Now that 8- year old Madison and 4-year old Tori share a room it has become necessary to lay down a few ground rules for going to bed; no talking, no playing and no getting out of bed. The first violation (a pretty common occurrence) results in a swat to the bottom, after that they lose their respective stuffed animals for the night.
So last night we did devotions and put the girls to bed. Twenty minutes later I heard giggling and banging around in their room. I opened the door in time to see Madison scrambling up the bunk bed ladder and Tori diving into her bottom bunk. Strike one. Two pops to the bottoms and a reminder of the what happens next followed and I left the room.
A half hour later I heard more giggling and chatter, strike two. Madison handed over her Webkinz without much protest, but I expected much more drama from Tori. Seeing her Minnie Mouse on the floor, I picked it up and headed out the door. Just as I was walking out I heard Tori say "That's okay, that's Madison's Minnie Mouse." Fighting off a laugh and shaking my head I turned around, put Madison's back on the floor and relieved Tori of hers.
When I told Nancy what happened she said even if Tori had kept quiet until I'd left the room it would have been too much for her not to tell Madison, who would have promptly ratted her sister out.
This was the last page of a shipping invoice we received at our office. A couple of questions come to mind.
1) Why was this necessary? It's the last page, just don't send it.
2) Didn't they ruin the idea by announcing "This page intentionally left blank" ON THE PAGE? Next time why not put "The next page is intentionally left blank" on the page before?
Just a thought for your Thursday.
So how many people doubted I would follow up the first installment with a second? Anyone besides me? Yes, I must say I surprised myself. Without further ado, let's get into it.
SFC Elvis Holloway
A section chief in our fire support platoon when I was stationed in Hawaii, Sergeant First Class Elvis Holloway made a big impression on me during my final deployment to the Big Island (Hawaii). After a week of field exercise on the observation post at Puu Ahi we came back to base camp for showers, restocking and rest.
I cleaned my truck, took a shower and met a few of the guys from another platoon to head up to the ad-hoc tavern located at the camp. The weather was getting cooler, so I told the others I would meet them there and went back inside to grab my field jacket. On the way down the aisle to my bunk I passed Sergeant Holloway and said a quick hello. I grabbed my jacket and turned around to head back outside. When I passed Sergeant Holloway's bunk he stepped out into the aisle to meet me.
"Lyerla, I've been watching you. I know you were raised right, you know the Bible and the right things to say, but those friends of yours are taking you straight to Hell. You don't know it, but I've been praying for you."
This evening during our Wednesday night meal/Bible study our pastor taught from Acts 4:32-37, focusing on Barnabas and his role in the early church as an encourager of the Apostles and his "vouching" for the recently converted Paul.
While listening I began to think back to people in my past who seemed to come along just when I needed them, not family or close friends but those who made a brief appearance with a long-lasting impact in my life. I would like to introduce them to you now over the next few days.
George and Winnie Shigeta
I arrived at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on December 11, 1991. I was as far away from home as I'd ever been, a lonely situation made worse by the upcoming Christmas holiday. Two weeks later on Christmas Eve, Mike Cross one of the friends I'd made and I traveled down to Honolulu to see the decorations and get into the Christmas spirit. My goal for the evening was to be back at Schofield in time for Midnight Mass so I could enjoy one piece of normalcy.
Around 8 p.m. we started to make our way to the bus stop. We boarded the "Waihawa-Circle Island" bus that would take us back to the town a few miles from Schofield. What we didn't know was the bus had already been to Waihawa, and was on its "Circle Island" route. We rode for over two hours, wondering why it was taking so long to get back, but not knowing enough to ask. Finally we were the last two people on the bus. The driver pulls the bus over and asks us where we wanted to go. We told him and he informed us he was off for the night. Our three-hour bus ride ended only a couple of miles from where we started. We got off the bus and began looking for another bus stop. Apparently we looked as lost as we were, because a older woman and her husband walked up and asked if we needed help. They introduced themselves, George and Winnie Shigeta. We told them what happened, and how I wanted to get back in time for church. They walked with us to the bus stop and showed us the right bus to board. Then Winnie tore the name and address stamp off one of their checks and wrote their phone number on the back. She said if we didn't have anywhere to go for Christmas to give them a call and they would come get us. We thanked them, boarded the bus and made it back in time for Midnight Mass.
