Jonathan Roping a Calf at Buffalo Gap Historic Village

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Buffalo Gap Historic Village watching the Buffalo Chips Vintage baseball team play teams from around the area. While waiting for the next game to start, we walked around the historic village and found this practice calf and rope lying on the ground. Not having any idea how to manage a rope, we simply stood and stared at the calf and the rope, wondering what to do. One of the Buffalo Chips baseball players seemed to know what to do. He took a few minutes to show Jonathan how to rope a calf. Thank goodness I didn't have to figure it out!

The House is Under Construction ... AGAIN!

Mom always said I was not very bright but that I had a good heart. I can't say much for my heart but I can verify that I'm not very bright. Here we move into a perfectly good house but I'm just not satisfied. We started remodeling the kitchen area (as you can see from the picture). We are going to double the size of the kitchen and open it up to the rest of the house. We like the open concept more than having the kitchen closed off. I got no idea how long this will take but its somewhere between one day and fifteen years.

I'll keep posting picture to this site as a project progresses ... or doesn't, as the case may be.

Joshua's TEXAS Day at School

Joshua's 2nd grade class (AKA The Room Sixers) had a Texas Celebration in their class today. The celebration consisted of pledges to the US flag and the Texas flag. The kids then served the parents chili (Longhorn and Bobcat), drinks and cookies. After everyone's bellies were full, we read the story of Claude and Shirley and their journey to their home in Texas. I played Claude. My career as an actor was short-lived but the kids enjoyed it. The last thing we did was dance to The Cotton-Eyed Joe. Joshua was paired with a girl in his class, Marie. They make quite a couple.

Houston - A Visit with Derek and Deanna

We spent Spring Break week in Houston with Derek, Deanna and Seth. On Thursday afternoon, we went to Hermann Park near downtown and played in the park. This is a picture of the boys on a big hill in the park that kids (and parents) like to run down or ride down in a wagon. The picture doesn't do it justice as its quite large, steep and fun to run down.

We also rode the paddle boats (Jason, Jon and me) while the others (including Josh and mom) rode the train through the park.

The traffic getting there was terrible but the ride home went much better.

David's Trip to Miami - Day 1

Here I am in Miami, Florida. South Beach to be exact. I am at conference here in the city. I arrived sometime after 8PM local time. Joshua called me almost immediately to ask how to get a DVD to play. We added a Tivo box into the mix and I bought a new universal remote that is not very universal so we are all lost at how to play a movie ... of all things.

Anyhow, back to Miami.

This picture is of the dinner the company put on for us. The food was good. The bar is free. But, I 'd rather be here updating this blog than hanging around the crowd. I sure have gotten boring in my old age. This is a very nice hotel. But, I always feel like I don't belong in places like this. I'd rather be in Abilene with Karen and the boys or, better yet, be in Fort Davis with them.

I took a quick stroll out to the beach. I noticed the constellation Orion high in the Southern sky, the same place it is in Abilene. I wished one of the boys was also looking up at Orion thinking of me. I could see ships passing in the distance. The whole Ocean thing is overwhelming when I looking out over the waves. Makes me think of the majesty of God and how big he must truly be.

Mostly, I just miss Karen, Jason, Joshua and Jonathan more than I can tell. I know I have to keep traveling so I can keep learning. But, I do hate being away from them. Can't wait until Wednesday.

Imagine Jon-Jon Having an Attitude

I know its hard to imagine Jon-Jon ever having a bad attitude but here's proof. Actually, he wanted his picture on the blog so here it is.

Jason in the Morning

This is Jason in the morning. This is also Jason in the evening, Jason at suppertime.

Every Dad Gets to Brag a Little

I wanted to share a Valentine's Day Wish from Joshua to me with all of you. It is presented here as originally written.

Dear Dad, I think you are very sweet and wonderful and nice. I like you morning day and night and around the time. I hope you will keep this card next to your heart. I hope to see you around on Feb 14. Maybe then you will kiss me!! You are a super person. Please be my love.


So there it is. Josh told me he copied that from somewhere but I do appreciate the sentiment.

Abilene Texas History

Just wanted to let those of you that are interested know that I have uploaded another podcast onto my history website. The latest episode is the style I want to use in the future, which includes local experts and interviews.

Go to http://www.abilenetexashistory.com/ click on the Podcast link and listen to the Fort Phantom Hill Part 1 of 3 Episode.

