said and what she did, you knew that that thought never crossed her mind. I think she looked at it as a privilege to be able to care for her mom. She did this day in and day out for years and watched as her mom's illness progressed knowing the only thing she could do was to pray and help her get through these times.

As time passed so did her grandfather, mother, and grandmother (all within 3 years), Sher was steadfast in her giving and selfless love through it all. Some years after that as things started settling down, and she could start focusing on her own life, I got seriously ill. I was forced to retire and being self-employed and not the best business man, was unable to take care of myself. There was Sher again to pitch in and do what she could to help. "Dad, we're just paying you back for our diapers", her and Joy would tell me. Boy, when I say "who am I, that God is mindful of me?", you may get a small glimpse of why I say that!

Anyhow, words cannot express how humbled I am to be a part of her life. I wish you could know her like I do. She is a most precious jewel, not only in my life, but in many others who don't even stop to realize what she has done for us. If they had a reality show called "Extreme Love Edition", Sher would be my nominee. I'd love to see the TV crew come and show how she sacrificied for others, and then fulfill all her wildest dreams, as thousands of onlookers cheered her on! The better thing though is that the Lord knows what she has done and must be happy to have a child like that.

Thank you Sher, for being "one in a billion"!

Happy Birthday and Love,
Dad