man2followJESUS

Christmas with YaYa, Papa and Sissy

2011-12-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

YaYa, Papa, Sissy and cousin Olivia came over Saturday evening and brought presents! We had a great time!
http://youtu.be/7x58-xijKOA

http://youtu.be/vh0oEZJkGRA

http://youtu.be/fxupYPBJ8zI
http://youtu.be/k6Vz8zAS1AY

http://youtu.be/UYMEyQmqUuo

http://youtu.be/RxjHJsGDEBg

Olivia looks on as Kimmie holds me with YaYa supervising

Kimmie holds me tight!

Kimmie givin' me a kiss

me and cousin Olivia

PaPa, me, YaYa and Kimmie (who was gettin tired)

PaPa, me, YaYa and cousin Olivia!

Love my YaYa, PaPa and Sister!
Gabriel

I have a "VOICE" and it's fun!

2011-12-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

We noticed yesterday that Gabriel was making some new sounds what seemed to be just for the sake of hearing himself. I've been trying to catch it on video but as soon as he sees the camera he stops and just looks at the camera. I'll have to go into "stealth" mode; but I WILL get him doing it. It's PRICELESS!

Here is a small sample: http://youtu.be/qEgIyhiK2lo
Give a listen!
Blessings.

A season of Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

This is a few days late; however EVERY day is reason enough to utter a word of "thanks" to the Father for granting us one more day. Thanksgiving 2011 had an entirely different meaning for us. Looking back, it all began back in February when we "got the call" asking if we would consider adopting an unborn baby. This was a call we'd been waiting on for nearly four years!

Then there was the "change up" thrown at me in mid-April when I lost my job. But Jehovah Jirah, our Provider, showed up more times than we could count over the next several months. We never missed a bill, always had gas money, never went without! All of our needs were met, on time, every time! I sold my pickup truck within 15 minutes of listing it on Craigslist and got the full asking price out of the buyer. He never tried to haggle with me - he really liked the truck and paid in CASH! Even during a time when the money was even close to what we were used to making, the adoption expenses started coming in and every expense was met, on time every time! God supplied me a temporary job at exactly the right time for the income to be listed on paperwork that was being submitted to the Judge who would be the one to grant the adoption.

Albeit we lost our Shirley Lou in early August, I am still thankful that God gave her as my second "Mama". She was a stalwart in the faith! I am thankful that she leaves behind a legacy of faith!

Then baby Gabriel made his entrance into the world and right into our hearts the night of August 26th. He finally arrived and was BEAUTIFUL! He's here, healthy and perfect in every way. It was like the circle of life was starting over again after putting Aunt Shirley to rest and then welcoming this new little life into our hearts.

There has been intermittent sleep, spit ups, wet diapers, dirty diapers, lots of dirty clothes, baby toys, baby furniture, baby this and baby that; ALL for which I am MOST thankful!

October 11th is a special day in our family now. It is officially "GOTCHA" day! The day that we went before the Judge and he made everything official by signing the Order and declaring that this baby boy would now be known as GABRIEL JUDAH PALMER. As he was making this declaration, I held my breath and time stood absolutely still. Finally, I could truly breathe again because he was ours, wholly, completely and legally.
We have a son and his name means: Strong man of God, full of Praise, and a Palm bearing Christian.

This past Sunday during our time of worship, I simply had to scoop Gabe up from Mommy's arms and take him down to the alter. There I knelt down to give God "thanks" for the gift that He has given to Tamala and I. There simply wasn't a word that I could utter that could sufficiently render proper thanks to the Father. It came in the form of groaning and weeping and offering this baby back to Him who has entrusted this little one to us. It was caught on film by our church photographer -

Fifty years! It has been fifty years of waiting. Fifty years of hearing people tell me what a great Daddy I would be. Fifity years of wondering if and when it will happen. To this day, some three and a half months after Gabriel came to us I look at him and am in absolute amazement! Please don't anyone pinch me because if I were to wake up and find out I'd been dreaming this, I don't think I would be able to go on. I am so completely in love with this baby boy that life will never be the same.

When I offered a prayer of Thanksgiving over our Thanksgiving meal with our family, I was overcome with emotion because of ALL the wonderous miracles we'd experienced this past year. I was also begging God to have mercy on our nation because of all the tens of millions of babies who have been aborted over the last four decades, of the rampant sin and lawlessness. The recent earthquakes in Oklahoma, ravaging tornadoes earlier in the spring and summer and devasting hurricanes all point to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask God to have mercy on our arrogant nation who snubs their nose at Him and takes His name in vain that He will withhold His wrath and judgement from us. I know the stench of wickedness in our nation is something He abhors.

I am thankful for my family, my church family and my Pastors!

I think it absolutely fitting to share this YouTube selection with you again. I've shared it before, but I'm sharing it again, because I AM GRATEFUL!

http://youtu.be/mx_vdEZQnBc

Are you.......GRATEFUL?

Shalom!

the power of one's Personal Testimony

2011-11-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to encourage you to give a quick view to the YouTube link I am posting here. The Worship Center of Kansas City, my home church, had their 1st "Cardboard Testimony" service last year and it was a powerful presentation. This past Sunday, we had our 2nd one and due to the huge support it's recieved they've decided to make it an annual event.

Watch closely, you may see someone you know. Turn on your speakers and try to maximize to the full screen option to watch the video if you can for better effect -

http://youtu.be/yRZzPzhrXYQ

Never underestimate the powerful effect your personal testimony may have upon another individual. I've received numerous comments from folks throughout our fellowship of how powerfully impacted they were to learn of my testimony. Remember God can turn your "test" in a "Testimony" for His glory if you only allow Him to work through you.

Shalom!

Newest picture of Gabriel

2011-11-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist, I had to put this one up on the blog.

My 1st Fall Harvest @ church

2011-10-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Earlier Sunday morning Daddy was trying to get me to laugh but I was havin' issues with hiccups.

I am Mommy and Daddy's "Little Punkin'"

This is Raven, she helps in the Nursery at Church. Isn't she dressed up cute for Fall Festival?

this is Mother Morrell holding me at Fall Festival. Everyone loves Mother Morrell and she loves me!

YaYa, my sister Kimmie & Auntie Ashley came to visit

2011-10-30T18:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a fun day because my YaYa, Auntie Ashely and my big sister Kimmie came to visit me. We had a great time playing and talking!
YaYa holds sister while sister wanted to hold me!

Sissy helped me out by giving me my sucky and that made me sooo happy. I love my big sister!

I am so blessed because I am surrounded my so many people who love me very, very much!

Auntie Ashley holds me close so we can snuggle for a few minutes

YaYa was lying in the floor and Kimmie thought she'd climb on for a nice ride. She just "laughed & laughed" after she climbed on board. Look close and you can see her tongue sticking out as she laughed

Sister wanted to stroke my head while Aunt Ashley holds me

my YaYa loves me, just ask her!

My 1st road trip

2011-10-30T18:03:00.001-07:00

Mommy, Daddy & I all piled into the car Friday October 21 in KC and headed down for Uncle Mike and Aunt Kelly's place for our Palmer Family reunion. This was my first road trip. I slept from the time we left KC until we got to Durant, OK about 12:30am the next morning.

This is how I ROLL!

I'm sitting on my Grammie's sofa where she sets a lot of the time and works cross word puzzles and reads books.

my Daddy sure does like taking my picture

Grammie wanted to hold me but I was sure tired and wanted to sleep

Growth "spurt" CONFIRMED!!

2011-10-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

ALL,

Well, our little man went to Doc's place for his two month old check up on Tuesday, October 25th. Mommy texted me after his appointment to let me know that Gabe weighed in at 11 lbs 10 oz and measured a whole 24 inches in length. My text back to Mommy was "Holy cow! He'll be 6ft before we know it!" So if you do some mathmatics, Gabe is 159% of his birth weight and is 114% of his length. He's gone from eating 15 to 20 milli-liters when he was born to eating 5 onces of formula with some cereal in it too! He's definitely a growing boy!

I was reminded yesterday that I hadn't posted any of the pictures of the baby shower we had back in September, so I thought I'd throw a few in here.

My YaYa is holding me with my Grammie right by my side

Mommy opens gifts while my Auntie Lauri writes all the details down
my Oma is holding me while Grammie enjoys some cake and my YaYa is looking over at me with so much love!
They played some of the silliest games at the shower
Here is my new bathtub. I'm exactly fond of taking baths.

Growth "spurt"

2011-10-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

I'm havin' a feelin' that our little man, Gabriel, is about to go into a bit of a growth "spurt". Thursday, he slept quite a bit during the morning, afternoon and evening. Yesterday, Friday, I don't think he was awake for more than a total of 4 hours out of the 24 hour time period. His appetite is increasing too. Yesterday afternoon, once he woke up about 1:30pm I gave him five onces and dropped him off with our "blessed" babysitter. I had to run to a job interview at 2pm and I was finished and picked him back up from the sitter by about 3:15. He ate another three onces when we arrived home; so, he ate about 8 onces in about 2 hours. Somebody please tell me where this tiny body is puttin' all this formula. God help me when he becomes a teenager! It's a good thing that the jobs I'm interviewing for will pay near the six figures or just above. I think I may need to start a food fund for his teenager years.

Hey, here's an idea: does anyone know where I might be able to buy a silo? I figure if I begin stockpiling now I just might, just might have enough to last me through his teenage years. Or here's another one: maybe we should move close to a restaurant that has a buffet bar and all you can eat for $8.99 so at least he'll be able to feed "the pit" once per day!

Shalom!

Gabriel Judah Palmer - "Born for This" an anthem

2011-10-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr78vtLPMTo&feature=player_detailpage "Born for This" an anthem written by BeBe Winans, sung as a duet with Margaret Bell and presented along with the movie "One Night with the King" which is based on the premise that Ester was "Born for This" purpose of becoming Queen and standing in the gap for her people, the entire nation of Israel before the King.

So consider his name: Gabriel - ancient Hebrew meaning "strong man of God" and Judah - again ancient Hebrew meaning "Praise". As High Priest of our home I decree over his life that as Gabriel spends not just one night with the King, but an entire lifetime, he will draw ALL of his strength and be a beacon to his generation due his "strength in God" and that his entire life will be a "Praise" to God, giving Him His due honor and glory!

It is no secret that God has a divine purpose for this little man and that is why He has entrusted his Mommie and I to his care and up-bringing.

Gabriel is blessed beyond measure and he will do mighty exploits!

Shalom!

Reflections on God's goodness-

2011-10-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today I've been blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with my newborn son, as I have for the last two weeks now. Truth be told, I wouldn't trade any moment of it for anything in the world! Right now he is sleeping in his carseat after polishing off 6.5oz in less than 45 minutes! We started with 5oz (his last record)and after he guzzled that right down and still acted fussy and wouldn't go to sleep, I tried a little trick a certain Indian woman taught me: I stuck my finger in his little mouth and when he commenced to suck on that, well I knew he was still hunger. So, Daddy jumped up and went into the kitchen to make another 2oz. of formula all the while asking this little guy - "And just where do you think you're going to put this, little man?" He just wailed a little louder (translation- "I want my bottle NOW!")

So we nestled in the rocking chair Grammie & Grampie gave us a few years ago (in faith- believing for grand babies) and we began bottle no. 2! Well wouldn't you know it after about an once and a half, those eyelids just got so unbelievably heavy, they simply wouldn't stay open. The sucking commotion stopped and the "sleepy song" began. For those of you who don't know what his "sleepy song" is, well it is a symphony coos, moans, groans and general squeaks that are completely unique to Gabriel.

He is in his carseat because we have to go pickup Mommie in a little bit as she gets off of work; and we're a "one car" family right now.

I've also been patiently awaiting a phone call from a prospective new employer that I interviewed with yesterday in Kansas City, KS. I've worked with two individuals over there in times past and they wanted me to come over and talk with them about the opportunities they have at their company. I met the owner of the company and we talked for about an hour. He said that he would be calling today with an offer! I was a bit surprised when he said that because I generally don't expect to get an offer on the spot like that. I guess my reputation precedes me and he'd already been doing some investigation on me.

So, I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the quality time I've spent with Gabriel these last two weeks but I believe that there will be some good changes happening in the very near future. He'll be going to day care for awhile until Mommie and I can get our financial feet completely planted beneath us again. Six months of unemployment (and under employment)hasn't been the easiest of times. But this presents the transition to talk about the goodness of God.

It would be quite a lengthy post if I were recount all the times that God has moved miraculously and provided for us during this time. I mean, I lost my job in mid-April, blew through our savings, Gabriel's birth mother re-appeared in mid-July asking if we still wanted to adopt her baby after vanishing in April, we had to pay money to an adoption agency, adoption attorney, all this and still pay rent, utilities, gasoline, groceries, etc., etc. and we NEVER missed a bill, NEVER went without food, kept all our utilities on. I'm telling you, God was making a statement and when HE makes a statement, HE really makes it like only HE can! I am still in absolute "wonder" how all this has come about and really happened. Ten years ago, I probably would have lost my mind. But I've never had a doubt that God would take care of us, and that he still will continue to take care of us.

This period of time (some may call it a storm) has been a learning time for me. I've learned how to let God...be.....GOD. He's always been.....right on time! There is an old "spiritual" that says "cain't nobody, do me like Jesus; he's my friend" He sho' nuf showed up....and showed OUT! Uh-oh, you better watch out now, I'm feelin' a preachin' comin' on!

Lemme break it down for ya, I mean after baby Gabriel shows up, Mommie takes some well deserved time off work for bonding time and being a full time Mommie. When she takes off work, there's no income. I've been without work for quite sometime already and was working a little job in a neighboring town, but, watch what God does....in a time when we as a family are basically making $50,000 a year LESS than what we normally make, God keeps a roof over our head, keeps our lights on, keeps groceries in our cupboard and gas in our car!

CAIN'T NOBODY.....DO ME LIKE JESUS!
I simply couldn't resist. Now you tell me if this isn't the face of an angel! He all OURS now, wholly and completely OURS. Cain't nobody take him from us now! He is... Gabriel (strong man of God) Judah (PRAISE) Palmer (like a palm tree with it's deep tap root)

SHALOM!

It is OFFICIAL

2011-10-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today at 10:30am at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe, KS, the Honorable Lawrence E. Sheppard issued an Order Granting the Petition for Adoption by Petitioners Kevin and Tamala Palmer and our baby boy became Gabriel Judah Palmer! Yes, we are now a family under the laws of the State of Kansas.

I must admit that when the Judge was saying his part about granting the Petition and the baby shall now be Gabriel Judah Palmer, my eyes started stinging and I nearly had to bite my lip and tell myself to "hold it together... don't lose it now!"

It took all of maybe 30 minutes or less from start to finish. He is now OURS!
Our attorney, Kevin W. Kenney, made this adoption process a wonderful experience.
The Judge was kind enough to snap this photo for us. Our attorney said they're "old hands" at this part of the deal. He also said that Gabriel was "exemplary in his behavior!" Gabe nursed on a bottle during the whole proceedings with all his typical squeaks and "Gabe sounds" for which he is so famous.

Afterward, we went down to the Court Clerks office and we received an certified copy of the Order of the Court which will go in our safe. A lot of the ladies in the Court Clerks office were "oogling" and making over Gabe all the while he just looked at them.

Our attorney told us that we'll be receiving a new birth certificate in the mail in the next few weeks and we'll be able to request a Social Security number for Gabriel at that point. He also encouraged us to seek the services of an accountant due to the tax credits we'll receive due to all our adoption expenses!

I took Gabe to the Dr. at 3:20 pm because he's been dealing with a cold for about 11 days now. I was really anticipating them weighing him and I certainly wasn't disappointed. He tipped the scales at 10lbs and 4.5 onces! I think I made some kind of the exclamation like "Dude, you are really packing 'em on aren't you!" I did some calculating later and he's 150% of his birth weight. He's going back in two weeks for his two month old check up and they'll re-weigh him and re-measure him then.

Today, was a MOMENTOUS day in the history of our little family. Today, it was fulfilled by what the Prophet Eric Cobbins decreed months ago that this would happen and be fulfilled! Today was a blessed day!

it's been six weeks

2011-10-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well, six weeks ago last Friday night, our little man embarked on his life's journey.
We brought him home that Sunday evening and he's been a constant joy every since.

One of his favorite places to go to sleep is lying on his Daddy's chest and right up under my chin. He's usually out in a few minutes. I've told his Mommy I don"t want to put him down because I know he's not going to stay this tiny for long.

He spent three days in day care week before last.He had caught a cold by Friday; so we've been dealing with the cold for 10 days now. Daddy caught his cold too. We're goona see the Doc tomorrow afternoon.

Speaking of tomorrow - we're going to court tomorrow to see the judge so he can sign the documents that makes us officially a family!

You can count on there begin a post tomorrow!

Guess what I did today!

2011-09-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Daddy came home from work today and the first thing Mommy said to him was, "Guess what Gabe just did?"

Here you can see for yourself - keep in mind that I'm only 20 days old

My 2 week old check up today at Doc's place

2011-09-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Mommy took me to the Dr. today for my two week old check up. She listened to my heart, lungs, checked my reflexes, looked in my ears and eyes and gave me a thorough once over. I passed with flying colors. I gave Doc a "high 5" and said "I'll see you in two months Doc for the next checkup".

Doc measured me but forgot to tell Mommy how long I am, and she also weighed me. I tipped the scales at :

guess........

no really......guess........

tune in tomorrow same bat time, same bat channel -

oh all right - if I have to spoon feed you -

7lbs and 12 oz - that's right, I gained a whole pound and 2 oz since my last Dr. visit

Wanna see how I look today?

I just finished eating a moment ago & I was rubbin my tummy

Do you like the fishy on my shirt?

Daddy took my sucky away for this one. I do love my sucky!

Two weeks old - already!

2011-09-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well it was two weeks ago last night (Friday) that Daddy's little Hero made his entrance into our lives! I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I find myself wanting to hold him so much because I know that he's not going to be this tiny for very long. Gabe was lying face down on my chest last Tuesday evening when all of the sudden he straightened both arms and did a full push up and then he lifted his head up and tilted it back as far as he could. Since then he's trying out more & more of his motor skills and it's all still very new to him. Earlier today I had fed him a bottle and after our burping ritual, etc. he was lying in my arms and he was just looking up at me - I'm sure I'm still "burry" but he knew who I am and where I was because it was like he was looking right into my face and saying "I know who you are!" Okay for all you wanting just pics - I aim to please: I am showing you one of my newest outfits! This is where angels sleep - on their Daddy's chest right over his heart!

for all you out there saying....."more pics please"

2011-09-01T18:45:00.001-07:00

okay all you friends and family members wanting more pics - I am to please. Mommy relaxing with baby Gaberiel

I really love to keep my hands up by my face! I do a lot of sleeping! Daddy was trying to hold me and take my pic at the same time and it is a little fuzzy

see what I mean! havin' Sweet Dreams

I asked Mommy to take my picture and then I send it to Daddy's phone yesterday while he was working and I dictated this message to Mommy to text to Daddy..."Hi Daddy! Hope you're having a great morning!

Mommy was changing my diaper this morning when she noticed that my scabbed over navel was missing! I have a pretty pink navel now. She had to look all around in my jammies to find it and she finally did.

I was sleeping my Daddy on the couch last night and woke up and after a couple of minutes I almost rolled over to the right onto my tummy!

