Very Blessed

I wanted to write a post about my family. I feel very blessed to have the family that I do. Both on my mothers side, and my fathers side. I have so many good memories.

So many people grow up in very dysfunctional families. Many parents do not even care much about their children, and also a lot of kids grow up without having parents.

But I am very blessed because I have great parents, and I think that I come from a wonderful family.

I remember going to Grandpa & Grandma Fords house in Jetmore, or going to Ponca City to my Uncle & Aunt McGaughey´s house. We would have so much fun. When I found out that I would be seeing my cousins, I was so excited!

I remember when we were just kids, and Grandpa Allen came and picked up me and my brother Paul to take us somewhere. I think we might have been going to their house, but can´t remember. But I immediately got homesick. I had a packback or something, and found a note from my sister Rhonda telling me goodbye (can´t remember exactly what it said), and that is all I could handle... the tears started coming.

I remember going camping at Scott park with my family, and going to Sun n´Fun in Ponca City.

I remember my Grandmas chocolate pies :)

I remember the wrestling matches I had with my Dad and brother. We would have to move the furniture out of the way. I can remember my mom yelling ¨take it outside!¨.

I remember our dog Jack and also the dog we had before him.. Freckles. Such good little dogs!

I remember one of my cousins taking the poop out of his diaper, and wiping it on his parents sliding glass window. (I won´t name names on this one, but I don´t think most have forgotten about that)

I remember going camping with Linda & Rory, and riding on one of those 2 person bikes with Mikaela. That was fun!

I remember when I was a kid, and riding in a car with my dad, and him talking about God, or a story from the Bible, and how much I enjoyed that.

I remember Mom picking us up from school, and taking us to get a pop or a candy bar from Ron´s market.

I remember asking my Dad to take me driving, or to play catch with me, and he always had time for me.

I remember when I was young, and being rocked to sleep in a chair by my mom. I don´t know how old I was, but I must not have been too old.

I remember going to that resort in Colorado (fun valley), and racing Ernie and my brother up the mountain. Also remember eating the trout (think it was trout) that Ernie and Devin had caught, and it was delicious.

I remember toilet papering the inside of my Aunt & Uncle´s house while they were on vacation. Even my Grandmother was in on that one. We may have made it away stock free, but I think my brother left a note, and he signed it! :) My Grandma was then ¨interrogated¨ about the incident. :)

I remember going to Aunt & Uncle Michael´s house, and the go carts and horses that they had.

I remember walking down to the sandpit, and fishing for bluegill, and forgot the name of that other small fish. I would do that with my brother, and our friends.

I remember re-shingling our roof at our house in Holcomb. I think all of us helped with that. We did it in the middle of the summer, and it was so hot! But we did a good job.

I remember when my cousins Tiffany and Melissa were little, and it was so hard to tell them apart (they are twins).

I remember getting homesick after leaving home, and driving to attend college at MidAmerica.

I remember Grandpa Allen taking us golfing, and letting me drive the golf cart.

I remember when Mallory was just a baby, and my mother was taking care of her for a day or two. And then my mom had to leave to pick up something from the quick shop or something, and I got to take care of her! That lasted for about 10 minutes until lots of family showed up. But then I moved to Alaska, and I missed seeing little Mallory :(

I remember when the McGaugheys cat jumped out of the boat while we were going to the lake, and ran, and got in a tree. I think thats the same cat that likes to sleep in their bathroom sink? So it slept in the wrong places, because I think it was sleeping under the tarp in the boat, and it got scared when we were going down the highway, and jumped out. Jim lifted me up, and I had to grab the cat! I was glad to not get bit.

I remember backpacking in the Olympic Wilderness in Washington with my brother, and how beautiful that was.

I remember going from house to house with Travis and Jason, and looking in the window wells with them, trying to find any snakes or frogs.

I remember hunting with Ernie & Devin, and missing I think every bird I shot at. But I enjoyed it! I also remember riding dirtbikes with Devin, and I tried showing off for some people, and popped a wheelie, and flipped it over backwards, and took a bunch of skin off my back. Oh those nexts days were so painful!

Speaking of showing off, I remember jumping on the trampoline with I think Devin and McKinsey, and I told them to go to the side and sit down, and I would show them my 1 1/2 backflip. (I hadn´t perfected it yet). Its where you do a backflip, then then land on your back, instead of feet. And so I did that, but I did not land in the middle of the mat, but instead my head landed on the side where the bar is (but fortunately they had pads on top of the bars). I almost knocked myself out. I remember walking, and feeling like I was going to pass out, but I didn´t. McKinsey ran inside, and told those inside that I just had an accident. I had split the back of my head open, and my mom had to take me to the emergency room to get switches. So basicly... I teach kids safety by showing them what NOT to do.

I remember many things that my parents did for me, and it really softens my heart when I think about things that they have done for me. I remember when my parents bought me a new dirtbike. I think I was sick, and I couldn´t go, but my dad went to Nebraska to pick it up, because the new ones weren´t in that part of Kansas yet. They wanted to do that for me, and to get me a new one, and when I think back on that, it really is very special to me. When I think about that, it is humbling.

I wish everyone could have the parents and family that I have.

And God has not stopped blessing me, and it amazes me, because I don´t deserve it.

I am now married to a woman that is more beautiful and special than I ever imagined that I would marry. I am amazed that I am her husband, because she is so special. And now my family has doubled. Her family is now my family, and Eliana also comes from a great family. My Parents, and Warene will tell you that. And Eliana and I will soon have a child. Really we already have a child, but just hasn´t been born yet. And when I think back, and remember all these memories, it makes me want to be a good father, and that he/she can have a life as blessed as mine and Elianas.

And so to my wife, and parents, brother, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces... and everyone else I may have missed... thanks for being so great, and for all the memories you have given me.