30+ Years of the 500

I watched the Indy 500 today - from lap 9 all the way until the final interview. Of course that meant I saw all of the flashbacks of great Indy moments as they tried to kill time during the rain delay. It was interesting to try and see which races I remembered, which got me trying to figure out the first one I can remember.

I know I remember the 1977 race A.J. Foyt won - same race Janet Guthrie started for the first time. I can remember Johnny Rutherford winning a race, which I think was the 1976 race because he wore a special helmet (it could have been the 1980 race, however.) I remember when the race was on Monday, the last time that happened and it wasn't a rain delay would have been 1973.

All were exciting races, but don't campare to the two I have seen at Texas Motor Speedway. I got to thinking it would be fun to take Luke to a race. They are back in Texas on June 9th...

It also made me wonder the first professional sporting event others remember. Any takers?

The Big Campout

Last night we had the first big campout in the clubhouse. We started the afternoon by inviting Luke's friend Noah over. They went to the Science Spectrum and played, then came back to the house for grilled hot dogs and s'mores...


Then, the boys and I went back to the museum to watch "Beavers" on the IMAX screen. Pretty impressive filming -- I kept imagining some little tiny camera man swimming along with the beavers...

Then, Luke and I set up the clubhouse for sleeping. Here we are about to hit the hay...


And here we are saying goodnight to Mom...


All in all it was a great time. We did discover there is a leak in the blow up mattress (slow leak -- didn't lose all of the air until about 1:00am!) and it took me a while to crawl out of the loft, but it was a fun evening.

Luke says: "It was very fun on May 25 of 2007 because we had our campout. Before the campout Noah, my best friend, came over. I have known him since I was in Pre-K. And every day last year and this year I have been waiting for him to come over. Spending the night in my clubhouse was really fun. P.S. We had s'mores and hotdogs."

Wedding Bells

As if having graduation this week wasn't enough!!

I am in Albuquerque this weekend for the wedding of a couple of friends. We went to church with his family in Abilene and later re-met him at LCU. She is an LCU grad and I know her family through that connection. Both are really neat people and come from great families -- they couldn't be better suited for one another.

And so I am sitting in the church trying to hold back tears as I think about this day at some point in the distant, distant tomorrow. It seems like it is such a long time from now, but as we all know, you look up, and the days I have flown by.

I pray that both of my children will be one day have the opportunity to be an example of the power of God at work in the lives of His people. I pray that I am able to be the kind of father that turns them to our Father and their lives are filled with Him. I pray for that young man and young woman and their parents, who are sitting in some wedding today filled with both anticipation and fear, knowing their turn is coming. And, I pray for those people who will be sitting in that auditorium (or on that beach or in that backyard garden) that they may be motivated to be better parents, just like I was tonight.

Graduation Season

Graduation season is upon us. South Plains gives a Bible to the Kindergarten graduates. Here Luke proudly shows his off. What was neat about this was about a week prior to this, Luke wanted to read his Bible stories from my Bible ("a real Bible.") Now he has his own that we can read from. We have begun the New Testament and are working our way through it.

Here is Luke with his kindergarten teacher -- actually, Mrs. Storm is EVERYONE'S kindergarten teacher. I sort of wonder if she is South Plain's version of the cradle roll teacher at Highland who kept holding me back...

And yes, this is at the LCS Kindergarten Graduation! If it doesn't seem like time is flying by, this pic will do it for you.

Graduation was just for the kindergaten class and as with most of the events, it was a grand event. All of the grads march in and then have a short program. They talked about their year, using pictures they had drawn of the various events. They also sang/recited all of their memory verses. I think Luke told me they have memorized 100 verses, but I lost count. One of the parents gave a "commencement address" and then they all received their diplommas.

It was just like a real graduation, complete with ill fitting, poorly ironed robes, lots of grandparents and parents snapping lots of pictures, and many children who really all in all would have prefered being somewhere else besides up on stage. The only thing they didn't have is the graduates handing Mr. Breaux a penny as they walked across stage and shook his hand. I thought about mentioning it, but decided against it!

I am proud of him -- he is a very smart kid with a great heart. I would like to take credit for it, but really it is his mother who deserves the accolades. We are, without a doubt, very blessed.

Princess 2

Some pictures don't even need a caption!

Working in the Garden - with Help!

Although it has been cool the last couple of days, there have been several days of really good work in the yard weather the last couple of weeks. I have actually planted all of the plants going in the new front bed and most of the ones going in the back bed. I will post pictures at some point, but here is one of my helper doing some planting.