Sweet!

We had some sweet family time this past week. On Thursday, Rainey was the candle lighter at her school chapel. She attends Red Apple Pre-School at Peace Lutheran Church in Hurst. We love the school and are thankful for the Christ centered teaching she is receiving. True to form, she chose to wear a Halloween ensemble that day - two weeks after Halloween. I love that girl!

On Friday we toured the Sweet Shop in Fort Worth. We learned how fine candy is made and why it's so expensive! It was really interesting to watch them hand decorate each piece of candy and hey, as an extra bonus we got to wear these cool hair nets!
I was thinking about thanksgiving and contentment last night. Emily was having a difficult time going to sleep, so I went in and rocked her gave her a bottle. As we rocked our cares away in her dimly lit room, I wondered if the moment would be sweeter if her room was bigger or had more stuff in it. It was pretty dark in there, so I imagined that the part of the room I couldn't see was huge and filled with toys. You know what? That didn't make the moment any sweeter.

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BST!

A quick shout out to my brother Brandon who was born on this day some thirty years ago - give or take a decade.

When I went to college, my good friend Allen Robertson told me I needed to meet another incoming Freshman named Brandon Scott Thomas - a boy with three last names. Little did I know that we would be connected for the rest of our lives.

No need to go into detail in a public forum like this. So, I will simply say that we have enough dirt on each other to build a mountain and we have had A LOT of fun gathering that dirt!

BST, I love you, I trust you and I'm proud of you. Thanks for always being there to laugh with until we cry and cry with until we can laugh again.

I'm glad you were born!

Big Night Out

I hit the town Saturday night with a beautiful woman on each arm!After some primping at the Sweet and Sassy Salon, Rainey joined her mother and me for a big night out. We dropped little sister off at my brother's house and headed for our favorite Japanese restaurant. Rainey turned heads with her new hair-do and lovely red dress her Papa brought her from China.

After dinner it was off to the theater to see a musical about Noah and his family called, "The Ark." At intermission, the owner of the theater asked Rainey to collect entries for a drawing to win free tickets to another show. Well, she worked the room not only collecting entries, but telling everyone about her make-over and her dress from China. Then she got to stand center stage and draw the winners for the free tickets. When she was introduced, she smiled and took a bow.

She called me "Sir" for the entire evening and waited patiently for me to open doors for her and Stephanie. In fact, Steph tried to get the door once and Rainey scolded her and told her that was the gentleman's job. I hope she expects nothing less from the young men she will date someday.

I also hope she will remember nights like Saturday night forever. I know I will.

Most of All, I Love Me!

My daughter Rainey is in that stage where she can recognize letters and sometimes sound out words, but she can't really read yet. She does, however, have many of her books memorized.

The other night she "read" to me from a book that her Aunt Lee Ann made for her when she was born. It's called "Who Loves Rainey?" Each page has a picture of Grandparents or Aunts and Uncles or Cousins or Parents on it. The caption below the picture has their name and says they love Rainey. "Uncle J. and Aunt Laurie love Rainey!", "Hutton loves Rainey!", "Big Daddy and Gran love Rainey!" You get the idea. So it's easy to "read" because Rainey recognizes the pictures.

But when she got to the last page the picture was of her. The caption says, "But most of all, Jesus loves Rainey!" She paused when she saw that these words were different, so I helped get her started by saying, "But most of all..." and with all the confidence in the world she said, "I love me!"

Cute story until I stopped to think about it.

Bottom line: In my life it's true far too often.

Cool Weather and Hot Coffee

I'm so happy that Fall has arrived! We enjoyed a beautiful Halloween night and now a crisp, November morning. To borrow some words from the great James Taylor:

The leaves have come to turning and the goose has gone to fly!
The frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn!

And I'm drinking coffee again!

After a three week "cleansing" with nothing to eat but fruits and veggies (no starch, alcohol or caffeine) I'm back, baby!

I learned a lot of lessons during those three weeks, not the least of which is that I have developed what some might consider an unhealthy relationship with coffee. But, I don't care what they say! We love each other and nothing will ever change that! Why can't you just let us live our lives together without judging us?

I wrote this little song during the cleansing that I think gives a little insight into the my feelings for the beautiful brown bean:

A little creamer (non-fat)
You're so much better than tea
The memory of all that
No, they can't take that away from me

The way you grind your beans
And keep me up 'till three
The way you haunt my dreams
No, they can't take that away from me

I believe we'll someday meet again on this bumpy road to love
Until then I'll keep alive the memory of

The way you warm my hands
The way you make me pee
Your robust flavor so grand
O no, they can't take that away from me!

I'm attempting to eat healthier, exercise regularly, drink more water, watch less TV and read more. But I'm not giving up coffee again anytime soon. Our love is here to stay!