August 14 – “Happy birthday … me”

I have already received quite a few Facebook birthday wishes.  Thanks so much to everyone.  And I guess thanks are in order to Facebook for reminding everyone electronically.  It sure helps me remember.    Today is also Kel and Christina's anniversary.  They celebrated my birthday some years ago (no, I have no idea how many.  That's Kel's problem, not mine) by getting married on it.  So Happy Anniversary to Kel and Christina.  I pray everybody stays healthy over there.   I ordered a new laptop the other day.  That'll be a nice birthday present, but it won't get here for a few weeks.  The one I'm using is finally on its last leg.  Battery's dead, screen is flickering, it locks up, and is getting slower and slower.  It has been a great tool since the screen died on the other one.  Thanks to my friend Bo, who gave it to me.  It has been a huge help.    The new one will have 6 gigs of memory and a 750 gig hard drive.  That's about as far as I go in really understanding the innards of a computer.  The processor should be pretty fast according to Kel.  I don't know all the words to describe it, although I should.  Chris and I went through the website six or eight times before we ordered it.  That's one of the joys of living with a very cautious wife.  She showed those colors back when we were rebuilding after Hurricane Ike, and our house now looks amazing.  Of course she's still working on the inside.  That will be a work in progress for some time to come.   We got to see our friend Steve from Indiana yesterday.  He came down to see his sister Anna in the hospital.  She is doing better.  When we saw her Friday she was still in ICU, but she was moved into the next lower level of care that evening.  I'm not sure what they call it, but Steve said the rooms are set up the same way as in ICU, with four room assigned to a nurse station right outside the doors.  Anna is still in a lot of pain, but they are getting her to sit up in a chair and apparently physical therapy has begun.   So now it's time to go over the teaching for church today.  And I still have to get more familiar with the new Visual Verse.  Just drew it yesterday.  No strange looking bears on this one, though, so maybe it won't be too hard for everyone to figure out.   Proverbs 22:5 says, "In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them."   Father, protect all my children from those thorns and snares.  Amen.