A Brand New Year-2006...

Here it is-the first day of a brand new year.

First, let me honor my Angel, Rebecca, who went to be with God on the first day of the year of our Lord, 2001.

Rebecca was a wonderful person, the least likely you'd think would die at the young age of 44 years. She was a tribute to the human race, a person who was loved by all who knew her. Below is an excerpt of my second talk with God. It was about goodness; It was about Rebecca. It was about the first day of the life of Rebecca.

" ...I spent the rest of my tour of duty at Fort Bliss, Texas.

While I was there a girl I had known in Odessa, Texas, came to Fort Bliss and, after a day or two, she and I married. Our life was uneventful for a time with nothing outstanding happening to us. Then on August fourteenth, 1956, something happened that would change my life forever.

Sometime during that day a nurse at William Beaumont Hospital, Fort Bliss, Texas, handed me a small bundle. I took the bundle into my arms, very careful to hold it just right. My heart pounded and I felt weak and anxious. I moved the edge of the blanket that surrounded the tiny bundle and gazed upon the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever beheld! I could not speak. I could hardly breath. The tiny face that peered back at me was so radiant I was dumbstruck. She was such a lovely vision I could not begin to describe the feeling I got by just holding and looking at her. Looking at her and holding her made my heart soar to Heaven. Then, from my total existence, I heard the voice of God for the second time.

He said," James, as I promised you, here for you is a lifetime of pure 'Goodness'. Love and cherish this child and you will know 'Goodness' Forever! She is Rebecca!""

Our son, Barry, went to heaven this year as did our Aunt Maudie. Barry was our oldest boy as was Rebecca our oldest girl.

Now each year I have two more birthdates to celebrate, Barrys and Aunt Maudies.

I guess last year actually started in December of 2004. I think the tsunami that killed so many people is a good place to start.

It was the day after Christmas when an undersea earthquake sent a monster wave in all directions and wiped out many towns and killed more people than we probably still know about.

If that wasn't bad enough, hurricane Katrina came along and wiped out much of the southern coast of the United States. New Orleans was almost destroyed as were parts of the rest of the southern coastline cities.

Thousands of people offered aid and comfort to the victims of the Katrina disaster and things started to look up; that is until the advent of Hurricane Rita.

Here we go again! The people of the southern area were no more than barely beginning to recover from Katrina when Rita hit. Now people who had come to Houston to flee the wrath of one hurricane were now fleeing Houston from yet another hurricane.

A lot of things happened during the year of 2005 but I won't get too far into them.

One thing I will mention, though, is our boys and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan. I thank God for them and thank them for making such a sacrifice so I can piddle around with this blog and do all the other things I do that don't mean much to anyone except me. That's freedom. That's what it's all about.

I hope God is merciful to us this year. Our health has been good and we have little to complain about. Donna and I have each other and we still have our children and brothers and sisters to love. And we have Chico the Wonder Dog.

And we have good friends with whom to associate on occassion.

I'll leave the more extensive flourishes, the national and international outstanding events, to someone else and keep this brief. Now to kick back and see what is in store for us during this, the year of our Lord, 2006!

Later...