Dear Family & Friends,
     Those of you that read my BLOG, my E-Mails, or check me out on Facebook, know that I try to stay upbeat and happy. I am always telling to people to Live, Love, & Laugh. I use a lot of  motivational pictures with quotes. Try to spread humor, and upbeat things.
     But no matter how much good is in our lives, there will always be negative things we have to
 face. One of the biggest things we have to face is rude cell phone use and texting. It has become an epidemic. It is not other people's responsibility to cope with your mobile phone use, it is your responsibility to use your phone inoffensively. Please note that inoffensively is not defined by what you expect others to tolerate, but by what others do in fact find offensive. Ignore this principle and you are sure to be rude.
     You have to remember, it doesn't take a cell phone to make people rude. People were rude before cell phones, but I do believe they have made us even ruder.
     You should not be a slave to your phone, the technology is there to serve you, not the other way around.
     Just a few common sense things that we should not do. Never have a phone on during a funeral or memorial service. I was at a memorial service when a very respected local business man's phone went off. My immediate thought was he must have just forgot to turn it off, but then he proceeded to to talk on it.
     Turn off your phone at the movie theater. Even if your phone is on vibrate, people can hear it during quiet parts of the movie. The light from your phone's screen is also very distracting. Don't check the time, don't check your text messages, just turn it off until the movie is over. If you recieve an important call that you must answer, exit the theatre to do so.
     Don't use your phone when having a meal with someone. Ideally, you should turn it off entirely. If you're anticipating an important call, let the people you're with know beforehand that you're expecting a call and that you'll need to take. No matter what don't hold the conversation at the table, step away. Never text at the table, even if the face to face conversation dies down. It is just disrespectful.
     Joan and I were at P.F. Changs for dinner this past Valentine's Day. A man and his wife and three children were seated at a table next to us. The Father never put his phone down the whole time we were there. Even after their food came he would lower the phone, take a bite, go back to his texting, lower the phone, take another bite, never seen him have any conversation with his family.
     Never put your phone on speaker when you are with others. They don't want to hear your conversation and they sure don't want to hear who you are talking to.
     It is rude to book an appointment at the doctors, dentist, hairdressers, etc. rather then letting them do their job if you are on the phone you can't concentrate on what they are saying to you.
     Families and friends get together for special occassions, holidays, etc., when I look around and see most of them either talking or texting on their phones and no one is holding a conversation I just take mine out and start using it. Hey if every one else is going to be rude, why not me. LOL Then of course all the way home my beautiful wife is giving me Hell. She seems to only see me doing it and not all the others. LOL
     When we would go to Carter's soccer games I was always astounded at the number of parents and grandparents who were on their phones, not even watching their children playing. Same thing when we take the boys to a bounce house, our community pool, or numerous other activities. I have seen children run over and say Mommy, Mommy, did you see what I did, they usually say yes I did when they weren't even looking.
     And last but not least, do not text while driving. What message is so important that it is worth dying for or going to jail because of killing someone on the road. I just read where if you are driving 70 miles an hour and you take your eyes off the road for 5 seconds you travel the lenght of a football field. How many times do people need to be told, DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE-YOU CAN KILL SOMEONE, MAYBE EVEN YOUR
 OWN CHILD, THINK ABOUT THAT
     Thousands of deaths and injuries have been caused by cell phone use.  

                                                                                           Monday July 29, 2013

     My wife Joan Jackson has been going to the First Presbyterian Church in North Paln Beach, Florida for thirty nine years, I have been going there with her since 1999. We both love the church.
     Great Pastor's, Great Staff, Great Music Department,  Great Choir, And Great Members Of All Ages. Just A Great Atmosphere.
     Yesterday they held a celebration of the Church's 50th year. Normally on Sunday we have three services. Yesterday we had one at nine thirty.
     Jay Arnn our wonderful musical director and the FPC Jazz Band started early as people were coming in. What a nice greeting, it was wonderful.

     

                               

 

 

 

 

Chris ' Suds " Southard, Youth Leader,

Did The Welcome And The Announcements.

 

 

The Children's Chior did a great rendition of

" Goliath "

Great, Great, Job.

 

 

Brit Foshee

Middle School And High School Director

then led the choir and congegation in the renditions of

' Friend Of God "

&

" He Reigns "

 

 

Rev. Lucky Arnold, Senior Pastor 

and hs wonderful

Pastors each had something

to say.

