Griping Works.....

About a month ago, I was supposed to go to the Titans game, we were trying to get a demo done at Digital Dog, so I passed up the opportunity to go. I was angry about it and I wrote this post at the time. My good friend Tara knew of some tickets available for the game today and gave me the opportunity to buy them. Kathy and I talked about it, I bought them as part of my Christmas present. I offered Sarah(doesn't understand football) and Kathy(hates to be cold) the opportunity to go with me, both declined, Chris was jumping at the chance so we went. I took some pictures with my camera phone. It was fun, it wasn't a very exciting game, but the Titans won. Cleveland lost like we needed them to so now as Chris said "All we have to do is beat Indy in Indy and we go to the playoffs"...Oh boy...

We had to go to Goodlettsville to get the tickets, its about a 25 or 30 mile drive, some highway miles...I thought it would be a good drive for Chris to make. He did very well, we went to Rivergate afterwards, he drove there too, a few rough spots, but he's doing well. I can't get over the weird feeling of putting my life in the hands of someone whose diaper I used to change. See Tara's post about Ethan's first drive

I'm not sure which is tougher, Chris driving with me in the car, or me driving with him in the car. He loves to point out the cases where I just might be a skosh over the speed limit....or if I forget to use my blinker...or whatever infraction (minor I assure you) I commit while driving. He seems to think he caught me going 15 miles per hour over the speed limit, I introduced him to the concept of parallax which affects the perceived reading of a needle based instrument (such as a speedometer) based on the position of the observer (I didn't mention that a speedometer would read slower when viewed from the passenger seat). I assured him that his dad was a good driver and that the policeman that pulled us over on the way to soccer practice (when he was 5) was just having a bad day....

My reputation as a backgammon instructor remains untarnished....

When I was in high school, we had a mini-backgammon craze at the school. I was given a set for Christmas one year and just about any free time that we had was spent playing backgammon. I thought I was pretty good.

Zoom ahead 10 years or so. Kathy and I were dating (we may have even been married at the time) and I found out (to my horror) that she had never played the game of backgammon. I dusted off my old set and taught her how to play. After beating her in her first two games (see her revisionist comment ;-), I never let the facts get in the way of a good story), I have not beat her since. It's amazing, I've come close, but never beaten her.

Sarah has been grounded from just about everything except oxygen. She is bored out of her mind. She asked if I would play her in a board game. What game do I pick? Backgammon. I won the first game....but she beat me in the second. I spanked her and sent her to bed (teasing).

Happy Monthaversary

On June 4 1988 God gave me an angel of my very own. On the 4th of every month we celebrate our monthaversary. Sometimes it's a card, sometimes it's a 'Happy monthaversary!', sometimes we forget. Today, it's a blog post.

Thank you for the most amazing how ever many months its been ;-)

I love you...

A whole new audience for my blog....

Thanks to Google Alerts, I found out that my previous post had been linked to by My Rap News - http://myrapnews.topmsrs.com. I'm sure its a site that automatically links to any blog post that mentions rap or specific group names. I guess this will bring a whole new audience to my blog though.....yo yo yo! Baby got backlink

Blogging and the job hunt
The whole blogging thing is sort of interesting. I had a job interview last Friday and the fellow that I was interviewing with mentioned that he had found and read some of my personal and technical blog. I had been somewhat uneasy about that as I look for gainful employment. How would a prospective employer view the fact that you blog. How would they feel about someone who expresses their spiritual views this way? So, I asked him. He said that he liked it. I don't know if others will, its an interesting thought though.

I had a hot date with a younger married woman
It used to take an act of Congress for Kathy and I to have a night out alone. Now, sometimes it just happens unexpectedly. Sarah was staying overnight with a friend. Chris wasn't feeling well, so Kathy and I went out to eat alone! It was interesting that several times during the evening Kathy would say "Don't blog about that"......."Not that either".....I did ask if I could blog about her telling me what not to blog about....she said I could ;-)

Dinner Conversation
Chris likes learning, he would never admit, but he does. Whenever he's interested in something, he'll ask us a question to see if we know what he knows. The question last night was 'Do you know how they know what the Carbon Dioxide levels were in 1960?' My first guess was tree rings...that wasn't right, my next guess was to take core samples of the polar ice cap. That one was correct. (Trust me, all of our dinner conversations aren't this cerebral) Anyway, that lead to a topic that I have some interest in....is our earth billions of years old? or is it thousands of years old? I know that evolutionists need the earth to be billions of years old to give evolution the time that it needs. However, there is evidence that our earth is very young. One evidence was a story that I told the family last night. Some warplanes from WWII are trapped in the polar ice in Greenland. The fascinating thing about it is that this gives us a very good time reference for the accumulating size of the polar ice caps which speaks directly to the issue of the age of the earth. There is a very good, though quite heady explanation here.

