Mom and Dad would be proud and that's important to me.

Our going back home place in Hornbeck, La., for over 60 years.

Hello and welcome, it's Tuesday, June 25, 2019. Let me tidy up a few things since by the time many of you will be reading this, I will be well on my way to Leesville, Louisiana. I am doing a one-day turnaround trip to sign off on the paperwork involved in selling mom's and dad's house and property to our niece, Stacy, who is the eldest daughter of three girls born to our baby sister Kayla. Getting to this point, working with the lawyer there, and getting all of the heirs correctly lined up, well, it is not for the fainthearted, but, most of these types of transactions play out this way. That's right. Even those who think they have it all laid out without any glitches, well, most of them, based on what I've heard from others, end up having many twists and turns. I've not heard any opera lady singing yet, therefore, it will not be over until it's over. When it is finalized, it will meet the desire of many within our family group to keep the place within the family. It was our home from 1957 and all of us will always treasure the memories we made there. The other news has to do with my medical testing reports. Thus far, everything appears to be in the okay category. I could do better in this area or that, but, the big items appear to be within the appropriate range. I say, thank the Lord for that. All that is pending is the lung function test results. That will be available later this week.

Life is about transitions. And, none of us ever know exactly what each day might bring. This past Sunday evening while we were nearing the end of our Sunday evening service, I began receiving some emergency texts from the wife's sister regarding her grandson, Bradley. Bradley, our nephew, is a unique and talented person and one who is sold out to serving His Lord and Savior. He will be graduating from college later this year. During the summers, he and his band, do Christian youth camps across America. He has been involved in this camp ministry effort for many years. He had come to Houston over at Houston Baptist University to help conduct a camp this coming week. The reason for the texts had to do with him becoming very ill and not having anyone to help him. The rest of his team had taken the weekend off before the start of the new camp, therefore, the wife and I left Church and headed to Bellaire to find Bradley and get him to the E/R. We were keeping his grandma and his parents updated every step of the way. The bottom line, he was dehydrated, hurting, and unable to keep anything on his stomach. We spent from around 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. at the emergency room where they finally got fluids in him, injected him with pain and nausea medicine. I had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning and I can assure you I have not been doing all-nighters lately. But great news! He was released and is most likely again working with kids to help them in their walk with The Savior. One last observation, spending all night at the E/R will humble anyone. Especially, seeing such little bitty babies dealing with sudden illnesses, along with the other stuff. Lots of other stuff. I will likely write about some of those later.

Another individual of distinction passed away last week. He was 79 years young and his name is Dale Kelly. Early on in our marriage, I hit a brief period of being in-between jobs and I signed on with Dale to be his helper on doing the brickwork on a large residence. I worked with him for two weeks. As a highly motivated, individual contractor, he was a master bricklayer and he could sling mortar and lay bricks almost in blurred motion. It was my job to keep the bricks coming and to mix the mortar. Back-breaking. No matter how fast I ran, he was always waiting on me. Two weeks. At the end of that project, I made the decision that perhaps administrative and office work was better suited to my inclinations and abilities. I actually had personally thanked him for that very thing when he came to my mom's viewing. He didn't even remember us working together. That's okay, because I do, and I made sure he knew how much I appreciated him for helping to direct my career choices. He laughed. I did too but that doesn't mean I have forgotten the aches and pains from that little adventure. I've told that story before but it does seem to surface from time to time. Enjoy the rest of the day and may God bless each one. Amen. .....More later.