Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances--it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Flag Counter started April 3, 2008

[I don't know whether George actually said this, but it's great anyway!]

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

“How old are you?” “I’m four and a half!” You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key

You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

“How old are you?” “I’m gonna be 16!” You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re just a sour-dumpling. What’s wrong? What’s changed?

(more…)

Laura, Jennifer, Richard and I had dinner at Jessica and Andy’s house tonight and shared some gift-giving.

Laura helped Delilah feel Sheldon moving around.

Jennifer just asked for a new recliner, which we all chipped in for!

Garland got Delilah a great gift!!!

“Hey, I know, you put these blocks on these stick things.”

After the gift-giving, Richard read “God Gave us Christmas.”

“Vroom, vroom!!”

Well, my piece of S*#T Toshiba laptop crashed again yesterday! I guess the only good news is, when it dies it always seems to work in “Safe Mode” meaning I’m able to copy files to my external hard drives (thank God for them!!!). I took it back to Best Buy early this morning (and learned, at the same time, the best Christmas shopping time is 7 am Christmas Eve as there were very few people around and yet the stores were open). The guy thinks we might be able to invoke the “lemon clause,” and I’d get a new computer! My fingers are crossed!! Of course, since we leave for West Virginia Jan 7, this probably won’t get resolved until I return. Hey, maybe it’s West Virginia that’s bad luck for my computer? Seems like it was in the shop last time we went there!
More good luck, I still have my old Compaq laptop installed with most of my programs so I can continue to work some! I’m NOT looking forward to re-installing ALL my programs though!! What a pain in the rear-end!!

Anyway, it’s almost Merry Christmas time, so I need to get in a better mood! Richard’s on his way home from hunting, and we are going to have dinner with the kids this afternoon and then go to Christmas Eve church. Watch for photos later tonight or tomorrow!
We hope you all have a great Christmas!

Richard went to Paul and Camille’s Christmas party while I went to dinner with the kids.

Camile’s cooking is awesome!

Jody and Paul

Richard’s trying to set the auto-timer.

Got it!!

Today would have been John’s 26th birthday. The girls and I talked a lot about what we should do, whether to ignore it or do something. We decided to have a party by going to Ryan’s where we used to celebrate all birthdays when the kids were little.

Here’s the birthday party crew: Curtis, Bryce, Jessica, Delilah, Laura, Jennifer, and Ricky

Since it was a birthday party, we had to have gifts! I missed Laura’s baby shower due to the ice storm, so I gave her the gifts tonight. Left she’s holding the wonderful Christmas stocking for Sheldon my Mom made. Each of her grandkids and great-grandkids have one!

And here we all are outside after dinner!

I just read this which has to be one of the best statements on how Christmas has shifted from a celebration of being a Christian to just spending money.

“How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.”

—Benjamin Franklin

Tonight was the children’s Christmas program at church, and Delilah had a speaking (one line!) part! Left she’s helping her mother pass out the programs. Above Grandma Jones is holding Bryce.

Here’s the cast after the program (Delilah is second from the right).