Day 3

2011-08-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

I got home from work today just in time to feed Gabe. He ate almost 40mls. Then he stayed awake for about the next two hours; that's a new record for him. He usually would go back to sleep within ten minutes after eating.

Here's a few more pics!

They're measuring me!

Gabe's big sister showed up to meet her new baby brother!

Big Sister had to give baby brother a sweet kiss!

here she is modeling her new t-shirt I'm a Big Sister!

Gabe's first few pics of life

2011-08-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

Gabriel Judah Palmer arrives

2011-08-26T21:17:00.001-07:00

Gabriel took his first breath at 9:59 pm Friday, August 26th 2011.

Final Countdown -

2011-08-26T15:13:00.000-07:00

Mama T had a Dr.s appointment today so she needed to use the SUV to get to her appointment. I said I would ride with Greg Orscheln to the office in Tonganoxie today.

10:33am
the BABY BELL (ringer) goes off while I am at the office. [EXPLANATION: the BABY BELL was a specific ring tone (an old fashioned telephone ring) that I'd assigned to the birth mother's Mother so I knew when I heard that ring tone, it's the BABY BELL.] The birth Grandmother and she said her daughter is at her Dr.s office and she was having contractions and they decided to run a stress test. She said it was looking like today might just very well be the day we may have a baby! So I texted Mama T asking her to call me. When she didn't call right away I called Dawn, her supervisor, and asked her to go find Tamala and have her call me. She called and I gave her the update and said we're going to a heightened state of alert!

So everyone at the office gets all excited and we go about our work.

1:13 pm -
the BABY BELL goes off again. Grandmother is calling saying that birth mother is dilated to a "4" and that all systems are GO! She said we don't have to rush right around but that we might want to begin finish what we're currently working on so we can begin working our way over toward the hospital in Lawrence, KS. So I called Mama T and asked "Are you ready to be a Mommy now?" I said that she needed to meet me at the house and we'd go to the hospital from there.

about 2:30 pm
I think it was around this time we arrived at the hospital. The nurse showed us to our own room! She said they provide the adoptive families a room while the birth mother is giving birth and until the baby is discharged.

4:34 pm
birth mother is dilated to a "6"! Things are progressing along!

starting of week 38

2011-08-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well today, marks the start of week 38.

I spoke to the birth mommy and she said she is now staying in Lawrence to be close to the hospital in case contractions begin again. Last Friday, she went to the Dr. and they did an ultrasound and the baby is weighing seven pounds! Sounds like a healthy weight to me.

She delivered her first baby at 34 weeks. Seems like I "heard it through the grapevine" that the Drs could induce her at 38 weeks. We'll see.

The baby bottles, sippie cups, teething toys, pacifiers have all been washed and sterilized. Mama T has picked out a few outfits for Gabriel to wear the first few days.

Yesterday, Saturday, I ran the vacuum very slowly throughout the apartment to pull up as much stuff as possible. I then washed the windows. I find it a little funny that our bedroom has taken on a whole different "motif" in the last couple weeks. We've had antiques in our bedroom for quite awhile and just several days ago, Mama T's antique dressing was re-assigned to the guest room and suddenly a baby's play pen was setup in our room. Just last weekend a changing table showed up in our room and placed next to the play pen. I'm told is we get blessed with a bassinet that it will be in our room too (of course next to Mommy's side of the bed). We picked up a baby's crib last Wednesday before going to Bible Study at church. I need to get it put together soon or perhaps I should wait and let Grampy help me with that. I like the sound of that idea the more I think about it! One of the ladies Mama T works with says she's got a couple of crib mattresses she'll give us.

I'll have to put my phone on vibrate during worship service today in case we 'get the call'.

In the meantime, we simply WAIT!

Start the countdown!

2011-08-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Our birth mother texted me today saying that she went to the hospital yesterday and they gave her something to speed up her labor AND they were just waiting for her water to break. We should have a baby this week!

GABRIEL JUDAH - COME FORTH!

I gotta find my "annointing oil" before he makes his grand entrance.

Tick, tock.....tick, tock....tick...tick....tick

2011-08-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

I thought it was time to change the format of the blog. I hope you like it.

Okay, we've completed week 36 now waiting this baby to arrive. What's he doin' in there anyway? People keep askin' "do we have a baby yet"? My usual response is "No, he's still simmerin' in the slow cooker." Okay, let's turn up the heat already and get this thing to a rollin' boil and build up enuf pressure to pop the lid off this thing! Tick, tick... tick... tick... tick....

Mama T is at Wal-Mart right now tryin' to get her baby registry all situated and completed.

Last Sunday I think it was, I unboxed the Evenflo car seat/stroller/traveling ensemble and began putting things together. I was able to get the stroller all assembled after a bit. Now, all I need to do is get the car seat platform permanently installed in the vehicle. I learned a couple weeks ago that a hospital will not release a baby from the hospital to go home until you have a car seat properly installed in your vehicle.

It was Thursday night I believe that I'd texted the baby's grandmother askin her to call me. So called a few minutes later and we had a good chat. She shared with us that her daughter (birth mommy) had made her 'spit shake and pinky swear' that she would be there to help her during delivery and push this baby out! G'ma told us there wasn't any way her daughter was going to do this with out her. She said that when her daughter calls her and tells her "IT'S TIME", G'ma has promised us that we'll be her next call. So, we've already GOOGLED the hospital and printed out the map so we can grab it when we get the call. Yesterday, I assigned an old fashioned telephone ring tone to birth G'ma's phone number and played it for Mama T. I told her that if she hears this ring tone.....it's SHOW TIME!!!

Last week, birth mommy texted me late morning on Monday sayin' she'd had contractions all night long and into Monday morning. She said "we may be havin' a baby today!" Later that day, I packed a "go bag" for Mama T and put in my camera and tripod and stuck in some fresh batteries.

I thought I would post a few pics here of our apartment home as it is right now to keep this post visually interesting; because I'm sure that once the baby comes.....well, I'm sure you can fill in the blank!
LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM

A PEEK AT THE KITCHEN

Baby's bed at foot of ours with our "to go" clothes draped over the side.

the black "to go" bag is on this side of the baby's bed so we can just grab it and go whenever "THE CALL" comes.

Tick, tock.....tick, tock....tick.....tick...tick...tick...good grief - when is this baby gonna get here....tick.....tick....tick....

"I'm ready to get this over with"!

2011-07-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

We were exchanging texts with our little birth mother today - asking how she is feeling, etc. Her reply was "Just completely miserable, and ready to have this baby."

We told her "we're praying for you" and her reply was "I'm just ready all this to be over."

Her next baby doctor appointment is Monday, August 8th. So if she goes that long she'll be in week 37.

We Celebrate the life of Aunt Shirley-

2011-07-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

As the morning sun hits the dew on the grass, and the sparkling diadems dance before our eyes, one special prism of light that shone ever so brightly and dazzled us with her radiant beauty transitioned today from her earthly home and stepped into the glorious presence of our Heavenly Father. We knew this prism of light as Shirley Graham Ramsey! So unique, so brilliant - there could only be one!

When light touches us, we are warmed by its glow, our life is illuminated so we can see clearly the path we are to follow. Light is never really extinguished, it is always with us, hidden within our hearts and souls, always drawing upon the love emitted from its source. God the Father knew we need light and He knew we needed the light that only Shirley could emit.

I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't share one special memory I have with my Aunt Shirley. John and I were out in the front yard of Grandma Graham's house doing something. Well John did or said something that I didn't like and I called him a name. If you knew Aunt Shirley, you knew she didn't allow name calling! Don't ask me to repeat the name I said, because it has been washed away from my vocabulary. Some of you already know what I'm talking about - yes, Aunt Shirley marched me into Grandma's bathroom, handed me a toothbrush and a bar of soap and told me to wash that name out of my mouth. After a moment of scrubbing and a mouthful of soapy bubbles she asked if I thought I'd washed it all out and I nodded my head yes. I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out with water - lesson learned, experience over. That was better than 40 years ago!To this day, I don't use a bar of soap! At times I want to run past the bar soap in the grocery store but I maintain my composure and self restraint.

Aunt Shirley was always the closest thing I had to a second mama. We shared a special connection. Many years ago I broke my own parents heart during a phone conversation. I had no more hung up with them when I immediately called Aunt Shirley and reached out to her because when you're in crisis - you need a prayer warrior! As I cried my heart out to her, she said "Kevin, it's gonna be alright!" No one can say my name like Aunt Shirley.

I've been in many a worship service with her and I know how she loved her Lord and Savior. She would call upon the name of the Lord and you knew that heaven and earth can be moved by a intercessor such as she has been.

Today, she stepped into heaven and into the welcoming arms of Jesus! Today heaven has a new diadem. I am confident that Grandma & Grandpa Graham were right there to welcome her home as well.

Albeit it is hard to say goodbye to the vessel we've been so accustomed to loving. I draw comfort and strength from knowing that deep down within the confines of my soul, Aunt Shirley is inextricably housed and filling a space only reserved for her.

I honor her legacy today of love, passion, joy and light! Shine on, Aunt Shirley, continue to be the radiant, dazzeling prism of light the Father created you to be, always warming our hearts with love as only you can.

The Word of God instructs us in the book of Psalms to Selah, as we read. Selah means to "pause, dwell upon and reflect upon what you just read and experienced".

Shine on, Aunt Shirley, shine on - because your light will never fade.

Selah!

Adoption assistance

2011-07-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

It is with hat in hand that we come humbly to you asking that you might consider assisting us with our adoption expenses. Allow me to quickly bring you up to speed.

It was the first Sunday of February this year that Tamala and I got a call from a family we went to church with when we married back in 2005. We ministered to this family the best way we knew how at the time. For reasons unknown to us, they vanished out of our lives just a about the time Hurrican Katrina struck New Orleans . Then they re-entered our lives that fateful Sunday.

The mother informed us that her youngest daughter is pregnant and unmarried. She knew Tamala & I talked about adopting children when we got married. So she asked us if we had already adopted and if not, would we consider adopting this baby. We scheduled a meeting that same day with the mother and daughter and had many questions to ask. After our meeting, while mother & daughter were enroute home, daughter told her mother that she didn't want to interview any other families. She wanted Tamala and me to adopt her baby. She called us the next day and "officially" asked us if we'd adopt her baby and we told her yes. She said her Dr. anticipated her due date around Sept. 1.

Shortly after our meeting, daughter simply "vanished" and no one knew where she was or how to contact her.

Fast forward to Friday, July 15th at 10:30 pm: The Mother called us and said her daughter has re-appeared and wanted to talk with us. We called the daughter at 11pm that same evening and she brought us up to speed on her whereabouts and what had happened these last several months. She had attempted to work things out with the baby's father but had finally come to the conclusion that wasn't going to happen. She asked us if we were still interested in adopting her baby. We asked her many straightforward questions and she assured us she had not put the baby in any kind of danger due to lifestyle choices. We told her yes we'd still adopt her baby. She also told us that her belly had already "dropped" and so had the baby AND she was already dialated to a 3 on her last Dr. visit the week prior! The Dr. said this baby would probably be here in 2 to 3 weeks!

The next day, everything shifted into "hyper warp" drive. The next day we had an emergency meeting with our adoption agency who agreed to conduct our homestudy. They gave us a notebook that normally takes an adoptive couple 3 to 6 months to complete and hand in. We had one week to complete it. This became my full time job the next several days and we had it completed and handed in on Thursday July 21st. When I handed in the notebook I also handed them a check for $1600.00. We had our first meeting with our adoption attorney the next day and handed him a check for $1000.00. We have an outstanding balance of $2500.00 with the attorney.

Monday, July 25th, the birth mother texted me saying she’d had contractions all night long the previous night, and, they were continuing on into the next day. She said, “We may be having a baby today”! She had a Dr.s appointment at 4pm that same day and would let us know how it turned out.

What I haven’t shared thus far is that I lost me full time job in mid-April. I only received unemployment compensation for about three weeks. We’ve completely exhausted our savings account (emergency fund). I sold my pickup truck for cash on June 21st so we’re down to one vehicle. God has proven Himself to be Jehovah Jireh this entire time because we’re never been late on one bill and haven’t missed a meal. God has already moved upon individual’s hearts who have given (sacrificially) and seeded gifts of money into our family’s life. It has truly been miraculous!

Yesterday, I sought wise counsel from our Pastors. The Spirit moved them to seed into our family for the purposes of adoption expenses. They shared that another family they knew sent out an email to select people in their lives and asked for assistance in paying adoption expenses. Our Pastors seeded into the lives of this family and suggested we consider doing something similar.

So, with all of that said, Tamala and I come humbly asking if you would prayerfully consider sharing out of your abundance by helping us with the costs of our adoption? Up until now, Tamala and I have experienced the joy of giving to those with a financial need in their life. We’ve understood what the Word of God says “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” We also understand that someone has to be the “receiver” of the gift from the giver, and now we find ourselves in need to be on the receiving end. We’ve not had to do this before so the act of “asking” is a new and humbling experience! Even gift cards to places like Wal-Mart, etc. will enable us to buy items for the baby.

Our prayer for you is that God will bless you and your family in ways you never thought, dreamed or imagined. As you “plant seed” into our family we ask you to believe God for special things in your own family. The blessing(s) God has for you may come in many different ways; so it may not just be financial blessing. It could take the form of restored relationships, supernatural health, emotional healing or any way the Father chooses to bless.

May the Peace of God manifest itself in your lives and the Joy of the Lord be your eternal strength. We love you and want you to know how much we appreciate your participating the in the creation process of our family.

Shalom!
Kevin & Tamala Palmer
8506 Maurer Road, #311Lenexa, KS 66219

PayPal account registered to: kpalmer944@yahoo.com

A Miracle - yet again!

2011-07-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

It was yesterday, I had finished learning about a position that Greg Orscheln wanted me to help him with in Tonganoxie and had driven back to the house to eat a quick lunch before going to pick up Tamala for her doctor's appointmentl. So I ate lunch, piled back into the car and was just about to drive out onto Maurer when I remembered about the mail. I knew the mail carrier had already been here and "something" just told me to go pickup the mail. So I did a u-turn and went back to the postal center and sure enough there was mail. I noticed there was an envelope from Cheryl, Tamala's sister.

I went to pick up Tamala at work so we could get her to her doctor's appointment. I pointed out to her there was an envelope from Chery so she opened it. There was a nice card inside and when she opened it, out dropped a check for $700.00. Auntie Cheryl had been saving her baby sitting money so that is what she sent to us to help with the cost of the adoption! One more miracle in less than seven days.

Janurary to July - for Posterity's sake

2011-07-21T13:54:00.001-07:00

It has definitely been an interesting 7 months without a doubt. I believe it was the first Sunday in February, Tamala and I had just "planted a special seed" in what our church calls Seed Faith Sunday. We left church, went home and ate lunch and decided to go drive around and look at properties in the country and dream that afternoon. We were driving south of the KC metro area when Tamala checked her Facebook page on my "smart phone". She said there was a message from someone we used to attend church with asking if we could call her, she had something very important and urgent to ask us. Now it had been approximately 4 years since she'd just walked out of our lives without any explanation or anything. She just disappeared! So I called the phone number she gave us and had her on speaker phone so Tamala could hear.

Our friend informed us that her 19 year old daughter had just told her she was pregnant. Mother asked her if she wanted to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. She wanted to give it up for adoption. So she proceeded to ask Tamala and I at this point of the conversation if we hadn't already adopted, would we be interested in talking to her and Sarah about adopting this baby. I pulled the car over at this moment!

We talked some more with her and asked her many questions. We decided that we would meet that same evening at our apartment in Lenexa. Both Mother and daughter showed up around 7pm I think and we begin talking. The daughter asked us many questions and we asked her a few "hard and straight to the point" questions ourselves. They left our home after we prayed with them. On the way home, daughter told her mother that she didn't want to interview any more families because she believed that she wanted Tamala & I to adopt the baby. The next evening the daughter called us & finally asked us if we'd adopt her baby. We told her yes. She told us her due date was around September 1st.

Long story short - we recommended to the expectant mother that she enroll in The Lighthouse program which is a ministry for unwed, pregnant girls. She agreed and finally enrolled sometime in early March I think. By the beginning of April she left the program at The Lighthouse and vanished!

April 13th, a Wednesday, I was terminated from by employment at Scout Logistics. This had been building within me for about a year because I didn't agree with the manner in which the owners of the company were conducting business. The proverbial straw the broke the camel's back was that I'd taken a day off and scheduled numerous doctor visits, etc. When I went to the Pharmacy to get my new scripts filled and some old one re-filled, my Pharmacist told me he wouldn't be able to fill them because our insurance had been cancelled. CANCELLED?! So left without my meds. I found out the next morning at the office that the insurance had been cancelled for lack of payment! I was FURIOUS! They hold money out of my paychecks to pay insurance premiums and they were so inept at paying their bills, they'd allowed our health insurance to be cancelled. I told the owners on a Friday morning meeting just what I thought about all that. They asked me if I wanted to work there any more and I told them "No, not if you cannot pay bills on time". They let me go the next Wednesday.

So, now I'm updating my resume and hitting the internet with everything I've got. I accepted a Logistics Broker position with RWI TRansportation LLC who had a small office in downtown KC, MO. I started on Monday, May 16th and was terminated at the end of my 2nd week, May 27th. I told Tamala that it was "crystal clear" to me that this was completely a spiritual battle. I told her it was the light I took with me to the office that made the co-workers so uncomfortable with their sin they simply couldn't take it. So the manager cut me loose. God had other things in mind.

I began to ponder opening up my own business in the next couple of days and the decided to go ahead and started the processes. June 1st was listed as our beginning date. I finally partnered with a Virtual Services Company- Arise. I began a training program with AT&T (one of their customers) on Monday July 11th. The program would last about 7 weeks.

It was around the 1st part of June that we tried contacting Gail because no one had been in touch with us. Sarah was still gone! We didn't know what to think!

Fast forward to this last Friday July 15th. Our friend called us about 10:30 pm and said her daughter has re-surfaced. She's staying with a friend in Topeka, KS and she's wanting to talk with us. She gave us her daughter's number and said she was waiting on us to call. So we call her and it's about 11pm at this point. She told us that she'd left The Lighthouse and went back to the baby's Daddy and wanted to work things out with him and see if they couldn't raise this baby. She told us she finally came to the conclusion a couple weeks ago that this daddy didn't want any part of raising this baby. She asked if we were still interested in adopting the baby and we assured her that we were. We told her that since we hadn't heard from anyone for so long we hadn't done anything regarding getting ready to adopt. About her is when she dropped the bomb. She said that the baby had already "dropped" and so had her belly. Her baby doctor said during her last recent visit that she was already dialated to a 3 and that this baby would probably be here in two to three weeks!

The next morning, Saturday, we get up and begin our day. I had a seminar to conduct at the church for people that were interested in starting their own business. We left around 11:30 or so; came home and ate lunch. It was around 2:30 I finally got around to sending Adoption and Beyond an email asking for a meeting in order to get started with the home study. To my surprise, they called me with 10 minutes. She asked if we were free that afternoon and I told her yes, so we scheduled a meeting for 3:30pm. I had to call Tamala who had gone grocery shopping to wrap up what she was doing and come on home because we had a meeting to go to.

The meeting went well. The agency worker sent a notebook full of assignments home with us and we left. We watched three required videos that evening and began the paperwork.

