When I took my family to the San Francisco Bay Area last month we saw a clown figure that was named Laffin Sal.  She or "It" had the most awful laugh and the most hideous look and attire. 

Last weekend Hillary Clinton went on a laughing campaign on all of the big news networks and all I could think about was Laffin Sal.

I posted this video on You Tube to poke fun at this lady who by the Grace of God will not be our next President, Hillary (Billary) Clinton.

Don.

Here is the real Deal....

Here is my home from Age 3 to 10 in San Jose, California.  The bike was my first 5-speed from Sears.  I must have been pretty tall since I was only 8 years old when it was given to me.

The song "Do you know the way to San Jose" is playing as you read.  This was a very popular song when I lived in this house.  The memories are all coming back as  I listen to this old song.

Right now my family and I are preparing for our trip to San Jose to see my family.  We have made repairs and upgrades to the Excursion and Trailer and now the fun part, washing and ironing clothes, packing the trailer and planning the route to this far away place.  Do you know a good Route to San Jose?  I think I will just take interstate 5 north from LA and keep it simple.  We love the scenic route along the coast but it seems to risky with the trailer and all.

We are planning to take a Bay Cruise with the whole Family as we did Ten years ago when my oldest three were very little.  The main point of the visit was to spend some quality time with my niece, Elaine who will be going away to college in a few weeks.  The planning of this trip has been very tough as we have encountered and overcome many obstacles to make it happen.  Thank you Lord.

Northern California, HERE WE COME.

Don

I was tagged by a youngster, Mr. Bettendorf, otherwise known as FamilyGuy.  He said something like, "I had to do it."  Bah Humbug!

Alright Jeff, you will have to wait a while longer now before you can join my Cool Old Men Club.  You will have to now prove yourself to be a cool old man like me before I will reconsider.

Rules of this Tagging Experience:

Players start with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged write their own facts in and these rules. At the end, you need to choose 8 people to tag and don't forget to leave them a comment telling them to check out your blog. Also remember to write who tagged you.

Now for the Tag.  Okay, I am to list eight facts or habits about me.  Here goes.

1.  I am a Christian.  (It is a relationship, not a religion)

2.  Married 20 years to a wonderful wife and a BlessedMommy.

3.  I am a father to Six children and two Foster children.

4.  I played the electric Bass in a Country/Top 40 Band in High School.

5.  I love to play ultimate, or any other games with a Frisbee.

6.  I was an extra in a 1985 Columbia Pictures movie. 

Okay, now just like with FamilyGuy, I don't have too many friends to tag, so this part may take a while.

Don

When my Father-in-Law passed away two years ago, I inherited his 1976 Goldwing.  I remember one day I was with him in his garage and I looked over and saw the old bike and said "I can't believe you still have that old Honda."  He said, "would you like to have it?"  "It would be easy to restore."  It had only been driven a few times in the last 25 years and mostly sat in his garage collecting dust.  I said I would love to have it, however, It would probably not go over with his daughter and so the bike stayed in its place to continue collecting dust.  Sometime later after Bernie had left to be with the Lord, I had found out that he had designated for his Goldwing to go to me.

I have always wanted to have a motorcycle, however, out of keeping harmony in the household, I  never pushed the issue too far.  My own father was an avid motorcyclist and as a youngster he had taken me on several real long trips with him.  My Father-in-Law was a motorcycle cop for 20 years in Phoenix.

Bernie received great joy out of doing things for others.  Here he is with my son Cameron, and daughter Hannah, sitting atop one of two hope chests that he just finished building for my daughters Jenna and Delaine.

As for the old Honda,

I have done a fair amount of restoration to it, replacing fluids, fuses, battery, starter/ throttle, removed the fairing and saddle bags and added a new headlamp assembly and wallah it started right up.  I drive it around the block every now and then as is still has some work to be done, i.e. new tires, replace or sandblast the rust out of fuel tank, replace the fuel pump, and finally to rebuild the carburators.  

I look forward to your comments.

D.

I wanted to say that I would be nothing without my Family.  The Truth is that I would be nothing without Christ, and my family is evidence of His abundant blessings.

Thank you God for my many blessings.  Please help me to grow and be the leader that my Family longs for.

In Your timing,

D.

Okay, Have fun with this. To an old boy (me) who has lived in Arizona for the last 24 years, this snapping turtle looks and acts more like a monitor lizard with a shell on it's back. Certainly not like the lettuce munching tortoises that we are used to in the West.

