I Would Have Taken Your Place

Time stood still when you were in the water

Calling to God was all I knew to do

9-1-1, hair plastered, your clothes dripping

My body ached to hold you

Wail of sirens, body board, neck collar,

Calming words, maintaining control

Had I given you a happy life? Did you feel loved?

Had God saved your soul?

The blur of sounds in the ER

Severe pain, fear, dread

Touching you, looking in your eyes

I wished to God that it were me instead

Many parents have known the feeling
A hurt child -- others see him as a man

My little boy, I could lose him

How can this be part of the Plan?

Minutes became hours

Hours have become days

Time has changed life

You've grown in so many ways

Always so proud of who you are

Now, even more so

Using this time to further help others

To mentally and spiritually grow

Cliches have real meaning now

The plight of others more understood

To everything there is a season

All things really do work together for good

Connie Riggs

Summertime Means Fishing!

We usually catch perch and bass from our pond, but thought there might be some catfish there also.  Clay caught the first one today! Whoo--hoo!! What a fisherman! 

Shade Tree Mechanic

J.R. found a go-kart for Clay at the scrapyard....minus a motor and several other very necessary components. :)  He took the motor and gas tank from a tiller, and the sprocket, gasket, chain and who knows what else from here-and-there.  All of these, along with Clay's paint job, have been a fun project for Clay to learn from.  

The most important message we're trying to send to him is that fun can be created without spending lots of money, and how rewarding it can be along the way. The money saved can be used to further someone else's happiness....it's a win-win situation.

Shade Tree Trainee

Ummm....Is This My Son?

Barley leaves for stunt driving school today.  He explains why  HERE.  There actually is a method to this madness.....  :)

Happy B'day Barley!

It's been a wonderful 18 years, Barley!  You've been easy to raise.  ;)  I love you!

Barley's cake toppers were a culmination of his interests over the past few years:  sheep, pilot's license, basketball, jeep, mudding, Bible, politics and Route 66.

He leaves for stunt driving school in Florida on June 19th, hence the checkered flag for the inside of the cake.

Barley memorized this poem a few years ago:

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Swiftly Flow The Years

How can this be?

Almost six foot, three

A blue cap and gown.

Born eleven pounds, six ounces

Two o'clock feedings and horsey bounces

First smile -- giggle -- words, written down.

After one week in a daycare crib

Realizing the World had told a fib

The briefcase was closed and Mamma stayed home.
Dandelion flowers, dirt piles and skates
Legos, cars, a balloon sale, check-mates
Who would have dreamed how fast he'd be grown?

Compassionate, hard working, friendly and true
They ask, "Is he this way even at home with just you?"
Yes, he's the same -- a real man all the time.
A guinea pig first born child
A lickety split Mother, his Father steady and mild
The prodigy, an objective thinker who spins his truck on a dime.

That first embrace when just a babe

And all the memories that have since been made

Seeds sown -- what a glorious reaping!

Cotton top hair, now brown, too soon grey

One thought on this graduation day

May the Lord continue his keeping.

How can this be?

A blue cap and gown.

Connie Riggs

It's Lambing Time!

One of Barley's ewes had her lambs today. The other ewe should be lambing soon.

Received This E-mail From Barley Today...

When I'm An Old Lady

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with my son,
and make his life happy and filled with such fun,
I want to pay back all the joy he's provided,
returning each deed. Oh, he'll be so excited
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

I'll write on the wall with red, white, and blue;
and bounce on the furniture wearing my shoes.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, will he shout!
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

When he's on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, he'll snap his fingers and then shake his head,
and when he is done I'll hide under the bed.
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

When my son's wife cooks dinner and calls me to meals,
I'll not eat my green beans or salads congealed.
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
and when she gets angry, run fast as I'm able.
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

I'll sit close to the TV, thru the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both my eyes to see if they stick,
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
and play in the mud until the end of the day.
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

And later, in bed, I'll lie back and sigh,
and thank God in prayer and then close my eyes;
and my son will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
and say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping,"
.. . . when I'm an old lady and live with my son.

Barley's new site HERE