What You See Is What You Get!

Our children would be so proud of Cheryl and I. I am sure that our kids(as all kids of middle to late middle age people) think we are rather stogy and out of touch. To be honest compared to their world we are. But, today they might be a little surprised and proud of us we went out to an area of St. Louis that is somewhat ( I really come up with a word that won't sound stupid so I will use) Hip, the Soulard area. We viewed some of the renovated homes and ate a place called Fat Tony's B.B.Q. We were amoung the trendy people and doing something out of the ordinary. The reason we were there was we needed to find where the St. Louis City Hall was so we could get certified birth certificates so we could prove citezenship on the crouise we are going on with the same group of people we have been hamnging around with for 25 years. We wanted to be sure where the hall was because we have to do the birth certificat this week on a short time frame because we sometimes don't pay complete attention to detail anymore. Oh well!! That's all for now from North County

Well this morning was another one of those "proud parent" moments for me. Prayers were said for all the graduates in the congregation. A special prayer was said for my son Todd on his entering the ministry in the Lutheran Church. There was a whole list of graduates, many of them with their Master's Degree's. As the names were read Todd's name was skipped and I was wondering what happened than his name was mentioned in a special way because he was entering the ministry. It brought tears of joy to my eyes which I know sounds egotistical on my part but, I realize I had nothing to do with his path in life it comes from his inner self and his strong faith. The tears this morning were tears of joy that I have been blest so much and it has nothing to do with anything I have done but the Holy Spirit being in my Son. I am proud of him and humbled by how strong he is. So this mornigs pride moment had very little to do with pride and a lot to do with joy.

Last thursday was Everett's birthday( I probably am not spelling that right). Ev is another driver that I work with. Ever once and awhile in this life you come across a person that is trully unique, and Everett is one of those people. He turned 75 last thursday and he is still going strong. He has been a truck driver for many many years and even though his memory is not as good as it used to be and his back and shoulder ache a lot he is still very good behind the wheel. Ev would tell you he is not very smart because he only went to the 6th grade in Kentucky but, he is a very wise in many ways. He was the person that helped me break in behind the wheel when I started 3 years ago. He was patient and helpful and full of down- home humor and did not panic when I did stupid things. Evertt has had a pretty rough life he has 11 kids and his yougest two have given him nothing but trouble. But he faces life with a a good heart and a strong determination that most people would envy. He is trying to figure out a way to retire and he thinks by the end of summer he can do it. I wish him well because even thaough I will miss him at work I hope he can find a place just to sit down with his wife and watch the world go by.

Well today was the day. The day of my annual physical. As I get older(59 this year) I go to the doctor with more and more fear. I usually put this day off and than build up all the things that can be wrong with in my mind. Will it be my blood pressure or my prostate or cancer of some other kind or some other dread disease. Well today I went and everything is fine. What a relief! I know I should trust more in God for he always watches over me and takes care of me. But, sometimes I slip into not believing and not trusting. This is always something for me to work on so I will try to work on it with God's help. Other things are going well for me so I am very thankful.