Baby Dedication

I sat in worship this morning as three families brought new babies forward to dedicate them to the Lord. Pastor held them and presented these infants before us to the Lord and he asked that the parents commit to raising these children in the way the Lord has planned for them. He then asked us as a congregation to commit to helping and teaching these children the ways of the Lord and to protect them by walking with the Lord in our own lives. We were asked to walk holy in order not to cause these young ones to stray and to give them an example that they can follow as they seek God in their lives.

I have never really paid that much attention to the impact my own life has on those around me outside of my own family. Sitting there this morning and committing to God and these parents that I would walk with the Lord in order not to cause their children to stray brought home some things to me. Can my own actions come between a child and God? Can I cause another to struggle in their walk with the Lord by my own behavior? I don't like to think of that responsibility but I believe it to be true. I, as an adult, influence the lives of the people around me whether I like it or not, and whether that be for good or for evil. An awesome responsibility and one that I am not real thrilled to carry. But I carry it whether I like it or not. By the grace of God I will do my best.

Sunday

Sunday morning comin' down. It was an old Kris Kristofferson song from back when he was still runnin' around with Rita Coolidge and before he became one of the Highwaymen with Johnny, Willie and Waylon. I loved their first album. Second one didn't do so much for me.

Anyway, I always think of that song when I sit at the computer on Sunday morning. Not that I'm comin' down or anything cause Saturday night is usually not anything to come down from unless you count chips and salsa while reading Stephen King any kind of high.

I like his voice though. Kris's not Stephen's. Although I do like Stevo's voice when he reads his books but I've never heard him sing. He is in a rock band though so maybe he does sing. I don't know. "The Rock-Bottom Remainders." That's the name of his band. Steve's not Kris's. I doubt Kris is still in a band.

Gotta go shave my head before church. See ya

New Truck, well almost

My old truck backed into a dock in Chicago. I am standing on the opposite curb. Not a lot of room there to put the truck and trailer in that little hole. This is a 91 Volvo with a 48 foot trailer.

My new truck in our company yard. It's a 2002 Freightliner with the same size trailer. It's a much sweeter ride than the Volvo. I get a little over 8 mpg in this as opposed to about 7 in the Volvo.

Seven things to make Ann regret she tagged me

Numero Uno:

I had a heart attack in November and then Diverticulitis in December which required twenty days in the hospital in Columbus, major surgery and a total of three months off work. My job is soooo great that my boss paid me for 40 hours for three months and told me I could make it up with my overtime whenever I got back. The last paycheck finished paying back my overtime. Now all the OT is mine to keep. I now have a quite beautiful scar that starts at my belly button and runs south about seven inches. I told the doc I was gonna sue cause my belly button is a half inch off center now.

Il numero due:

I have no toenails on my big toes due to a work accident many years ago. Dropped a steel I-beam on my feet and my tennies didn't save me.

Nummer drie:

I never graduated college although I went for many, many, many, many years.

Zahl vier:

I am bilingually illiterate; I can't read in two languages.

номер пять:

My wife and I were separated for six months once while I was working for a tour bus company. They were keeping me so busy that I never found another place to live. I just carried my stuff in the bottom of the bus and went from trip to trip. I am happy to say, most of the time anyway, that we are together and doing fairly well.

Antall seks:

I believe that ham cooked in Sprite with cloves, brown sugar, and pineapples is proof that their is a God and that He loves me very much.

ナンバー7:

I like to mess with people's minds. If you are reading this then you know how to play around with the font button on your computer. If you are not reading this and still have no idea what it says then you have not figured out that particular button and so this will remain a mystery to you. Have a good day.

Utter Ramblings

Exhaustion top the list. I am tired and my feet hurt. Spent all day yesterday loading trucks, pushing windows across the floor. Old fat truck drivers are meant for sitting, not manual labor. I was sweating like a stuck hog. Now isn't that a pretty picture.

Read in the paper this morning that one of my friends from church is dissolving his business relationship with his partner and going out on his own. His partner goes to church with us as well although I haven't seen him in a while. Hope there's no big problems there. It's got me a little worried.