The next morning after making a phone call home I found myself with nowhere to go for Christmas. I couldn't find Mike so I decided to take the Shigetas up on their offer. The phone rang and George answered. I asked if the offer still stood and he said they would be up to get me. Looking back now it was probably a pretty silly thing to do, going with someone I'd only met the night before, but at the time the thought never crossed my mind. It could have turned out bad, but instead it was one of my most memorable Christmases. The Shigetas and their daughter (I can't remember her name) took me to a movie (Father of the Bride), gave me a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and took me to their home for Christmas dinner. After dinner and visiting they took me back to Schofield and I thanked them for their kindness and generosity. They honked as they drove away, and I never saw them again. Of the 35 years I've been on this earth, six hours were spent with the Shigetas, and I'm pretty sure I will always remember them.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the story. If I went on too long, it's something I will work on for the next story. Feel free to comment with your own similar experiences.
I've said it once, and I'll keep saying it. If you aren't making Emily Ingold's "Life with the Boys" a part of your daily blog browsing, why not? Today she's talking about the Revolution Money Exchange It's an alternative to PayPal, providing money transfers at no charge to members. I signed up for an account (You're welcome Ingolds!) and invite you to click on the button I've posted at the top right corner of my blog and check it out for yourself.
I used to be good at this. Back in college when we would need to fill space in the newspaper I was the guy. Whether it was an entirely new piece of writing or "fluffing" an existing story,I would sit down at a computer, begin typing and the words would flow. Right now I am simply keeping my fingers moving in the hope of getting traction enough to pull me out of the writing "rut" I find myself in right now.
Just when I reach the brink of something a slick patch comes out of nowhere and puts be back to square one. Little things like "avoid passive voice", don't start/end a sentence with a preposition, and asking myself "How many times did I use 'I' in the last sentence?" keep throwing off my concentration. This isn't for a grade, just write SOMETHING! I shouldn't have to worry about AP style or Strunk and White just to jot down a blog posting, right? Right?
So here we go...
The Lyerlas are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Gracyn sometime between the end of May and the end of June. Nancy's doctor-ordered bed rest is in its 3rd week with 4 more to go. In her excitement to see our family Gracyn tried to make her appearance a few weeks early. It took some time in the hospital to convince her to wait a bit longer. Sunday evening we went back into the hospital because the contractions were happening more frequently than the nurse liked. Fortunately another stay wasn't necessary. Those of you who know Nancy can understand she's not the bed-rest type, and I can't say I blame her.
Members of our church have been unbelievable at providing for our spiritual and physical needs over the past weeks and we are truly thankful for their generosity and friendship.
Yesterday was my 35th birthday. Is it just me or do birthdays get more difficult to distinguish from other days the older you get? I remember counting down the weeks until my birthday, this year with everything else going on I honestly forgot until about a week before. (See, right now there is a fight going on in my mind about finding a different way to end the sentence without using a preposition)
Okay, gotta take care of some business. I'll be back!
I saw this on Foxnews' website and it brought a couple of thoughts to mind. The first was the advice of Phil Greer, former Director of Photography at the Chicago Tribune and one of my photojournalism instructors at SIU. He said when you take a picture of the "news story" to turn around and see if an even better picture presents itself behind you. I think this idea applies to the situation.
The second thing to pop into my mind was this; if in fact the image in Cheney's sunglasses is of a nude woman as some have speculated (and I seriously doubt), was anyone else taking pictures of the vice-president?
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