BDubs...

Jonathan had been toying with the idea of getting the cable package that allows him to see NFL Network. We realized that the upcoming Giants-Panthers game on Thursday was on NFL Network. Jonathan is a New York Giants fan (I have no idea how that happened, it's one of my failures as a father). So, we decided to go to our local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game. I've never been there. Josh raves about the one in Lexington and Jonathan has been to this one, so I was interested to see how the experience would go.

On the way to BWW, I listened to ESPN Radio. They gave the Giants no chance to win. Their top running back (Ahmad Bradshaw) and wide receiver (Hakeem Nicks) were out. Their 3rd wide receiver - Dominick Hixon (he of the great Super Bowl catch) was out too. It wasn't shaping up as a stellar evening. I got to the restaurant a bit before Jonathan and went ahead and got a booth. The restaurant is separated into two areas. One has just tables and the other tables and the bar. I was able to be seated (perferably) in the non-bar area. I had only asked for two things - a booth and to be near the TVs. The booth was right in front of a big screen TV with two others in easy viewing distance. I was able to watch the Brewers Pirates game while we waited. Jonathan arrived. Our waitress told us they had 3.00 appetizers til 7. So Jonathan ordered onion rings and I ordred mini corn-dogs. His onion rings were excellent, my mini corn dogs were not. They were not hot at all, most were lukewarm and a couple were even cold.

We waited until the game started to order our meal. It was "Boneless Thursday" so boneless wings were .60 apiece. I went with the mildest they offered which was Southern BBQ. Jonathan went with the regular wings. Again, they were OK, but mine were lukewarm. I could understand if the place was packed that they might have issues with food sitting before they brought it out, but it wasn't packed at all. Anyway, each commentator on NFL Network picked the Panthers to win. The game started and the Giants got the ball and immediately started a drive. Little known Andre Brown looked good as the running back. Eli Manning threw a TD pass to Martellus Bennett. This thrilled Jonathan not only because the Giants scored on their first drive, but Bennett is the tight end on his fantasy team. The Giants held on Carolina's first drive and then drove down for a field goal. The Giants held again and then drove down for a touchdown. Ramses Barden did a good job in catching passes in place of the injured Hakeem Nicks. The Giants scored a field goal and led 20-0 at the half.

We only saw one Panters fan. It was a guy and his daughter had on a Panther's jersey. He saw Jonathan in his Eli jersey and told her to boo him. She only looked to be two or three, so she just looked at him. The Panthers received the 2nd half kickoff only to fumble it. This led to a Giants field goal and a 23-0 lead. At this point, I ordered a piece of chocolate cake with ice cream. It was good but Jonathan didn't help me eat it, so I was stuffed. The Panthers finally scored a TD to make it 23-7. The Giants got another field goal to make it 26-7. The Panthers started to drive but Cam Newton was intercepted. The Giants drove for another TD to go up 33-7 on another TD run by Andre Brown. The Panters drove down to the Giants 8, but Newton was intercepted at the goal line. The Giants then put in their subs. They got one more field goal to win easily 36-7. I know this sounds funny, but the game wasn't even as close as that score appears. We hung out til the end of the game and then left (with Jonathan ecstatic).

The experience wasn't that bad. Even though my food wasn't that hot (literally speaking), I'd go to eat again and just try something different. Our waitress was reall good, she kept our Coke and iced tea glasses full and kept checking on us. We were able to watch the game with ease. So, I'd be OK with going back again.

Boaz

A few weeks ago, Donna and I were out looking for the Mount Pisgah Cemetery (in Graves County) where my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother Peeples are buried. After we left, we headed home and passed a post office which brought back memories. It was the Boaz Post Office. You see for the first 21 years of my life, my mailing address was in Boaz Kentucky. We didn't live close to Boaz, it was ten miles away or so. When I would say that as my address, I would get strange looks from people. They'd say "Boaz, where is that?". It also is pronounced as one syllable and not two - I had this discussion with a lot of people though. When we went to a post office, we generally went to one of the Paducah ones. I do remember my mom taking me to the Boaz Post Office to buy stamps. I used to collect stamps when I was young and I bought several commemoratives and plate blocks there.