Long week. Left Sunday evening for Grand Rapids, MI and didn't make it. Got about 3 hours from GR and just ran out of steam. Spent the night in Ottawa Lake, MI. Got up the next morning and went to GR and then on to Chicago. I had 5 stops to make in Chicago but due to the late start I only got two done before I decided to go on to Milwaukee and get those windows off before Monday was over. Parked in Racine, WI at 830 Monday night. Got up at 5 and went back into Chicago and got the other three stops done and was out of town and headed back home by about noon. My usual backhaul was already taken when I called the broker so I came home empty.

Got to Mansfield about 7 pm and loaded all the windows for the Thursday run to Pittsburgh and headed out again. Got about two hours down the road and went to bed. Up at 7 and on to Pittsburgh where I made those two drops a day early. All this running around so I could go with Sheila to Columbus on Thursday to a Dr.'s appointment regarding her knees. I was back home Wednesday about 6pm and went to the house. Had Praise practice at 730 and crashed at home at nine. Up at 6 to get kids ready for school and get ready to leave town. The rest of the day was nice. Just me and Sheila in the car easy driving. A busman's holiday, you might say.

The doc says he agrees that she needs the knee replacement surgery but he is a arthritis doc and doesn't do the surgery. He referred her to another guy. I offered him an extra twenty to tell the ortho doc that he had to do the surgery. He turned me down. Oh well. So now she waits for an appointment to see the ortho doc. Maybe she can get in before Christmas.

I took her to Cracker Barrel on our way home. The nice thing about her knees being in bad shape is she can't shop for long. Lunch was $736.29, or so it seemed.

Thursday and yesterday the heat was pretty bad and I hadn't gotten the air conditioners back in the windows yet. I've been waiting for all the snow to melt first. Looks like I waited too long. My wife gets quite grumpy when she's hot. Of course she's hot when the temp is at 65. At least we don't fight for the covers in bed. She throws them off and I pile them on.

Be right back.

Ok, I'm back.

My doc says I need to quit smoking so now I only smoke after sex. I'm down to half a pack a day.

Everybody else in the house is asleep except Isaac and Preston and they're both grounded from the computer so that's the only reason I'm on here now. It's like a war zone for the chair. "Can I get on? Can I get on?!" We hear that more than any other phrase in the house.

Got two new tires on my truck this week. Actually they're used tires. I went to check my front ones and cut my hand on the inside edge. Not a good thing when steel is showing. Guess my front end is out of alignment. I will make no comments at all about my rear end. thank you very much.

I've never bought a house but this fellow probably wishes he hadn't bought this one.



The house is stirring and I have to get to AM's response. She tagged me. I think she may be sorry for that. Seven things about me. That's gonna be fun. heh heh.

For Julie and Ann

Ben, Isaac, Grace, Caley, and Hana

Caley and Isaac

Ben, the 18 yr old gaming genius. Off to college in July. YEAH!!!

Caley, Trina's daughter and Hana, our 20 yr old rebel.

Isaac, our 10 year old getting ready to go into the zoo.

Preston, our six year old foster son.

Trina and her girls on Mother's Day; Leah, Grace and Caley

Long Night

My son, Ben, is graduating from high school this year and the only thing he asked for for graduation was for us to allow him to use the house for an all-night video game party. We said sure and ran for the hills. Well, last night was the party and actually it's still going on. There were a couple of adults who work with the youth group who stayed the night while Sheila and I went on to bed. I got up this morning about 6 and they were still going fairly strong for the most part except that the host of the party was asleep on the couch as was his little brother. He rearranged the living room and had six TVs with video game systems all attached. (This pic was taken about 11:30 this morning as the party was winding down.) There were kids playing Halo, Halo 2, Guitar Hero 2, House of the Dead, Gears of War, Risk and some watching movies. Actually I was surprised nobody woke me up with the noise. I had forewarned them all that the party did not go outside. Ben had a couple teens from school that he invited that offered to bring some beer and pot. Ben said they could if they wanted but when they got here he would call the police on them himself. "You can do that in your house if you want but not at my house", he told them. I was pretty proud of him. Overall it seemed like it was a fairly fun night for them. Actually, I played a little Guitar Hero myself and seemed to hold my own for a while. Maybe, just maybe, I'll go back to bed. Oh yeah, my in-laws are coming today from Virginia. Yeah, I'll go back to bed.