David's First Flight

Shots of Bismarck and Mandan

Flying high in the sky

Why can't we forgive & forget?

This last Saturday was my father's 90th birthday. For months I tried to plan it and tried my hardest to get my hard headed brothers & sisters & their families together. Well everything seemed to be falling into place. On the 24th of May, the day of the birthday gathering we got some weather. We got some badly needed rain which ended up raining on our parade, so to speak. My one brother wanted to wait it out. My one sister wanted to move it to her house, which was the location of our party if it got rained out. Well, an arguement ensued and needless to say my sister moved the party to her house. My brother was furious and refused to show up at the house. Now I can see both their points of view, but considering I was the one who planned it, I feel it should have been my call to move it. If I had been the one to give the call to move it to my sister's house my brother might have been shown up. Now everyone thought he was childist to act the way he did, but I understand the point he was making.

Now this isn't an isolated incident. My family has been at odds for as long as I can remember. Like many families out there, ours is no exception, we fight and bicker amongst ourselves and stab each other in the back any chance we can. Being the youngest, a lot of this happened before my time or when I was young, so I don't know all the details to everything. There is a split in our family. They choose up sides everytime there is a disagreement. My mother was the glue that held us together. She put everyone in their place. After he death, my Dad loosely held it together, but as he aged he grew tired of trying and became very impressable in his old age as his memory faded. Now once my Dad is gone, I'm quite sure there will be little to no contact amongst the brothers & sisters & their families. I myself have even made the comment in anger that once Dad is gone they are all dead to me.

What I need to do is pray for peace. It is sad to see common blood could be so unfeeling towards one another, but it was learned from my Dad's and Mom's sides of the family. There was no love loss between my aunts and uncles on both sides. So I guess it is par for the course. So I guess it's up to me to pray about it, ask God's help and try to change things before it is too late. I guess Why can't we forgive and forget?

Tyson, our companion....

Here are some pics of Tyson...








It was a sad day for us yesterday 5/1/08. We brought our 11 year old Golden Retriever, Tyson, to the vet because he was limping. We thought that maybe he broke a bone in his foot or something simple....the vet first did a normal check on him and thought he felt something by his bladder...we took him out to pee and came back in. The vet then did a floroscopy on him to get "real" time pictures of his back and internal organs. His spine is like 80% shot...major spondylosis--spinal degeneration and deformity of the joints. The vet said it was unbelievable that he was still walking. Then he came to the area by his bladder....it wasn't a full bladder that he was feeling....it was a mass about the size of a softball. Dave & I were in shock. We couldn't believe that our "big lug" was really sick. The vet is saying that he probably has 4-8 months left with us. I guess we will take it 1 day at a time.





Tyson was supposed to be Dave's hunting buddy...well, that never happened...he was afraid of the gun. He is majorly afraid of storms too. I think what freaked him out was when he got caught in the major hail storm here is Mandan. He is worse than the kids when it comes to a thunderstorm.





We will certainly miss him when he is gone and now plan to give him the best that we can give him.

Hodge Podge pictures of the kids...

Aren't I cute?Go ahead...make my day!

Don't worry, I won't get hurt.

Have wheels, will travel

Man, I am getting a headache.

It's peppy & it's got a beat you can dance to.

I'm open, kick it to me!

Hey, what's going on over there?

These are just some of the most recent pic of the kids, hope you enjoy!

I still need to learn on how to do all of this.

Who am I Really?

It is noon and it is my day off. I was being lazy and not getting done what I had planned on for the day. I decided to sit down and watch something on TV. I and our family enjoy the Hallmark channel and as an old fan of Little House on the Prairie I figured I'd catch an episode of it.

I turned the TV to channel 75, Saved by an Angel was on. I have always enjoyed the show and today was a really good episode. It was about a church that was having the dedication for their new teen center. It was a busy day for the pastor and he was being pulled here and there and everywhere. There was a young gal who needed to talk with him and he was so busy that he put her off and asked if they could talk tomorrow. He was too busy. The pastor's son saw her steal some money raised at the fund raiser for the teen center. He chased after her and walked her home and talked with her. He found out she was having some serious issues.

A reporter had asked the pastor earlier to do a story on him, his family, and the teen center. When his son ran off to help his friend and wasn't there for the dedication the pastor became agitated about it. When his son called to say where he was the pastor jumped in his car to go retrieve him and at the same time his son and his son's friend was on their way to the teen center. They ended up crashing into one another and his son was killed. The pastor faith was shaken and he blamed God and wanted to know why God took his son. An angel, Monica, explained to him that now is when he needed his faith the most. The pastor called himself a phoney. He said he preached about God, trust in him and turn to him in times of trouble for strength. When in a crisis he didn't practice what he preached. She helped him regain his faith and trust that there was only good to come from such tragedy. He told his congregation at his son's funeral that he hoped to live up to his son's example.

I guess the reason I went through the trouble of telling you about this episode is because it reminded me on how I need to work on my faith. I need weekly and even daily reminders that I need to trust not in my own understanding and that I need to rely on him. In the good times I don't praise him, but in the bad times I always ask his help. When times are neither good nor bad I catch myself not acting in a very Christian manner. I want to be a better example than that to my kids and I want to be a better person.

You have to be totally insane to believe that the earth and everything around it was created by a big explosion in space. Do me a favor, take some clay, put firecrackers in it and light them. You know what you'll have? A mess. Now watch a potter and see what they can do with that clay. It takes a master potter to make something beautiful from it.

I like to hunt. Go hunting and watch the sun rise over the hills on a cool fall morning as you see that beautiful buck walk across the meadow. Now tell me there is no God. I watched my children being born and was the first to touch my youngest boy's head. Now tell me there is no God. The mountains, the seas, children laughing, tell me there is no God. I saw a bald eagle on day when I was delivering by Rhame. In all it's majesty and beauty I knew there is a God.

If you live a good life, believe in him, and accept him you have no regrets in life. If you don't believe and think you're going to hell. You life will have been wasted. This is a truth that I believe. I am not perfect and far from a good example, but I am a testiment to God's grace and mercy. I deserve nothing, but have everything. If you have a family that loves you, you have everything. You can live an empty life without him or a full life with him. Ask my 90 year old father what his take is on this. He told me the good Lord has been very good to him. So this is where you ask yourself. Who am I really?

Off to Civil Air Patrol

Our oldest son is off to his first Cival Air Patrol meeting. This is a group that is an auxilliary of the Air Force and is for kids 12-18. There is also Senior programs and Sponsorship programs available for mom and dad if we wish to join at that level. Joining as a Cadet, he has several achievements and awards that he can obtain. He will first start out as Airman and could through the next several years attain Colonel. Colonel is the top and there have been some kids that attain this goal. We will not push him, he will work through all the different phases at his own pace. He will have the opportunity to have Aerospace Education, Leadership, Moral Leadership and of course, physical fitness testing. Upon joining, he will receive a uniform and we will have to buy all the patches that will go on the military uniform. The unit he will be in performs search and rescue and other humanitarian missions. As parents, we are excited for this phase of our son's life.