Missing the Rodeo.....

Rodeo was my brother's nickname. He got that name because he could do everything on a softball field. He had speed, good glove, good arm and could hit the ball a ton. I remember watching him play on a field with no fence in left field. He was the lead off hitter and hit the first pitch of the game over the left fielder's head and it rolled a mile. The umpire called it a 'no pitch' because he didn't have his mask on before the pitch. Everybody gets reset, the left fielder backs up (obviously) and then, Steve hit the next pitch further than the first.

Steve passed away in July of 2003. Both of my brothers have passed, but Steve and I were the closest. Sometimes he would call me, and we would talk for hours. I miss that. He's was the kind of guy that people just naturally gravitate to. He loved to play golf, loved to hunt and fish, but nothing was more important than family.

He had an infectious smile. In many ways, I think Chris is just like him. Not long after Steve passed, Chris got his braces off. Whenever he smiles, I see Steve. One time, I was hitting grounders to Chris in the backyard, I hit one harder than I intended, it took a bad hop and Chris made a fantastic play on it. He knew he had done something good...he flashed that smile...I saw Steve. For the rest of the day, it was like Steve and I were playing in the backyard again.

I was the baby of the family. There's at least 13 years difference between me and any of my siblings. By the time I was old enough to walk and talk and and know what was going on...they were driving. Steve fell in love with a girl named Vonnie. So did I. When they were going on a date, I would beg and plead to go with them. Sometimes, believe it or not, they would take me.

Here's a couple of my favorite Steve stories...

Steve married Vonnie and they have two children. Thomas and Christi (Christi is the baby in the picture, she's 22 now and absolutely gorgeous). Anyway, when Thomas was about 9 or 10, rap music was the thing. He wanted to see Run-DMC when they came to town. Steve couldn't stand the stuff, but said that Thomas could go if I would take him. I agreed. Thomas invited one of his friends and whenever Steve saw the other boy he would tell him "my little brother is going to take you"...."my little brother is going to take you". On the night of the concert, I walked in. I can clearly remember this 9 year old boy standing at my feet and looking straight up. Steve said "You ought to see my big brother".

Steve was a good golfer. For a time I thought I had the time and money to take up the game so I started playing. One morning, he and I went to Montgomery Bell to play. We were on the first tee at 6am. As we were getting ready to hit, two deer walked out of the woods and stood in the middle of the fairway. I was puzzled and said "Why did they do that?" Steve's response...."They know that they are safer there".

Steve loved nature. He loved to hunt and fish. One time while he was hunting, he found a baby squirrel that had been orphaned. He brought it home, raised it and let it go. I can remember seeing pictures of him standing in the backyard with this squirrel climbing on him like he was a tree.

When Christi caught her first fish, it was small of course. But they brought it home, and kept it for a long time. He kept two kiddie swimming pools one had the fish, the other was getting ready for the fish. He would transfer the fish from one to the other so that it had clean water. He spent so much time on it, the fish was not scared of him. He could stick his hand in the water and the fish would swim to him and he would catch it and move it to the clean water.

As you can imagine...the are a ton of memories and stories to tell. I always remember him this time of the year. The holidays are just not right without him and his family.

We need some monuments....

When the children were small, Kathy and I used the envelope system. When you get paid, you separate cash into envelopes dedicated to budget item. When the cash for that category is gone, you are done. It's a great system, but it can have its downfalls to be explained here.....

I had just gotten paid so our envelopes were freshly stocked. I needed go to town to run several errands so Kathy asked me to stop by the grocery store. I took the grocery envelope with me and headed out. I had several things in my hands when I was getting in the car. I had to go take something to Kathy's sister, Walmart (I think) then I stopped at the grocery. At the grocery, I picked up several things, got to the checkout line.....no envelope. I looked in the car....no envelope. Uh oh.

