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Category Archives: Family

Miracles do happen… they really do

Just a little over two years ago, my mom received some devastating news. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Major surgery was involved, coupled with radiation and chemotherapy. Worse yet, they found cancer in her lymphatic system. The doctor gave me (and only me) the prognosis. The outlook was just heart-wrenching, with little difference between the “best case” scenario and the worst.

Two years later and my mother’s doctor has pronounced her in full remission! How cool is that? From “the best thing that we can do is buy time” to “we see no evidence of cancer anywhere in your body” is a miracle in my book. From “5 months to a little more” to “who knows?” is the best outcome imaginable!

My thanks go out to all who had ever prayed for the health of my mom and most of all…….

Thank you God for being Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals.

 
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Posted by on June 9, 2011 in Family

 

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Just one more day

What would it be like?
What would it be like to have one more day with her? To hear her cooing in her crib? To see that toothless smile and hear her giggle? To have her come down the stairs after having a bad dream, needing her daddy’s arms? To pick her up when she’s sick and hold her in my arms again all night? To use all ten thumbs trying to get her hair just like the way mommy does it?
What would it be like to see her run around the yard again with her puppy? To run along beside her again as she rides her first bike? To sit in her room and read her a book? What would it be like to be “Uncle Tongue” once more and embarrass/entertain her and her friends?


I’d give nearly anything to have one of those days over again… and yet, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t give up any day in the future because I so want to see what my little girl is going to do in this great big world. What will she do as an adult? How many lives will she change? How will God use her in His plan?

Happy Eighteenth birthday, pumpkin! I love you so very much!!!

 
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Posted by on June 7, 2011 in Father

 

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Little trooper

Been at the oral surgeon this morning with Josh. The imp has multiple baby teeth that have been stubborn PLUS a couple of extraneous permanents that are keeping his chompers from falling into place.
Should have known that this was coming. After all the kid had a tooth already in when he was born.
Oops, he’s coming out of surgery. Gotta go!

…. here’s a picture of Josh in recovery. All went well. Definitely an ice cream and sherbet day for the little trooper.

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2011 in Father

 

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Busy month

June’s gonna be a busy month. Birthdays, graduations, operations.

Gonna be fun.

 
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Posted by on June 2, 2011 in Family

 

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Thank you, old friend

a Christmas nap

Hey pal! I just got the word a few minutes ago that you won’t be coming up to Ohio next week with the rest of the family. I want you to know that while it’s devastating news, I understand. We’re going to be sad for a long time and we’ll miss you for even longer but I wanted to take a moment and just say thanks.
Thanks for coming into our lives 12 years ago.
Thanks for being the dog that Katie & Robin rescued at the shelter.
Thanks for being my daughter’s first dog. She may have others but she’ll never have better.
Thanks for living up to the name Buster that Katie & I gave you (much to Mom’s dismay).
Thanks for your Rhodesian shape & your shepherd’s face.
Thanks for holding Robin’s hand gently in your teeth when standing diligently by her chair for those first few years.
Thanks for checking on all the family members multiple times through the night. I used to lie in bed smiling as I listened to you make your rounds.
Thanks for catching all those snowballs I threw to you in Maine & New York (& searching in vain for the ones that disappeared when they fell back to earth). Speaking of ball-throwing. Thanks for forgiving me for all those times I pretended to throw a ball and laughed while you scoured the yard looking for it.
Thanks for not hurting that chicken you caught when we visited our friend’s farm.
Thanks for always knowing when to go into Katie’s room to spend time with her.
Thanks for ALWAYS greeting me at the door.
Thanks for holding your position on the landing upstairs, guarding all three bedrooms on those nights when I worked late.
Thanks for immediately accepting Josh into the family and letting that little imp pester you for hours on end. Remember that time when we had some guests in the house and their dog nipped at Joshua? You bolted across the room, putting yourself in between my boy and the other dog letting out a growl of your own that I’d never heard before or since.
Thanks for always wanting to go out with me when I left AND forgiving me instantly the moment I came back.
Ya know, somehow I knew our time was growing short. That’s why I spent those few extra moments with you a couple weeks back. Remember how with great effort you were able to get your front paws up to my chest? Remember how we sat there and I rubbed that special spot behind your ear? You let out that groan to let me know that I’d hit just the right spot. Somehow I just knew.
Even so, I still fixed your bed up here at our new home in Ohio. You would have liked that I put it near the landing ’cause I knew that was where you would want to be. I was so hoping you’d be able to make the trip. But I understand pal. Rest well. You’ve earned it.
I’m going to try and get some sleep now, Buster. Hopefully, I’ll dream of the best dog a family could ever have.