I was in the area today, so I went back to look around more closely. There isn't a whole lot there, in fact the Post Office is it. There aren't even any of those neat green signs telling you that you are in Boaz (for example, I live between Hamburg and New York which are clearly marked with those signs). I pulled out my Kentucky Place names book and got a little more info.

Boaz (Graves County) A hamlet with po was until recently (note: this book was written in 1984) was located at the jct of KY 849 and the Illinois Central Railroad tracks, just yards east of the Mayfield Creek and 9 miles North of Mayfield. The Post Office (est on Sept 20, 1869) was named for Joshua Boaz, one of the largest property owners in the county who in 1854 gave the New Orleans and Ohio (now the Illinois Central) Railroad passage through his plantation. The station became an important shipping point on the railroad and the community that developed around it was incorporated in 1888. In the past few years, the community has begun to shift to the Viola-Boaz Road (over 1/4 mile to east) where the Post Office was relocated to.

When I hear the Boaz vs. Bo-az discussions, I of course think of one of my favorite Bible accounts. Boaz and Ruth ended up being the great-grandparents of King David.

I pulled up to the post office and got a picture and headed for home. I went down Wice Church Road and passed Straub Cemetery Road. These roads reminded me of a couple of adventures I'd been on when I was young, but I'll leave that discussion for another time.

Midnight Delight...

For Father's Day, Donna asked me what kind of dessert I wanted. I turned a few things over in my mind. I had recently gotten an email ad for Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cakes. The cupcakes I got for Donna from there for Valentine's day were excellent, so I thought I'd give it a try.

You have the option of ordering online. You first specify where you want to order from. Then you decide what cake you want. They have some types already listed for you. You also have the choice of making your own cake based on the type of cake and ice cream you want. Then, you specify the size you want and finally the date and time you want to pick the cake up. I chose one of the already listed types - Midnight Delight. This was chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and a chocolate shell with chocolate sprinkes. I chose a small round cake (6 inches in diameter) and specified it's pickup on the night before Father's Day at 5:00pm.

When Saturday came, I went to pick up the cake. It was ready when I got there of course. The first thing I noticed was it looked smaller than I expected. It ended up feeding us for three days (plus an extra piece for Jonathan when he came to visit) so it worked out OK. The cake did not disppoint. It was easily one of the best desserts I've ever had and definitely the best ice cream cake. It was rich so you didn't want to eat huge slices of it. The only drawback is cost. The small one we ordered was a little over 25.00. It was excellent though and I'd recommend you consider giving one of these a try for your next special event.

Customer Service

Last weekend, Donna and I went to Nashville. We wanted to see our new nieces Charlotte and Catherine plus Brody and Amelia. We also wanted to see how my cousin Donna was (she had an extended stay there at a hospital). We had a really good time spending time with all of them.

On the way to see Donna, we stopped at Krispy Kreme. It was free doughnut day and they gave everybody a free doughnut (I got a chocolate cake one and it was great). I ordered a dozen more donuts. I asked for six of my favorite (chocolate ice-creamed filled) and six glazed. The lady went to get fresh doughnuts from the back and I paid for them and left.

We decided go to the Shoney's for dinner. I hadn't had a piece of hot fudge cake in a long time - I used to love it when we had a Shoney's in Paducah. We went to the Shoney's on Donelson Pike. It was busy (seafood buffet night) but not totally swamped. We were seated promptly and brought drinks. We ordered and waited. And we waited some more. I noticed our waitress was very exasperated and reached the point where she actually loudly complained and even cursed. I saw the assistant manager call her aside and tell her not to complain in front of customers. I saw numerous customers call the manager and assistant manager aside. Finally after 40 minutes, we got our food. It was cold which mean it had set out for a long while. We didn't feel comfortable there after listening to the waitress complain. I didn't bother ordering the hot fudge cake. So we left after we ate.

