I can check this off my list now!

Our church held a Good Shepherd Night at the T-Bones event last year. They're trying to make it annual tradition. The T-Bones are a quasi minor league baseball team in Kansas City.

They asked for a volunteer to sing the National Anthem, and I stepped up.

I was really nervous and stressed out that day. Just ask Veronica and the kids... I bit their heads off every 10 seconds. Sorry.

The first few seconds were cut off, but here's the video. Afterwards my "handler" that brought me down on the field apologized. He said he always forgets on Saturday nights to tell the singer about the fireworks during the "bombs bursting in air," part. I was like, "What fireworks? I didn't hear anything?" I was too frozen in a thousand yard stare to even notice!

And, yes, I'm well aware I sang "perilous night," instead of "perilous fight." Oops.

We Still Believe In Your Mission

Well, here it is. July 3, 2007. 231 years ago tomorrow our country adopted the Declaration of of Independence declaring our independence from Great Britain.

It wasn't easy, and it wasn't a smooth process. People died in the battles to gain that independence.

Today people around the world want freedom just as we did, but they face much more dire circumstances.

Here in the US though, most of you are more concerned about Paris Hilton's homecoming from prison than about our men and women helping secure freedom for those people. Not to mention their freedom means more security for us.

At one time a majority of you did care (at least you said you did,) but because it wasn't resolved in a microwave minute you lost interest.

I still care, and our military still cares. Why don't you?

I hope the people in this slideshow still care. I bet they do.

Thanks to Lynyrd Skynyrd for the awesome music. Sorry it's so choppy. Looks great in raw format, but my YouTube skills must be too green still.

Grandpa Quinn, the kids and I hit the town!

Grandpa Quinn came in town for a visit on June 9th. He and I took to the kids to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Bloch addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

We didn't time it this way, but we were fortunate enough to get there just as the cutting took place simultaneously at several entrances to the museum. We also lucked out and picked an entrance where hardly any people were lined up. In contrast, there appeared to be hundreds of people coming down the ramp from the main entrance when we got inside. Luck is good!

We also went down to Brush Creek on the Plaza and checked out some of the fountains, the annual Dragon Boat Race and had lunch at McDonalds.

It was a great time! Click on the vid below.

Helen Sherlock has passed

My grandmother passed away on June 12th.

She will be missed, but we take solace in knowing she is in heaven with her soulmate, Joe Sherlock.

I was entrusted with several photos of her to put together a video slide show in her honor. Here it is.

Tomorrow's the day

Although I've been plugging away at tests, first appointments and training for weeks, my official start date with Farm Bureau Financial Services is tomorrow.

I'm ready, but I wish it would have come sooner.

Here's to success!

I'm going to try this again!

This is actually the third blog I've started in several years.

If you've ever done it before you know they are notoriously difficult to keep updated with everything else going on in your life.

I'll try to do better this time.