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2011 in Family

 

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All I want for Christmas

The other day, my son asked me “what do you want for Christmas, Daddy?” (We were on the phone with him in Florida & me in Ohio) My answer was “all I want for Christmas, Joshua, is for us all to be together this year.”
His response was rather expected, “but Daddy if you don’t have any presents, you’ll be sad.”
I tried, quite unsuccessfully I’m sure, to explain to him how watching Katie and him open presents would mean far more to me than any box wrapped in paper with my name on it.
Over the last week, I have flown down to Florida, packed our belongings & driven them up to Ohio. Robin & the kids are enjoying the holidays with Gramma in Tennessee.
In just a few hours, my dad and I will be making the trek from Ohio to Tennessee. & in this season when we celebrate the greatest gift of all, my Christmas will come early. It will be the moment that I get out of the car and enter my parents’ home and see my beautiful wife and precious children.
That’s all I want for Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas to you all!

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2010 in Family

 

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Funny things kids say

I like to sing, but for good reason, you don’t like to hear me sing. I know this and respect it :) but still, I like to sing.

That means that my family has to suffer. There is a song that I sing to Josh and Kate when they don’t feel well. It’s called “Road to Zion”, a ballad by a Christian rock band in the 70s. Don’t ask. I don’t know why I picked that song but Kate, back when she was Katie, liked it and it stuck.

Well this morning, out of the blue, Joshua says he can sing the song. So I ask him to sing it and he does… and it’s hysterical. (someday I’ll learn to video record these things)

The lyrics go something like this:

  • There is a way that leads to life
  • The few that find it never die
  • Past mountain peaks
  • Glazed white with snow

The next line is: The way grows brighter as it goes.

Josh interprets it as: The way has spiders as you go. Poor kid! When I sing it, I’m tucking him in for bed. I’m surprised that he doesn’t have nightmares. Still it made me laugh and perhaps it will give you a smile when you read this.

God’s best to you and have a great day!

 
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Posted by on August 17, 2010 in Father

 

Let me tell you about a girl

A few years back I met this girl. She was unbelievably amazing. The first time I met her was with a group of friends all going to a movie. We didn’t know each other but that didn’t prevent me from telling her that I hoped this would be a romantic movie so that I could put my arm around her. I believe she spent the rest of the evening leaning as far away from me as possible.
Time went by and once again we were out with friends and ended up being the only “non-couple” there. So of course we pretended to be a couple and that’s when the magic began. To say I was smitten was an understatement. I had never been around anyone so gentle, so beautiful.
Through thick and thin she’s been with me. She’s seen me struggle through college. Been there as I gambled with our future regarding my career and watched me walk away right when things were going great to enter the ministry. She’s become a pastor’s wife with grace and when I told her that I’d been called to start a new church in SW Florida and that we would be walking away from everything that we’d built; she said “When do we go?” She’s my wife. She’s my soulmate. She’s my biggest fan. Without her I wouldn’t be much of a man at all.
Thanks babe, for sticking with me through everything. I don’t have much to give you this year although you deserve everything. What I have, though, is yours.

Happy 24th Anniversary, Robin. I love you.

 
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Posted by on March 23, 2010 in Husband

 

Practical lessons for a 7 year old

We’ve been having a few issues with a certain 7 year old lately and I felt it important to teach him a poem before his 16 year old sister took matters into her own hand.

With apologies to Robert Frost, this is what I taught my son:

  • I’ll do my best
  • I hope you’ll see
  • To flush the toilet
  • When I pee
  • And put the seat down
  • When I’m through
  • So you won’t fall in
  • When you go pooh!

What do you think? Will he learn the lesson or will he become just another nameless statistic of little brothers having justice doled out to them by angry and vicious big sisters?

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2010 in Father

 

Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas (December) we made our paper chain of 25 things to do for Christmas.
Day two, we set up our outdoor lights.
Day three, we looked at family pictures. (we invited our neighbors but they all passed).
Day four was Christmas movie day.
Day five, we made Christmas cookies. (have no idea what to do with all of them. 6 year olds do not exactly make cookies that look good enough to give away. Truth be told, neither do I)
Day 6 was decorating said Christmas cookies. It was supposed to be something else but the weather didn’t cooperate.
What are we doing on day 7? Writing a letter to a certain jolly fellow and mailing it. Should be fun.

 
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Posted by on December 7, 2009 in Family

 

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