We went back to the hotel. I had solace in that I had my doughnuts waiting for me. I opened the box and was devastated. Instead of chocolate ice cream filled, it had chocolate covered glazed. I ate them and they were OK, but just not the same. At this point I went ahead and sent emails to both companies letting them know the issues I had and went to bed.

When I got up the next day, I had an email waiting from Krispy Kreme apologizing profusely for the problem. I hadn't heard from Shoney's but it was the weekend so I figured it might be a few days. We got back to Paducah and on Monday, I got a phone call from the manager of the Krispy Kreme we'd bought the doughnuts from. He apologized profusely and said I was to ask for him the next time I was town and he'd give me a free dozen doughnuts to make up for this. A few days later I received a coupon from the main Krispy Kreme office for a dozen free doughnuts that I had up to a year to use.

You might be wondering what Shoney's did. In a word, they did NOTHING. I have yet to hear anything from them not even a "Sorry, you just need to get over it". In this day and time where people are not spending money as freely as they used to and competition is fierce. it certainly isn't a time to skimp on customer service. You can guess what place I'll go back to and which one I won't. I'll have to get my hot fudge cake fix somewhere else.

Blue Orleans - part Deux

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We got the buffet (which was great). Josh smartly stuck with the continental. I paid a little more (since the contintental was free) to have the full buffet. It was really good, they even would make items to order. We went to the Hickory Knoll church of Christ. As were got ready for services, imagine our surprise when a family from Josh's home congregation came in (the Neths) came in. We talked with them for a while. They had made trip as a surprise to their kids. We enjoyed our time with the congregation there. We went back to our hotel and checked out.

We decided to head down to downtown New Orleans and eat and go to the NCAAA HoopFest. Driving in downtown New Orleans was horrific. It's all one way streets and with the extra traffic, it took us a long time to finally get to the Convention Center and park. The first order of business was getting lunch. We wanted to get one of the famous Po' Boy sandwiches. In reading various reviews on the web, they all mentioned a place called the NOLA grocery. They warned it was easy to miss and somewhat of a "hole in the wall". We decided we were up for it. We finally found it. We ordered fried shrimp Po' Boys and they were fabulous. I even got in a little sports talk with the sandwich maker. We went to the Hoopfest. When we got there, the line wound all around the Convention Center. We didn't want to go that bad, so we left.

I had reserved a room in Covington for Sunday night. This required us to go over Lake Ponchatrain on the Causeway. This is the longest continuous bridge over water (close to 27 miles). The bridge had multiple turnarounds but no gas stations or rest stops. I am not sure what would happen if you run out of gas or needed to go to the restroom. We made it without incident. We checked into our hotel (the Hampton Inn) and headed for Sunday night worship. We went to the Slidel church of Christ. When we got there, there were only about 15 people there. One of the men there asked if we would want to assist with services. I ended up leading the opening prayer and Josh led singing. He thought he was only leading a couple of songs until the man doing announcements said "Josh Yancy will be leading our singing". He had to scramble to find a few more songs. He did a really good job though. After services, we talked with the people there. It turned out that they had been a congregation of over 200. Then after Katrina hit, a lot of people moved out the area. It was a sad situation but these brethren continue to work for the Lord. We went back to the hotel. I walked next door to the Piccadilly cafeteria. It was OK but not as good as usual. Josh and Curtis walked to Applebees and I picked them up later.