Great New from Jason's MRI

As expected, the results from Jason's MRI was completely clear. No signs of any bad stuff in his brain. We are so glad to hear this as you might expect. The only thing for us to do is to watch and manage until he outgrows his childhod epilepsy.

Thanks for all the prayers, thoughts and kindness each of you have showed us.

A Message from Jon-Jon

Jon-Jon has taken to writing on a whiteboard in the living room. Most of the time, he does math. He has gotten quite good at math and has learned to carry numbers from the one's place to the ten's place and so on. I've seen his work carried into the thousands place. Quite good for a 1st grader.

However, it is Jonathan's latest work that is the best. He sat down yesterday and penned out this message, with a little help from mom on the spelling. The words and picture are all his. It is a message worth sharing. We hope you will share it with your family and friends since this is something we all need to remember.

An MRI for Jason

Lets go back a few days and catch everyone up on Jason's seizures. As you can see below (Feb 19th entry), we had an EEG done. The results of the EEG diagnosed Jason with Benign Rolandic Epileptic Seizures. It is a form of childhood epilepsy. The good news is that he will outgrow it sometime during his mid-teen years. The bad news is that Karen and I will worry every night whether or not he will have another seizure. If he does not experience another seizure in the next six months, then we will just ride the wave until he outgrows his condition. If he has another episode within six months, we will have to consider medication to keep him from having seizures.

Its normal when a child is diagnosed with Benign Rolandic Epileptic Seizures to have an MRI done of that area of the brain (the Rolandic region) and see if there is anything bad in there. In nearly 100% of the cases the results of the MRI are negative and its just back to the watch and wait game.

Last night, Karen and I took Jason to Hendrick to have an MRI done. It was a very typical scan and lasted about 45 minutes. I know this all had to be scary for Jason but he was very, very brave. He talkative and helpful to the technician and mounted the MRI machine and did exactly as he was asked. For a young man of his age, he did very good job by laying still and allowing the technician to get some good images.

The one thing we were not expecting was that they injected some fluid into Jason's veins for contrast on the images. It hurt a little when they put the needle in his arm but my little man gritted his teeth and hung in there.

After the scan, we went into the technicians area and looked at pictures of Jason's brain. Not something you see everyday. Jason thought that was pretty cool! But, Jason's mind was on the important things of the day ... the Dominos Pizza we promised he could have after the scan.

We wrapped things up at the hospital and headed straight to the nearest Dominos Pizza and ordered a medium, thin-crust, pepperoni pizza for Jason. Mom and I couldn't stomach another pizza meal so while Jason and I picked out a movie at the video store, Mom got some real food at Arby's. Well, at least its closer to real food than Dominos. Having acquired all the necessities of an average night in a 21st century American home, we headed home for dinner and a movie.

Joshua and Jon-Jon had a treat too. They got to spend the night at Granny's house.

Jason's ALPS Program - Space Night 2007

Over the last couple of years, Jason has been attending the ALPS program here in Abilene. This ALPS program is what used to be called the Gift and Talented program. Well, my unbiased opinion ;-) is that he is indeed a gifted and talented young man!

This school year, Jason has been in Mrs. Randall's class at the ALPS location. I don't know if its the same every year but this year's theme is about outer space. The kids in the class get to focus on one or more aspects of being and traveling in space. Jason and his team, The Star Destroyers (seen at right), focused on how to package and carry food on a space shuttle flight.

To transport the food, Jason and his team recognized the limited amount of space that would be available on a shuttle flight for food. In that light, they created a tubular device called "The Dark Meal" that holds seven different containers of food in it and can be placed into a small space on the shuttle.

Jason and I built the food storage device one night here at the house. We needed a way to cap-off the two ends of the food tube. We used some paper and rubber bands to create a cap. The boys on the team thought it looked like one of those hoods you see the old Hebrew guys wearing in the old movies like The Ten Commandments so they named the tube (view in Jason's hands) "Moses."

Moses was displayed for the parents and all the friends to see at Space Night 2007. Different kinds of food that may be on a shuttle flight were handed out. OK, the truth is that everything the kids had to offer was of the dessert variety. One parent remarked, "I've learned something about space food here tonight. Its full of sugar!"

The parents were full of sugar. The kids were REALLY full of sugar. A good time was had by all.

Thanks to Mrs Charlene Randall for all the hardwork she did to pull this program together.