One of Tamala's long time friends was in town with her baby daughter and she needed a place to stay. They came to stay with us afte they'd visited her Dad in the hospital who was in Stage 4 lung cancer. So we were getting caught up with all one another's families. Her husband was currently deployed on military exercises and had been gone about two months already and still had two months to go. Well of course we told her all about the whole baby adopting story and how quickly everything has to move at this point. We finished visiting and all went to bed.

Early Sunday morning before church, I was back in the office tending to some details when Tamala told me that her friend wanted to talk with us. So we went into the living room and she said that she'd shared our story with her husband the night before on the phone and he said "Well let's just help them." So she hands us a check for $1200.00!!! Tamala and I are at a complete loss for words. She tell that "thank you" just doesn't seem quite enough. She assures us that she and her husband are happy to be a part of our family process.

We headed off to church in a daze. We shared what had just happened with many other workers/volunteers in our church during a morning meeting and they rejoiced with us!

Now I'd been in a training program with Arise all last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was during the training, which was going agonizingly slow, that I began thinking that this was going to go on for another six weeks or better. It could be another two weeks after that before the revenue stream begins back to us. I determined that wasn't going to work because we have an immediate need for cash. So during our first break from training, I called the McDonalds store right up the street and asked if they were hiring. They are hiring for all shift and starting pay is $7.25/hour. About an hour and a half later, Greg Orscheln, my former employer called me. We'd had a couple of previous conversations within the last month and had caught up on all the information between us. Greg told me that he and his wife, Susan, were back in KC for the summer and they'd be leaving again in the fall in their motorhome. They've become "snow birds". He also told me that he has been helping his brother in law start up a internet business in Tonganoxie. That is when Greg said "Kevin, I've got an opportunity up here and I could sure use your help!" I told him this was a divine providential call because I had an immediate need for cash due to the adoption. His response was "Well I have some of that right over here on 77th Street!" They only live a few blocks from where we live.

One of the main reasons I decided to blog again was that I want this baby to know whe God was working on his behalf and getting him setup before he was even born!

Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Bo (Tamala's sister & her husband) talked with Tamala a coule of night ago and said their sending us some money. It should arrive by Saturday I figured.

It is now Thursday afternoon and the paperwork is completed. I made a trip to the adoption agency and turned it all in along with a check for $1400.00! I had already paid them $200.00 online yesterday as an application fee.

So there you go, six months and three weeks worth of life! More to come.....

Meanderings -

2010-12-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when I have a few spare moments, the mind shifts into another dimension and begins to ponder the status of humanity. It seems to me humanity should be charged with gross negligence and far more serious crimes against…..itself! Yes, against itself. This could almost be an operative definition of an oxy-moron.

I was relishing an exquisite sunset one evening while driving home. The western sky was a brilliant red! All of the sudden my mind did a “180” when it threw this thought into the ring…..the red is a reflection from an enormous lake of blood from aborted babies over the last few decades! Sobering thought isn’t it? Perhaps this arose out of my spirit. I could almost hear the cry of babies that were never given a chance. I also thought of the picture that is painted in the book of Revelation in the Bible that says that during the battle of Armageddon that blood will run as high as bridles on horses. This may not be the exact book or metaphor but the premise is that the bloodshed will be immense. What raced through my mind is that perhaps we’re already there.

I remember about 6 years ago, after having just moved to Kansas City, I opened the Yellow Pages in the phone book to look for something. I think I was going to try to look up an attorney that I went to college with at ORU. Well I began thumbing from the beginning of the “A”s when I happened upon a full page ad from an abortion clinic. A FULL PAGE ad, and the whole staff was there in a group, all of them were smiling! I was INCREDULOUS! After a couple minutes and the shock began to wear off that is when my blood began to boil. How brazen! I couldn’t believe they were so shameless as to allow all their faces to be shown and published. “Dear Jesus, what have we reduced ourselves to?”

If you will go to YouTube.com and search for Aaron Russo, listen to several of the selections there. He unwraps many things happening in today’s world that have obvious scriptural overtones to them. In one video he talks about how a select few, extremely wealthy families in the world truly run the world. He shares about a conversation he had with one of the Rockefellers and how their goal is to reduce the world’s population from 6 billion down to 1 billion. This whole supposition sheds a different light on the abortion “business” doesn’t it?

World hunger – one of my spiritual mentors, Papa Jones, shared with me a few years ago a conversation he had with God in days gone by. He was asking God why there are so many people in the world going without food. The Holy Spirit spoke to him in only the way the Holy Spirit can and said something like “Son, I’ve provided enough food on earth to more than feed every single person I’ve created”. Now that is completely believable to me. It is mankind, because of greed, that does not reach out and share the natural abundance God has given us. How easily the greedy forget that it could have been them that were born into abject poverty in some remote village well beyond reach of contemporary urban cores. Perhaps the greedy ones are the absolute weakest among us! God knew in His infinite wisdom those individuals were too weak to endure the hardships of poverty and arranged for the truly stalwarts among us to bear this burden; just a thought.

How much more wicked could places like Sodom and Gomorrah have been in comparison to society today? To think, God tired of the wickedness and obliterated those places from the face of the earth. Signs of the times, earthquakes and other freak natural occurrences all are indicative of the eminent return of Jesus. Sometimes I feel like we’re a breath away from God the Father turning to God the Son and saying “Now. Go get them now.” Please come quickly Lord Jesus.

Things always considered to be right up to now, are being considered as wrong. Things once considered vile or to be a scourge on a people are now considered to be the norm.

It’s not that I’m in a particularly dark and contemplative mood, these are the things that have been simmering for quite some time in my heart and mind.
I see beauty all around me. I am continually reminded of omnipotence of God when I look at and consider His creation. When I read in the book of Revelation of what He has done for us and prepared for us I am in amazement of His love for us.
This is probably enough for now. Look up for your redemption draws near! Watch the sky because you never know from behind one of those clouds the sky could begin to peel back and the trumpet of heaven will begin to sound! Life will really begin at that moment!
Shalom!

new "digs"

2010-12-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

Mama T and I have finally sold our home and moved to an apartment in Lenexa, KS. Albeit I’ve tripled the mileage for my commute to work, Mama T is now only commuting about 2.5 miles! She’s really enjoying that part. Mine isn’t so bad, it still isn’t even close to when I used to commute 55 miles one way several years ago when I worked in Joplin.

God’s provision – He never ceases to amaze me. Look at what God did: He led us to an apartment complex that happened to have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, all on ground level, double car (attached) garage, the pool and clubhouse are just outside our patio door. Another really great aspect of our new home is that we’re only about 5 miles or less to our place of worship! It only takes us about 8 minutes now instead of 20 to 25 minutes to drive to church!

The main thing is that we’ve rid ourselves of the “money pit” and have moved out of the “HOOD”! Hallelujah!

A day for THANKSGIVING!

2010-11-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day has arrived. It's 21 degrees here in KC, so it's a bit "chilly"!

There are so many things we are "thankful" for this season. God has been so faithful in providing for our every need this year. We have not done without anything. We have good health. We have a wonderful loving family both biologically and spiritually. We are so very, very blessed! We have stable, good paying jobs, dependable running vehicles, a wonderful home that is heated and cooled to our satisfaction. "God is good all the time, and, all the time God is good!"

Update on the house - I had forgotten all the steps you have to go through when your selling your home. We have a contract with a buyer, that took some "negotiating" which I expected. Then they ordered the inspection, that came back with things that were of concern to the Inspector. The list was unbelievably long! After the inspection they presented us with a list of unacceptable conditions that must be fixed in order for them to get their FHA loan. So I immediately began contacting contractors. Plumber was already been out and complete the one task on the list. That was an easy fix. The Electrical contractor is lined up to do his work. We expected to have to do some electrical work so this wasn't a surprise. Here come the surprises: we have mold in the crawl space under the bedrooms of the house. We contacted three different contractors for mold remediation and finally settled on one. We had to contact a foundation contractor because the south wall in the basement is leaning in toward the room itself. They will be installing seven piers to correct this problem, then they'll be bringing three cubic yards of dirt to put around the foundation of the house in order to get the proper slope for draining the water away from the house. They will also create a "swell" on the west side of the garage between our house and the neighbor's house to divert water away from the house. They will also be installing three "bubble windows" again three of the basement windows.

Appraisal - the appraiser came out this last Monday to do the appraisal. To date we haven't received the final report yet. We are believing that the house will appraise out close enough to the sales price so the buyers will be able to proceed with getting their loan. They've already been pre-qualified for nearly $15,000 more than the sale price. If it doesn't end up appraising close enough to the sales price, I don't know what the next step will be. I guess we might end up going into further negotiations.

The concern at the moment is that the foundation contractor is scheduled to start this next Tuesday November 30th. His bid is the highest bid of all the contractors. He said his job will only take one to two days maximum. If I don't hear a word by close of business Friday, I may call him to tell him to delay the start of the project until we get all the final numbers from the appraiser. The mold remediation contractor will need approximately three days to complete their job. Their supposed to bring some dryers to put in the crawl space to dry everything out down there. (We've got to get the water stopped from flowing into the crawl space before these guys start their part). The electrical guy can start just about anytime.

Friday, December 10th is the scheduled closing date. We've been told that Tamala and I will go in a few days earlier to sign the documents required of us. Then the buyers will sign their "mountain" of documents on the 10th and all the checks will be drafted to pay all the contractors, etc.

THE TEST- I've been pondering this whole process the last few weeks and have come to the conclusion that this whole ordeal is a test. My faith and my character are being tested. I've decided that I will not "re-act" in ways I've reacted to things that haven't gone exactly the way I thought they should go. I will stop and re-evaluate the situation and look for alternative means or other open doors instead of getting all upset about it. When you boil it all down - it's not worth getting upset over. I am reminded of the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and by the way, It's All Small Stuff".

Shalom!

Do we VALUE those closest to us

2010-11-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

This post is one of those that not only should be written but MUST be written. It's time for a REAL examination of our lives.

It was early Monday morning and yes it certainly was MONDAY! I had arrived at the office my usual time only to discover that I my power cord to my laptop was NOT in my computer bag! "Well, great!" I grab my phone and call Tamala and ask where she was in her morning commute to work. She was practically there already. I asked her to look in the back seat of her vehicle to see if my power cord was there. Sure enough, there it lay. I asked her to meet me at a McDonalds just off I-35 that was about half way between her workplace and mine. So out the door I rush and jump back into my truck and head her way.

THE CALL -

As I cruise toward our rendevous place my cell phone rings and it's my Dad. "Kevin, it's your Mother, she's having the same things happen as she did Saturday morning." Just two days earlier Dad had called me saying he was taking Mother to the hospital because she was having the strangest sensations in her head and thought it could be a stroke. They ran a battery of tests at the Emergency Room and eventually informed her that they believed she had a T.I.A. (Trans-Ischaemic Attack)- a mini-stroke!

I visited with Mother Saturday evening after all the day's events and asked if she had "aspirin" in the house. "No, I don't believe I do" was her reply. So I instructed her that "Tonight, without fail, you must go down to Walgreens on the corner and buy a bottle of aspirin, and, keep them in your purse." I further told her that if she feels the slightest sensation trying to return as her earlier episode, she is to chew an aspirin and allow it to remain under her tongue. So, chew the aspirin and drop everything you're doing and head to the hospital!
"Yes, sir" was her reply.

Back to the call.

Dad was telling me she wasn't thinking clearly. I told him that was is to be expected after a mini stroke. Then he proceeded to tell me she wasn't feeling real great and the same sensations in her head from Saturday were returning only stronger!

My response was "Okay, you need to take her back to the hospital". He said that the instructions from the emergency room doctor on Saturday was that she needed to be seen by her regular physician ASAP. He said they weren't open yet. I asked "When do they open?"

"8am" he says. It is already 7:45 am so I said "why don't you load her up in the car and go NOW!" My thinking it is best to be waiting in the parking lot when they open the doors and walk right in.

"Keep me posted as to how things unfold today please" was my request.

I've been married to a doctor before and worked in a health clinic. I know that anytime your dealing with a person who is having heart trouble or stroke symtoms that TIME is precious. Every minute you delay, your are risking permanent damage to tissue!

So, I met up with Tamala, got my power cord, gave her a quick update about Mother not feeling well and it looked like she might need to go back to the hospital, gave her another kiss bye, and headed back to the office.

Okay, I'm back at the office and plugging up my power cord to the laptop and the power outlet, signing onto the network, etc.

It wasn't 30 minutes later when Dad called me back and said he's at the hospital. He says "You boys really need to come and see your Mother more often, she's really not doing well."

"What do you mean?" I ask. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, she's having chest pains! She's really not doing well".

"What?! I'm on my way!" I spin around and walk into my bosses' office and tell him that I have to leave, my Mother is back in the hospital for the second time in two days with stroke symptoms". He assures me to go take care of everything and to keep them posted.

Let's just say the next four hours were a bit "surreal". First, I dash home and throw some clothes together and into the truck. I have no idea how long I'll be gone. I start heading South, call Tamala and try and tell her what is going on all the while choking on my emotions and trying to keep it together. I asked her to call our Prayer Team at church. I then call Mama Jones (that's what we affectionately call her). She and Papa Jones are our mentors and spiritual advisors. Both she and Papa Jones are home and they join together and begin to pray for my Mother and also for me. (Thank God for Pop & Mama Jones - they are truly a God-send).

Have you ever felt "numb"? You don't know what to say? You don't know what to think? It is almost as if you're in a vacuum. That is what the remainder of the drive was like for me.

I arrive at the hospital and walk in and see family in the waiting room. I go back to Mother's room and she wasn't there. Dad was there and he informed me that they had her somewhere running a battery of tests and also a stress test.

Results came about three hours later: her heart is fine, the scans show all is well. They believe her achalasia (swallowing disorder)is being complicated by acid reflux. She will be fine.

THAT was all background to the real premis of this post!

None of this made much sense to me because I know Mother takes excellent care of herself. She became diligent about thirty years ago on the things she ate, vitamin and supplements became a part of her daily regimen, etc, etc.

I begin to ponder - "Ok Lord, are you trying to tell us something?"

Here is my take -

This is the light, growing brighter and brighter with each day, that is being revealed to me -

Are we appreciating those in our lives that are closest to us. Do we see their "worth"? Do we let them know how much them mean to us and what a gift they are in our lives? Or, are we being selfish in the sense that we are taking our loved ones for granted? I believe we need to take a moment and consider how much of an impact each family member has made upon our own life. Can you imagine what your life might be like if a loved hadn't been there for you? Have they served you? Think of that smile or hug that only they can give. How do they make YOU feel loved. What is it that make them unique and their "gift" to those of us who love them?

May we not be found guilty of not appreciating those we love. Who knows, maybe if God sees that we're not "valuing" them in ways we should be, He may decide to bring them into His presence and keep them there! We should be valuing our loved ones like God the Father values each of us.

That's it. Let me just encourage all of us to really examine our life. It takes an effort.

Can you imagine your life, really and truly without.......

Heart to Heart

2010-10-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Dear reader,

This post has been one that has been coming for quite some time. It has been in my heart and it is time to "get it out there".

Kick back with your favorite beverage, we may be here awhile.

As Tamala and I started building our lives together some five and a half years ago many things have happened. We lost her Mother on our second anniversary and had to lay her to rest a few days later. She was one very, VERY special lady! She touched many lives for our Father. We still miss her tremendously; but we wouldn't bring her back for anything. She is in the arms of Father God and smiling down on us.

We have attempted to adopt children only to be met with resistence by this world's "system" because we will NOT give in to their agenda and condone homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. We finally told them we received their message loud and clear. We told them we realize they have no intention of adopting children to us, so, just take our names off your list. That WAS plan A. Thus far, plan B has not revealed itself. It may not. So Tamala and I press on....to the high calling of Christ Jesus. I've been discussing aspects of children with Tamala and said "maybe we aren't supposed to children of our own. Maybe we're supposed to love the children around us! Children in which we come in contact. Perhaps we're supposed to love the children of the world, as our own children." We don't have the answers, but what we do have, is, the knowledge that Father God has our best interest at heart and He knows what He is doing. In that, we find peace and strength.

We have had folks both older than ourselves and younger than ourselves. Some of these folks we have "connected" with on some deep spiritual level. We have spiritual Mentors that impart great wisdom and love in our lives. We in turn, have begun to become mentors to those younger than ourselves.

We became acquainted with a young married couple by and through our spiritual mentors. We have "connected" and together as a group of three separate families, we have realized God has a divine purpose and plan for bringing us together.

The young man, Sam, literally walked out of his village in Uganda Africa in an endeavor to seek out and bring back help for his people. Sam met his young bride in South Africa a few years back. Jessica is an American young woman with a heart for God's people. They established a ministry to feed and clothe the people back in Sam's village in Uganda. Their ministry website is: http://www.wavuuviafrica.org/WavuuviAfrica.html if you would like to learn more. Sam and Jessica asked us to serve on the their Board of Directors because we have "caught the vision".

Judi Jones, our spiritual mentor, and I have been working together in a couple of non profit organizations she created in times past. One of the non profits, Launch Pad Studios, Judi asked me to be the Project Director. Our main focus is personal development, and to help educate those in this world who have not been afforded the educational opportunities with which we have been blessed.

After getting to know Sam and Jessica we were made aware of cultural differences between Uganda and America. For example, there is no public education in Uganda. You pay for all the schooling for your children from the time they start in Kindergarten. If you have sons and daughers in your family, it is customary that you send your son to school before you send your daughters. In Uganda, women are considered a lower class of the citizenry. We also have been informed that the vast majority of children in the village go without shoes. Many villagers don't know when they will eat their next meal. There isn't any running water, whatsoever. The only restroom facility is simply a hole dug in the ground with crude walls surrounding it. The literally live in grass huts.

Poverty - is the operative word here dear readers.

The informational background just shared is to be considered the foundation of what we share next.

I have considered myself fairly pragmatic most of the time. If I see something that I believe that my skill set can make a positive impact, generally I will endeavor to make a contribution especially if it is something in which I can "believe". So, after careful consideration and discussions with Tamala, Judi Jones, Sam and Jessica, we have initiated: Project Uganda.

November 2011 - we have planned a missions trip to travel to Kalonga, located in the Mubende District of Uganda, Africa. It is the team's intent to bring not only the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Sam's native village but also various kinds of "practical" assistance. If you remember, Jesus not only ministered to the spiritual hunger of the people but only fed their physical bodies as well.

If you recall, I mentioned the children go without shoes. The problem with this is that because there are not paved roads or sidewalks, the children's feet are in constant contact with the ground. They have insects called "jiggers" in Uganda which bury themselves in the flesh of the toes. They have to be removed physcially, many times by digging them out with a sharp instrument, and then, they insert their feet into a mixture of peppers boiled in water in order to kill the eggs the "jiggers" have laid in the flesh. So you can imagine this process is quite uncomfortable. This is why we need to take shoes.

It is also the intent of the mission to teach the villagers the inherent worth of each individual, the love of God, and how men should treat their women with respect and allow them to have dignity.

There are so many things that I could continue to share. However, I am aware everyone's time is quite valuable. Rest assured that more will be forthcoming into the blog-o-sphere regarding the mission.

We covet your prayers in the next year. We want the wisdom of God, His guidance and protection in every aspect related to our mission.

I sincerely believe we are living in the last days. Jesus can appear at ANY moment! I want to be about my Father's business. This is kingdom business and I am fully pursuaded we can make a difference in the lives of a few.

Jesus himself instructed us to look after the poor because they will always be with us. This is something I can do.

