On my tour around the country, I was able to finally visit a friend that I had made on Facebook several years ago.  His name is Charles (Doc) Williams, a fellow seafarer.  He is a fantastic character that is who he is, and that is rare in these goofy days we live in.  Doc is also an accomplished writer and has another book getting ready to publish soon.  On our visit, we swapped sea stories for over an hour and a half and still had more to share in each of our "repositories".  He is a friend to treasure and am so glad we were able to solidify our friendship after years of FaceBook acquaintance.

We started out traveling to Henderson Nevada to visit our youngest son, Todd.  His four girls are such a hoot! All are so individualistic it is amazing.  Haley is a musician (piano) and played at church while we were there. Samantha is the caregiver, always wanting to help others, Ashley is wanting to learn to read and isn't even in school yet, and Julia has taken over Ashley's spot as the "fashion queen wanting to wear a to-to most of the time and dress up in a different outfit, every few minuets. We were able to set up a fantasy aquarium for them while I was there. That was a fun project.  Lots of Mexican Train Dominoes were played and movies were watched.  We also had two opportunities to attend our old home church, First Henderson United Methodist Church, while we were there.  On the second Sunday, I was asked by Pastor Jim, to assist in serving Holy Communion.  What an honor that was, along with Linda Larsen, who is recently a certified candidate for Local Pastor, and Ashley who is going to college now and has committed to seminary for her MDiv degree.  Our church has given birth to quite a few people for the Ministry now and they are very proud, and should be. Believe me, it is not an easy calling to fulfill.

Pat and I are now at my oldest son's (Dave) home in Bennington, Nebraska (suburb of Omaha) and are enjoying our time to the max.  We were able to share Mishcell's birthday on Saturday and attend our granddaughter Jessica's high school graduation yesterday (Sunday).  Before that, we attended church at Dave and Mischell's church, Stonebridge Christian Church.  Very nice service, very friendly folks.  A great message was preached by their Senior Pastor Mark Chitwood. 

When we leave here, we head back home to Tennessee and get back into the "normalcy" of life.  It is trips like this that are really important to keep families together even though we are spread out across the country.  We are looking forward to visits from them in the future to see our home and life that we have set up since we were one single family together.  I have been reassured that Pat and I have done a good job of raising our kids from the fruits of their families, lifestyles, church choices, and commitments to their children and vice versa.  I have been exposed to what I call "less than appropriate" family groups, in my life, and am distressed that the children are the ones that suffer the most, because of the parents poor choices of lifestyles.  However, there have been children that have overcome such adverse upbringing and have gone on to change that background with their own children, but that is a pretty rare event.  So we really need to pray hard for those children being brought up in less than desirable situations.

'til later...keep singing, keep praying, keep smiling

Blessings,
Gary