Saturday, March 30, 2013

A Tribute To My Beautiful Wife For Her Birthday

Today is my lovely wife's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is but she was born on March 30, 1940 LOL
I want to honor her on her birthday with a few of my thoughts as to what defines a good woman.

A good woman first is a good daughter. Joan was a wonderful daughter. She lost her father when she was twelve years old and her sister Chary was about one year old. Her mother being the bread winner of the family had to work a lot so Joan in addition to being a big sister also at times had to act as a mother. Her mother remarried and had a son Russell and another daughter Debby and Joan has always been there for them also.

There are so many things she did that made her a great daughter.

A good woman is a good wife. Joan married her child hood sweet heart. She went with him when he was drafted into the army. She always stood by him and after he got out of the army helped him become a very successful business man.

A good woman is a good mother. Her husband passed away when her daughters were 17 and 13 years old. She did a great job taking on the role of mother and father and developing a great relationship with her daughter Janet until her untimely death in a car accident on December 24, 2012 and still exists with Barbara. She was also their best friend.

A good woman is a good grandmother. She is a great Nana to Christopher, Carter & Griffin. And that is an under statement.

A good woman is a good friend. She has so many friends she loves and who love her. She has friends in all age groups. From small children to senior citizens. We were watching TV one night and they had this guy on who was covered with tattoos and had rings in his ears, his nose, his nipples and just about over his whole body. She said why don't you get some of those. She knows that is not my thing, " no offense to people who do it but it just is not my thing ". So I said if I die before you do get me some rings and tattoos to shock my family and friends at my viewing as they know it is not my thing and give them some thing to laugh about. She said there will be no viewing as I will have your a-- cremated. LOL

She then got serious and said if she goes before me she does not want a viewing. She said I hope the people I love and care about and love and care about me we will see and talk to each other up until that time.

So it gave me the idea for her 70 TH birthday to get in touch with a lot of her family and friends and ask them in lieu of gifts if they would write some things about what she has meant to them.

Well I knew she had a lot of friends but the response was overwhelming. The tributes just poured in from family and friends as to how much she had meant to them and how much they loved and admired her. No gifts could mean as much as that

A good woman is someone who has a lot of faith and acts on it, who is kind, gentle, and serves others. She puts her religious beliefs into action by going to church, ministering to others, " she is A Stevens Minister at our church " and living her life in accord with them.

A good woman is one that enjoys life and likes to have fun. She does that for sure, not only does she have fun but she makes things fun for any one around her.

A good woman is successful. She has held a variety of jobs in her life and has done well in all of them.

A good woman is someone who takes meticulous care of her appearance. She puts lipstick on and combs her hair to take the garbage can down to the street in case some one is walking by. LOL

A good woman is kind, always pleasing her family, she cooks a great meal, keeps a neat house, listens to the cares and woes of those she loves with out expecting any thing in return.

When I first started thinking of doing a BLOG I was given advice telling me I needed to keep them short, can't be done when I am telling a story.

I really could go on and on about Joan but I will close by saying what a great lady she is. She has had a lot of tragedies in her life but family and friends who know her would never know it by her actions. She never puts herself first, always putting family, friends and every body else, including lucky me first, every one before herself.

A great thing about a BLOG it gives me the chance to tell the world how much I LOVE HER AND RESPECT HER.

Sunday, March 10, 2013



Great Day At First Presbyterian Church

Sunday morning March 10 Joan and I went to our Church, First Presbyterian Church in North Palm Beach, Florida for the 11:00 AM service

We had forgotten that the Indiana Wesleyan Choral Group from Indiana Wesleyan University was going to be performing at our Church today.

They joined with our choir to sing. They also did a few numbers on their own and they were great.

Our Pastor announced that they would be doing a full concert at the Church at 3:00 PM. We were so impressed with them we decided to attend the concert.

The group is led by Dr. Todd Guy who has been conducting them since 1986. He was the most energetic and exciting of any conductor I have ever seen. The energy of him and the entire group was unbelievable.

They performed as a group from the choir area, they sang from the balcony, they would leave the choir area and encircle the entire Church area, then back to the choir area off and on. All with precision and enthusiasm.

They had soloists, they sang in Kituba dialect, they sang two songs in Latin.

Some of the songs they sang were Hosanna, God is Near, Prayer of the Children, The Blood Will Never Lose It's power, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Fear Not, The Battle Of Jericho, Give Me Jesus, Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down, He'll Make A Way, and ended with May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You. By this time the audience which was made up of people of all ages I think half of them were shedding tears. It was that emotional.

Sadly when we hear about the youth of today a lot of it is negative. Young men and women like these don't get the recognition they deserve. According to their information booklet IWU's goal is not merely to prepare students for a job, but for a calling. During their first year, students take a course called Introduction To Life Calling which prepares them begin to understand the destiny for which God is preparing them.

What a great day and what a great way to start getting us ready for the Easter Season.

Saturday night these wonderful young men and women were housed by members of our congregation which had to be a wonderful experience for our members