Shalom!
Kevin

How much?! Really??!! Update on 50 X 50

2010-10-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Okay here is the way last Friday unfolded - I had made an appointment with my Chiropractor because my mid-back had been hurting for better than a week and didn't seem to be getting any better.

I arrived at the Dr.s office and asked where there physicians scale was located. The assistant showed me where it was in the Xray room. I began unloaded my pockets, you know....keys, cell phone,etc.; kicked off my shoes and I was ready.

Now, mind you that my heaviest point was 312 lbs. and that was earlier this year I think. I definitely know it was within the last year. So, I set the weight calibrator on 250 lbs because I know I had lost about 25 lbs already; and slide the small calibrator all the way to the right which read 300 lbs.

Now I start sliding back to the left. I slid through the 290s but I expected that, continued through the 280s but wasn't really surprised because I know how loosely my clothes were fitting these days, but when I started sliding into the 270s and the calibrator still wasn't budging my eyes began to widen; and then........I continued to BLAST through the 270s and finally stopped at ......... 267 lbs. That's right, it's official....I've lost 45 lbs! I had to look at it twice; I was in dis-belief. So I started the process all over again and yep, it went right back down to 267#. I cannot tell you how SHOCKED I was. I had no idea that I'd lost that much. I was so exicted that I took a pic of the scale. Although it isn't the best pic....I know what it said; then I emailed it to Tamala while she was at work!

I think I can safely say that it may have been 25 years since I've been in the 260's. I'd have to do some checking,that is if I have records back that far.

Blessings!

God Favored Me - a MUST hear

2010-09-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

Our chior sings this at church and everytime I become overwhelmed because of God's favor on my life. It is a song that I do not tire of hearing because it reminds me of God's goodness and His unconditional love.

Blessings!

OH NO! It's September 1st already!

2010-09-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

I was driving to work this week early in the morning, enjoy the coolness of the morning. All of the it occured to me that it was September 1st which means I have only about 12 weeks until the end of the and only about 10 weeks until by 50th birthday! There is a weight loss goal to achieve and I have work to do.

I had become a little complacent around the house after I came home from work. I wasn't really working on the house as hard as I had been for several months. That means I wasn't really achieving any kind of calorie burn.

So.....it is time to change gears!

I told Tamala tonight on the way home from work that we need to go the Y. What seems ironic is the last time we had a gym membership, we were going about three times a week. I lost about 20 lbs over a period of six months, Tamala says she only lost 5 to 6 lbs. Here's the rub - since I started working on the house back in March, I lost about 25lbs in five months; Tamala lost about 20lbs!

Anyway, it's time to go to the next level - whatever that means!

Shalom

hither and yon - meanderings betwixt the ears

2010-08-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

It is a relaxing evening here in KC. I started burning what wood I've had left in my wood pile from a tree we cut down three years ago I think. I started burning this last weekend and just this evening I put the last few logs on top of the coals that were still smoldering. There is something about the aroma of burning wood wafting through the neighborhood that makes me think of Fall. Fall means cooler temps! Cooler temps means it won't be so miserable outside when you want to be doing things outside. We walked out about a week ago early in the morning and it was incredibly cool! I told Tamala as we were about to climb into our vehicles it felt like it must be in the 60s. Sure enough I checked and it was exactly 60 degrees. It felt wonderful! I think the high that day made it only to about 78 degrees.

A realtor showed our home last Wednesday to a lady from Colorado. The feedback we received was she told the realtor we have a beautiful home and that ours made "the short list"! She is apparently going to come back in September again and look some more.

Since we actually put it on the market and have had a couple of open houses, all the major stuff we needed to get done was finished. I have to admit that I've had a real struggle trying to get my motivation back to do some of the small things that can be done i.e. changing the electrical switch plates, re-painting the window latches, even painting the trim in the small downstairs spare bedroom. We worked for five long months on it practically every day and I just wore myself out on all of it. I used up two weeks of my three weeks of vacation to work on the house. Don't they call those "staycations"? We just lowered the price by $2500 last week so it will begin showing up in a lower price bracket in case folks that don't want to spend more than $125K will begin seeing our house.

Well, Tamala has had her new vehicle for one week now. She ended up with a 2002 Toyota Highlander with leather seats (heated), a sun/moon roof, nice stereo 6 disc CD changer, etc. I haven't looked up the official color of it but let's call it a deep Hunter Green. She said it has taken some getting used to driving it because she sets up so much higher than she did in the Toyota Corolla. She likes it because she can "see" now over many of the vehicles around her. I know I certainly feel better knowing that she is driving a much bigger and safer vehicle. This has been the first vehicle we bought together since we got married nearly 5.5 years ago. Her car was ten years old and mine is 8 years old. I still don't have even 120,000 miles on mine yet; it blows cold air in the summer and hot air in the winter so I'm good with that.
I have to admit, we test drove a couple of Mercedes Benz that were in our price range and let me tell you - they were one "sweet" drive. I kind of brought back memories of when I owned my Porsche 944S in the early 90s. I told Tamala those cars are actually "fun" to drive! I think that may have started an itch I may need to scratch in the next couple of years.

Well, I think I've wandered down a few short rabbit trails during this posting and should probably get onto something more productive. Before long, I'll begin the tedious task of examining the backs of my eyelids for the slightest of pin holes that would allow light to come flooding in. I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I found one, all I know is that it must be done without fail. It is an arduous task that has become a nightly ritual, one that takes me about 8 hours to complete. I just wish I could figure out a way to get paid to perform such a task. I'm the perfect employee; I show up every night and report for duty - WITHOUT fail! Never in all my almost 50 years have I ever NOT reported to this job. I have perfect attendance.

Good grief, now I've fallen off the cliff and into the abyss of - deliriousness!

Blessings! Shalom.

CRUNCH! a time to say good bye

2010-08-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

I had just spoken to Tamala a couple of minutes before she called me again last Tuesday, August 3rd. I could tell instantly when I heard her voice that something was wrong.

She said "I've just been in an accident." I asked if she was okay and she said her chest was hurting. I asked where she was and I'd call 911. I called 911 and they told me someone had already called and an ambulance was already dispatched and the KS Highway Patrol was enroute as well.

Long story short - she was coming home from work and on an entrance ramp to I-35 (the most heavily traveled road in all of Kansas City). Of course she was checking over her left shoulder to get a glimpse of oncoming traffic......BAMMMMM! the vehicles in front of her began slamming on their brakes and before she could react much she hit the guy in front of her. It was a BMW SUV. He was very kind and thoughtful to her after the whole ordeal by asking her to get into his vehicle until help arrived.

So, I drop what I was doing at the office and begin trying to thread my way to the scene of the accident in rush hour traffic. I'm taking back streets and trying not to speed.

When I was just several blocks from the crash the ambulance attendant called me and and told me they were taking her to Shawnee Mission Medical Center. So, I do a 180 and head the ER. I get there and walk into her room and here she is strapped to a body board with a neck brace on and her head is even strapped to where it cannot move.

After some examinations and x-rays they release her to go home and we head for the Walgreen store not too far from the house.

She had some bruises and abrasions mostly from the seat belt, and soreness beyond belief. She is on the mend. We're currently considering what kind of vehicle to get for her. We knew by Wednesday evening the insurance company declared her car a total loss. You can see why:

Mom and Dad began heading up to KC Wednesday morning about 3:15am so they could keep an eye on Tamala while I was working. They took her to the Doctor. I went Wednesday morning to the tow yard and got all of her personal things out of the car. When I first saw it I figured it was a gonner!

So the insurance check is in the mail, we're on the hunt for another vehicle and now it's time to say goodbye to something we've had since we got married and Tamala has had about nine years.

Blessings!

Going back to work so I can REST!

2010-07-27T15:02:00.001-07:00

Well it is my second day back in the office after my week long absence last week. I took another one of my vacation weeks in order to work on the house to do the last minute preparations to get it "on the market". HOLY COW! I worked harder, sweated more, definitely had more STRESS during that week that I usually have at work. It seemed there was always an impending deadline that had to be met. First it was Monday, July 19th and we had to have the house ready for the professional Stager to come in and "stage" our house for showing. That's real estate "speak" for putting all your furniture the way she wants it placed, putting her pictures on the walls, adding her professional touch here and a little there. Accent pillow here, a shower curtain there, a bowl of fruit over there, etc., etc. Well she arrived about 10:30am and we showed her around the house so she could see all the changes we'd made since she'd last been there in about early April. She was very pleased with our work. Then she promptly kicked us out of our own house (kidding of course) so she could work her 'magic'. We had to be gone for 4.5 hours. So we went and had lunch, then stopped by two different apartment complexes and looked at two bedroom apartments. They didn't have any 3 bedrooms available. Then we just hung out awhile. When we got back - WOW, she had really done quite a bit of work. It is absolutely amazing what little "color" can do for a place!

Thursday of last week, our next deadline was for the photographer to come by and take pics of our home both outside and inside. When he called to confirm I asked him to make it as late as he could because we were still doing last minute things in the house. I started mowing the yards that morning about 7 or 7:30am and didn't stop until 11am! I was trimming bushes, moving logs, raking parts, washing porches, etc. etc. Well, he came and took the pics and left. I kept working until I melted into bed about 10pm. Honestly, I don't' think I could have put another foot in front of the other. I was absolutely and utterly exhausted.

Oh yeah, we had guests from Des Moines, IA come and stay with us on Friday. We pretty much had the guest room ready for them. We took them to Cinzetti's Italian Restaurant where they have a buffet of the most INCREDIBLE food you can imagine! and the desserts! OH MY GOODNESS! I just about hurt myself - sampling this, eating that, had a little of this - OH, did you get some of that stuff?

Saturday morning we have a strategy session with our guests from Des Moines and Judi Jones. Sam and Jessica Luwandaga are our emissaries to Uganda, Africa. We have been talking for a while now of taking a trip to Africa to meet the children and families out non-profit organization has been helping out just over the last year.

It is official - we ARE going to Africa! November 2011 is the date we've all agreed to calendar the trip. We've so many things to put together in preparation for the trip. I'll be blogging more about that in the near future!

Well, this morning I get a call from the "home scheduling service" asking if it would be okay for one of their agents to show our home from 11:30am to 12:30pm. I said "of course". So, I took an early lunch about 10:15am and made a quick dash home because I thought I had left my tool box out in the floor of the office; and I knew I still hadn't re-installed the air register vents back into the walls because I was painting them just last night. I get home and sure enough, I had left the tool box out so I put it away; scrambled to get the air register vents back into the wall..."Oh no, where are the screws?" No screws! so I started grabbing little pieces of paper and folding them up the "wedge" them in between the wall and the vent! "Necessity is the mother of invention". I got that done, ran downstairs into the basement and began arranging what few things remain down there then - ran back upstairs and quickly squirted the front entry storm door with window cleaner, grabbed the Fabreeze air freshener and ran upstairs and began misting everything in sight - came down into the living room and into the dining room. I've covered in sweat at this point (and I'm in my office clothes)....ooops....out of time - put the air freshener away and dash out the door! Get into my truck and turn the A/C over to "artic" and blaze a trail back to the office. (I think I met myself coming while I was going back to the office, I'm not sure - everything is a blur).

So I get a call about 4:20 this afternoon asking if it would be okay if an agent showed our house from 5 to 6pm this evening! I said "sure it would!" So...I immediately called Tamala and told her not to go home just yet (they don't want home owners on site when prospective buyers are looking at your property). So we've been kind of, sort of, kicked out a second time all within a week! That's okay, it WILL pay off in the end - I know it will.

I've got a wood pile out back that I have to get completely burned before Sunday because they're going to have an open house from 1pm to 4pm that afternoon. Guess what? We'll be kicked out again during that whole time as well.

Well....that's about it. As soon as we can get back into the house this evening I'll begin "securing" the air registers to the wall, burning more wood out back, more painting touch-ups to be done.

Gotta run-
Blessings!

“Y’all come, now, ya heeuh”

2010-07-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

In this whole process of getting ready to sell the house and then move out of the house, the time has come for the dubious “yard sale.” UGH! It always amazed me that folks would stick out these little 8.5 x 11 inch “garage sale” signs on the street corner – expecting you to read their quaint little sign with address, etc. It is a rare moment that I’ve found that I could actually read their sign.

So ours is tomorrow and Tamala had been asking me for a couple of days if I could make the signs for her. I said “Sure!” Well here you go…..a few ‘custom’ signs that will adorn the neighbor for all to see. Too bad they won’t be taking satellite shots of our neighborhood! I hope they can see these.

The big ones are 4 x 8 foot plyboards split in half if that lets you know the size of them. I have to admit, I started feeling a little like ‘white trash’ about half way through this project. I think maybe I’ve experiencing a psychological conundrum from too many visits to “Hillbilly Hollar” down near Branson, MO. I mean…isn’t the whole idea of putting out a sign is for the passersby to actually see them and to READ them? Well, that was my whole approach. Give me a chance and I just might make a sign they could see from the Space shuttle!

I’m sure we’ll be up well before sun up tomorrow – arranging, pushing, shoving, pulling things into just the right spot for the new owner to “spy” their little find and whisk off with it to only God knows where. I told Tamala she probably wouldn’t want me around too much during the sale because if someone doesn’t like my price I might tell them give a dollar for it and “git outta heeuh”. That’s right, I want it gone…all of it! “Git ‘er dun” as Mator would say in Pixar’s movie “CARS”.

I’m sure after it’s all over there will some kind of stupid story to tell. I like to add some accelerant and simply strike a match, then “WOOSHHHH” it’d all be over in a flash!

Pray for me that I don’t try and slap some horse sense into some of the ‘folk’ that will be visiting the former Palmerosa of KC.

Blessings!

Updates, Updates and updates -

2010-07-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

50 by 50 - update:

Well I went to the doctor last week for a check up and asked him to fill out a form that was required for my insurance company. I was anticipating the visit because I knew I had lost some weight since my last visit but didn't know how much. How, did I know? Well, let's put it this way, if I didn't wear a belt would likely see a full moon rising! All of my pants have become extremely too big and when I cinch up the belt they have a tendency to pucker up around my waist. So I guess you might be wondering how much I've lost? The nurse's aid said the last time I was in their office I was tipping the scale at 303 lbs. Last week I weighed in at 278lbs so that's a 25 lb. loss! I'll take it. Thing of it is, I haven't really been trying. I've cut down on the amount of food I eat, plus, I've stay extemely active when I come home at night. Instead of sitting and watching TV like we used to do, I'm scraping, sanding, painting, spackling, etc, etc. until it's time to go to bed. Another 25 lb weigh loss would put me at 253. I'd really like to get to 250. Suffice it to say, I haven't been in the 270's for quite awhile. Incidentally, Tamala has dropped 20 lbs as well! People at church have been commenting to her that they've noticed her weight loss. Her jeans are getting pretty "baggy" too. Maybe I should begin calling her the "bag lady".

Palmerosa of KC is up for sale!

This weekend proved to be very, very productive! I've hired two teenage boys who live across the street a couple of weekends. Well, they came over Saturday morning and I had them start down in the basement. We have a fairly large basement. Between the stuff we've been storing for Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts (a non profit organization I serve on their Board of Directors) and our stuff - let's just say there was a "trail" from one end of the basement to the other. It was FULL! After about 2.5 hours - our basement is 99% empty! It looks so HUGE now! Our realtor visited us just last week and said the main thing is for the stuff in a basement to appear to be organized. I'm thinking she'll settle for its condition now. I think she'll be really pleased.

We're getting down to some final details before it officially hits the market. Our target date for it to be entered on the Multilist service and published on the market is July 21st. Tamala and I will be taking that entire week off to get the house ready. I think we'll be ready early, but I'll remain flexible. If you've got $127,500.00 and need a 4 bedroom, tri-level, two bathrooms on almost 3/4 of an acre - we've got just the place for you.

Also, with a few quick calculations and a great deal of HOPE - I believe that if we sell the PalmerosaKC for over $123,500 we will walk away from the closing table completely DEBT FREE! I've thought about this more and more lately. I keep telling myself every night while working on the house that "pay day is coming....pay day is coming!"

Well, that's all for now. It's beginning to get a little late. Blessings!

the 1, 2 punch -

2010-06-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Dear reader, brace yourself this could be a long one! This post may be more of a cathartic process for me than anything else. Be that as it may, here it is......

Today, it hit me. It hit me right between the eyes, then it went straight to the inner core - my soul. The adoption process was OVER. There wasn't any children in our home, sleeping in their beds, or eating at their places around our dinner table. There would be no toys littering the living room, no doll clothes strung from here to there, no dump trucks to hurl across our floors. But the thing that was the loudest was there wasn't laughter filling our household. It was DEAFENING! The absence of giggling or squeals of delight, no maple syrup kisses or quick hugs around the legs and then dashing out the door to explore the next great adventure. It's GONE!

I've know for awhile now that there was something building within myself. It was a type of pressure. There was three contributing factors that can be indentified very quickly.

The house itself - it has been over three months now. This house has been in a state of chaos, out-of-sorts, mis-placed things. I can't set down because there is a window that needs painting, that cabinet door needs to be re-hung, have I sanded that drawer facing yet? Where is my hammer? Oh yes, I have to go buy more hardware for the cabintry, and another gallono of paint - don't forget caulking. Where is that confounded hammer? Oh there is the screwdriver I needed an hour ago to remove that piece of hardware. "Please God, will you please help me find my hammer?" When will the contractor show up again - it's been three & a half weeks. What part of "we want to get this house ready to put on the market as quickly as possible wasn't clear enough?" Did I mumble when I told him we really were in a hurry to get this house listed on the market before the special tax money was gone? That was eight or ten weeks ago now.

ORDER - yes, order. I like order in my home. Everything has a place and everything should be in it's place. "Have you seen my hammer?"

Preparing this house had become a second job a long time ago. I HATE my second job. I love my primary job - it brings me a great deal of satisfaction. I can't quit my second job - it HAS to be finished.

The 2nd contributing factor has been one that began just about the time we started remodeling the house for market. We had a yound man in our church that appeared to be in difficult time in his young life. So we reached out to him; we jumped in both feet first. We had no idea that it would end as poorly as it has. For all of acts of kindness, all the love and attention we gave to him,etc., etc. we were not prepared for the way we would be treated in return. The deceit, lies,cold-heartedness and utter contempt (criminal acts and all) that has been displayed to us left us completely bewildered. He all but asked us to become surrogate parents. He called us Mom & Dad. He could have had us the rest of our lives but that all vaporized in less than three short months. All we can do at this point is pray for the young man, that God will have grace with him and protect him from himself. My greatest concern is that he will "mess over" the wrong person and they won't be as forgiving as we have been.

Finally, of course there is the failed adoption. Nearly three years of our lives invested into something that will not yield a thing. The "system" is so horribly broken it is tragic to think just how many children are not getting their forever family because the system has "paralysis by analysis".

It was about 10:30 this morning when the pressure blew the lid off. I had had enough, I was done. I realized after speaking with my spiritual mother that I was very sick in many different ways. She was absolutely right - I was grieving the loss of children. I went back to my desk after having spoken with her and could NOT focus whatsoever. I felt the crack, debris was about to begin falling - I had to get out of there with whatever dignity I had at the moment. I told my boss I had to go home, that I was sick. How I wish I were physically sick. I wish I could just spew it all into the toilet and it would all be over with - a 24 hour bug; that would have been more desirable than this. Now I have to deal with the anger, unmeasurable disappointment, sadness, more anger,etc.

