Tag Archives: Florida

Look who’s 40

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Today my brother, Dan, and sister, Debbie, who are twins, turn 40 years old. Amazing. I am the youngest of seven children (five boys and two girls; an eighth child, Donny, died when he was 18 months old). Dan and Debbie are the next youngest siblings. When we were kids, we tended to play games together and were perhaps closer to one another than we were to older brothers and my older sister. Individually and together, we have gone through a lot over the years.

Partly in celebration of their birthday, Dan and Debbie are going on special trips soon. I’m a bit jealous ;-) because Debbie is going to Florida for a week, and Dan is going to New Zealand for two weeks to visit with my sister, Becky, and her family.

Now tomorrow is another family birthday, this time, for my brother, Jeff. I wish Debbie, Dan, and Jeff well on their special days.

New minivan and war

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War is imminent in the Middle East and I don’t think I’ve ever been this anxious about the state of the world and where things are going. God is in control, I know that. I just pray that His people and those who are innocent will be specially protected. One of the concerns I have is for safe travels for us on our Spring Break trip to Florida. Michele and I and the kids are really looking forward to the trip and I hope that the flights will be safe and that other family members who are driving will be safe as well. Michele and I recently sold our Honda Accord and Ford Windstar to buy a new, used Honda Odyssey minivan. It’s got power everything and has low mileage. What a difference! We are relieved to have more reliable transportation and don’t mind downsizing to just one vehicle. Living in a small town like this, and so close to my work, makes it quite doable for us. Tristan and Keegan have been quite sick of late. Keegan is better and has been back to school the last several days. However, Tristan hasn’t been doing well, continuing to have a fever and not eating hardly anything for several days. Michele took him to the doctor yesterday. Hopefully he’ll turn the corner soon. He’s been very clingy to me, like a remora is to a shark ;-)

No more pacifier for Tristan

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After more wintry weather these past few days, we now have about a foot of snow on the ground, and I still haven’t managed to dig out the driveway…Even I am beginning to long for Spring. It’s nice to have Michele and the younger children home again after they were gone for a week, staying with my in-laws. While they were there, Michele managed to wean Tristan from his pacifier — AT LAST. In celebration, we threw a party for him on Saturday. He is growing up so quickly! Michele and I and the kids are looking forward to a trip to Florida. We’ll fly from Indianapolis to Orlando and then drive to New Smyrna Beach, where my brother, Jeff, has rented a townhouse for a week. My mother will be there, too, and so will my brother, Dan. It’ll be a fun time, and we hope for some warm weather. I’ve never been to Florida, and neither has Michele.