Hmmm-Is this true???

You Are Not a Wimp

In fact, you are an incredibly tough person. Your nerves do not get the better of you. You don't back down from challenges or intimidating situations. You love the thrill of conquer... so much so that it outweighs the fear of defeat.

Are You a Wimp?

Summer Camp is Over

I know that I haven't posted in almost two weeks - but you just can't imagine how very busy we have been, and how much fun we have been having!! And how much more important than blogging this is!! The fun ends early Monday morning when Kaiti, Collin and Kelly head home to NC. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel home. Camp KaKa is over for 2008.

Happy 86th Birthday, Mom!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Lt. Dan and Captain Wicker

You all know that our son-in-law is in Iraq. He is a Marine pilot - flying the new V-22 Osprey. I want to thank each of you for your continued prayers for his safety, and the safety of his fellow soldiers. We got an email on Saturday from Robert. He was so excited about the flight he had just completed. The pictures will explain.

Black and White

Our Childhood in Black and White.

Whoever wrote this, described childhood to a Tee.
Black and White (Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow, Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go. Pull a chair up to the TV set, "Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too.

Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no be ach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. !

We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. Flunking gym was not an option even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home. I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just befo! re he f ell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof.

It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive? LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING. Pass this to someone and remember that life's most simple pleasures are very often the best.

Fun in the Summertime

So for the past few days we have been trying to get Collin to try food. Kaiti's pediatrician said to start with cereal, then stage 1 veggies, then stage 1 fruits. Oh - has this been fun!?!? You know that face you see when someone gets something in their mouth that they don't like - texture or taste? The eyes glaze over - get red rimmed, the gagging reflex starts up. Well, that's where we have been for several days. Then - all of a sudden the temper flares. I think Collin was really mad at us for putting this foreign substance in his mouth. And spying his bottle sitting on the counter didn't help at all!! This afternoon Kaiti decided to try this all again - but this time we added some real banana mashed up in the cereal. All of a sudden this child decides that he likes having food in his mouth. We were even able to add squash in. By the end of this first successful meal he was banging his little fist on the tray for more food!! So, it's deja vous time again - remember when they were all so tiny and the food would be everywhere - in the eyebrows, dripping from the nose, in the ears, under the neck and when you think you're all done - well you can scrape enough off of the face and bib for another couple of bites. So this is our fun and entertainment in the summertime!!!

Let Freedom Ring - It's Independence Day

As we approach this 4th of July - I am reminded, more this year than ever before, what sacrifices American men and women have made and are making to protect and preserve our freedom. My grandfather, Daddy-2nd Infantry WWII, Uncle Punch, Uncle Nathaniel, Uncle JE, my brother - Woody, who flew the Huey Medi-Vac in Viet Nam, cousin - Bill - who was killed in VietNam, another cousin, Bill - nephews - Pete, Jason and Dennis have all served bravely on our behalf. Right now, my son-in-law, Robert, a Marine pilot, is serving in Iraq.
Our current military and in our recent past has been an all volunteer military. No matter what your feelings are about the current war - these men and women allow you to sleep peacefully every single night. They are guarding your freedom from posts all over the world.
As you celebrate this freedom with picnics, fireworks, swimming, boating, watching Wimbledon, playing games, enjoying being with family - then cooling off in the AC - remember all of those soldiers, past and present who have served us. ... thank them. Let the soldiers in your life know just how much we appreciate what they have done.

Thankful

I have been in a Towanda state of mind all week - things just haven't been going exactly as I had planned. Customer service is definitely not in vogue any longer. I have run into roadblocks, rude people, delays, "NO", and lots of waiting during that "window of time" for estimators, installers, etc. So this evening, with some time on my hands I start going through David's pictures from Uganda. Upload - download, photoshop...and then...I see this picture. I keep going back to it. I zoom in on it. I crop it and zoom again. I close my eyes and I still see this tiny, beautiful little girl standing in line with her cans to get water. Water - a basic human need. She should be in school, or better yet - out playing somewhere. But she is standing in line - barely clothed with her cans in her hand. I keep going through pictures and find her again. This time - her face. And...it is such a serious face on a little child. Thank you, Jesus, that this time she is getting clean water. Water that won't make her sick. Thank you to all who help with Water Missions to bring this beautiful child pure water to drink and maybe even play in. Thank you to those who bring her the message of the Living Water that will change her life for eternity.