Thursday, October 29, 2009

42 years ago today - I became a BIG brother

Tell me it isn't true, it can't be - it simply cannot be true that my baby brother turns 42 today! I wish I had one of those newborn photos of him. He was a little runt of a thing!

It is also forever etched into my memory when Mother walked out of the hallway in her white robe -carrying our NEW baby brother. Of course I was so proud - just ask my teacher! My school records show that he's all I could talk about for some time.

Let's see now, what did we call him ? There was:
Jaybird
Jacob
Jacobrino (or some derivation)
JGP
and
JAY. I have to refrain from calling him any of those "other" names these days.

He was always hangin' around, this tow-headed, bronze skinned little runt of a kid, with those big brown eyes and a smile that could melt a pat of butter from ten paces.

Then Rambo hit the silver screen.
Oh, good grief, is he wearin' those camo pants AGAIN; and that bandana. Does he ever take them off? When will he ever learn he AIN'T Rambo! Oh well, we all have our "phases" we go through.

Well, today - he's all "growduh up" and has been for some time. Nowadays, there are four little ones running around underfoot. All four have eyes that will melt your heart and smiles that brighten any room.

So when you don't have a pic, what does one do? Hmmm, lemme see now......I think I'll .......borrow one!


Here is one of him and his beautiful Queen just two years ago when he turned the BIG 40!!

Yup, he's my baby brother, he's a keeper. I might share him with you if you're nice. There's a story of kid I "laid out on the ground" one time for throwin a rock and hitting him. You can play with him or be his friend but just remember - BIG BROTHER is watchin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - JAYBIRD!!!! I LOVE YOU.

Friday, October 23, 2009

My King

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Turn up your speakers because you are about to hear an eloquent "word" set to beautiful music!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

A quick word

I am amazed out how much time has gone by without blogging. I can't even imagine out much our lives will change once we actually have children living in our home. Back in the recesses of my mind, I think a part of me says "if you think you're busy now....just wait!"

We took vacation at the beginning of the month. I wanted to get "out of town" since all hadn't been going well with the adoption process. We went down to my parents home in Tulsa and had a great time. It was a low key, a very relaxing time; and very much needed.

Of course there was the whole "drama" ordeal with my truck. I had the brakes worked on in the morning before we left in the afternoon. $550.00 later (gulp) we were on the road with plenty of stopping power! So we're tooling down I-44 in Tulsa and exit at Harvard Ave just about 1.5 miles from the parents home. Well, coming up to the intersection and traffic light, I push the clutch in to down shift and the clutch felt like "mush" and I couldn't easily pull the stick shift out of gear. I let out the clutch and stomped on it again - same thing. At this point, I had to "man-handle" the stick shift and yank it out of gear, all the while trying to come to a stop at the intersection. The light turns green, I try to put it in gear to go and it will NOT go into gear. At this point I'm thinking "OH, don't EVEN ....." I ended up shutting the engine off and it slipped into gear. I started the truck again and limped it around the corner into a Jiffy Lube parking lot. I had to call my Dad and tell him "I think my clutch just went out." So, he gets in the car to come and fetch Tamala & I and all of our gear. I left the "old grey mule" sitting right there in the parking lot. I had it towed to an Aamco station less than a mile up the road. This was Tuesday. Finally, Thursday afternoon they call me to tell me it's ready. $1255.00 later.....I'm rolling again. Yes sir indeedy......over $1800 in repairs all within a few days.

Thank God for Dave Ramsey and his financial teaching. Fortunately we had our emergency fund in place and with some other "moving money around" we met the challenge head on and paid the bill!

We made it down to my brother's home and spent a couple of days down there. There was a "house full of us" but hey, when you're with family it doesn't matter. We had a great time and loved every minute of it.

I've got to sign off because there are some more things that I need to get to.

Adoption -
Although our adoption worker is working with us a little better since our last visit on October 5th; the process hasn't seemed to speed up any. I and about to the point of sitting down and writing letters to heads of agencies and even State officials. I don't really want to complain to them - just tell them - this has been our experience. Who knows, I've even thought of calling the local television station. The thought HAS crossed my mind more than once!

Gotta run!

Be blessed!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Six weeks later - normal again

Finally,after six weeks of being "out-of-sorts", we are back to a state of normalcy. What is so unbelievable is that early last week, we received an email from the contractor that ABANDONED the job six weeks ago. His email said that he wanted to come back and complete the job and undo the damage in which he had left our home. I looked at the email and I was INCREDULOUS! I showed the email to Tamala and said "him he didn't even offer an apology!" I ended up just deleting the email.

So, anyway, we wanted to share a few of what was, and what IS now....

this is how the Entry Hall was left:













this is now:




this WAS the kitchen catastrophe:













the kitchen NOW:









Whew! What a relief!