I explained the issue to the manager and told them if someone turned it in, to call me. I went home and explained the situation to Kathy. That was not a fun evening. Finally, we go to bed....I hear this big sigh.

"What's the matter honey?" (dumb question huh?)
"Somebody has our grocery, money"

As I laid there, it came to me. I had laid the envelope on top of the car while I was putting the stuff in the car (I'm pretty sure that my intellectual biorhythm was at a low point that day). I don't remember picking it back up. I got up, got dressed, and headed out. It was about 11pm at this point, 3 hours after my original trip.

I retraced my steps....slowly driving along the path that I followed earlier looking for the envelope. I drove all the way back to Leeville Pike where Kathy's sister lived at the time. I was just about to give up and turn around when...in the middle of Leeville Pike (a busy two lane road) there sat our envelope. All the money still there. It was amazing.

I've always wondered why Peter, after the transfiguration, said...

"Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

Someone explained to me that the Jews were always big on monuments and festivals. It's all about remembering. Remembering what God has done for you in the past, so that you will trust him in the future.

I know of several places where I would need to build some monuments. I don't think that they will let me put one in the middle of Leeville Pike.

Happy Anniversary...

In my post yesterday, I talked about my parents. On my way to work, I talked with my mom and she reminded me that today is their wedding anniversary. 61 years ago today, my dad had just returned from WWII and my parents were married.

Happy anniversary, I love you very much. You've not been dealt an easy hand, but you've been a tremendous example for many.

I love you very much. Happy anniversary.

Stand on my shoulders.....tell me what you see...

Last weekend, I was watching Sarah play basketball. She has really improved since last year. But, as I was watching, I was overwhelmed with the sense that my purpose in life was in she and Chris. I don't why I felt that way, but I did. I had a sense of calm that I've not experienced in a long time.

My family is very interesting. I am the youngest child of a youngest child. For most people my age, their grandfather fought in WWII. My dad was at Iwo Jima. For most people my age, their great grandparents were alive at the turn of the 20th century. My grandmother was born in 1885.

My dad lived a rough life growing up. His father was a share-cropper. Owned no land, but did all the work. My parents are part of the "Greatest Generation". They lived through the depression, fought the wars and helped make this country what it is today. My father left high school in his Senior year to join the Marines. He couldn't swim a lick, but the Marines took him anyway. That's what it was like in '41.

My parents worked all the time to send me to a private school. The neighborhood that I grew up in was pretty bad. The schools were bad. They felt it was worth it to sacrifice their time and energy for me. The college deal in my family was this: you will go for one year. You may choose to continue or quit after the first year. If you continue, we will pay for it. When I got my diploma, it was paid for. Amazing stuff for a firefighter.

God's timing is amazing. I believe that we sometimes limit God's plans to our own lifetime. His timing is so much more far reaching than that. His plan for my family may come to fruition 3 generations from now. One day it will all become clear.

I don't remember where I heard this quote from a father to his children, but it means a lot to me:

Stand on my shoulders, but tell me what you see....

My house is bugged....I'm sure of it...

This weekend, I was angry....very angry. Won't go into details, but just picture me angry.

Was supposed to go to the Titans game, but couldn't. If I had gone to the game, I would have missed Church on Sunday Morning for the second week in a row. Instead, I was at Church. But I was angry.

As soon as I reached the auditorium, they began singing "This is My Father's World" which is a hymn that I've loved since the sixth grade. Hymn after hymn was uplifting and I began to relax and become less angry. The sermon was about "Worrying", which is what I was doing. The scripture reading was my all-time favorite passage:

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

At the end of the service, they introduced Paden who I baptized the week before last. John Grant also read the except from my Letter To Paden. For the first part of Sunday School period I went to several adult classes and talked about a fundraising dinner that is being planned for Arewa Aid. This organization is trying to raise money for some humanitarian aid in Northern Nigeria. This is a place where 9 year old boys are begging in the streets and water is so scarce that if you have some, you will use it for 3 or 4 different purposes before you discard it by watering your plants.

