Closing Out 08

The first of this year is pretty much a blur in my memory. With mom passing a week before Christmas last year it seems I lost a month or two. I know I traveled, spoke, called some basketball games in Jan./early Feb. but it was really mid-Feb. and on that I remember best. It was a good year. Morgan turned 16 in Jan. (dang, our baby is 16) and then Shelbi graduated from high school in May and started college in Sept. (Is our oldest already in college?)

I worried about my dad some this year. Not only did he lose his wife, my mom, but he got some pretty bad stomach bacteria thing going on that really plagued him for about 6 months. When they did find something that would correct the bacteria balance in his belly, the meds caused some nerve damage in his hands and feet. We are waiting to see how much damage but we are praying it is minimal.

We lost Sondra's dad on Sept. 9th. Five days after we moved Shelbi to Union University in Jackson, TN, Bernard passed away. It was two losses at the same time in a way. While we did not lose Shelbi permanently, our household felt it like a loss just the same. Sondra was hit with a double whammy. I worried for her and thankfully, she seems to be grieving both of those occurrences in a healthy way.

We both turned 45 this year. Dang! Am I really that old?!? I ran the KC Marathon in Oct. and qualified for Boston again just to prove that I might be old, but I ain't dead yet. It was pure vanity on my part.

Sondra and I celebrated 23 years of marriage in May. Truly an amazing woman. I do not know how she does all that she does. The best mother; wife of my dreams; and still manages to keep us all going the right direction at the right time.

I am thankful to have the job that I have. I completed 16 years in Oct and began #17 on Nov. 1. I love what I am doing. Feel like I am pretty good at it. Wonder what 09 will hold there. Economy the way it is and the layoffs LifeWay experienced this summer were staggering. In some ways, I experience survivor guilt. Many good friends lost their jobs this year.

I am excited to see what 09 brings. I know that I want to be more like Christ than ever. I have a long way to go. I am resolved to follow hard after Him.