don turns 40

Mike and Mary had us and the rest of the family out to celebrate my 40th birthday.  We played at the lake, went out in the boat, pulled the kids in the tube and played on the water slide (yes, I even took a few runs down the slide…)!!  I got a 160 GB iPod for my birthday..  That is more storage than all of my computers together have!  Anyway, we had a good time and enjoyed each other very much.  Check out some video of the kids at the lake and Abbey riding on the tubes!

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adam’s birthday

What a night we had last night!  Adam and 16 of his closest friends and family took a ride downtown in a stretch Hummer limo to the Hard Rock Cafe.  We had a good meal, enjoyed spending time together and celebrated Adam’s birthday.  The kids really enjoyed themselves, especially with the guy at Hard Rock who had his hair up into a spike (you’ll have to see the pictures and video to appreciate it).  On the ride home, we stopped off at the water wall near the Galleria to let the kids run around and then headed home for cake and ice cream.  AWESOME!   Adam, we love you and are so proud of you.  Happy Birthday!

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my birthday

So, I turned 40 today.  I have no intention of getting all nostalgic or anything like that.  It is just another year that God has blessed me with.  So, rather than dealing with all of the traditional 40th birthday stuff (black balloons, stupid references to mid-life crisis, etc.) I got some really cool birthday wishes..  Everyone at work signed this great card and gave it to me.  Several old friends from junior high and high school got in touch just to wish me a happy birthday.  I am planning on meeting up with a few of them for lunch next week.  When I got home, Connie and the kids took me out to eat dinner, where I had to get the obligatory birthday riot act, but I had such a great time with my family.  Good food and family time, no “Lordy, lordy, look who’s 40″ stuff.  Christoffer, our “son” from Germany, sent me a birthday greeting, with this great picture attached:

In the end, I am a blessed man to be surrounded by people who care so much for me.  Happy Birthday!

Foster Care

No, Connie and I are not looking to add any more children to our family…  However, I did just complete a web site working with a fantastic team of individuals at Rio Bend.  Rio Bend is a foster care community that is geared towards providing a stable home and community environment for kids that are in today’s foster care system.  The main focus is to correct all of the faults that exist in today’s foster care system that impact the children that are involved.  The concept and vision was created by Tom and Christine DeLay, and has been successfully executed with the hard work of hundreds of volunteers and contributors.   Please visit the site, read the materials, take the tour, and if you are led, make an online contribution to this community.  Click the link below to go to RioBend.org.