The next day, we decided to go play tennis. We found a city park and played. We had fun but I could tell I was really rusty. I didn't play well at all. We checked out and went back across the causeway. We stopped at a mall that was by the end of the causeway. We strolled around and ate at the food court so everybody could get what they wanted. There was a Cafe Du Monde in there as well. If you have never heard of these, they are coffee shops that serve beignets. Beignets are large puffy pastries (like doughnuts) covered in powdered sugar. I usually go to the one in downtown. However, this one was very good plus it wasn't outside and hot and humid (like the downtown one can be). After the mall, we went to the Nike Store in downtown New Orleans. I'd never been to one. Josh showed me a pair of tennis shoes that were New York Jets green. We left there for our downtown hotel. I had used Hilton points to get a room at the Homewood Suites. The cost of the room would have been 600 a night. I met a guy who stayed five nights and spent over 3k on five nights there. The hotel was very nice. The one different thing was their parking lot. It was crammed full of cars. I felt sorry for the attendant. Every time a car came in or out, he had to move cars around. It reminded me of one of those sliding number puzzles. He did his job cheerfully with a smile for everyone. The hotel had dinner and we were able to get a free dinner of chicken and shrimp gumbo. We went back to the room to rest up for the game. It started raining so we waited as long as we could but finally had to walk to the Superdome in a slight drizzle.

The atmosphere inside was electric. It was just like the 7th game of the World Series I was at. Kentucky started out well and raced to an 18 point lead and were ahead 14 at half. You knew Kansas would make a run and they did. Coach Cal let off of the gas and quit letting Kentucky run and tried to play out the clock. This strategy failed them against Vandy and almost failed them here. Kansas keep getting closer and closer. With about a minute to go Tyshawn Taylor headed to the goal for a layup on a backdoor play that would have cut the lead to four. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist swooped in blocked the shot. With about 30 seconds to go Elijah Johnson went up for a three. Anthony Davis ran out at him and came down with the ball and walked. Uk held on to win. Finally after 14 years, UK had its title. Coach Cal no longer had to hear how "he couldn't win the big one. We were ecstatic of course. We stayed for the presentation of the trophy and then left. It was raining, but we didn't care. We got back to the hotel. Josh and Curtis wanted to walk around, but I was tired. They left and I went to bed.

We got up the next morning and ate breakfast at the hotel. We got our car out of the sliding number puzzle and headed home. The trip home was uneventful. I dropped the guys off at the Memphis Airport to get their car. I got back about 8pm. It was good to get back. We had a blast and made a wonderful memory.

Blue Orleans...

As I watched UK's game with Baylor in the Elite Eight, I began to get more and more excited. Not only was UK winning with ease, I knew something special was going to happening again. By some amazing chance, I had been selected again in August for Final Four Tickets. I never dreamed UK would go two years in a row. But things were falling into place for us. I had reserved hotel rooms last summer in New Orleans just to be safe. Josh had already worked things out with his company to be off to go. Unfortunately, Jonathan could not go. He is an officer in his local American Institute of Chemical Engineers and had to go to a conference at Clemson (obviously Clemson assumes they will never have to worry about the Final Four). I had already sold his spare ticket on Stubhub the week before. Josh's roommate Curtis was wiling to buy the other ticket. The game ended with a Kentucky victory and we would be going to the Final Four!

The plan was for Josh and Curtis to meet me on the way. They drove down from Lexington on Friday. I had decided the best place for them to leave their car was at the Memphis Airport. I met them there and we headed out. I had decided to stay in Canton Mississippi at a Hampton Inn. I got a fabulous deal on two rooms with my Hilton Points. We went to eat at KFC close by. We almost had a horrible incident right at the start. As we pulled into the restaurant/gas station, a car backed out quickly as we drove behind it. Josh yelled and I dodged it fortunately (shhh.. don't tell Donna). We ate and went back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the final 3 hours of driving the next day.

We got up the next day and headed out. The drive went fine. I had set us up rooms that night at the New Orleans Airport Hilton. It was about 15 minutes from the Superdome plus it was close to where we'd planned to go to church the next morning. The checkout time was also 1:00pm. We grabbed lunch at Denny's near the hotel and checked in. Curtis and Josh were very impressed with the place. It was a very nice hotel and not really expensive either. We rested a bit and since Kentucky played Louisville in the first game, we headed out. I had tried something for parking I'd read about online called ParkWhiz. I reserved a parking spot a week before in a lot close the Superdome. You print out your parking pass and then just show it to the attendant. We headed out. I had a little trouble getting to the lot because of some closed streets in downtown New Orleans. Once we got there, the pass worked like a charm and we parked with no problem.