I have to share this little story and get it off my chest as well. I went to the Verizon Wireless store a couple weeks ago. My bosses upgraded my cell phone to the very coolest and latest thing on the market. I had to wait two weeks for them to even ship it to me! So it finally arrived and I wanted to make sure it was turned on correctly and all my information was transferred over from my old phone and that is why I was in the Verizon store. I wanted one of the techs to help me with that. Well wouldn't you know there was some kind of small issue. The store tech couldn't get the phone to "boot up" just right so she call an IT person at Verizon corporate. This guy is working with me and eventually tells me to take the phone and go outside. "You mean outside the store?" I ask. "Yeah, take it outside on the sidewalk" he says. I'm thinking you've got to be kidding - I'm inside a freaking Verizon store. So, I had to put the handset to the landline down and walk outside onto the sidewalk and voila! it booted up. So walk back in the store and pick up the phone with the IT guy. Meanwhile, there are several people inside the store and I've been there practically 45 minutes already with someplace else I needed to be heading to. Well, it seems there was this little Hispanic girl, approximately two, who wasn't having a very good day. She was getting louder and louder and her parents just paid not attention. I am still on the phone trying to get help with the IT guy, when she REALLY gets loud! I said out load to the techs across the counter " I can help that child!"with a little bite of satire in my voice. They and the IT guy on the phone just busted out laughing. I gave the Tech across the counter from me one of those "give me five minutes with her and she'll have a new outlook on life" looks; when all of the sudden she throws herself on the floor and begins shrieking and wailing! I spun around with the phone up to my ear and look straight at the mother and said "DO YOU......MIND?" She was incredulous! How dare I. Finally the dad, who must have finally grown a pair right there, began to scoop her up off the floor and attempt to subdue her in some small manner. Let me tell you what I wanted to say out loud was "this is a place of business, not an audition for Nanny 911!" I mean really, here was this 30 pound baby having complete control over her mother and father who was probably 250. I thought if it comes to having to resort to public humiliation to get the parents to parent that child, then so be it.

Okay, I'm done. I'm going to find that blasted hammer if it's the last thing I do today!

Adoption update -

2010-06-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well after nearly three years in this adoption process here is the latest and greatest update.

We notified out adoption worker several weeks ago that we were interested in a sibling set of four. She finally emailed us this past Thursday or so and said that their organization was going to examine whether the biological grandparents were going to able to be the best resource for adopting the kids; which means yet another.........................DELAY.

I had told Tamala a week or so ago that if we weren't chosen on this set of kids, that I, personally, was done!

So Friday, I sent and email to our adoption worker something to the effect of: "please remove us from your list, the message from KVC has been received loud and clear".

So instead of calling us, our adoption worker just emails us and says she understands our frustration with the long process....blah., blah, blah...blah. However she would respect our wishes if we wanted them to close the file.

So I fire back an email "we're done.....close the file".

Honestly, this whole deal of them having a major objection with us because we would not openly endorse homosexuality as an okay alternative lifestyle; just reminds me of the Scriptures saying something about - " in the last days, wrong will seem right and right will be made out to be wrong". Also it says in the last days that Christians will be persecuted. My spiritual mentor told us several months ago "it has already started - you are being persecuted for standing up for what is right and morally correct.

Plan B - don't know if there is a Plan B at this point.

Blessings!

2nd job and 3 months later

2010-06-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

it is hard to believe that months have practically "vaporized" since my last post. Honestly, does the pace ever slow down? When we first stared this whole remodeling project we hoped it would take less than a month. Boy was that "pie in the sky"! Family members have been asking when are you going to blog again. Well, I really couldn't quite seem to find the time. We usually wake up before 6am, roll out and begin the day, stay at work for the next ten hours or longer before heading back to my "2nd job". That would be the whole house project. So we have been making progress but very, very slowly. The main contractor finally showed up after four weeks of not showing up. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will not venture a guess as to what date we'll be able to put the house on the market. But we're a heck of a lot closer now than we were 3 months ago. I told Tamala a couple weeks ago that we've been trying to fix 20 years (or longer) of neglect in a matter of a few weeks. It just wasn't happening. The inside of the house is really beginning to look completely different. New paint on the walls and ceilings. Gotta run....some disaster just happened in the lower bathroom that the contractor worked on today.

To sell or not to sell......

2010-03-13T06:34:00.001-08:00

Unload that baby!

Well Mama T and I have decided to test the waters in the real estate market by listing our home with a realtor. So the Palmerosa of KC is now officially in a state of "limbo".

Our home is no longer ours but is now a "product" we have to sell on the open market. You have to "de-personalize" the space to make it more attractive to a wider base of buyers.

So, I've taken the next week off, using vacation time, to begin the process of not only doing some light re-modeling but also begin the packing process for our move.

The drywall guy is coming Monday at 9am to fix things like this:

This was a clock installed into the kitchen wall no telling how many years, or even decades ago. It is coming out and will be patched up and painted over.

I was really proud of Mama T last night because began digging into her closet to "pare down" the amount of cloths in her closet. One of the tricks of the trade is that we have to create the "illusion" that their is an abundance of closet space. The real estate folks told us to cut it down to 1/3 of the amount in the closet.

here is a pic of part of her closet after her hard work. (take note that all the clothes are hung on the same color hangers and collars are to be turned the same direction!)

Anyway, we gotta run...there's work to be done: paint fling, boards to cut, windows to scrape and wash, dishes to pack.....I'm tired already and it's not even 9am.

I may just have to stop by the toy store a little later today to buy a toy or two. For those who aren't "in the know" that's Kevin-speak for Lowes or Home Depot (toy store) and a miter saw or ladder would be the "toys"!

You can agree with Mama T and I that we will find favor with buyers and they will pay full market value or above! God is able....I trust Him.

Buy "oops"..... bye for now.

50 by 50

2010-01-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

Are you a bit perplexed by the title? I would almost solicit what possible answers the readers might think that it means but with my small readership, probably less than a half-dozen, I doubt it would be worth it.

Let's see....50 by 50. That would make for a great barn or hobby shed, don't you think?

50 by 50 would make for a HUGE garden too! Forget that noise, I wouldn't want to have to take care of something that big.

50 by 50 would make a great beach front lot on the lake!

Oh alright, I'll just have to tell you then.

Well, Tam and I really enjoy watching "The Biggest Loser" on Tuesday nights here at the Palmerosa. If I had to choose one show out of the entire week....it would be this show. I think we started watching either at Season 4 or 5, I'm not sure.

***I bet you can already figure out where this is going, right? *****

I must say that over the last few seasons there have been some incredible things happen on the show. Some things nearly "unbelievable" unless you had watched the whole season. Some of these contestants "metamorphosized" into something completely different when compared to how they started the season.

The guy who won the last season was from Broken Arrow, OK (near my hometown of Tulsa). He broke a record of losing 100 lbs in only seven weeks. By the end of the season he had lost over 50% of his body weight. He was a mere shadow of his former self.

Anyway over the last few seasons, we experience with some of these contestants some of the psychological barriers, hurdles, and other challenges people who have weight issues deal with on an on-going basis. Somehow, Bob and Jillian, the personal fitness trainers are able to reach into the hearts and minds of these contestants, and mine too, and touch them in areas we didn't even know existed. Sometimes it makes you very uncomfortable not only for yourself but for the contestant. I cannot tell you how many times a contestant might be explaining what they're dealing with or some obstacle they've just come up against and it's like they're reading my mail! I've realize over time that I'm not the only one out there - there must be millions of us.

Well, one of the things that the trainers tell you to do is to announce to your family, friends, co-workers, etc. that you're embarking on a journey to change your life. When you "put it out there" by telling people, then you've just set some things into motion. Once you've told them, you just became accountable. You see, if you don't tell anyone, and you fail to lose the weight you wanted, well no one knew in the first place.

Okay, have I built this up enough at this point? I can imagine you've already figured it out though.

Well, okay, here it is.........the title 50 by 50 is ......

Oh, do I really have to say? I don't wanna........

"Help me Jesus. I need thee, oh how I need thee".

I want to lose 50 lbs by the time I turn 50. As of today.....I have exactly 11 months.

Well, there it is! It's out there for the world to see. Now, I've done it! I've gone and opened by big mouth and now I really have to do something about it. Now I'm ACCOUNTABLE! Oh....yuk....that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I told Tamala just this evening after dinner that we've been able to modify our behavior when it comes to money over the last 2.5 years. Now, we need to turn our attention to modifying our behavior when it comes to food.

50 by 50....you think I should have a T-shirt made up?

So, now that I've humiliated myself by broadcasting to the universe via cyberspace of my goal, I'm going to sign off and contemplate just what I've done.

Blessings!

Aruba is beginning to sound nice about now

2010-01-10T13:20:00.001-08:00

Are you kidding me? I mean seriously....was it really that cold outside side this morning? When we arose this morning we went upstairs to begin making coffee. I wondered what the outside temperature might be so all I had to do was turn around and look at the thermometer on our green hutch. As you can see below... it didn't lie.

Yes, it really did show -2 degrees Fah. Oh come on...really? I am so over winter words can't convey how done I am with it; and it's only been "officially" winter for less than a month!

Like I said earlier - Aruba is beginning to sound a whole lot more comfy about now. Anybody else up for moving?

Blessings!

Okay, okay - it's a musical day, so sue me!

2010-01-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

After my last post, I flipped over to my brother's blog and enjoyed his most recent musical post. But it was something he said in the introductory remarks about his featured musical posting that reminded me of a similar experience. I will quote him here "Every once in a great while, a cover comes along that may possibly be better than the original". I happen to agree wholeheartedly with that statement.

Once again I was cruising the net a few years ago and happened upon a redition of one of America's most iconic songs - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" however, it wasn't sung by the quintessential Judy Garland, but a regional artist in the great Northwest, Eva Cassidy.

Have you ever bought a CD just because it had one song on it, or am I the only one? All I can say is thank God for Amazon.com because that is where I found it and quickly snatched it up.

The "pure" sound of her acoustic guitar is flawless and her soul stirring rendition is one you may not likely forget.

Allow me to give you a brief history of this artist. She recorded several CDs but she became terminally ill. One person posted a comment that I read summed it up quite well:

"As I understand, she was aware of her terminal affliction at the time of this performance.

If we put the depth of meaning contained in the lyrics of the song in context with what she was going through at the time, the "breaking" of her voice at the phrase "why can't I", will help to appreciate the genuine nature of her perfomance.

Every once in a great while, a cover comes along that may possibly......

"Meditation" from Thais

2010-01-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I was surfing the internet for music when I came upon this piece played by Itzak Perman. I was instantly mesmerized by the intense beauty and sheer "power" of such a masterful composition. Only I did not know its name or the artist at the time. It wasn't identified on the internet. I had it saved for 3 or 4 years when I became acquainted with a classical concert pianist. I played it for him asking if he could identify it for me. He only had to hear the first couple of measures and once the violin began he knew it was "Meditation" from Thais. He said that it was his father's favorite piece and they played it at his funeral.

Jules Massanet wrote this amazing piece. I've wondered what Jules may have been experiencing at the time it was written. I've never tired of hearing it. It will most likely be listed in the top five of my all time favorites considering music in all its entirety with all its genres.

I read one person's comments and it said: "It sounds like a slow ascent to heaven and heaven is pierced at 2:00 minutes"

I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

Blessings!

I am gonna get Miss Helena !!!!!

2010-01-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

our little sweet and lovely Christmas house guests wished for a white Christmas. Well she got her wish. It snowed ON Christmas Day - it had been 47 years since it actually snowed on the sacred day.

Well apparently she's still praying for snow because our Christmas snowfall is still on the ground and ......it's snowing AGAIN!!!

You just wait till I see her! She'll be wishin' for Spring roses and honey bees! "I'll you my pretty.....and your little dog too!"

We're expecting another 4-6 inches tonight. I really do hope that this storm system doesn't stall out over us. That would be catastrophic!

press Resume to continue -

2010-01-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hello again dear reader - it has been a very long time since my last post. Truth be known, I didn't have any desire to post anything. I just realized that the entire month of December has come and gone without any postings, but, it is what it is.

Thank you for your understanding.

I've taken quite a bit of time to ponder the "home going" of my former pastor, Billie Joe Daugherty. Not to same that I'm done either - I'm still processing and will be for some time to come. Not only did we have Billie Joe's passing to deal with but another one of God's generals crossed over into Glory on my 49th birthday, Oral Roberts. He was President of Oral Roberts University when I attended from 1979 throught 1981. His legacy leaves a lifetime dedicated to spreading the gospel and being a conduit for the healing power of God. I couldn't begin to do justice to this powerful man of God here in my little blog so I will just stop right there.

I must give pause here for a moment to consider the Reverend Dr. Billy Graham. He just celebrated his 91st birthday last November. I wonder just how long we will have him with us to draw upon his wisdom related to his years of ministry. I just read a little piece about Dr. Graham that said he is considered to have preached to more people in his lifetime than anyone else in history - some 2.2 billion! It has been recorded that 2.5 million people have stepped forward at his crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! I believe he qualifies to also wear the honor of one of God's generals. Of course that is my opinion - but again, this is my blog!

press "Resume" to continue - I think after today that I will endeavor to begin blogging again.

CHRISTMAS was a wonderful! We were blessed to have my folks along with their foreign exchange student, Helena come to our home. Helena is from Norway and she is the greatest! She is just like the little sister we never had. She was hoping and praying for snow on Christmas. Well she must be "blessed and highly favored" because it began snowing Christams Eve night and right on through Christmas day. I think we got 12 to 14 inches! I told her at one point Christmas afternoon - "you can stop praying for snow now just anytime Helena." It seemed like it would never stop! No one even ventured outside on Christmas or Friday the 26th. By Saturday I was feeling a bit stir crazy so I ventured out to do some snow shoveling.

We got another couple inches just last night. So now we have two different snows still on the ground with more on the way! The weatherman said we may break another record this week for the most consequtive days with high temps in the single digits.
I remember from last winter that we had three different snows on the ground at one time. Looks like it will happen again.

Have a blessed and prosperous year in 2010!

I've pressed "Resume" to continue on once again.

Farewell to one of God's "champions"

2009-11-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 22, 2009 will live in the hearts of many thousands of individuals as we said farewell to one of God's modern day CHAMPIONS - Billie Joe Daugherty, founder and Senior Pastor of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He became my pastor in 1979, the year I graduated from high school. He remained my parents Pastor until his home going some thirty years later. Although throughout the years, I have moved around and lived in many different cities and states, I always considered Billie Joe Daugherty my "Pastor". I drew a type of strength knowing he was also "back home" in Tulsa, doing the work of the ministry and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

When I told my employers I would need to be gone the day of his memorial service I told them that to say he touched the lives of thousands of people would be a gross understatement. It is without reservation that I can he touched hundreds of thousand of live and yes, perhaps millions! His was a global ministry in scope.

There were many thousands of people earnestly praying for his healing and complete restoration for the glory of God. What I have been sharing with a few people when I speak to them about his passing is that he DID receive his healing! He didn't get the type of healing we all wanted but what he received was the ultimate healing as he passed from this life and into the loving presence of our heavenly Father!

Yes, I have questions. But I know that my finite mind cannot possibly comprehend the things of God. What I do know is that God is still sovereign, the devil is a defeated foe and Jesus Christ is Lord!

I know that Pastor Billie Joe has left behind a beautiful and incredibly powerful legacy regarding the work he has done for the kingdom of God. His level of integrity and commitment to the cause of Christ is one that I could only aspire to achieve. The world is undeniably a better place because of this man's life. He has been a champion for God but has also raised up and trained an untold multitude of champions for the kingdom.

We bid you farewell only for a short while, Billie Joe - until we meet again on the streets of gold, with walls of jasper........

how Helzberg spoiled Christmas!

2009-11-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Okay gang, I thought I had it all together by arranging Mama T's Christmas gift WAY ahead of time. You see, back BEFORE her birthday on October 17th, I had not only purchased her birthday gift at Helzberg Diamonds but had put a special something on lay-away for her Christmas gift. I am using an antique financial concept for gift purchases - I am paying 'CASH'.

So, in early October, I walk out of one of Warren Buffet's stores before Mama T's birthday thinking I've really, really well this year by not putting it all off to the very last second.

Well guess what arrived in the mail this week? Yeah, a 'reminder' message that Helzberg hasn't received my lay way payment this month (there isn't a structured plan) and what is even worse - guess who comes bringing it to me? Yeah, you guessed it....Mama T brings it to me saying...."This came into the mail today".

To say I was furious.....would be a little understated! I was so disgusted that I didn't know what I was going to do.

So a little later today, I will be paying a little visit to the local Helzberg store that I have patronized for the last couple of years and ask them why I would even think of continuing to be their customer after what has transpired.

Breathe......

one more time.....Breathe -

Okay, I'm better now!

Honestly, what a blunder! I guess the lesson learned here might be that I could have gone ahead and paid cash for both purchases at the same time. But frankly I really didn't want to fork over that much cash. I thought I would be just fine by putting in on lay away. Lesson learned, huh?

Well, this isn't really going to spoil Christmas. I will do something, I just have to "re-group".

Blessings!

the new movie - 2012

2009-11-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well, Mama T and I did a "first" together last night - we went to a movie premier! We had seen the preview a month or two ago when we went to another movie and decided this was a movie we definitely wanted to see. If you like a 'thriller' or 'grip the edge of your seat' movie - then this one is one you might enjoy. We didn't really care for some of the language content of the movie though it was only a smattering here and there.

I walked out of the movie wondering "haven't they found ancient sea beds here in Kansas and other parts of the midwest?" After seeing a movie like this I have a clearer understanding of how that "could" have happened. Yes, it is "Hollywood" and yes, it's only a movie; but you leave thinking "that was certainly plausible".

Personal Power

2009-11-01T05:19:00.000-08:00

I remembered a couple of days ago that I had this little nugget of gold in my cache and thought I would share it with others.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (from chapter 'Personal Power')

42 years ago today - I became a BIG brother

2009-10-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

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.

My King

2009-10-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

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!

A quick word

2009-10-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

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!

Six weeks later - normal again

2009-10-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

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!

"I'm sorry but we don't believe you're the parents for our children"

2009-09-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a shock - we weren't chosen again! They might as well play a recording for us at this point since they say the same thing over and over again. The other family that was in the Best Interest Staffing for these two boys weren't chosen either. So these boys will stay in the system longer and longer. According to the State's own statistics, the older these kids get the smaller and smaller their chances of being adopted become. What a shame!

Health care plan -

2009-09-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

Let me get this straight.

The President's health care plan will be written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it and whose members will be exempt from it,

signed by a president who smokes,

funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,

overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

and financed by a country that is nearly broke.

Scared, who me, what could possibly go wrong?!

I couldn't resist posting the above email received from a friend.

This is my Father's house

2009-09-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Sunday September 6th, after many long months, we conducted our first worship service in our new church building! Let's just say there was a "thunderous" praise that arose yesterday many times during service coupled with a great deal of rejoicing! Everyone wore a smile and there were many tears of joy throughout the servcie. Personally, the level of "anticipation" I had prior to the start of service was "off the hook!" I nearly trembled with exicitement.

Words are realy inadequate at this moment for me to try and communicate the depth of gratitude I have for our new worship facility. You see, Tamala and I have been without a permanent physical church structure for four very long years. When you don't have a building it is exceedingly difficult, not impossible, to conduct some of the ministry outreaches when you do have a physical structure.

