Solo

My wife and I have been singing together for almost 28 years. Through all those years, believe it or not, I have never got up in front of an audience, and sang a solo. Well, that changed today. In church this morning, I got up on stage, all by myself, and sang my first solo. I was told I did great, and I think it went pretty well. I have to tell you, I was nervous, even though I practiced a lot. I knew the song, but yet I was very nervous. I get a little nervous even when Vanessa is up there with me, or other members of our family, but this was a whole new experience.
You know how when you sing, or when you do anything publicly, you want to sound good, look good, and not embarrass your self. I had to remind myself why I was doing this, and that was to honor God. I thought about the words, and what they meant to me. I looked at the people in the auditorium, and thought about them. I saw the looks on their face when the words hit home. Some, I had to look away from, or I would lose my words. Vanessa got tears in her eyes, and I couldn't look at her anymore. It's a small congregation, I was running out of places to look. The song was finally over, and I feel the Lord was blessed. My solo was over. I survived, and I'll do it again.
Lord help me to always lift You up.

weekend chaos

Friday night the Sackett 7-1, and the Tuckers came over for the night, and Saturday. We live in our quiet, peaceful world, and when the kids come, that world comes into chaos. That's not a bad thing. It's a great thing. We love seeing the kids, and the grand kids. We don't get to see them enough. I thought when we moved to Florida, we would see each other often, but that just doesn't seem to happen enough. We do see each other more than before. Even little Blue seems to remember us. He is beautiful, and so loving. I love watching the kids. Each one has their own uniqueness. So wonderful to watch.

I'm a blessed man. So many wonderful grand kids. I missed Brian Jr. this weekend. I hope he had a great experience. He is so smart, and creative.

I was completely amazed at how smart kids are when it comes to video games. Josh picked the PS3 so quickly. He was better than me in a very short time.

It was a great time, but the peace and quiet was great after they left. Just know I would never want to lose a one of them. I love them all.

God is good, and he keeps showing me this all the time.

Learning the boundries

Chloe had a little problem with her training collar. I guess I had it too tight, and it rubbed the hair off her neck, and made her neck bleed. I had to clean her up, and but some medicine on her neck to get her better. She went back on the chain for about a week until she healed. I put the collar back on and made it looser, plus I take it off her at night.
One thing she didn't do, is forget where the boundries are. Those yellow flags are still there, and let me tell you, she doesn't come close to them. She doesn't like that shock on her neck when she gets to close. Maybe we all need to wear a shock collar so God can zap us when we get too close to the boundries. I don't want one, because, I'm afraid I would get zapped too often. Some times it seems like I'm a slow learner.
Last weekend my daughter Kim and my grandkids came over for ther weekend. Sarah loves to go out and play with Chloe. Chloe lovers her already, and lets Sarah brush her. William is scared to death of Chloe. I hope some day William will get over this and realize Chloe just wants to play.

shock collar

Today, I started to put in a electric fence for Chloe, so she didn't have to be tied up anymore. It was more work than I thought, and I'm not quit finished. It's a lot of digging to bury the wire. I do have it laid out, and 60% buried. I put the collar on Chloe, and tried it out. Did the training with her, and I think I put her into shock. Now she doesn't want to go off the porch. Later in the evening, she saw something in the next yard, and forgot about the yellow flags, and started to run out of the yard, and like hitting a brick wall, the shock collar blasted her, and she cried like a baby. I felt so bad, but I know in the long run, she will have more freedom.
I'm glad God doesn't put a shock collar on us. Don't think I could take the pain. I forget where the yellow flags are sometimes, and run into them. I'm glad God is more loving than me. Maybe someday, I'll be more like him.

Chloe

Chloe is a Yellow Lab, almost 2 years old. She's still a kid, and acts like one too. Did you see the movie, Marley and Me, ? Chloe is not that bad. If she were, she would probably be living with some one else. Chloe is a good dog most of the time. She has this thing with invisible bugs, or something invisible out in the yard. She spends most of her time wrapping her self around the trees in the yard chasing these invisible things. I've looked, and I don't see them. What ever they are. It keeps Chloe occupied, and in shape with all that bouncing, and jumping on invisible things. What's great about Chloe, and most other dogs, is how much they love you. You can forget to feed them, water them, play with them, and they still love you. Dogs are kind of like God. We do the same to Him. We ignore him, don't talk to Him, don't listen, and sometimes we don'g care about Him. The great thing is, just like our dogs, He still loves us. Pretty amazing isn't it? To think that any one could love us the way we are. I know Vanessa loves me, but if I didn't give her any more attention than I do Chloe, or even God some times, I'm not sure how long she would love me. I've been pretty mean to her some times, but just like God, she still loves me. I'm a lucky man. My dog loves me, my wife loves me, and God loves me. I hope your as lucky too.