 

 

Rev. Ron Hilliard, Associate Pastor

 

 

Rev. Tim Gooley, Pastoral Associate

 

 

Rev. Steve Gibbons, Minister Of Visitation

 

And

 

Rev. Edward Nabhan,  Assistant Pastor.

 

 

The congregation joined the Choir and the FPC Jazz Band

in some wonderful hymns.

 

This all led up to the message given by the

Rev, Mark Miller,

Pastor Of The Gardens Presbyterian Church ,

a very stirring message he titled

" God's Faithfullness "

a great message of never giving up, no

matter what is going on in your life. His

message was God Will Not Give Up On You,

even if you have given up on yourself..

 

`Then it was over to the Fellowship Hall

for a chance for everyone to get together

for great fellowship, fun, and food.

 

Wish there was some way to give credit to

every one who made it such a great day

individually, but since that is not possible,

will just say Thanks and God Bless You All.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a question a family member asked me in an E-Mail.

This will probably be the last question he will ever ask me. LMAO

This was his question how do you seem to stay Up Beat all of the time. I admire you for having this great outlook about you. You never seem to get down - how do you do that? Believe me I have tried.

Wow That is a good question. First let me say I haven't always been this way. A few things that have happened to me in the past few years have brought me to this point in my life.

I will try to explain, they may not be in the order that they occurred but each and every one of these things have totally changed my life and the way I view things.

When my Dear Bubba passed away I was not doing very well. One of her dear friends that started in kindergarten with her and went all through school with her said Joe would you mind if I give you a little advice. I said of course not. She said number one Bubba would not want you to be sad and depressed like you are. She said as you know Bubba was one of the most fun loving people who ever lived. She said instead of dwelling on the last year or so of her life dwell on the entire 40 years you knew her. She said remember the good times, the happy times, the times you laughed your butt off together. I said you are so right she would not want me to be sad, she would want me to go on with my life. So when I think about her I only remember the good times.

If you notice I use a lot of quotes in my BLOG and in my E-Mails. I do this so that I can hope that some one else may be moved by one as I was by one.

Joan had one of those perpetual calendars by the sink in the kitchen. When you tore the page off from the previous day it gave you a new quote for the new day. One morning early I was up first and I went out to get the coffee started. The new quote said " For Every Bad Thing That Happens To Us On The Average Of Between Eighteen To Twenty Five Good Things Happen To Us, Why Do We Dwell On The One Bad Thing Instead Of The Good Things. " I remember it like it was yesterday, I actually stepped back and said out loud, Wow that is just what I do. I told myself not only do I let these little things ruin my day sometimes I let it ruin more than one day. I said to myself I am going to try to follow that advice.

I took a big sheet of paper and drew a line right down the middle and at the top I wrote the good things that happened to me today and on the other side I wrote the bad things that happened to me today.

Then I would list the things good and the things bad. After a couple of weeks I noticed that for me the good side always dwarfed the bad side.

Although I knew The Serenity Prayer by heart I had a plastic card with the saying on it and carried it in my wallet. When things would start to bug me I would take it out and read it to myself a couple of times.

Another big thing that changed my outlook on life was Janet's tragic accident. It's hard to believe but this past Christmas Eve was ten years since that happened. Her, Chris and Christopher stopped by the house that day. They were going up to the other Grandparents house in Apopka for Christmas Eve and coming back the next morning to spend Christmas Day with us. She was so excited. Joan said Christmas was always her favorite time of the year. She said Bye Mom, Bye Joe, gave us both a big hug and a kiss and said Merry Christmas, I Love You and we will see you tomorrow. One hour later she was dead on the Florida Turnpike.

A couple of weeks later Joan, Me, and Joan's lawyer went to the trooper barracks to talk to the trooper that investigated the accident. He was trying to spare us as much as he could about the details. Joan was relentless with her questions. When he tried to avoid answering her she just kept probing for more information. She more or less forced him to tell her more than he wanted to.

We went to the yard where the car was towed to. At the scene of the accident Christmas presents and other things were strewn all over the highway from the car rolling over and over. They had just picked every thing up and threw them in the car.

The lawyer Eric and I got out of the car to go over to Janet's car. She started to get out and one of the rare times I was ever stern with her I told her to stay in the car and not come over there. I said matter of fact don't even look over there. I looked over at her a couple of times and she was trying to look over any way. Thank God she did no come over. It was not a pretty sight.

