My Dad...the Poet?

I always knew my dad liked to write when he was younger, but I didn't know that he was good! Yesterday, I was going through some old pictures trying to find ones of me as a baby. (Being the 2nd child, this was more difficult than it sounds.) And, there in the picture box was an old bulletin from my Grandma Holland's church. The date on it was August 6, 1967 and inside there was a poem written by my dad. Here is what it says...

My Buddies, My God, and Me

(Written while on a boat near Vietnam)

There I was on open deck

Cold chills running up and down my neck

The PT boats were coming fast;

This sea fight might be out last.

My 50 calibre machine gun at the ready,

I looked at my hands, not too steady;

I was scared, I must confess;

I prayed, "O God, get us out of this mess."

Then all at once I knew no fear

Because I knew that God was near;

The enemy boats, they numbered three,

But there was my buddies, my God and me.

The order came for us to shoot;

We gave it all we had--and some to boot.

The battle raged for a little while,

Then ceased, and on my face broke a little smile

No enemy boats were on the sea--

Because there was my buddies, my God, and me.

I did finally find a picture of me...not near as interesting as the poem, but I'll post it anyway. Lots of people say that Caleb looks like Bill....some say he looks like me. See what you think after looking at the pictures below...

Me

Caleb--obviously

Bill

Valentine's Day and other stuff

I have no pictures to prove it, but my husband gave me the prettiest flowers for Valentine's Day. Since he works at night, he also took me to lunch. It was much easier to get a table for lunch on Valentine's Day than for dinner! After lunch, I took the rest of the day off to go to Josh's Valentine's party at school. I still can't believe he is in 'big' school. Let's see.......what else has happened...
Josh is playing t-ball again this year...with one major difference. This year he is playing in the league that actually keeps score and is competitive. They had try-outs Saturday...and I was definitely more nervous for him than he was for himself. He was smiling the whole time--And, he did AWESOME!!! We haven't found out which team he will be on yet, but we should soon because they start practice in March.
I am really struggling with my attitude at work lately. I think it is just the time of year maybe. Well, that is what I am hoping anyway. I am trying to be better at making my mind up to control my mood and not let myself get in a bad mood, but it seems that I am as good at that as I am at controlling my diet (which is not very good).
I guess that is all for now...I'll try to post some pictures later (cause I know that is the only real reason anyone would read this blog!!!).

One blog a month...not too shabby :-)

Hmmmm...been a long time since I blogged last. So much is going on right now it is crazy. Bill took a new job in January. He is now working as a Dock Supervisor for Saia Motor Freight. It is quite a few more hours than his old job, but it is back in the Transportation industry and it is a supervisor position. Lets see....what else....Oh yeah, Josh is getting ready to start baseball again. We are actually playing in the competitive league this year so we have to do tryouts and all that jazz. Tryouts are this Saturday and I am already trying to prepare myself. When I was growing up, I loved competition and enjoyed any chance I got to prove that I was as good, if not better than the next person. I have a feeling that when it is my kid out there being judged against other kids I may not handle it as well. I just hope he has fun...I want him to enjoy playing sports as much as I did. This last weekend we were able to go to Fayetteville with my family and watch a Razorback basketball game. We were also able to take the kids by my mom's name. For those of you that don't know, the University of Arkansas has a tradition of imprinting the names of everyone in each of their graduating classes onto the sidewalks of the campus. Well, my mom is to the right of the new student union, just below the grate in the sidewalk! The kids got a kick out of it. Here are some pictures to catch everyone up...