It was only a one block walk to the Superdome. There were people everywhere of course, but it didn't take that long to get in. I was a bit concerned about our seats though. Last year in Houston, we were in the middle tier. This year, we were in the 600 level which is the top tier. It took quite a while to go up the circular ramps to our seats. When we got to them, I was pleasantly surprised. We could see pretty well especially considering how high we were. I talked to the guy who bought the extra ticket from us on Stubhub. He was from Lafayette and had decided to come since he was so close. Kentucky played OK in the first half. However, it seems like anytime UK made a strong move to the basket, they were whistled for a charging call. UK got up by 12 early in the second half, but Louisville came back to tie it at 49 with about 9 minutes to go. I started to worry. But Michael Kidd-Gilchrist got a couple of buckets. Terrence Jones hit a jumper and Darius Miller hit a huge three and Kentucky ended up winning by 9. We stayed for about half the Ohio State-Kansas game. It looked like Ohio State was going to win. We got some food at McDonalds on the way back. I watched the rest of the game at the hotel. Kansas came back to pull the game out at the end.

We knew we'd get to see the championship game! I'll finish the tale of our trip in the next blog post.

Yum

After I found out UK had indeed gotten the number one seed in the NCAA tournament and would be playing in Louisville, I starting trolling around for tickets. I found out I could some lower arena seats at a reasonable price. I talked to Josh and he was all for it. Jonathan had a mid-term in one of his classes and couldn't go. I bought two tickets and got a hotel room outside of Louisville on I-64 and Josh agreed to meet me there.

I had no trouble getting there. Josh met me after work at the hotel and we headed out. There was a Zaxby's about a mile away so we decided to get food from there. It was OK but it wasn't up to the usual Zaxby's quality. The chicken strips were smaller than usual. We ate as we drove to the Yum Center where the game would be played. We ran into a little traffic on the way there but nothing terrible.

I had scouted out a parking lot but upon arriving, we found it would be 20 to park. One block further away (at the Louisville Slugger baseball stadium) it was only 10.00 so we parked there. We had plenty of time so we walked around. We went down to the Ohio river shore and then walked to 4th Street Live. Josh had visited that area several years ago on a school trip. He was heartbroken to find a place in the food court where he'd gotten good breadsticks was gone. As we exited, we could see dark clouds and some lighting. The began to really pick up so we ran for the Yum Center.

The Yum Center is the new basketball arena in downtown Louisville where the Louisville Cardinals play. I wanted to see how this new place looked. As we got close there was a huge crowd trying to get in and beat the storm. They only had a few doors to come in to. We managed to squeeze in seconds before a downpour started. It was still jampacked inside. There was one escalator and two sets of stairs to get up which created another bottleneck. We finally got up to the seating level. It's a pretty nice new looking stadium but honestly I wasn't very impressed. I am biased but I like at Rupp how you actually are inside while waiting in line to have your ticket scanned. There are also are a lot more lines to get in there.

The seats were excellent. The stadium was full of Blue of course with a few Western fans sprinkled around. UK jumped out to a 10 point lead then let Western catch up. They didn't play really well but finally generated a run to go up by 19 at the half. Kentucky roared out to 30 point advantage but let up several in the last 5 minutes to win by 15. They still looked very good though. We decided to stay and watch part of the Iowa State-Connecticut game. I was really concerned about UConn because I thought they had the talent to hang with UK. My fears were unfounded. They looked terrible and as if they didn't care at all. They got down 20 in the fist half.

We left with a few minutes to go in the first half. We had no problems getting back to our car and no problems getting out and back to the hotel. We stopped and got a Frosty at Wendy's just like old times. I watched ISU finish off UConn. Josh drove back to Lexington and I went to bed. We had a thorougly enjoyable time.

