A Little Perspective

We were in the truck this morning, when I spied my grandson sizing up a small ant that was crawling on the window. At a red light, he used his thumb to try and squash it. To his surprise, the ant continued its march. He tried again! But still the ant marched on. He chuckled.... "BawBaw, that ant isn't in the truck with us. He is outside." Then he sat back in his chair with a little grin. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he was analyzing and changing his perspective. "Everything is about your perspective, Derick. Everything." And he says, "Yeah, and I was lookin' at him wrong too!"

Lord, help me with my perspective...... daily.

The Warren is Still Inhabited and Growing

There will be a new inhabitant in the Warren soon. She has certainly already caused a stir with new moving and remodeling and new assembling. I am sure that she will be well worth it.

We were blessed by some kind and inspiring words today. A man who knows my family said to me today "That boy is a winner. He is wonderful and well thought of by those around and close to us. He opens doors and minds his manners and doesn't whine or fuss or scream bloody murder like some others his age. He is cool and confident. He speaks and visits with people with ease. You and your wife and daughter have done a wonderful job with him. He is wonderful." What an affirmation from a trusted and respected elder in my church! And it was very gracious of him to care enough to take the time to tell me that.

Words of encouragement mean so much.

Up in Smoke, but my Faith in people remains

So I left home headed for my Bible Study class tonight when I passed a house trailer that I pass two or three times a day. I noted after glancing in that general vicinity that there was smoke in the area. So, I stopped and backed up to see that this particular house trailer was on fire. There was smoke billowing out of one end of it. I could see smoke seeping out of the ridges in the roof. I could make out some flames that were dancing out of a broken window. I backed into a nearby driveway and dialed 911 on my phone as I ran across the street and through the yard. I met another guy who was coming across the street from the other direction. He ran up on the front porch as I ran around the back. I was shouting directions at the 911 operator while banging on the exterior of the trailer to try to alert anyone inside. There was a car parked outside, so it was possible that there were people inside. Other neighbors rushed in with garden hoses from nearby houses and were spraying water in through broken windows. The fire department arrived, went in, and took over the situation. Fortunately, no one was in the home. Half of the trailer was compromised by fire. I am sure all took smoke damage as it appeared to me that the fire had sort of smoked itself to death because it wasn't well vented. I was happy no one was harmed and I was happy to see all of these neighbors rushing in to help and not just standing and watching.

Three hours later, I can still taste the smoked insulation from the smoke that we were breathing but that was a small price to pay to help someone out, eh?

Maternal Instinct

Maternal Instinct
My wife is absolutely petrified of spiders. And I don’t mean a little bit…. We are not talking about “stomp up and down on them” scared. We are not talking about “take something and beat them to a pulp” scared. I am talking about “in ten years of marriage she has never disposed of them on her own but instead summoned me with a blood-curdling scream --“SONNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”” scared of spiders.
By way of example I offer up this exchange from 2005---on my way home from class at LSU one night and my cell phone rings:
Sonny – “Hello?”
Nicole – “WHERE ARE YOU??????!!!!!!!”
Sonny – “I am on my way home from class, Babe. Why?”
Nicole – “THERE IS A SPIDER IN THIS HOUSE!!!!! HE WAS ABOUT TO ATTACK ME BUT I THINK I HAVE STOPPED HIM FOR THE TIME BEING!!!!!!!!! YOU NEED TO HURRY UP AND GET HOME AND TAKE CARE OF HIM.”
Sonny – “Well how did you take care of him, Babe?”
Nicole – “Well he was coming across the carpet at me when I saw him, right? So I got up and I got my hairspray can and a cigarette lighter……. And I was just about to put the flame thrower on him when I realized I might set the carpet on fire and that might set the house on fire. So I hairsprayed him until he balled up and then I put the clothes basket on top of him! Then I put a book on top of the clothes basket.”

So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago…….. Nicole and Derick are sitting on the floor in the living room playing. I am sitting on the couch. When suddenly my wife screams “NO” at the top of her lungs and takes a swat at Derick’s arm, barely grazing him. She then covers her mouth and says “Oh my gosh I can’t believe I just did that!” While she is nearly hyper-ventilating, I am thinking, “Why did you hit him?” but I said nothing. She says “Get over here! There was a spider on Derick’s arm and I just swatted it off him! You need to find it and kill it!”

She was in shock most of the night about how she was willing to swat a spider off Derick. Personally, I was not. Maternal instinct is a strong thing and I figure she would stand in front of a charging herd of spiders for him. Jessica would stand in front of a villainous band of Mexicans!

I suck...

OK, so here I am promising to get better about blogging again. I will post blogs for the weeks I missed since my last promise.

My family is so weird...

So Jessica owns this camera. And my wife uses it more than Jessica does.

Three months ago, Nicole says that she wants to buy Jess a camera. Three weeks ago, Jess says that she wants to buy Nicole a camera for Mother's Day. Wound up buying two and letting them give them to each other! Funny! The weird part is that Nicole had bought me a Canon Rebel Digital SLR for our tenth wedding anniversary.

But, this should come as no shock. We are always doing stuff like this. Three years ago when money was tight at Christmas, Nicole and I agreed to only spend a certain amount of money on each other. What happened? We each bought each other slippers and PJs.

Where's the dedication?

So where is my dedication to this blogging effort? I have to do better. I promise all of my readers (all two of you!) that I will write once a week!

There!!!!!!!!!! Now its in print and I can't deny it.