We had an email last Friday afternoon that there would be some people at the church building setting up chairs in the sanctuary. They had just arrived that day. So after work, Tamala and I stopped for a quick bite to eat and headed over to the building. There were dozens of people that showed up to help - all on last minute's notice. We agreed to show up again on Saturday morning because Tamala had been asked if she could help out doing some cleaning in the building in preparation for our first service. I had mentioned to our senior Pastor that I would like to bring my power washer and clean off the side walk entrance just outside our main entrance where the construction workers had dripped paint from when they re-painted the canopy overhead. I also asked him if he would mind if I worked on the rose bushes outside and some of the shrubs. I told him I wanted to "shape" them up just a little bit. He said, "Kevin, you can do whatever you want". I was surprised and humbled that my pastor put that much confidence in me and trusted me to that level. As I was trimming the shrubs, picking up trash and debris in the garden beds, dead-heading the rose bushes, I had such a sense of peace and contentment overcome me because I was doing this "as unto the Lord". This is my Father's house, and I wanted to do what little I could to help make it beautiful. For me, bending over to pick up the smallest pieces of trash, sweeping the sidewalks, etc. is my way of "serving" my Father and his children. I definitely didn't feel a sense of pride, or accomplishment (which is a driving force for my personality type) but what I felt was a sense of serenity - yeah, that's the right word, knowing that I can make a contribution in something much, much larger than myself, and that has such eternal significance. Let me explain: the Word of God says that my Father's house, will be a house of prayer. Not only will my brothers and sisters in Christ be coming but there will be those that come that don't have an intimate relationship with my heavenly Father. There will be those that come to my Father's house, that are hurting, those that are sick in their mind, body and spirit. My Father's house will be a place of restoration and healing!

It is for all of these people and for my Father, that I can do the little things that I can. It is a "labor of love". It is a way of expressing my love and gratitude to a heavenly Father that has done so much for me and brought me out of places of darkness. So, every time I hand someone a tithe envelope, or help someone find their seat in the sanctuary for worship, or pick up a piece of trash in the parking lot, or trim a rose bush, I might as well lift mine eyes unto the heavens, smile and say - "Father, it's me - I love you so much! Thank you for all you have done. Thank you for loving me as much as you do."

I would like to extend to each of you an invitation. Won't you please join us for worship experience at our new "house of prayer"? I would count it a privilege to escourt you to your seat. It will be an honor to say......"Welcome to my Father's house"!

Getting back to NORMAL

2009-09-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well gang, it's been a week and a half since 'THE ORDEAL' and slowly but surely our house is coming back together. We're getting closer and closer to normal; whatever that is!

We've had a guy come out several times now - AFTER he gets off his day job which is a Supervisor of the maintenance staff at an apartment complex in Lawrence, KS. He has come over and installed the carpet in the two bedrooms, hallway and two sets of stairs. It's looking WAY better than it ever has!

I would imagine this weekend will entail Tamala and I doing some work on the entry hall and kitchen floors. Like peeling up the rest of the "peel & stick" tiles and then nailing down some plywood. We've found some really nice flooring we want to install. It looks really simple, thank God for simple! I don't have the necessary skills for hard installation; or probably the patience.

Let's make this one short and sweet - what do ya say?

A brush with... a con man!

2009-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Dear readers - this last Sunday unfolded in a most unexpected way! Let me start out by telling you that Tamala and I went to church and had an intense worship experience! God moved in a "mighty" way and many lives were forever changed! We left completely re-charged, renewed and refreshed in our spirits, hearts and minds.

We needed to hurry home because we had made an appointment with a flooring contractor the day before to come to our house at 1pm and lay carpeting in the two downstairs bedrooms and the two stair cases. We had agreed on a price on Saturday and the amount of work that he would perform the next day. I told him that I wanted it in writing. He assured me that he would go home and work on it that evening and email it to me that very night. I checked my email just before going to bed. No written agreement.

I checked email just before leaving for church - no written agreement.

I sent him a text message just before church services started saying that "I don't do business without a writtent agreement". He sent a text that he would have it by the time he arrived to work.

So, we rush home. He was already there parked in our driveway. No problem. The very first thing I ask him when I get out of the truck is "Do you have the agreement?" He said that the Library doesn't open until 1pm and he didn't have it. He was standing there with a spiral notebook in his hand. I told him that he needed to write it down before he starts. Do you see where this is going?........

I turned and went into the house to change out of my church clothes. I'm down in the bedroom changing when I hear the very distinct sounds of work being done. I found this guy and said "Show me the written agreement". The spiral notebook was blank. I told him "Stop, right now. You have to write down the work that is going to be performed, the labor costs, and what products I will be responsible for buying. He finally wrote it down. I told him to sign it and then I signed it and made him a copy. He said something about an advance so he could go rent the tools to lay the carpet and buy the padding. "What! You didn't bring the tools to do the job? I told you yesterday to bring the padding to the job with you." I then told him that "I don't pre-pay anyone for a job". I also told him that if I was going to have to pay for renting the tools and buy the carpet padding that it was coming out of the agreed to price and that I would be going to Lowes with him to buy it.

We had drug a lot of our bedroom furniture out into the yard and moved the bed down into the basement so they could begin ripping up carpet and doing the job.

Well, about an hour and a half into the job he came into the living room where I was relaxing in a chair. Actually, I was napping. He told me that he and his helper was going to go get something to eat and some drinks. I told him "That's fine".

About 3:15 Tamala comes in and tells me that he's been gone quite a while and she got to checking around and they had loaded up their tool boxes. So I get up from my nap and started looking around and sure enough they had loaded their things.

I told her about 3:45 that they weren't coming back! Yep, that's right, this guy had ABANDONED the job! Take a look at what we were left with:

our things out in the yard!

how he left the downstairs-

But here's the real "kicker" -
While I was sleeping his helper had been peeling up all the "peel and stick" tiles down in our entry hall and in the kitchen. You CANNOT imagine the "stickiness" of the adhesive that was left down on the floor.....it was GROSS!

Here we were, a house left in a mess, personal belongings out in the yard and Plan A had just abandon the job. Tamala was showing signs of being really, REALLY upset and I told her that we need to recognize what was TRULY going on here. We are under "attack" from the enemy and he was just trying to steal our JOY! I told her, "I'm just not going to let that happen, he's not stealing our JOY!" So I picked up the phone and started calling friends. Fortunately a neighbor came over and helped me load our belongings out in the yard back into the house. I called a contractor we'd used in the past and told him what had just happened. He said "I'll be there tomorrow night and we'll get this fixed". He was our CAVALRY!

He came out Monday night, Wednesday night and just left tonight. He's got the two bedrooms fully carpeted and all he has to do is finish the stairs. Tamala and I just have to decide what to do with the entry hall and kitchen floor at this point.

But, that's okay 'cause........Sunday's COMIN'! There is an old 'spiritual' that says that "late in the midnight hour, God is gonna turn it around!"

I told Tamala that we can give God praise because "this guy walked away without one red cent of our money. This is a test, and we're gonnna pass this test!"

"In all things, give THANKS to God!" I also know that He is the God of doing "exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you can even ask or think".

Family Reunions and a "sense of family"

2009-08-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Tamala & I attended not one, but two family reunions. In my previous post I mentioned that "life is whizzing by with the speed of a bullet train". Just a few short weeks ago we traveled down to Branson, MO (or Redneck Vegas as my brother puts it)to a family reunion.

Anyway this past weekend we attended the Graham Family Reunion in Ponca City, OK. How does one convey what attending this particular reunion really means. I guess I would have to try and start by saying ....it means....ROOTS. Roots that run long and very deep within what used to be known as the Indian Territory and later became the state of Oklahoma. Roots that tell us our fore fathers bought the fastest horses they could find to run in the Great Land Rush on that fateful day! BOOMER........SOONER......runs in the veins of our roots! We know what those famous words really mean. We can see in our mind how it may have played out that day just before they fired the shot...then .... the race was ON!

This particular family had a visionary, entreprenuer and many other aspects of greatness; he was my great grandfather, Fulton Graham. He bought 2200 acres from the Indians for $.25 per acre! I just found that fact out from my Aunt Shirley after the reunion was over. Grandpa Fulton and his wife, Ethel, had nine children! Those nine children have been quite prolific and borne some 32 grandchildren for my great grandparents. It is these nine children that grew up on the 2200 acre Graham Ranch and lived a life that legends are made of.

To me, my great-uncles and aunts represent an era that is slowly fading into history. Last year, the only girl, Gladys, born to my great grandparents, wasn't able to make it to the reunion. Well, she lived in a really small town - Burden, Kansas. It was just a few miles outside of Winfield, KS where Tamala and I stay, with her father, while we attend the Graham Reunion. After the reunion was over, Tamala and made a side trip on the way back to Kansas City to see my great-Aunt Gladys. She was having a good day, that day. Her eyes were bright, and her snow white hair glistened like snow on a clear day. We visited with her briefly, not to tire her too much. I am SO thankful we stopped by to see her, because little did I know that would be last time I would be able to hug her, and gaze at her beautiful face. She went home to live with the Lord Jesus several months after last years reunion. We were blessed to have her with us over 90 years!

Three.....we have three still with us. Uncle "Curly", Uncle Johnny and Uncle Billy and their beautiful wives. All three of these guys can tell you stories that will have you mesmerized and fixed to your seats. They represent the "living and breathing" heritage of the very roots of my family. They ARE legends.....to me; and I love them. When I think of them, I think of a ranch as big as a county, cattle drives, baling hay, a huge barn, prairie fires, thunderstorms racing across the plains, twisters, breakin' horses, "truck houses", dirt roads, rodeos, ranch-hands, priceless wood carvings and ...... family.

It is quite impossible for me to convey to you what family really means to me here in this short little blogspot.

"Home is where the heart is" is an expession I've heard for many years. For me, Family is what warms the heart, any day you need a sense of comfort.

"Listen......can you hear it?" Listen hard! Listen with me.....get real quiet! Shhhhh......

"Listen intently and you can hear....yes, YES, there it is....the wind blowing softly over the country road, over the alfalfa field, down past the barn yard, through the open sashes of the old bunk house and into the main house where you can hear the sounds of Grandma cookin' dinner". Listen hard, and you can always hear the sounds of.......family.

Adoption update

2009-08-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

Please forgive the delay in posting in a timely manner. LIFE is whizzing by with the speed of a bullet train!

We are being considered with one other family for two little brothers. The elder is 13 and the little brother will turn 8 tomorrow! Our adoption worker told us earlier this week that the boy's Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) wants to meet Tamala and I personally. You see, these little boys have already experienced one failed adoption just two short years ago. The GAL is the boy's legal representative and is responsible for looking after their legal "well-being".

We just completed yet another questionaire for our Adoption worker. At first blush, you would think that the "State" and all of their associates must think that Tamala and I have a crystal ball. For instance they want to know if we are prepared to handle all the strengths and challenges these boys will bring to our family. I want to tell them, "Well I'm really don't have any text book answers to give you here and if I did, I would expect you to bring us text book children." It's as if they want to play the .... "what if" game and want us to answer all their "what if" questions. I mean, really....do they think there are parents out there that have ALL the answers?

Anyway, I'll step down off of my soap box now ...I was just about to work up a light sweat!

We'll let you know about the next steps as they present themselves....

Not one but TWO Best Interest Staffings this week- Adoption update

2009-07-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Great day in the mornin'....has it really been two weeks since my last post? Unbelievable! It really has.
We received word back when we were headed down to Branson for the family reunion a couple of weeks back that we were going to be included in Best Interest Staffings on two separate pairs of "brothers". Our first one will be on Wednesday ,July 29th and if we are "chosen" as the resource family our names will be withdrawn out of the next one that happens to be the next day, Thursday. So by this time next week, we hope that we will be able to post the great news!
This one is short, sweet and to the point!

Dare I...talk about Pop Culture? I do want to honor a real hero

2009-07-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

It has now been better than three weeks since Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson all died. Then "pitchman" Billy Mays died unexpectantly as well. I have thought long and hard if I even wanted to blog about such things - like "pop culture". It is hard to believe that Michael Jackson is still so prevelant in the news even a month after his passing. I heard a news cast that stated it cost the city of Los Angeles between $1 and $2 million for all the security, etc. for Michael Jackson's funeral. So my question is and forgive me for being so blunt - "What did Michael Jackson really stand for?" "What difference did he make, if any?". They always say - "the King of Pop" - Michael Jackson and I am always very quick to editorialize - you need to say 'self-proclaimed' King of Pop. He called himself that and was allowed to get away with it.

What amazes me is that an authentic American hero died at the very same time and no one even mentioned who it was or what he did. So, I want to give honor here to someone who truly did make a difference and had a tremendous impact. I honor Ed Freeman by and through an email I received.

Ed Freeman

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world-12,000 miles away-and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses.

And, he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID. May God rest his soul.

Medal of Honor
Winner

Ed
Freeman!

Since the Media didn't give him the coverage he deserves,

THANKS AGAIN, ED,
FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.

A return from Redneck Vegas

2009-07-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we have returned from a family reunion down in Branson, MO that my brother so aptly put it - "A Redneck Vegas". We had a great time seeing family that we haven't seen in a couple of years - some even longer!

We had luxurious accomodations at the Wyndam Mountain Vista Resort thanks to my parents and their timeshare plan.

We went to the Titanic Museum there in Branson. I would recommend seeing it. They have a few "actual" artifacts from the Titanic on display. You get to see and walk up an exact replica of the "Grand Staircase" that was in the ship. It's very educational and an enjoyable experience.

It is truly amazing how much Branson has changed over the years. The first time I really remember going there was back in summer of 1989. It was just before I started truck driving school. They have blasted through some mountains and completely leveled other I think just to build highways to accomodate all the traffic. Sometimes I wonder what the local folk think about all the traffic and tourists that come to their once "small town".

Anyway, we're back safe and sound - thank you Lord!

Things that make you go...hhhhmmmmm!

2009-07-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

So, my sweet bride and I were returning from a weekend celebration of birthdays and July 4th. It's been a beautiful day and all was going well.

In the southern part of Kansas City we suddenly remembered we had to swing by Tam's work to pick up her car we had left there on the way out of town. It was a last second decision but I swerved hard right in order to make our exit ramp when I "heard" something. It sounded like it came from my truck but I checked the mirrors and didn't see anything rolling & tumbling on the pavement behind me so I thought all is okay.

Well we go a few blocks off the Interstate to pickup Tam's car, I let her out, then I begin to pull away when I hear this.... "blubb, blubb, blubb" sound and it didn't "feel" quite right. I looked back at Tam and she looked at me with this quizzical look on her face and began to point at the rear tire. YEP! You guessed it. I had a flat tire. I thought...well, no big deal, I'm not in any big hurry, the temperature is very pleasant outside, I'm in the shade.....I'll just pull this baby off, replace it with the spare and I'll be on my way, right? So you would think.

So, I broke the lug nuts free, jacked it up, removed all the lug nuts, gave a gentle pull, and.......nothing! Pulled harder.....nothing! I kicked it....nothing! I kicked it again, and again, pulled on it, pushed on it....nothing! I'm thinking "oh great, now what am I going to do?"

So, I call a tow truck. I figure I'll have him tow it back to the house and I'll take a hammer to it. He gets there and asks if I'd like to drive the truck home with the spare tire on it or have it towed. I said "Well, yeah, I'd like to change to change th tire now!" So, he pulls out a long two by four board and a big hook. He begins pounding it to break it free, nothing! He pulls on it, nothing! He kicks on it - nothing! He pounds on it some more with the wood and hook - NOTHING! We load it up on the tow truck and take it to the auto repair garage I've been using the past couple of years.

I pick it up the next day and am talking to the Service Foreman and I ask "So, how DID you get that wheel off the hub?" He said we didn't. The mechanic plugged the tire right on the truck. I asked "What causes something like this to happen?" He tells me something about they've been changing the alloys in the metals and coupled along with corrosion it really "binds" the metals together. I say "What am I supposed to do it I have another blow out somewhere?" **blink ** **blink**
He just looks at me.

Things that make you go ......hhhhhmmmmmmmmm!

Celebrating Birthdays,Independence Day and a little Soul Food

2009-07-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all my friends and family!! We are celebrating down at my brother's in Duncan, OK. It's 103 degrees in the shade!! We celebrated his two sons' birthday's yesterday with smoked pork butt, ribs, chicken, asapagus and a potato salad that was awesome! Actually, all of it was incredible! We had birthday cupcakes and attempted to make home-made ice cream but it didn't setup quickly enough. But all of that wasn't the "soul food". That part came in by taking part and having "family time". Today we took the kiddies to the park and the smiles and giggles were music to my "soul". There is something heartwarming about how my little nieces and nephews can giggle and laugh- it truly touches me to the core! Then there are the squeals of excitement when they are enjoying swimming in their pool.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMESON and NOAH!
Jameson turned 3 years old on June 21st! He really like his AM/FM "Mater" radio he got for his birthday!

Noah turned 1 on June 19th!

A little "pick me up" for you -

2009-07-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

For your listening pleasure. Have a doubly-blessed day!

Quit digging!

2009-06-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

I was listening to my financial advisor guy on the radio the other day during my lunch hour when he took a call from another listener. The person calling in said something in his introductory remarks that they had dug themselves into a hole (financial). When he said that, immediately I thought...."Quit digging". Then I thought...hmmmm - sounds like a great sermon title to me!
Sometimes when we've found that we've dug ourselves into a hole - it is at that point we need to tell ourselves to "quit digging". Tamala and I "quit digging" the summer of 2007. We stopped borrowing money and started "back filling the hole". We had to stop spending money like the politicians in Washington and create a whole new paradigm shift regarding how we thought about money, handled money and "seeded" money.

To date, we've paid off several thousand dollars of consumer debt and just this past week, we paid off one more credit card. We are "DISCOVERing" financial freedom and peace. That balance was just over $4,000 a couple of years ago; but it is $0.00 today!

Into the Crosshairs of our financial SCOPE -
Chase Bank has fallen into our crosshairs at this point! If all things remain constant we should completely retire this debt by September of this year, and, if we can keep the MOMENTUM, all of our consumer debt, Student Loans, etc will be completely paid off by April of next year! That's ten months my friend! That means we won't have any debt except our home in ten short months. I told Tamala yesterday - finally we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

DELAYED SATISFACTION
Let me tell you friend we have delayed many things while on our present journey. I can't tell you the number of times it would have been easy to go out and borrow money to do the things around our house that we have wanted to do. But that would have been just digging deeper into the hole of debt - so we didn't. We had to remind our ourselves that if we wanted different results than what we had been getting, we had to stop doing what we had been doing and try something else.

TRACTION -
It seems almost trivial now, but 2 1/2 years ago we had some small doctor bills that we had to pay off. We were paying about $30.00 a month or so on three or four of them. So what we learned was when we paid our first one of those off, we took that same $30.00 a month and began applying it to the next payment and guess what? TRACTION baby - we got TRACTION!! Today, that $30.00 has grown exponentially!

LIVE DEBT FREE
That was what the billboard said here in Kansas City back in early 2007. When I read that... I thought "could that really be possible"? Today, I can really see that it is possible. What is really cool to realize is that when you don't have any debt no one can come along and take anything away from you.

Stay tuned - we hope that next April we will be able to post - WE'RE DEBT FREE!!

Blessings!

Adoption- a quick word!