PCS

A couple of Saturdays ago, I had something happen to me that started off a couple of the most bizarre weeks I've ever had. I got up early Saturday morning (about 1AM) with an upset stomach. I went to our front bathroom because I thought I was going to throw up. I remember feeling really hot and clammy and thinking I was having a heart attack. Next thing I know, I am laying in the floor with Donna and Jonathan looking over me. The back of my head is really bleeding and they are really upset.

All I can figure is when I thought I was having a heart attack, I got up to go get Donna and I passed out. Donna said she heard this loud crash and found me in the floor. I managed to crawl to the couch to lie down. Donna woke me up every hour or so to see if I was OK. I got up that morning and felt a little tired but thought I was OK. I even got up the next morning and went to church and even taught Bible class. However, I knew I wasn't quite right. I would get really dizzy when getting up and my head had this full feeling.

I was no better Monday morning. I tried to go to work, but stayed only an hour then came home. Donna called Dr. O'Bryan and he wanted me to come to his office and see him immediately. I got there and he checked me over. When I laid down and tried to get up, I was really dizzy. He ordered blood work and a CT scan. He got on me a little bit for not going to the ER Saturday morning. To be honest, the last few times I'd been to the ER with mom, it was so crowded and crazy, I didn't want to go again. So, he talked to Western Baptist to have the tests run outpatient. I went and it was amazing. I was in and out with both tests in less than and hour and a half. I couldn't believe it.

When they gave us my results, I had not had a heart attack or stroke. My CT scan showed no bleeding on my brain. Dr O'Bryan had told me if all these tests were clear, I had Post Concussion Syndrome. I'd heard about this from keeping up with the NFL. He felt I'd suffered a concussion and PCS is simply the result of that and it takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to get over it. He told me I had to lay around and rest for a few days with no driving. I rested til Thursday and wasn't much better. Donna called him and he said as long as I had no new symptoms, that I should be OK. It took two full weeks before I was better.

It was a good thing on one way. Since I wasn't supposed to work, I was able to sit with mom the last few days she was alive. If I'd been working, I would have wrestled every day with whether to go to work or be with her.

I learned a couple of lessons. One, if I hit my head hard, I should go to the ER. Two, I need to have more sympathy for NFL players who get concussions and don't go right back to playing. I remember Kevin Kolb got one for my team, Arizona. He sat out several weeks and ending up missing the game I went to see them play against the Bengals. I couldn't understand why he couldn't play. Now, I totally understand.

My mom..

Yesterday was my mom's funeral and these were my notes when I got up to talk about her. A lot people told me they really enjoyed and appreciated what I said, so I am posting them.

I want to thank all of you for coming here today to honor my mom.
It’s impossible to say all the things I could say about my mom without talking for hours and hours. She of course was the best mom a son could have. We had a really good relationship. I can only remember one thing we really disagreed on. I had really really long hair when I was in high school. I wore it down to my shoulders and only got it cut twice a year. She didn’t like it at all. In fact, she pronounced the ultimate mother’s curse on me “Stuart, you’ll never get a girlfriend with that long hair”. I remember her bribing me once to get my hair cut. I had just gotten a brand new 8-track tape player for my car. If you are under 45, you’ll need to ask someone older what that is. My mother offered to buy me a brand new set of speakers if I got my hair cut. I did and she kept her end of the bargain and she bought me my new set of speakers. And by the way mom, I got a haircut yesterday.

She taught me a lot of things in my life. She taught me that a parent will always care and be concerned for their children no matter how old they are. I remember when I’d go on trips for my company and would fly, I would tell her and she’d always want to know that I got there safe and made it home OK. I turned one of those milestone birthdays last year. I planned to run a marathon when that happened. I told my mom about planning to do that. Her reaction was “Stuart, are you sure you can handle that”? You see, when I was a little boy, I had allergies and asthma really bad and my mom spent a lot of days and nights taking care of me. I had trouble running very far at all then but I eventually got to where it didn’t bother me anymore. I ran the marathon last December, and you know who the first person I called when Donna and I got back to our hotel. I could hear the pride in her voice as I told her about my accomplishment. Now that my sons are adults, I know exactly how she felt about me.

