Happy Birthday to our Jimmy Sr.

It's Friday, April 28, 2017, and today I'm thinking about our middle son's birthday which is coming up this next Sunday. He will be 49 years young. Our Jimmy has had a pretty rough go of it over the years, but, he is a survivor as this birthday will attest. We are looking forward to celebrating with him and his four children. Happy 49th and may God bless. Our love, mom and dad.

Another birthday. I know what some of you are thinking. What else is new? When one is blessed with a large family, you end up with a growing number of birthdays. Duh! Those along with wedding anniversaries, graduations, and other special occasions. The wife is off again to Louisiana to help with mom. Dad's back is getting progressively worse, therefore, the wife left yesterday to go do what she can to assist. I think all of us kids probably, in the back of of minds, knew the day would come when mom and dad would falter some. To be honest, they, for so long, with their tireless work ethic and determination, made it harder to imagine. It is somewhat of a natural development but one that does require a response and attention. Our niece who is a nurse is making arrangements to be there on a more permanent basis and we hope she will be in place by early next week. Meanwhile, it is a one day at a time affair and we, as a family, are blessed to have those who are able to help. Our sister JoAnn has been there since the get go. Our sister-in-law Stephanie comes. Our niece Angela comes. And, there are neighbors dad can call on if needed. Meanwhile, I ask for prayers for mom and dad.

I did check the calendar and verified that it is still Friday. I can hardly wait to sleep in tomorrow. I say that jokingly because while the thought does cross my mind occasionally, it rarely, if ever, happens. It's been some week, don't you think? Most of them are. Someone ran over our mailbox the other morning. I was walking out to my truck at 3:30 a.m. when it happened. They lost control of their vehicle, hit our box and the neighbor's box, and then nearly took out our culvert. It was a van with a mattress on top. They kept going. I don't think it was intentional but the results were the same. Maybe they were moving and fell asleep. Maybe they were drunk. Maybe they were texting. I couldn't make out what the driver looked like. I was mostly frozen with my mouth hung open. At the end of their few seconds of mayhem, the mail box was all laid out on the ground. It's stuck back in the hole right now but it looks very wounded. It will need to be replaced. Put that one on the list. After I sleep in. After I finish my lesson for Sunday. After I do a number of other home office projects. See what I mean? You know the saying. Join in with me: IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING! With that, I leave you with best wishes for a great Saturday and Lord's Day Sunday. May God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. See you next week. Lord willing. Of course. .....More later.