2009-06-24T11:08:00.001-07:00

I realized that I haven't said much lately about the adoption process. Well, we have been told that we will be considered in a Best Interest Staffing on two little brothers as soon as their Guardian Ad Litem returns from a trip to another country. Then a Case Manager for a sibling group of four is currently looking at our homestudy and will make a determination after that if we will be considered for a Best Interest Staffing.
Our Adoption Worker just emailed us a new picture & profile of two little brothers, 7 and 4 years old that Tamala and I will look at and begin discussing.
So, that's it! Short, sweet and to the point.
Blessings!

a time to GROW

2009-06-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

SPRING....my favorite time of year. I really enjoy when things begin to grow and bloom. First it seems to be the Daffodils that pop up and greet us. Then I begin anticipating seeing Tulips with their dazzling display. Although my Tulips haven't done much thse past two seasons - I think I'm going to move them.

A couple of years ago, we had a wonderful neighbor who gave us all kinds of plants, bulbs and shrubs; some of which I still haven't been able to identify.

I do enjoy growing the Hostas in the back yard. You'll notice they are under a black mesh. The last two years, my hostas were up and going great and then...overnight...they were gone! Something obviously was eating them. My neighbor across the street was having the same problem. I knew slugs like to eat Hostas but this was way too much for slugs to eat overnight! I started looking online for other culprits. I learned that deer have a taste for Hostas. That made sense to me at that point because I've seen deer crossing my lawn more than once. That is why this year I decided to put the Hostas under something - to protect them. I found this black plastic mesh at a hardware store - surrounded them with it and then laced the top shut with some twine. It has worked so far.

and then there's always....."HOME" by Joe Diffie

2009-06-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

This one has been rollin' around in my noggin' for some time now. This is one of those posts you may want to take "nature break" now, grab your favourite beverage, prop your feet up - cuz we're liable to be here awhile.

Singer/songwriter Joe Diffie debuted "Home" back in 1990 and it has been my "anthem" ever since. The guitars, dobros, gentle rhythm and great vocal harmonies blend together to make "one hallmark" of a country song.

"Home" for me wasn't literally the place where I resided, but a very special place that lie in my past. When I was a child, it was a magical place; when I was a young teenager it was a place of warmth and love. "Home" was a 240 or so acre farm my grandparents owned near Newkirk, Kay County, Oklahoma. There were three different livestock ponds, hay meadows, wheat fields, cattle pens, barns, chicken coops, an out-house, yes I said out-house and yes I did use it, and a junk yard complete with old combines, 1940s autobmobiles, old abandoned farm implements, etc (a world full for exploration for a young, inquisitive mind). There were cows to milk, calves to feed, hogs to slop, yards to mow, ridin' on the tractor for endless hours while Grandpa plowed or disced, cows to milk again, beans to snap, taters to dig, chickens to kill and prepare, weldin' to do, feed to scoop, and did I mention-cows to milk.

What one of us grandkids couldn't think of to get into, well it was a sure bet that another could. I think one of the most memorable moments was one afternoon a group of five or six of us was lookin' for somethin to get into and sure enough that's just what we did. Now, remember I told you earlier there was always cows to milk? Well, where there's cows there always....yep....you guessed it....cow pies! Now I don't zactly recollect whose bright idea it was but we found ourselves out in the corrall where the cows gather before milking and someone picked up stick and... watch out -here's where it gets messy - they stuck it into one of those fresh cow pies and flung it at someone! Well, that was all it took....the fight was on! Everyone was grabbin' sticks and started flingin cow manure everyhwere. My brother Mike got hit in the ear! I think the grown ups made us git into the stock tank to wash most of the manure off before comin into the house. That was probably 40 years ago and we still bring it up at family reunions to this day!

In the attached video, someone is drivin around shooting the local scenery. Well, it might as well have been shot from my Grandpa's 1951 Studebaker pickup truck! I think over one winter he pulled it into the barn and repainted it red, white and gold if I recall. We started callin it the "Coke" truck. I am sure that if that old truck were around today and it could talk it would have some tall tales to tell.

Also in the lyrics of the song it talks about.... "the feel of a muddy role between your toes". Well, I remember a bunch of us always like to go down the "East" pond and go for a swim. Yup, I remember all too well the "feel of a muddy role between my toes". Of course, we always had to keep a wary eye out for "rattlers" and water moccassins but no one every got bit. My family and I were down at the East pond fishin one time and I thought I'd walk around to the other side where my Mom was "wettin' a hook", as I was walkin' around the waters edge I wasn't payin close attention and all of the sudden I looked down just as I was takin another step, I almost stepped on a water moccassin curled up right by the water's edge. Well I let out a war hoop and nearly peed my pants and the snake shot straight into the water. I started bawlin and carryin on! They sent me up to the house, I guess cause of all the racket I was makin after being scared spitless!

Not much left of "the ole place" these days except the milk barn my Grandpa built with his own hands back about 1969. I am told he didn't have a blueprint or any plans - 'cept in his head. It was a wondrous building back in that day! Just a few years ago I made a friend back down near Joplin and he had milk cows. I'd visit him every now and then and when I walk into his milkbarn, it had the ole smells of milk, feed, manure and must that my Grandpa's barn did and instantly - I was back "Home" again. Memories are a powerful thing!

They sold the "old Home place" back in about 1989 and it was like an "era" came to an end. I believe there had always been a Graham farm of some kind or another since the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1907. Both of my Great Grandfathers were in the Land Rush! But I've got some old milk cans, steel wagon wheels, milk strainer and a few other mementos that I wouldn't take anything for 'em. To me...they're priceless!

I wish I could go back but I can't. But every and then, I catch a whiff of somethin...man, that smells just like Grandma's fried chicken, bread bakin' in the oven, or a wheat field just after a rain, freshly cut alfalfa... and instantly it takes me back and.....I'm "Home" again.

$1 Trillion dollars - just what does that look like?

2009-06-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...
A billion dollars...
A hundred billion dollars...
Eight hundred billion dollars...
One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.
We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slighty fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.
Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

you can't hardly see the man standing beside the pallets but he's in the very far lower left hand corner- it simply dwarfs him!

My newest blog - has to do with Missions/Outreach

2009-06-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

It is so amazing - I now have two blogs to keep up with! You can check out my newest blog my clicking on the link - Launch Pad Studios to the left just under Tamala's picture. Don't forget to check out my brother's blog - The Extended Table too!

I've been on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts for the last couple of years now and Launch Pad Studios is our latest endeavor. As you will read on the Launch Pad Studios blog - our first project is helping to educate Africa's young people.

A couple of years ago, I began to feel that there may be a missions trip to Africa sometime in my future. As a young person, I almost had a fear that the Lord would ask me to go to Africa. Now, I have a completely different mindset. It seems that since we are in the very beginning stages of this whole new endeavor - there may actually be a trip to Africa in my not too distant future.

Anyway - check it out and please.....leave comments!

The Flinthills of Kansas, Dances with Wolves and The Man from Snowy River

2009-06-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

What an incredible experience! Last Friday, Tamala, her cousin and myself left the hustle & bustle of big city life to travel to Lindsorg, KS (little Sweden of Kansas) in order to attend a wedding of one of Tamala's other cousins.

The Flinthills of Kansas -
We also travel through the Flinthills of Kansas when making a trek down to Tamala's family in Winfield, KS. Some may find them dull and boring because trees are not plentiful at all. I find the Flinthills an awesome spanse of land - rolling hills with lush prairie - thousands and thousands of acres of them. On some of the upper plateaus you can see for miles! I can almost picture a vast herd of buffalo grazing on the slopes or see a wagon train moving lazily "high atop the rim rock".

Of course my experience was heightened because I had downloaded the soundtracks from Dances With Wolves and also The Man from Snowy River and was listening to these magnificent musical compositions while moving throught the Flinthills. I must say it was a sensory euphoria to say the least......beautiful music and spectacular scenery. Behold the handiwork of the Lord!

To go... or not to go....!!!

2009-05-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable.....no.....unfreakinbelievable! It has been 30 years this month since I walked across the stage at my high school graduation! Seriously...that really cannot be true....30 years ago...COME ON!
My class reunion committee has posted a website and many of my classmate have signed on and posted stories and pics. Some look virtually unchanged, even after 30 years; while others I would have walked right past them on the street without a clue as to who they are. It is amazing how some people "age" and some don't seem to.

I've told my wife I really don't know what I want to do yet. I haven't kept in contact with anyone from my graduating class. I really don't see the benefit of going to a 30 year class reunion. It doesn't seem likely that I would continue to have a friendship with any of them after leaving the reunion. So, what is the real reason for going? Just to see how much everyone has "aged"? What kind of a reason is that? I have no desire to compare notes with other people to see how I "measure up" to them in the realm of attaining whatever success might have been reached in the last 30 years - that is just prideful and I don't want any part of that. Yeah, don't get me wrong, it would be nice to visit with a few of them and get caught up.

"to go.... or not to go.....that is the question"

"We wrestle not with...."

2009-04-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers, Tamala and I want to take a moment to let you know how much we appreciate the outpouring of support and words of encouragement. You ARE a blessing!
That Wednesday when we concluded that we were being discriminated against as potential adoptive parents, we went to Bible Study that evening which is our usual commitment. As I was listening to what was being presented, I received a "quickening" in my spirit from the Lord that what we are dealing with is a spiritual battle and nothing more. The Adversary, or Satan his self, is not wanting us to have a child or children placed in our home; especially those children who have already been victims of his insidious attack on their biological family(ies).

The Word of God tells me in Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places"KJV. the footnotes and annotations in my Bible tell me that these principalities and powers are "spirit rebels". I am convinced that we have stirred them up because we have taken a stand... we are committed to Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way that he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it." These 'spirit rebels' know that we will teach our children about the infinite love of our Heavenly Father and supreme sacrifice our Lord and Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth made when he gave himself willingly as the eternal atonement for our sins, restoring us to right relationship with God the Father!

We stand on the Word and the Promises it has for us. My earthly father bestowed a blessing upon Tamala and myself during our wedding ceremony invoking the rights, privileges and blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant upon our household. Take a glimpse of a part of that blessing: "...you will have complete victory over all your enemies. You will be blessed in all that you undertake. The Lord God will open to you all His good treasure. The heavens will rain on all your lands in due season and He will bless the work of your hands. This day I decree it. I prophesy it! Be blessed, BE BLESSED!"

I John 5:4 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith". I am convinced that we have the victory over the world's system.

Besides, Grammie Palmer wants more grandchildren upon whom she will bestow a legacy of love. When Grammie prays, you'd better watch out! She has that calling, that anointing, a tenacity and persistence that gets the attention of God. She will "press in" and will NOT be denied when it comes to her children and grand babies. Trust me, I KNOW!

Principalities, powers and rulers of darkness in this world, you've been put on notice: If it is fight you want, then our battle cry has been sounded. We call upon the intercessors, the hosts of angels to go forth to do battle, the armies of Lord God Jehovah to break forth with the light of God and accomplish the mission of creating a Forever Family in the name of Jesus Christ!

Adoption update - Secular Humanism is alive and well!

2009-04-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

I really didn't know how to title my post today - I wanted to let you know about the adoption update but also wanted to throw in the "spice" or maybe I should say "putrification" to really get your attention. Grab a cup of java or whatever your favorite beverage might be, this could take a few minutes. This will likely turn into more of a RANT by the time it ends.

As most of you know Tamala & I have been preparing for adoption for over two years now. I've shared on here in the recent past how many times that she and I have not been selected as an adoptive resource for many sibling groups. In case you aren't aware, it's been like five different times aleady.

About a week ago our adoption worker sent us information on a little brother and sister needing adoption and we told her that we wanted to be considered along with other families in the Best Interest Staffing for these two little ones.

Well..... yesterday..... I get an email from our adoption worker saying that the case worker and the supervisor for these two little ones wouldn't even consider us as an adoptive resource. Our adoption worker told them she had to know why. Then she emailed me asking if Tamala and I could come to her office and meet with her so we could discuss the reasons. I simple picked up the phone and called her because I knew something wasn't right and I wanted to know what the deal was and I wanted to know, NOW!

Let me take a really quick moment to explain that our adoption agency is contracted with the State of Kansas (think beauracracy here, okay, with all its "agendas").

I'm going to cut right to the chase here - Our adoption worker explained to me that because we took a stand in our homestudy process, that we do not believe that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle, and that if any of our children told us they thought they may be "gay" that we would seek out psychological and spiritual counseling in an attempt that they would "know the truth and the truth would set them free" - they wouldn't even consider us as an adoptive resource for these children.

*blink*........*blink, blink*.... "What did you just say? Surely, I did not hear you say what I think you just said, did I?"

UNBELIEVABLE!

So I ask our worker: "So you're telling me that if an 'openly' gay individual or even a 'gay couple' comes into your office and says they want to adopt a child(ren) that your office will adopt children out to them?"

Answer: "Yes, we will"

*blink*

"So even though we have made it 'crystal clear' to you, our adoption worker, that if any child of ours that we adopt should at some point in the future decide they are gay, that we would continue to love them and help them in every way we possibly could. We know that "loving people through things they encounter in life" is a {PROCESS}. We would share with them that life is a series of "choices" and sometimes we don't always make the best "choices" - that doesn't 'undo' us as a family. Families go through things... life experiences... and still survive. So, Ms. Adoption Worker, none of what we assured you of regarding this issue was believable?"

"blah, blah....blah, blah, blah...it's not quite that simple, Kevin. Let me get my Supervisor on here with us. (pause) Supervisor - " blah, blah....blah, blah, blah... and we can't help it if people in our own office might have a prejudice against you for the stance that you've taken on the homosexuality issue".

I was INCREDULOUS!

Now, I have to go home and somehow break the news to my sweet wife - that we have just wasted the last two years of our lives dealing with some beaureaucratic entity that doesn't have any official inter-office policy on how to keep your own personal biases and prejudices from entering in on your professional decision making ability when trying to find families for babies and little children who desperately need a "forever family".

Because my wife and I will not openly embrace and uphold the homosexual lifestyle and teach children that it is an acceptable lifestyle; because we choose to stand unwaveringly on our Judeo-Christian values - our adoptive agency will find it exceedingly difficult to find a child or any children for us to adopt.

COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!

the story of ....Rindercella and the Prandsome Hince

2009-03-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

I used to love to hear Archie Campbell tell his stories on Hee Haw as a kid. I can't tell you elated I was when I found it on YouTube.

I would especially like to dedicate this to my youngest nieces and nephews or as Archie would say it: my neautiful bieces and nandsome hephews - Landison, Meah, Nameson and Joah!

Love you all!
K

Totally TERRIFIC time with the Tots!

2009-03-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry...but I couldn't resist the alliteration. It might sound cheesy but we really did have the best time with our nieces & nephews earlier this week. REWIND.......

Friday, March 20th the wife and I piled into the F150 after work and headed toward Duncan, OK with planned stop over in Winfield, KS. We planned on taking our Toyota Corolla but Friday morning the check engine light came on and we took it to the local mechanic's garage for repairs. We arrived at Tamala's Dad's house that evening and visited a bit and then retired for the night. We took him and his "lady friend" to breakfast Saturday morning at a little Bistro place there in Winfield. They have decent food and quaint atmosphere for Winfield and what it has to offer otherwise. Then we piled back into the truck and headed for the Palmer Kingdom in Duncan, OK, US of A to visit the "Royals".

You see the eldest lassie in their clan was having a birthday! Her Royal Highness the Drama Princess, Princess Madison, was turning six years old! She has grown so very tall over the last few years. There was a birthday party being held at the local bowling alley and many of her little friends came and had themselves quite a time. Of course her younger sister, the Prosecutor - Princess Leah, brothers Prince Jameson and baby Prince Noah were all in attendance as well. For those readers not familiar with these titles, they are borrowed from their father's blogsite - The Extended Table - who consistently writes about current events that happen within his "kingdom". Her Dad, had made her a Barbie cake to take to the bowling party along with some ice cream cones with cake baked inside. I helped him finish frosting the ice cream cone cakes with the cream cheese icing. I had never seen this done before but they were perfect for all the little ones to hold and get to enjoy birthday cake. Once the icing was on, they looked like real ice cream cones. So after the party we all go back to their house and Madison received a few gifts. Since she was the birthday girl she got to choose where we went to eat that evening. Well, wouldn't you know, she chose The Olive Garden! Duncan doesn't have an Olive Garden so we all piled in the family van and went to Lawton, OK and had a great time and delicious meal.

We enjoyed our time so much with the family! Little Noah will be turning one in mid-June just a couple of days before his older brother Jameson turns three! So I imagine we will be planning another trip down the Royals palatial estate to party down again! We enjoy them now while they're small because they grow up way too fast. Our eldest nieces have been married almost four years now and they've been having babies of their own. They grown up just too fast.

Blessings!

I'm going out on a limb here

2009-03-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've been contemplating this for some time and recently when a speaker at function I was attending alluded to it, I figured I might as well go on record.

I have been probably considering this since before the last Presidential election, the tax exemption status of the "church" here in the the good ole USA. I've heard it said that Pastors, Priests, Rabbi's or whatever you call your local spiritual leader, cannot make certain kinds of statements to those that attend their services. I.e, they cannot endorse a political candidate and if they do they can have their tax exempt status revoked. I think there may be some other topics they cannot touch on either. If the gay & lesbian machine keeps pushing their agenda of being designated as a recognized minority group, and they will, I could see the day come requiring churches to employ openly GLBT people. If a church took stand against this they would have their tax exempt status pulled. Well, I say.......

GIVE IT BACK NOW! I really don't think its too far down the road anyhow. I also think that we as tax paying citizens will lose our tax credit for contributions to our places of worship. There, I've said it! It's on paper (figuratively), it's on purpose.

How do I feel about that? I will continue to pay my tithe because the Word of God tells me that He will supply all of my needs, according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. I was reading a commentary a few days ago and the author made a remark that the concept of the "tithe" was in practice even before the Law (Mosaic Law). The Old Testatment will tell you that Abraham practiced the tithe well before Moses took pen & parchment and wrote the Law. This is something on which I am still contemplating, meditating, mulling over, etc. I think I should go back even further in "time" to Adam & Eve's sons. Of course I will need to go back & read it again but if my memory serves me I think Cain & Abel fell into their diversity over their sacrificial offerings to Lord God Jehovah. Was this not their tithe? Yep, I need to go back and study up on this. I guarantee you neither Cain & Abel, Abraham, Moses or any of the rest of them got a "tax deduction" on their monies given to the Lord. The Lord took care of them and blessed them abundantly!

Blessings!

a little update

2009-03-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem possible that a month has elapsed since my last post. Things have been moving along here at the Palmerosa of Kansas City. We have been taking a very long time to prepare a bedroom upstairs for the impending adoption. It all started maybe three years ago when Tamala and my mother began peeling off the wallpaper in this particular bedroom. There wasn't a "plan" for the room we just knew that we hated the wallpaper. When you don't have a "plan" it is really hard to "work the plan" so it hasn't been a high priority. Well, sometime last summer I think it was I went ahead and tore the drywall out. I'm glad I did because it settled a question I have had since we bought this house. It seemed the utility bills were pretty high. The reason is that there isn't any insulation in the walls! We insulated the attic last May because there wasn't any insulation in the attic either. So after we hauled out the 18 large bags of busted up drywall, I bought some insulation rolls and finished the insulation job in the bedroom.

Now we have new drywall, carpet padding with new carpet and new paint. The only thing left to do is finish the trim work. So, it's very close to being finished.

