My source of joy; my family

This picture is a few years old now... it does represent an evolution, we learned the hard way that the "critical mass" of kids for "miserable disaster" involving "formal" (ie coats, ties, dresses, new shoes etc) family photo's was FOUR!

The grunge look was just right. You will note the "free t-shirts" on the adults! My youngest daughter Hope could not find her shoes! (so what... that IS our Hopie). The photographer could not get over, "what a fun family, I have never had people who had FUN in the studio". But OH if she could have only seen the LAST one!!

Introductions

This is my first post.

I have been encouraged in this endeavor by my daughters and my young colleagues. As I contemplated the construction of such a blog, it occurred to me that I had NO idea where to start!

At the tender age of 46, I certainly have no lack if opinions, in fact I have been told that I have more "variety" than likely my share.

After some consideration, I have chosen something that someone else wrote! This article was written back in the fall of 2004 by Joyce Smith, who is a reporter for the Kansas City Star. I chose this because of her meticulous efforts to get it "just right".

She interviewed me and members of my family repeatedly over a two month period and spent the time to get all of the nuances right. I cannot really describe much this article positively affected our lives which I will chronicle to some degree as we go. Suffice to say, once someone read it, I had to spend very little time on exposition as to what I was "all about".