Events...

Driving to Brownwood for the visitation of Jay Adams, we had a blow out. After a quick study of the tire, I realized its future was hopeless and decided drive a little longer to find a better spot to change it. Luckily my three boys (practically men now!) were with me. So each of us had a job to do and we got it changed. It would not have been difficult, except for the "packaging" of the system was challenging. Getting the spare tire was especially difficult due to strange instructions in the manual. Finally out of frustration, I crawled under the car and muscled the thing out of its imprisonment. We got it in place and went on our way, all of us dirty, tired, and more than a little cranky.

But I was pleased with how my boys jumped in and helped. They didn't even text message while we were working on the tire. In a few days Jacob, the oldest, will be married to Olivia. We love her and realize he made the perfect choice! She is a special young lady whom we are honored to have in our family. Sometimes I remember my little boy holding my hand when crossing streets and asking me lots of questions, watching sports shows, movies, and singing children's songs. But I'm glad he grew up and now is taking the next step in adult life--marriage! He has also recently had a research project accepted and will be flying to Rhode Island in October for a poster presentation.

Lost another good man this week--Jay Adams. Fine coach, fine man, loved his family. Jay made the world a better place with his values, his personality, and his love of life. Family and fishing ruled the day for Jay who kept his Christian faith throughout his life. He was 53 when the cancer finally won. He will be missed and leaves behind a wife and three daughters.

I can't believe how poorly I played piano this morning. I can really be average at times. I just get a little nervous trying to lead from the piano and sing at the same time. It probably was okay, but I didn't feel great about it overall. Yet worship is really not about me but is about Praising God. Maybe people can overlook my imperfections and Praise God anyway!

Okay, I ended up marking through the forged signatures on two first editions and selling them to Hastings for $5.00 each! One of these books cost me $250. Quite an investment--pay $250 and sell it for $5.00. Talk about a market drop. Oh well. I suppose I could have lost my self-respect and waived my integrity and tried to sell it as a real signature, but I just don't have that in me. Better to rid my stock of the crime, than to perpetuate the evil. You may think I am overstating this but I believe that forging a signature is an evil act of criminality that should be prosecuted. Just because it is a book does not make it any less of a crime. It is a form of identity theft. Books gone and my integrity still intact. In the end, maybe my integrity is worth more than money. What do you think?

Book collecting and selling sure has its ups and downs. I have learned much and my business continues to flounder. Still it is nice to be a small business owner. Just gotta keep working at it. Meanwhile, I have lots of music to write.