We were thrilled to welcome home Megan and Booker's daughter (our granddaughter) this past week up at their house. Grace Rose Riddick was born 6+ week early but was able to leave the hospital in good health after a few days. Sue and I spent much time holding and rocking our granddaughter, so much so that Megan commented that Grace was having trouble sleeping in her basinet on night 3 at home because of all the holding we were doing LOL. I can't wait to really spoil her :-)

Good visit with Megan and Booker

We had a good visit with our daughter and son-in-law this week. They flew down from Pennsylvania last week and stated our house. The biggest goal for the week was just to relax and we did a lot!  I took a couple of days off from work so we could stuff together. We went to the farmer's market and bought all the stuff for a crab boil, then had a crab boil in our garage because it was cold and rainy that night. The crab boil was delicious even though it was raining outside and we had to do it in our garage. That was a lot of fun! 

We enjoyed taking them to church Sunday and then having our traditional pizza on Sunday night while watching a couple of episodes of The Mandalorian.  We went to the aquarium one day, too.

We enjoyed having them and are looking forward to future visits, either down here or up there in Pennsylvania. Fun!

Handling the corona virus panic well

As the efforts to slow the spread of this "new" virus infecting humans continue we are handling things well. Sue continues to interpret for clients, Kevin is doing online high school for the end of his senior year, Stephen is doing online classes at LeeU, and I am on another weird schedule the FAA has come up with to minimize the impact of one of our controllers testing positive for the corona virus. (I think my schedule is just a plot to make the senior guys like me work all evenings and weekends :-)

Life is good. We continue to look for ways to help people. It's fun to see everyone finally embracing online things and ways of doing business and church the way I've suggested for years. And it's fun to watch everyone at work scramble to use the online tools that I've been encouraging all along despite them poo-pooing my suggestions.

I'm looking forward to when we come out of this time of panic into a more normal life and the absolute statements of "never again" and "we'll always" lessen. The strident commentary is sad and disappointing knowing that as Americans and humans we've survived stuff like this before and we'll overcome this new variable in our lives.

And I'm looking forward to seeing how people take the new opportunities that are being presented as a chance to grow and adapt. Good stuff ahead!

Happy birthday, Sue!

Sue celebrates another year today - woohoo! Be sure and give her a call, text, email, FB messenger, or whatever method you use to communicate...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Since we had Owen as an exchange student we have enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year as a new tradition in our home. 2020 is the year of the rat, so it should be an interesting year.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well, we made it - 2020! We're now in a new decade and I'm excited. Our family has changed - we are now the parents of adult children, which is a new and different experience. But they are all healthy and doing well! Jacob continues to work and live in Atlanta, Megan and Booker are doing enjoying life in Pennsylvania, Stephen is going to be to Lee University for another semester, and Kevin and is enjoying his Senior year of high school. Mom Holly continues to enjoy living close to us in McDonough, and Mom Emery is doing well at PRC outside of Jacksonville. Sue and I are both healthy and still praying for the wealthy and wise part of that equation :-) so life is good!

I hope that 2020 finds you in good health and spirits and that big things will happen in your life!

Good trip to Texas with Mom

My mother and I took a trip to Texas. We went so she could visit her brother James.

My mother grew up as an only child. But she knew that after her mother and father split her father had a son with another woman. So my mother knew she had a brother out there but didn't know how to find him. In 1994 the Oprah Winfrey show did a story on finding long lost relatives and offered to help people. My mother called the number from the show and after giving some information was given 7 names that were possibly related to her. The first six had phone numbers, which she called with no luck. The last name only had an address, so she sent a letter just to see. She got a call a few days later from a man saying he thought they might be related!

After exchanging some info they figured out that they were brother and sister. He and his family lived in Texas, so my parents went to visit them. The visit was great and the relationship was established.

Mom is getting up there in age (78 this year!) and is doing great. But recently she expressed interest in going to see her brother one more time before they both got too old to travel. I made some arrangements and off we went!

The visit was nice. We ate dinner with them one night, then had lunch with them after spending time at their home for two more days. We got to meet his daughter and learn about the rest of his family. It was a good visit!

I'm glad that my mother and I got to spend this time together. We enjoyed the trip, enjoyed relaxing at the hotel together, and had a good trip home. Woohoo!