At the end of Sunday School, I felt like the luckiest man in the world. Anybody remember what I was angry about?

I love fall...

I love the fall, I always have. Football...basketball...cooler temperatures....I love everything about it. For some reason I even like the clothes that you can wear in the fall better than any other season. I remember in college, I had bought this cool jacket and I couldn't wait to wear it. Kathy and I went to a football game at her alma mater. It was one of the first games of the season (still summer), but I wore my jacket.

One of my most fond memories of fall, is when we used to have a family reunion in Gatlinburg every year. I have some family in Georgia that would meet us every year. It was always a great time. I loved Gatlinburg. We usually stayed at a lodge called The Brookside Resort. They have a bridge with benches built over the Little Pigeon River (which is a creek at that point). Sitting on that bridge on a cool autumn evening is one of my favorite places to be.

As a severe allergy sufferer, I believe that the first frost should be a national holiday.

Friday, was FCS's homecoming. They played MJCA which was a game we thought Chris might actually get to play in. He did, and had another long touchdown run! It was cool. The local radio station has a coach's breakfast where all the local football coaches meet at Shoney's and are interviewed about their games. The coach called Chris' name for scoring a touchdown which was very cool to hear.

Saturday was pretty busy. Sarah had her first basketball games. She and her team did well. They played a regular season game at FCS then we drove to Carroll Oakland School to participate in a Jamboree with 3 other teams. On the way to Carroll Oakland, we took Cedar Grove Road. I'd always heard of that road, but, I don't remember ever driving on it. I've definitely never driven it on a bright sunny fall afternoon. It is a very curvy tree lined road. In one of the curves, there was rugged fence with trees all around. I was struck by it on the way there, we stopped on the way back just long enough for me to get a few pictures.

Sarah had a birthday party with her friends Saturday evening. Our friend Bonita who sells for Mary Kay came over and showed the girls how to pick colors for make up and they all did make overs. One of Sarah's gifts was a dance game for the Nintendo Wii. She and her friends had a blast playing that as well. For some reason Chris and I usually have to be somewhere else during the friend birthday party.

Chris and I had the chance to go to the Titans game today. He's going to go, but I had to back out because of work responsibilities. I'm a little miffed about that one. Anyway, fall is always busy. I love the fall...

Girl Crazy...

In my younger years, there were a lot of ways you could've described me, but the way I would most likely be described would be Girl Crazy. I just couldn't help it, it's who I was. I felt very fortunate to have survived my teenage years without it getting me into any serious trouble.

As I've gotten older, I've realized that God has a tremendous sense of humor. You see, now, I'm in my upper-early 40's and find myself being the dad to a long-legged-blue-eyed-blonde. Now, I get to be the worried dad. I'm on the other side of this fence. My only hope now is that long-legged-blue-eyed-blondes will go out of style. Any chance of that?

When we were expecting, we found out that we were going to have a girl. I told Kathy that I was ok with having a girl as long as she was ugly (didn't happen). I then backed off that and said "Ok, she can be pretty, but she needs to know Jujitsu". Later, someone pointed out to me that knowing Jujitsu was one thing, being willing to use it is quite another. Yeah....I guess that's right. (Notice in the picture that she has not one but two phones in hand....trouble)

I've always known about the special connection that exists between a son and his mother. I really didn't know about the connection between a father and his daughter. When she was young, she was very much a momma's girl. She really didn't even like me that much, and told me so. As she's grown older, we've developed that special bond that exists between a father and his daughter. I guess it's a whole different kind of girl crazy now.

Happy Birthday Baby, I love you very much...

Here's another thing on the long list of things that make me cry....

Three Holes Left

This week has been a week that I've dreaded in some ways. One of the first things that they do at the beginning of the school year is to take the school pictures. At the end of the first nine week period, the prints are usually ready to be sent home. This week was the week that we received the prints.

Its not that I don't want their pictures, the problem is these frames that Kathy bought several years ago. You've probably seen them before, each school year you place their picture in the frame and then the Senior picture goes in the center. Each year, it's been a celebration when we put the new picture in the frame. This year, it wasn't so much of a celebration because we saw that there are only 3 holes left in Chris' frame.