For many nights after that she would wake up thrashing around in bed and crying. I would say what's the matter Babe and she was reliving the things she forced the trooper to tell her.

As time went by Thank God those nightmares finally went away. One morning after some time had passed we were setting at the breakfast table one morning. We talked about Venson her first husband, he passed away when her daughters were 17 and 13 years old.We talked about Janet and we talked about Bubba. We said from that point on we were going to get up every morning and try to make the best of each day. We said if we make it to tomorrow we will make the most out that day and so on and so on and that's what we do.

Another big turning point for me was Janet's Memorial Service. I did a eulogy for her. I did not know the church was making a audio tape of the service. When I heard it played back I said another big Wow, I realized I had said a lot of nice things about her I had never said to her. Sure I had told her I loved her, what a Great Mom she was, what a great Daughter she was, etc. but a lot of the other things I had never said to her. I have been on a mission ever since then to try not to leave many things unsaid. I make an extra effort to stay in touch with people, try to console them when they are down and just try every day to be positive, very hard to do when I am around so many negative people. I actually try to avoid negative people as much as I can but it can't be totally avoided. Just between you and me I try to stay away from two of the most negative people I know but it just can't be avoided. My experience dealing with negative people is that I cannot bring them up to my level, they try to bring me down to their level and I just won't allow myself let that happen.

Sorry if I jump around but things just keep coming to mind. I say this joking all the time but it actually is true, I have been very lucky that almost all my family and friends have been crazy that I have been around my entire life. Both of my wife's have been crazy. I have a hard time with sane people. LOL

One of Joan's favorite sayings which she says all the time is that life is all about choices. As you know her Father deserted her Mom, her and Chary when Joan was 12 years old. Of course you know what happened with Venson. Then her marriage to her second husband didn't work out. Then of course Janet. And in the last two or three years she has had some serious scary health problems. She says I have the choice to let it make me bitter or to be happy and she says I choose to be happy. I did a eulogy for Joan's Mother-in-Law,

Every thing I said in Dot's tribute I had said to her over the years, Thank You Lord For That.

I could keep going here but I hope you get the drift of why I am a very happy person, and of course there is Carter and Griffin, OMG I love them so much and they bring me more happiness than I could ever explain. I never want them to see me down trodden or saying negative things about them.

And my daughter Martha who goes through Hell every day of her life still smiles and most of the time happy. How can I let any of my little problems get me down when I see what she goes through.

What Bubba's friend told me to do by only thinking of the positive times of Bubba I have trained my mind to immediately replace any negative thoughts with positive ones. Not saying it's easy, but the more I do it the easier it gets.

I have talked about this a lot also, a great way to get out of a funk is to dig out old pictures of happy, fun, times. Again not saying it will work for every one but it works for me.

The only movies I go to have to be either funny or heart warming. I don't go to the ones with things being blown up, people being murdered, etc.

I also am lucky enough to have a lot of nutty friends. LOL I can call one of them and be laughing in just a couple of minutes.

And we try to stay busy. They say an idle mind is the Devil's work shop.

Or you can write a really long E-Mail, I know I feel better right now. LMAO

Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend With Carter & Griffin.

A few years ago Joan and I became members of The Hilton Travel Club. We have stayed at several of their resorts but our favorite one is The Parc Soleil in Orlando.

This was our third time to stay at this one.

There is so much to do there. Joan and Barb went grocery shopping and we went out to eat Sunday evening and that was the only time we left the resort.

We checked in Friday night and Saturday morning we went to the pool and spent about five hours there.

They have three pools, many hot tubs, store, activities center, access to computers ,restaurant, play ground, etc. Just a great place.

We were on the 11 TH floor and the view from our balcony was magnificence.

Carter and Griffin had so much fun, Mommy, Nana, & Papa had just as much fun as they did. LOL

Although we had to check out by 10:00 AM Monday we still had access to all the activities so we spent most of the day there again.

We will be going back there for the Labor Day weekend in September.

Just some of the pictures from our fantastic weekend.

                                          Saturday, Sunday, & Monday we literally spent hours
                                           in the pool.

                                          Mommy and her boys.

                                          Nana is such a trooper, she is so active with Carter
                                           & Griffin.

                                                   Here is Nana getting ready to hit the pool
                                                    from coming down the water slide.

                                                  You normally sit up coming down the slide
                                                    and enter the water feet first, Nana ended
                                                     entering the water flat on her back check out
                                                     the splash she made. LOL

                                        Griffin entered all the kids games, he was the youngest
                                         and the smallest one taking part.

