Tonight I’m sitting at the Dining Room table at Lisa’s Condo in Suffolk Va. I left this morning on an 8:25 flight to Newport News. Hernan and Anna picked me up at the airport at 10am and we were at the house by 10:45. It was so good to see them all. I hadn’t seen them since Labor day, almost three months. Anna just laughed at me when she saw me, I could tell that she was glad to see me and as soon as we got to the house and out of her car seat, she wa in my arms hugging me. That was a big relief to me. I didn’t know how Anna was going to react to my mustache. She had never seen it, and didn’t know I had it, butr she was cool with it, feeling of it and laughing. Lisa was taken aback a little, but she was fine with it too. I had come prepared to shave it off if Anna wouldn’t accept me. I started growing it in Australia. Julia and I had always had this running battle. She said I couldn’t grow one, and I said that I could. True, I probably couldn’t grow a full beard; but I knew that I could grow a mustache. I also knew that she didn’t want me to, so I didn’t. In Australia I decided to try and grow it and see I really could.
Well, I have had it since I have been back, and I have decided that if the granddaughters accepted me then I would keep it for a while. How long is a while, I have no clue. Anna was fine, but Julia Anne would have nothing to do with me at first. Every time I would look at her, she would cry. At first I thought it was the mustache, then I remembered how Jennifer when she was about that age would have nothing to do with my dad when the came to visit us in Hawaii. So I played it cool and didn’t press her. Well, by the afternoon, she was in m arms and playing with my mustache, trying to pull it out. So, I guess I passed the test and the mustache stays for a while.
It’s really fun being around Anna especially. She is always coming up with funny phrases and sayings. Her mind is constantly at work and she processes things in a way that I could never imagine. We were on a walk this afternoon before dinner, and we were talking about the turkey and what all we were going to have with it when she came up with this. She said that it was a “green bean day”. So I had to ask her; what kind of a day is a green bean day? If I remember correctly she said it was a day when you cooked and had fun getting ready to eat. Those might not have been her exact words, but the meaning was one of a day of excitement and preparation for something good to happen. That is what today was for all of us. I was excited to see them and share with them, as they were just as excited to see me. So I guess it was a green bean day. The funny thing was that when we had dinner, Anna hardly touched her green beans,
Family is so special! I am so thankful for all the blessings that I have and have received over the year. Just to be able to see Anna and Julia grow so much this year, and to see Lisa thrive in the midst of some adversity is such a blessing. But then add all that God is doing in Jennifer and to see Adair and Meleah grow as well. I am truly a blessed man. I am so blessed to be able to work as an instructor at Delta and to be able to make the money I make for the hours I work. I am doubly blessed to be able to get on an airplane and fly anywhere in the world for nothing but taxes for the ticket. It allows me to see my children so often, and gives me freedom to minister and bring the Kingdom of God anywhere in the world. I am so grateful for my God and His love for me.
My niece, who Julia and I prayed for for years to be able to have a child is about to give birth, probably tomorrow, on Julia’s birthday. What a blessing! I know that Julia is watching and cheering Jodie on as she goes through the birth pains bringing forth new life. I am so grateful for all my friends and family and for all the support that they have given me. I am so grateful for RiverStone and the family that they are to me. I am also very grateful to Bethel Atlanta, which has become a second home over these past two years. I am such a blessed man. I end with this tonight. I am eternally grateful to Julia and her love for me that helped God to change my heart and make me more into His image. I thank her for the 38 and a half years that she gave to me. It has helped set me on His course, and will forever define me.
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