Since this film was made I have come across a bunch of both hilarious and frightening stories of people's experiences with these deceptive little devils. D. (Father2Five)

Hello to all,

Foregiveness is a gift from God.  God modeled a part of foregiveness to us that many do not grasp.  He has offered His Son to us, that if we accept Him, and die to our old selves we will be foregiven of our past sins, be positioned to receive and appreciate God's abundant blessings and spend eternal life in Heaven when our time is up. 

The key is that we have to accept and believe it in order to receive it.  To acknowledge and accept what He allowed to happen for our sake. 

Only pride would prevent anyone of from accepting such a wonderful gift as this.  Who are any of us to hold on to an offense against others when God has released us from our own offenses to Him.  It is only fitting that the Prideful among us will not experience real joy until they learn to truly foregive.

With our family, friends, and all other people we encounter or impact our lives, we make many mistakes that hurt feelings.  Sometimes others hurt our feelings and are not aware of it.  We are called to seek foregiveness and grant foregiveness in order to remain pure and full of joy.  Without it, who or what will we turn to for comfort?

Thank you for reading this,

D.

Twenty years that I would not trade for anything.  We have truly been blessed.

I love you Blessedmommy.

D.

Here are some drawings that I did the other day for my little munchkins.  They were walking around with these drawings in their hands and  the biggest smiles on their faces.  Since they were watching me draw the pictures they got instant happy feet.  Seeing me draw the pictures has encouraged them to draw.

When I was a youngster, I used to love drawing pictures of motorcycles for my Dad.  Drawing and sketching is real fun once you get the hang of it.  The key is to have a picture to look at to help keep it in perspective.   Have fun and share with me your experiences.

Pictures from the Disney movie "Cars"!  Here is Tow-Mater, Lightning McQueen, Sally and my munchkins with the pictures.  At the request of a kind visitor, I sketched out the horse drawing.

If you are like me and have a good number of children, you probably get tired of hearing negative press about SUV's and how people who drive them are ruining the world by wasting gas and running over people.  There are a bunch of people out there that are filled with hatred and anger the moment they lay eyes on an SUV.  Don't even mention the word Hummer to them.  Well, I for one am unashamed to drive a large SUV.  I have a large family and desire to protect them.  Besides, when was the last time you ever heard someone complain about pickup trucks, or vans, Semi trucks with 40' trailer, Diesel trains or Jetliners.  May it be that they are perceived to be filling a purposeful need, such as carrying vitally important cargo like food.

Well let it be known that my Ford Excursion is filling a very purposeful need as well, transporting 9 people, very comfortably I might add.  That would be me, my wife, our five children and our two foster children.  From my vantage point, children are America's future and most precious cargo of all.

D.

Hello All,

I am new to blogging but not to holding and expressing personal viewpoints.  My children and wife have been blogging here for a good time now.  See if you can guess who they are.

In this blogsite I will share my prayers, my thanks to God and His goodness, homeschooling experiences, things I do for fun, and things I do out of responsibility and obedience to God's word for my family, my local community and for this great country of ours.  I will share photos whenever the picture tells the better story.

I love this great country of ours.  I am saddened by the deterioration in peoples values that I have witnessed in my lifetime.  As long as I am here on earth, I am committed to honor God, tell of His goodness to others, and standup against those who seek to remove my rights to freely do so.  I will also do my best to bring awareness to Fathers to be the leaders of their families spiritual growth.  Our wives want this more than anything.

Because I really desire to be a genuine Christian let me be honest with you openly from the get go, I am just as much a work in progress in the Lord as the next guy and I struggle walking the talk as much as anyone here does.  Knowing this does not excuse me from seeking God's wisdom on a daily basis. 

One of my favorite songs, featured on this site, is by Casting Crowns called "here I go again."  This song speaks to me as I can recall times that I have failed to share my faith with friends and most  importantly my father who died from pancreatic cancer 10 years ago.  In the last week of my father's life, I came to him asking for his foregiveness.  I grew up always looking back at the pain that my father caused me  never once stopping to consider how I had hurt him.  On the airliner to Fresno, 10 years ago, I was amazed at how many things I was able to remember and write down to address with him in our final time together.

Thank you reading this and I hope to communicate with you soon.

D.