The funny thing about this whole process is that we don't even know if the child or children we end up adopting will be placed in this room. We don't know if we'll end up with an infant(s) or toddlers, or pre-teens or just exactly what or how many. We don't know if we should paint pink or blue, buy stuff for a girl or boy's room. So, we'll just wait. We have money saved up and it won't be a problem to go on a massive shopping spree!

Since Spring represents the season of new beginnings, growth and propogation; I would like to think this Spring will hold special significance for us.

If you read this before Thursday, March 5th you might find it interesting that we will once again be considered in a Best Interest Staffing for a 10 year old little girl. We just want God's perfect will in this whole ordeal and pray that little Elisabeth will get the parents that God intends for her to have.

Blessings!

Chosen! - but not selected

2009-02-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

the Word of God tells me that he knew me even before I was born. I was "chosen" to be an heir in the kingdom God established untold millenia ago. There is a people who "chose" to covenant with Jehovah and by doing so became His "chosen people". They hold a special place in His heart. I do not come from the Jewish lineage and had no hope of inclusion in this special relationship. Ahhh, but Lord God Jehovah in His infinite wisdom devised another plan borne out of His immeasurable love for humanity. He "chose" to cut a new covenant and open up to all of humanity the opportunity to obtain "special" relationship status.

A part of "cutting a covenant" with God is that an exchange has to take place - one life force for another life force. In ancient Jewish tradition, a sacrificial lamb had to be slain and offered upon an alter to atone for the sins or shortcomings of the people. The life force of the lamb, the blood, was drained from its body; and exchanged for a restored right relationship with Lord God Jehovah. He chose to send His one and only Son to earth to accomplish this plan. His Son, Jesus, was born, lived and walked among us. He performed more miracles than can be chronicled. He was the "chosen One" destined to become the sacrifcial lamb that would shed His blood to cover our sins and restore us to right relationship with God.

I became "chosen" when I made the choice to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. As Tamala & I have been walking through this adoption experience we have had our names included with many other families to be considered as the adoptive family for several different children. We have always been and will always be "chosen" however we haven't been selected as "the adoptive parents" for any children. I see these as two very different processes. I believe that when we are selected and we establish a family, we will be able to teach our children how valuable and precious they are and what it means to be "chosen". They will come to know and understand how God orchestrated the entire process of creating our family. We recently had our name in to be considered for three little brothers, we were not selected. We are fully trusting that God is going to bring into our lives the children He wants us to parent. What a day of rejoicing that will be when we have been selected. We ARE "chosen", we just haven't been selected......yet!

The Gene pool

2009-01-18T14:54:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking about this post for a few days, wondering exactly how do I write it. I am still not quite sure how so I'll just start writing and we'll see just how this turns out.

It was better than 20, no maybe 25 years ago, that I was working out in my Dad's barn at the Palmerosa in Owasso, OK which would put me in my early twenties. I was working on something I don't remember now what it was when all of the sudden I realized......that was listening to my Dad's radio station, and ................... (gulp) enjoying it!! It was really a bit of a 'revelatory moment' for me. I thought how could this be? He had the radio somehow wired to the light switch in the barn that when you flipped on the lights, the radio came on too. So I was listening to KBEZ, a Tulsa radio station that played light easy listening music. He always enjoyed talking about The Big Band era, listening to The Glen Miller Band, Benny Goodman, etc. To hear him tell it, he could really "cut a rug" too. He claims he was quite the "dancer" back in the day!

So anyway fast forward to present day. Now over the years, let me reassure you dear reader, that I have NOT missed many a meal. Since I have been working a desk job for the last 20 years, and eating just about anything I wanted, whenever I wanted; I really packed on the pounds. I developed a "belly" just like my Dad's! I've also noticed that my hairline has receded in the same manner his has too.

It was a short four years ago that my parents came up to visit me in Kansas City and help us celebrate a surprise 40th birthday party for Tamala (we were dating at the time). Well I was up in the choir loft with my Singles Pastor, Mark and trying to point my folks out in the crowd because he was going to get them immediately after service to take them back to the room where we were going to celebrate Tamala's birthday. Well, he finally "spied" them in the crowd and he said.. . "Oh, the guy that looks just like you, only a little bit older?!" I said "yeah, that's my Dad, his name is Gene and my mother, Pat, is standing right beside him."

Present Day-
one of the benefits of having 'high speed' internet at my work, I can 'stream' music over the internet through my speakers on my desk and enjoy music all day while I work. I don't play it loudly at all, just very softly, hopefully that only I can hear. I think everyone at the office knows I do it because they all stop by my desk from time to time. I've played jazz, contemporary Christian, light Opera, R & B, and worship music with a few other genres mixed in between at times. But you know what I've been listening to the last several weeks? Yep, you guessed it - Easy Listening. I've heard Glen Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Floyd Cramer, Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra and a whole host of others.

It is like the music from the 40s and 50s take me to another time. It helps me 'escape' the ugliness of the current political and social/economic landscape. Music has always been escape and source of inspiration. Its been a coping mechanism for me. I remember back in the early 90's when I owned a Porsche 944, if I had a particularly stressful day in the office, all I had to do was take the sunroof out of the car, pop in my Cool Jazz cassette tapes and just .....drive.... for about 30 minutes; then all things were fine.

There may have been a break in the DNA chain however. You see my Dad, and my brothers too, love to sit and watch sports. If there is a football, basketball, or baseball game being broadcast over the air waves, you can just about bet that they'll be watching it. Don't even get me started on the subject of when they were manufacturing television sets with the "picture in a picture" tvs! Two an three games at one time.

Even as I have been writing this post, I have been listening to, yes - you're right again - the Easy Listening channel on Pandora Radio. I can't help it. It's all apart of.........

the Gene pool.

Three very special little visitors

2009-01-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Albeit this post is a bit "tardy", I still wanted to get it in. Mama T and I had the pleasure of welcoming three special little visitors (our nieces & nephew) to our home Tuesday, December 30th. They were brought to us by none other than the Grammie & Grampie Express Van. For those of you not "in the know" Grammie & Grampie are my parents. My younger brother allowed his three eldest children come up for a little visit with us.

Well we were thrilled they were able to come. I had planned to take them to T-Rex, a well known children's restaurant in Kansas City, KS near the Kansas Speedway. We took the family there when they came to visit Christmas of 2007. The kids really enjoyed themselves seeing all the dinosaurs, ice caves, fish aquariums, etc. It really is a "magical" place for the wee-ones to get to visit. But alas, after they arrived the "cold bug" began working its own plan and we didn't make it out to see any of the places we wanted to take them. We had also planned to take them down to see the Christmas lights at The Plaza.

We had quite a time though. They found Auntie Tam's exercise ball behind one of the chairs i the living room and let me tell you they had a lot of fun with that ball. Of course the ball (almost 3 feet in diameter) was bigger than my 2 year old nephew but that didn't stop any of them from bouncing on it, laying on it or anything else they could dream up. Of course there were a few 'accidents' and a few tears but it always amazed me that after about 15 minutes they were up and at it again.

We played, let's see if we can hide from Uncle Kevin and then run when he sees us and see if he can then catch us as we run through the house 'screaming all the while'.

I told my brother Jay that hopefully they will be able to come up later this summer for a visit because the first phase of the Schlitterbaughn Vacation Resort and Water Theme Park will be opening up just about 15minutes from where we live. As the kids get a little older we will of course want to take them to Worlds of Fun over on the Missouri side of KC.

Everyone piled into the Grammie & Grampie Express Van soon after we ate lunch on New Years Day and headed back to Grammie & Grampie's home in Tulsa. It was reported back to us that the wee ones were soon fast asleep after they left and slept most of the way.

It wasn't five minutes after they left and I looked and Auntie Tam and said "it sure is quiet in here". I remember the night after they had arrived we were playing ball and doing other fun things and I thought to myself... this is like a mini-training session for Auntie Tam and I since we are planning to adopt. All the activity, commotion and busyness of having three little ones in your home; well there's nothing quite like that. We're ready....bring it on.....we're definitely ready.

We thoroughly enjoyed having everyone and are looking forward to having them again. It just can't happen soon enough though. We do love our family!

Blessings,
Kevin

Celebrating 50 Years of Matrimony

2008-12-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it has come and vanished like a wisp of wind with the freshness of Springtime. It was a week ago today, December 20th, 2008, that family and friends of my parents, Gene & Pat Palmer gathered in a community center in Tulsa, OK and celebrated 50 years of matrimony. An amazing item of particular noteworthiness was that their literal anniversary was the previous day, Friday December 19th, which was the day exactly 50 years ago they ran off and got married in Oklahoma City.

I could say so many things about my parents and the life they gave us. It could easily be the size of "War and Peace" but I will do my best to be as brief as possible.

It seems like just a few months ago, but it was after their 45th anniversay that I began contemplating their 50th anniversary. To this day, I am in wonder and awe of the legacy my parents are leaving their progeny of what it means to make a "covenant relationship" and live it out, day by day, until the very end. They have siblings that have been married 50 plus years, and Aunts & Uncles that have been married 60 plus years too. Therein lies a bedrock from which to draw; a stellar example of what it means to make a lifetime commitment.

My brothers are building upon the same bedrock as well. I have been watching from afar as they have celebrated 27 years and the other 7 years of matrimony. I am fully confident that they will reach their pinnacle of leaving a legacy of matrimonial commitment just as they step from their pinnacle into their eternal reward.

Although it was eleven months ago, it seems like just a few days ago that I sent out an email to my entire family to "save the date" for Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary celebration. As the time grew closer I would call my parents and ask them questions of what they wanted to do, where they wanted to have it, etc. As the date grew closer, I called them more frequently to check on how everything was progressing along.

Several months ago, I began wrestling with .... should I "say anything" at their party to those in attendance? As much as I would have loved to stand up in front of the crowd and "wax eloquent" proclaiming my love and admiration for my parents, trust me my dear friend, that would NOT have happened! You see, I am one who is related to Benn G. Palmer (my paternal grandfather). What he passed on to me was an ability for my voice to falter and break, and eyes that become moist when it comes to matters of "family". I could barely keep my composure when each of my parents were making remarks to those in attendance and they began saying things about me and what I mean to them. They mentioned the next day that they wished I would have said something; but they understood when I remarked "that's just it, I wouldn't have been able to say much of anything". So I must rely on stroke of pen and prose.

My older brother, Mike, stepped up to the plate and was our Master of Ceremonies and in spite of having challenges with his voice due to a cold did an outstaning job; just like I knew he would. Then our youngest brother Jay had put together an incredible montage of pictures set to music in a beautiful PowerPoint presentation honoring my parents and their 50 years.

To say it was a special day, would be an understatement. Truthfully, my words are inadequate to describe what that day meant and will continue to mean. It has been quite a journey, these last 50 years. Jobs, houses, babies, trips to G'ma & G'pa's house, vacations, graduations, funerals, weddings, the arrival of grandchildren and now....great grandchildren.

MOM and DAD-

Life is rich, pearls of wisdom come with experience. Leaving a legacy is no simple task. As I watch from a distant place, the life you live is making an eternal difference in the lives you touch. As I watch from a distant place I hear the words descending from the heavens "Well done, good and faithful servant, well done!"

Taking a moment to catch up

2008-12-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

Wow! What has happened to the last seven days? Tamala & I left town last Wednesday night to travel to her Dad's home to spend Thanksgiving and we have had something going every night since then. We were supposed to attend an event tonight but I said we needed to get caught up on other things tonight. Tomorrow night we have a benefit dinner for a local "maternity home" for unmarried women that we enjoy contributing to because of the wonderful things they are doing in the lives of these young women. Saturday, my brother & his son will be arriving in town to go to the big football game! BOOMER SOONER!!!!

I am going to keep this one short.

Be blessed....very, very blessed!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

2008-11-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are gathered together as a family, some watching tv and some working in the kitchen. The drone of the tv in the background, the hum of the dishwasher washing the breakfast dishes, conversations meandering from one topic to the next - all familiar sights, sounds and smells that always mean its a holiday. One sister teaching the other how to make pie crust (might I say "World Class" pie crust); I'll be making my usual Sweet Potato Souffle a little later; okay...okay its not really a souffle but that is what we've always call it. Then I'll make Chocolate Dream Pie that is my Mom's recipe.

Of course one my my favorite things is giving my nieces and nephews a "hard time". I think if I didn't tease them if just wouldn't be the same. My reward? Giggles, laughs and smiles that only kids can make. I've been at this "Uncle thing" for over 25 years and I have to admit its really an enjoyable role.

I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday season proves all you hoped it will be.

"Curve ball"

2008-11-24T19:06:00.000-08:00

"There is the wind up, here's the pitch....and it's a curve ball"!

I checked my email today to see if we had received word back from our adoption worker and sure enough, we did. I mentioned in the last post that we told her that we wanted to be considered in a Best Interest staffing for the three boys. Well, this afternoon, she threw us a "curve ball". Yep, she said before she turned our request over to the boys' case manager we might want to take look at these two or three sibling groups that came in to her office late Friday night from another agency and see if we would possibly be interested in any of them.

Wouldn't you know it, she sent us a profile and pictures of two little sisters 5 and 3 years old absolutely cuter than a "bug's ear". When Mama T saw them she just cooed at how cute they are. I told Tamala that families from five counties would want to be considered for these two cuties!

Then there were pictues of two sisters and a brother but not too much of an informative profile on them. So we're emailing her back to get a profile on this little sibling group.

Stay tuned for the next few "pitches"....I'm sure we'll see a "change-up" any moment!

Update on the 3 little brothers

2008-11-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon while at the office I would periodically check my personal email hoping to hear from our adoption worker. Well, we did. They sent back answers to the many questions we had asked about the three little brothers. After reading the responses, I simply couldn't wait until the end of the day to tell Mama T; so I called her work and asked that they page her & have her to call me.

She called, we talked about the answers they provided and decided that, Yes we did want to ask to be considered in a Best Interest staffing. So I emailed our adoption worker back and also left her a voice mail regarding the BIS.

I would post pics of the boys but since its not anywhere near being official, and privacy issues, we will reserve that for another post! You'll just have to take our word for it....they are all cuter than a bug's ear! Too adorable!

Update on Tamala's (dog-bitten) nose -

Tam's nose is healing very, very nicely. A vast majority of the redness around the wound has gone away and she's commented today that it is really itching. I told her that is a good thing because it means it is healing. She is due to get her stitches out tomorrow before Church at the ER.

Quote for today:
"You are the only person on earth who can use your ability" Zig Ziglar

Delay is NOT Denial!

2008-11-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

Mama T and I have been on a journey when it comes to children. We began over two years ago the beginning stages of adoption. We went to 10 weeks of classes. Things just didn't work out.

January of 2008 - we started the processes all over again. We attended the 10 weeks of classes all over AGAIN. After we finished the classes we had a complete Homestudy conducted. That took a few more weeks. Since that time, we've been finding children and asking questions of our adoption worker regarding the children. We've even been considered in two different "Best Interest" staffings on two different sets of sibling groups. A Best Interest staffing is usually conducted by a group of professionals who are involved in the children's lives, i.e. their case worker, court appointed attorney, counselor/therapist, etc. This group will look at a "pool" of qualified families who have expressed an interest in adopting this child or sibling group and believe it is in the "best interest" of these children to allow a family to move to the next level and begin the process of adoption. You see, we believe that our mission is to preserve a family by adopting a sibling group.

We just found out today that we've not been selected a second time. While there is a twinge of dissapointment, we are fully trusting and believing that God IS going to bring us the children HE wants us to parent. We know that Delay.....is NOT Denial!

Black, White, Native American, Asian, Hispanic, Eskimo, whatever the race, color, creed, we don't care. They are all created in the image of God. We are about the Father's business of touching and mending lives. Make no mistake about it - this is KINGDOM BUSINESS! We are living in day and hour, in which time as we know it, is drawing to an end and we want to bring a family into the Kingdom before the return of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Be watching, because one of these days, you will see us post a message that the subject line might read: WE'RE PREGNANT - on paper!

Tomorrow, we are anticipating hearing from our adoption worker on three little boys ages, 8, 5 1/2, and 2 years old. We sent a lengthy list of questions to our adoption worker earlier this week and she had to send it to their case manager. So based on the answers we get on our questions, we could let them know that we would like to be considered in a Best Interest staffing on these boys. If we get to that phase and are not selected, that will be okay because we know the Delay is NOT Denial!

Blessings.

Still Grateful

2008-11-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

Well I am at work today and get a call from Tamala about 11:30am thinking it is her usual call during her lunch break. Well, not today!
She calls me and says she's been bitten by a dog that is owned by one of the residents she cleans for on a bi-weekly basis. She has been cleaning for this couple for two years and they've had this dog for about one year. The dog has seen her plenty of times to get used to her, or one would think.
Anyway, the dog was sitting on its owners lap when Tamala came over and bent down & reached out to pet the dog when it sprang up and bit her on the right side of the nose.
I met her at an Occupational Medical Clinic in Lenexa and the Doctor said she would rather send Tamala to the ER so a Plastic Surgeon could take a look at it. So, off to the ER we go. She was seen by an ER doctor and was treated and received a few stitches. She was given a prescription for Augmenten (anti-biotic) and sent home. Anyway, we're still Grateful because it could have been much, much worse.
So, that has been our day - how has yours been?

Grateful

2008-11-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

We have sung this song in our worship services at church and it ALWAYS ministers to my spirit. It serves as a reminder of how very grateful I am for what God has done in my life and in the lives of those I love.

For the home you live in, for the clothes on your back, for your job, transportation, for the this great country we live in - are you.....GRATEFUL?

I've provided a link for you to hear this song; although there isn't any video feed, if you listen to the words, it is a very simplistic message; much like the Gospel. It's simple message is- I'm Grateful.

3,2,1....Ignition....Launch - we have launched into cyberspace

2008-11-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

The first post. After creating the name and framework of this blogspot approximately 18 months ago, I have, finally, decided to post something.

I have no idea where this blog will go, the journey should be interesting. No telling what forks in the road will be encountered from here forward.

I can say one thing, I've really received my inspiration to finally begin blogging because my younger brother has an absolutely incredible blogspot. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading his blogs over the last couple of years. I have been able to keep up on his ever-expanding family. I have experienced pure joy by reading about his children and their antics, shenanigans, and whatever else their little minds can come up with to surprise and entertain us. It has helped me immeasurably because we live a few hundred miles away and I cannot see them and hug them as much as I would like. It's how I've stayed "plugged in".

ADOPTION -
My wife and I are in the processes of adopting. It has been a long and enduring time. We have completed all the required parenting courses several months ago. We've completed the required Homestudy with the adoption agency we're going through which happens to be the State of Kansas.

We believe our "mission" is to help preserve a family while creating one of our own. We have made it known to our adoption agency that we would like to adopt a sibling group. We are trusting God to bring us the children He intends for us to parent and to be their "forever family".

So, bear with me, over time this post may become a sounding board to vent frustrations with "the system". I am always asking myself what can I learn in situation. I believe the one thing I am definitely learning during this adoption process is PATIENCE!

TOPICS-
We may post our thoughts ranging from spirituality, family, food, finances, politics and prayer to whatever may drop into the mental realm at the moment. Please know this, that at my core, I am an "exhorter". I will exhort those whom I love and care about to become everything God is destined you to be!

Let's keep this a little short. It is not my intent to tell my entire life's story at this point. Everyone's time is valuable; including mine.

Be abundantly blessed! May God's annointing be so poured out upon your life that His presence will pour out from you into the lives of all those you come in contact with and they will able to experience the love of God by and through you.