Happy Birthday to our Dad, a man of distinction!

Hello Americans and others around the globe, it's a good day and I bid you welcome on this very 1st day of August 2013. It's a big time special day for our family as we pause to commemorate our dad's birthday. For these past thirty five years dad has made our old home place a warm and welcome place for us to come home to. No matter who you are, you will feel at home when you visit mom and dad. He might be nicknamed the Breakfast Man since he loves to do his version of an old fashioned family breakfast where we feast and fellowship around the table. (Plenty of Community Coffee, just so you know.) He has experienced a lot of change during his time here on the planet but we all are thankful that his steadfast faithfulness and love for our mom and for our huge blended clan has never changed. He is a man of distinction. He faithfully served our country and retired from the US Army. He served our national interests through his work in US Civil Service in support of our fighting men and women. He has served the local community in his Church and he has been on the Town Council for twenty years. Finally, he has been devoted to our mom and to us, and for this and so many other reasons we are proud to honor him on his birthday as well as thanking God for him and his life. Amen. Happy Birthday Dad, love, Marilyn and Al.

I know I have been mostly quiet lately about the political scene. That doesn't mean the shenanigans that defines how our super sized government works is on vacation because I can assure you, it rolls on and on. There are any number of special elections underway at any given time. One of the things I have noticed is the enhanced ability that candidates have in doing what they call opposition research. Let me break that down for you. That's a clever way of saying, digging up dirt on their opponent. The digital age has made that all the more convenient. I think about all the details I was able to uncover when I was doing family ancestry research using nothing more than the search capabilities available on the internet. The politicians actually hire people who are expert at what they call data mining. I remember in one recent election they had uncovered something that had occurred in elementary school. The point? If the kid had problems back then, maybe that behavior will show up again if he or she is elected. See what I mean? No wonder many qualified people choose to pass on having to endure that kind of idiotic scrutiny of their life's sojourn. It might go like this: He pulled a girl's hair in third grade, therefore, he could have the potential for domestic abuse or perhaps he is predisposed to hate the female gender. Don't laugh. And, oh by the way, I probably can't even remember all the stuff I got in trouble for as a kid but I'm sure it would make for some interesting reading.

I saw a cartoon the other day where the young son blurted out to his dad, "I think I'm going to go into organized crime." Without hesitating, the dad responded, "Government or private sector?"  Here's another one: What do Dinosaurs and honest politicians have in common? They both no longer exist. Too easy. Right? Just fooling around, don't get all nervous on me. We do live in a world focused on materialism. One smart young college student had this exchange with his dad. Dad, "Son, what did you have in mind for your birthday present?" Son, "I was thinking just a small radio with a sports car to carry it in." The economics professor asked his class what they thought was the best source for finding financing to start their own business. One fellow immediately raised his hand and said, "Hopefully it will be my future father in law." At least he was looking ahead. Then you have two little old ladies talking about their challenges in using their laptops. One says to the other,"I declare, I am forever forgetting my password. But I came up with a solution. I changed it to 'incorrect'. Now when I put in the wrong one, the computer says, Your Password is Incorrect." Okay. As you can tell, I was all over the page, so to speak, with this last paragraph but maybe you found something to smile about. I heard last evening on the news that researchers have discovered that smiling during the work day helps reduce stress. They pay people to find out stuff like that? I could have saved them time and money because we find this in Proverbs 17:22, "A merry heart does good like medicine..." Have a great day and may God add His blessings to it! Amen.   ...More later.