When you look at the pictures, you may see the laugh in the kindergarten picture, the slicked back hair and smirk in third grade. Alfalfa hair in fourth grade, braces in the sixth grade that lead to the million dollar smile that he has now. But all Kathy and I can see is the three holes that are left.

We've had such big plans, I've desperately wanted to take both of them to Chicago, out west, a baseball tour of New England area and a cruise in the Caribbean...but the time is getting away.

To be honest, we are not done yet. There is so much that I want to teach them. Are they really ready to be on their own in a college atmosphere? Surely, we weren't as young at that age.

All along, my mom has told me, "They grow up so fast". I never believed her. But I am absolutely amazed that we have only three holes left.

Catching up...

Well, as you can probably guess, its been a bit of a crazy week at the Hall home. Let me see if I can catch you up on what's going on.

Truck update well D&R automotive threw their collective hands in the air on my truck. They simply didn't have the equipment that they needed to diagnose the problem. They recommended that I take it to the dealer. There is another shop in town where the owner used to work at a dealership. He seemed to have the equipment that he needed and was even aware of a technical service bulletin that was related to the issue that I was having....here's hoping. To D&R's credit though, they looked at it 4 times and didn't charge me anything. I begged them to charge me and they wouldn't.

Job Update Wrapping up my part of the first big project at the new job. About to start the next project. It's challenging, hard work, but it is good to feel like I'm really part of a team rather than being the 'outsider'.

Kathy Update Kathy is really enjoying getting going on the real estate thing. She's going to do well, though, if you read the news, its not a good time to get into real estate.

Chris & Sarah I'm so proud of these two. We got their grades this week. They work hard at it, and have done very very well.

Football Update The 5th & 6th grade football season is over (Sarah is a cheerleader). That frees up one night per week. We are in the second half of the varsity football season. Chris doesn't play much during the varsity games but has done well at the JV games. FCS had their first district loss last night. It was a hard fought game.

Spiritual Update I think Donna wrote in her blog about worry being sin. I know that. I also know that instead of worrying you should pray. I remember to do that....sometimes. Sometimes I just worry. The Jews were always big on monuments and festivals. They were constantly surrounded by reminders of events where God had taken care of them. When pressures start getting to me, I try to think back about all the times where there is no possible explanation other than God reached down and took care of me. I think when I get into trouble is when I start thinking its up to me...

Enjoy the ride....

Wow, what a wild few weeks we've had. We've been adjusting to school getting back in session. Chris, especially, has been adjusting to the demands of high school honors classes and high school athletics at the same time. It's a struggle, but it'll sure be something to be proud of when its over. Sarah is a having a blast in the sixth grade and has really started to enjoy cheerleading. Football season has started which means two or three nights per week are tied up in football games.

Kathy has been in classes to get her Real Estate License. She is in her 3rd (and final) week this week. She has done very well and we are all proud of her. My new job is really starting to get busy, I have a big deadline this week. On top of all of that, Chris had two major projects that were due yesterday. One was a leaf collection, the other was a presentation for English. So much for a relaxing holiday weekend.

Sunday, my great-nephew Ian had his fourth birthday party. For the last couple of years, they have set up an inflatable water slide for the kids to play on. This picture is of Ian's cousin Eli. I can't look at it without laughing. I don't know that I've ever seen a more perfect picture of complete and total joy.

Even when its hectic and busy, I think this is where God wants us to be.


Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Let me tell you about my weekend....

For some time, I've been looking for a pickup truck. As my son Chris approaches driving age, I figured we probably needed a third vehicle. I wasn't looking for anything real nice, but I did want a vehicle with a manual transmission. I want to be sure that my kids can drive a stick shift.

Kathy found a classified ad in the paper for a 1998 Chevy 1500 with 40,000 miles. I shook my head and said, "they mean 140,000 miles right". I called and it was true, 40,000 miles.

Every time we had found a truck that we were interested in, it was gone before we could look at it, so I moved on this one pretty quick. I drove it last Friday night, we agreed on the price and planned to pick it up the next day.

As Kathy and I were leaving to get the truck, we walked through our garage only to find about 1/2" of water standing in it. Our water heater had ruptured and we had a mess to clean up (and a water heater to buy in addition to the pickup).

To make a long story short, we got the truck, we got the water heater and after 5 cold showers, my house is back in order and everything's good.