                                          That's Carter in the orange shirt and Griffin beside
                                           him. This was the water baloon game. They passed
                                           the baloons while the music was playing, who ever
                                            had the baloon when they stopped the music was
                                            eliminated.  

                                        They started with over 20 kids, Griffin made it to
                                         when there was only 5 left. 

                                         Nana didn't want people to see her hair after she went
                                         under the water so Carter let her wear his cap, isn't
                                          she so cool. LOL

                                          We had to check out by 10:00 AM Monday so
                                           they rode down on the luggage carrier. LOL

                                            This is what we seen coming back into the resort
                                             Sunday evening coming back from dinner. It was
                                             a beautiful sight. 

Life Is All About Choices

After I met and got to know Joan she told me two very profound things. Joan has had a lot of tragedy in her life but those of you that don't know every thing about her would never know it. Always smiling, always positive.

Way back then she told me life is all about choices. She said it is up to all of us to choose if we want to be happy or sad. She said I choose to be happy.

I try to do that every morning but sometimes it is challenging. I was married to a woman before Joan that also chose to be happy.

So between the two of them I have spent over 50 years with two women whose choice was to be happy.

And at times I still struggle with it. But I keep trying. LOL

The other thing she told me was that she wanted to wear out, she never wanted to rust out. No chance of rust ever being able to settle on her, LOL

So when a friend sent me this E-Mail today even though I have read it before I am going to print it out and refer to it often.

Read this

LET IT REALLY SINK IN......

THEN

CHOOSE..

John is the kind of guy

you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive

to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were

any better, I would be twins!'

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the

employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up

and asked him, 'I don't get it!'

'You can't be a positive person

all of the time. How do you do it?'

He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you

have two

choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can

choose to

be in a bad mood

I choose to be in a good mood.'

Each

time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to

learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone

comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can

point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.

'Yes, it

is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every

situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how

people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad

mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.'

I

reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my

own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice

about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard

that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a

communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of

intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When

I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna

see my scars?'

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him

what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

'The

first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born

daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had

two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to

live.'

'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked.

He continued, '...the paramedics were great.

They

kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and

I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really

scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take

action.'

'What did you do?' I asked.

'Well, there

was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was

allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as

they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''

Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.

Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'

He lived, thanks to the

skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude....I learned from

him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all,

is everything .

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about

itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Our Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend.

I hope every one had an enjoyable Mother's Day weekend. You have probably read where I have said I hated to see the weekend end, Well this was one of those weekends I hated to see end.

I can't imagine how it could have been any better. Friday Barbara, the boys Mom had a tea for the Mother's of the children in her class. Joan went to help her. She said it was wonderful. When she came home she brought Carter & Griffin home with her.

We got the slip and slide out, hooked up to the water and they had such a great time with it.

Saturday we took them to the Palm Beach Gardens Municipal water park. The pictures will tell the story. Hopefully every Grandchild has a Grandmother like Nana. No matter how tired she gets she just keeps going with the boys as long as they want to go. Great Great, four hours.

Home to rest, Griffin took a two and a half hour nap. We met Barb and Brett and the boys other Grandparents at a really nice restaurant for a wonderful Mother's Day evening.

Sunday morning it was off to church for a great sermon by Pastor Lucky.

Then we drove over to Sebring to spend Mother's Day with my daughter Martha, her husband Jimmy, their daughter Jessica and Martha's Mother-in-Law Anita. Another great visit topped off with a wonderful dinner.

Then we went by the cemetery where Bubba is buried to wish her a Happy Mother's Day also.

Now you can see why I hated to see the weekend end. LOL

This is Carter & Griffin's 73 year young Nana.

They adore their Nana and why shouldn' they?

                                           I
                                                 It's called a water park for a reason, water, water, every where.

Do many different ways to get wet.

                                                           Griffin is game for just about every thing
                                                            he wants to do every thing big brother does
                                                             which isn't always possible.

I say this quite often but it is so true, I know they

have fun bit Nana and I have just as much fun

as they do.

                                          When we got home he said he wasn't tires but he
                                          took a two and a half hour nap. LOL

If they ever bring the show Dennis The Menace back

Griffin could play the part.

                                           When this bucket fill up it dumps the water, got a picture
                                            just as Carter got the full bucket.

                                          Wow, so much fun.

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.

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