My mom was a big fan of the Wildcats and the St. Louis Cardinals. She’s the one that really taught me to love the Cardinals. The first year I was really a Cardinals fan was 1974. My mom took my brother, sister and I to St Louis to see a couple of games. I remember we took a taxi from the hotel to the stadium and how neat I thought that was. I saw Bob Gibson strike out the 3000th batter of his career in one of the games. I remember her commenting years later about that and saying “I can’t believe I managed to handle taking you all on that trip”. I remember listening to a game on the radio in September of that year. The Cardinals tied the Mets in the top of the 9th inning on a home run by Kenny Reitz. I remember going to bed after that. I heard a strange sound at about 1:00am. I went into our kitchen and mom was listening to the game. It was in the 19th inning still tied. I listened to a few innings and fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning I was frantic to know who won – see there was no Internet, no ESPN to find out from. My mom had stayed up for the whole 25 innings and told me how the Cardinals won on a bunt single and a wild pickoff throw. I went to several playoff games this year and I remember my cousin Donna Miller telling me how mom excitedly told her she’d seen me on TV. She was so happy when they won the World Series last year.

Another thing she taught me to care for others more than myself and that’s one I still don’t do like I should. She was the one who always was my room mother at school, helped with Cub Scouts, and volunteered with the PTO. I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts from our childhood friends who remembered how mom always welcomed them into our home and treated them like her own. I’ve learned how much she cared for my cousins Donna and Johnna when their mom (her sister) died when they were young. I remember how she treated my wife Donna like her own daughter. We used to laugh that it seemed like she actually got nicer presents for Donna then she did me for Christmas. She gave Donna a beautiful plaque called “My Other Daughter” that still hangs in our house to this day. Whenever there was a get-together to eat anywhere, my mom was always the one serving everybody and making sure they were well taken care of and she always ended up being the last one to eat. When she got older, she embarked on a new career of caring as she worked at Lourdes Child Care. She ended up with hundreds of extra grandchildren in addition to the seven she had. Every time we went to Lourdes, most everybody we met working there knew “Miss Nell” and remarked how wonderfully she treated their kids. I guess to sum up, she showed me that love wasn’t a pie that you only had a limited amount to split up. She taught me love was like a spring or a well so that no matter much you took out there was always a never ending supply to give.

And that flows into the most important thing she taught me and that was to be a faithful Christian. With what I’ve gone through the past several weeks, I know I could not have made it without that faith and the help of my Heavenly Father. I don’t know how people without this make it through difficulties. When we were young, she would get us up every Sunday morning and take us to church. I can tell you that I sometimes put up a resistance but she would make sure we went. I remember how happy she was when I was baptized into the Lord’s church as a teenager. I remember when I went away to UK she asked some people she knew that lived there to make sure I had a place I could worship. When I first got out of college, I worked in Louisville. I was not faithful at all and I would remember her chastising me whenever I got home to go to church. I ended up coming back in 1984 to work in Paducah. She got me going back to church then. I now have a wonderful Christian wife and two wonderful Christian sons ultimately because of her. I am a deacon at the congregation here and I remember seeing her cry with joy when I went up to say a few words when I accepted that responsibility.

That last day mom was alive, my sister asked me to read some scriptures from mom’s Bible that I have right here. I’ll leave you with a final thought from that. I read the account from II Samuel 12. King David’s newborn baby boy was really sick. David spent days in fasting and prayer to God. But, the baby died and his servants were afraid to tell him fearing what he might do. They were surprised at the fact that he merely cleaned himself up, ate and worshipped God. Verse 23 of that chapter is his explanation why. I am even more resolved to make sure I live the life I should in obedience to God to make sure I go where she has gone. I can tell all of you here that nothing would make her happier than if the people that are here in honor her would make sure they live their lives in obedience to God so they could be where she is now too.

Thank you again for being here and may God richly bless all of us.