Ephesians 6:2 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise),...." As rendered by the New American Standard Bible

Good morning and welcome. It's Thursday, November 5, 2015 and I am back at it again, here at the ole blogger ranch. Those of you who follow my blogs are aware that I am still blessed to have my mom with us. She is 91 and I typically talk to her at least two times every day. For now more than 38 years she has had the most faithful and loving companion in our step dad who is 85 years young. They are an amazing couple and as anyone would expect they both are now dealing with particular physical impairments. Mom's greatest challenge currently has to do with her progressive loss of eyesight due to age induced macular degeneration. This has been a huge challenge since she is a voracious reader. Dad has had a number of internal plumbing issues that have brought on his battling of prolonged infections. These are serious challenges but they are people that refuse to quit. They are still able to schedule and travel to take care of their medical appointments. They typically go shopping at least once a week and often that keeps them out all day long. Amazing! Mom can no longer attend services but dad still does and he continues to serve as the coordinator for baptisms for their local fellowship. Finally, one thing that stands out: They can still laugh and find humor in their day by day living. To all our family they are a shining example of faithfulness and commitment that shows itself in their fortitude and 'can do' spirit. They are simply amazing and a great blessing and we thank God every single day for providing us with such wonderful parents. Amen.

Mom can still keep up with family stuff because she can, on some days, read well enough to check out Facebook postings. That's right! She also reads my blogs. How do you like that? We've got the print and images enlarged on her screen so that she can use it each day. I do log into her system a couple of times a day to keep it all going for her. I've done my best to limit all the automatic updating so that it doesn't mess up her access but you can only do so much and when the operating system takes over it usually messes with her set up but fortunately we've been able to keep her going. I tell her all the time that I do not know of anyone that is able to keep up like she does who is 91 years old. There are probably folks that are out there somewhere. I don't know of any. She is always concerned about me having to help keep everything going on her system. Like I tell her, that's so small it's not even worth talking about. Dad is not one of those older people who participates in marathons and stuff like that. He doesn't need to because he is his own marathon man as he still takes care of 99% of all the maintenance on their house, their property, and typically has multiple improvement projects going at the same time. The other day he had a faucet issue. It was late in the evening but he, at 85, suited up in his coveralls and climbed under the house to check the pipes. I tell people all the time I would not want to try and keep up with dad each day. I'm just elaborating some on the blessing they are and why we call them amazing. Amen.

We've been around long enough to experience some of these aging signs. The wife doesn't always hear everything I say. That can be both good and bad. I'll let you decide when it might be better than at other times. We can still laugh. Some. More at times than at others but I do believe that's important because life is a serious proposition but the stuff we do each day can lead to some pretty funny material. And, as many of you know, I have a closet full of funnies on myself that I only release when the time is right. Maybe on a leap year. Just kidding. The main thing. Trust God. Continue to trust God. And, don't take yourself so serious. That's not an easy thing for me since I am well aware that my template or make up includes a serious profile. I do recognize that and it most likely reflects the sum total of everything that makes up who I am. For each of us, that is a lot of stuff. However, knowing that, I do try to see the humorous in my own day by day living. I would tell you a real good one but it's not leap year but there is one coming next year in 2016. That should give me time to find something that my team of me, myself, and I would be willing to share. The bottom line: God has been good to allow us this time together and to share our experiences. Amen. .....More later.