Who would'a thunk....

...that at 57 I would be working as a graphic designer for the local newspaper...not me. I had even been a paperboy. I had different aspirations growing up, from working in zoology, architecture, teaching history, to being a restaurant owner. The US government threw me a loop in October of 1972... I was drafted, joined the USAF the next day and shipped out to San Antonio on Dec. 7th. My day of infamy. It changed my whole life...I really had no idea what I was going to do with my life when I graduated...well, an idea...but how was a big factor. This way I had a few years to figure it out and get paid for school on the old GI Bill when I got out, if that was my decision...and almost 4 years later it was...now what? 1976....lot going on...school in 77...so what does this have to do with anything....do not let circumstances dictate who or what you will become... Make a plan now...most LDS young men know that at 19 they will serve a mission for Jesus Christ. So, do you have any idea what happens after that? School, marriage, family, career of making ends meet and finding happiness at the same time.....try to look at the future and envision your life...make the happiness available, have a career that will provide a living for your family comfortably and able to have time to spend with them. So look at what you really enjoy in life now...build upon it, make your dreams happen and don't let others control your destiny. As for me, I do love what I do...nothing like working in a creative advertising atmosphere and making a living at it. I am truly blessed, and circumstances that were beyond my control had a lot to do with it, up to a certain point.... So get it in gear! Living your "dream"? Tell us your story...

TIME is so precious...how is yours spent?

One of our most touching books is called: To A Child Love Is Spelled...T-I-M-E.

TIME IS THE RAW MATERIAL of your relationship with your child and must be guarded at all costs. It's true what they say: a bucket with a hole in it gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over. Life will shout a thousand demands to take you away from time spent with your child. If you permit the urgent to rule, you will lose time you can never recover.

What happens in the changing life of your child today will never be repeated. All the gold in the world cannot buy back either the little delights of the day or the big pleasures that happen without announcement or a plan. You simply have to be there.

Today, I'd like to share the introduction that was written by Lance. Here's a warning: Once you read it, you'll never forget it! It can grab your heart and not let go!



The Introduction from

To a Child, Love is Spelled T-I-M-E
by Mac Anderson and Lance Wubbels

In the faint light of the attic, an old man, tall and stooped, bent his great frame and made his way to a stack of boxes that sat near one of the little half-windows. Brushing aside a wisp of cobwebs, he tilted the top box toward the light and began to carefully lift out one old photograph album after another. Eyes once bright but now dim searched longingly for the source that had drawn him here.

It began with the fond recollection of the love of his life, long gone, and somewhere in these albums was a photo of her he hoped to rediscover.

Silent as a mouse, he patiently opened the long-buried treasures and soon was lost in a sea of memories. Although his world had not stopped spinning when his wife left it, the past was more alive in his heart than his present aloneness.

Setting aside one of the dusty albums, he pulled from the box what appeared to be a journal from his grown son's childhood. He could not recall ever having seen it before, or that his son had ever kept a journal.

Why did Elizabeth always save the children's old junk? he wondered, shaking his white head.

Opening the yellowed pages, he glanced over a short entry, and his lips curved in an unconscious smile. Even his eyes brightened as he read the words that spoke clear and sweet to his soul.

It was the voice of the little boy who had grown up far too fast in this very house, and whose voice had grown fainter and fainter over the years. In the utter silence of the attic, the words of a guileless six-year-old worked their magic and carried the old man back to a time almost totally forgotten.

Entry after entry stirred a sentimental hunger in his heart like the longing a gardener feels in the winter for the fragrance of spring flowers. But it was accompanied by the painful memory that his son's simple recollections of those days were far different from his own. But how different?

Reminded that he had kept a daily journal of his business activities over the years, he closed his son's journal and turned to leave, having forgotten the cherished photo that originally triggered his search.

Hunched over to keep from bumping his head on the rafters, the old man stepped to the wooden stairway and made his descent, then headed down a carpeted stairway that led to the den.

Opening a glass cabinet door, he reached in and pulled out an old business journal. Turning, he sat down at his desk and placed the two journals beside each other.

His was leather bound and engraved neatly with his name in gold, while his son's was tattered and the name "Jimmy" had been nearly scuffed from its surface. He ran a long skinny finger over the letters, as though he could restore what had been worn away with time and use.

As he opened his journal, the old man's eyes fell upon an inscription that stood out because it was so brief in comparison to other days. In his own neat handwriting were these words:

Wasted the whole day fishing with Jimmy. Didn't catch a thing.

With a deep sigh and a shaking hand, he took Jimmy's journal and found the boy's entry for the same day, June 4. Large scrawling letters pressed deeply in the paper read:

Went fishing with my dad. Best day of my life.

Will the one of best day's of your children's life be yours? What are some of your "best days" experiences with your parents? Please share and bring a smile to all that read and rekindled that spark.

Lessons Learned from Life

Life is a unique experience for every single person. Everyone has their own memories, their own perspective, and their own take on the world. While much of life can only be experienced, below are a few lessons that seem to stand true in a majority of people's lives.

In Yourself

• You shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do.
• It takes a long time to become the person you want to be.
• Either you control your attitude or it controls you.
• It isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
• Your background and circumstances may have influenced who you are, but you are responsible for who you become.
• Credentials on the wall do not make a decent human being.

In Relationships

• You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
• No matter how much you care, some people just don't care back.
• It takes years to build up trust and only seconds to destroy it.
• It's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.
• True friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. The same goes for true love.
• Just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
• Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
• You should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
• The people you care most about in life are always taken from you too soon.
• Even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

In Life

• You can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
• Heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
• Sometimes when you're angry, you have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give you the right to be cruel.
• No matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
• You shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
• Two people can look at the exact same thing and see completely different things.
• No matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.
• Your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
• It's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.
• You can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.

TIME to test your mind

Subject: Dementia test
It's that time of year to take our annual senior citizen test."
Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert. If you don't use it, you lose it! Below is a very private way to gauge your loss or non-loss of intelligence.

There are only 5 questions, so don't get all excited and confused yet.

Take the test presented here to determine if you're losing it or not. The spaces between the question and answers below are there are so you don't see the correct answers until you've made your answer.

OK, relax, clear your mind and begin.



1. What do you put in a toaster?









Answer: "bread." If you said "toast," maybe you should give up now and do something else. Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, bread, go to Question 2.





2. Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk." What do cows drink?







Answer: Cows drink water. If you said "milk," maybe you shouldn't even attempt to answer the next question. Your brain is apparently over-stressed and may even overheat.
Content yourself with reading a more appropriate literature such as Auto World. However, if you said "water", proceed to question 3.





3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?









Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said "green bricks," why are you still reading these???
If you said "glass," go on to Question 4.





4. It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall , Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany ) Anyway, during the flight, TWO engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of "no man's land" between East Germany and West Germany Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany, West Germany, or no man's land"?










Answer: You don't bury survivors.





If you said ANYTHING else, you're in real bad shape and for your own sake you must stop. If you said, "You don't bury survivors", proceed to the next question.





5. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales In London, 17 people get on the bus; InReading , six people get off the bus and nine people get on. In Swindon , two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff , 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea , three people get off and five people get on In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven. What was the name of the bus driver?










Answer: Oh, for crying out loud!





Don't you remember your own name? Or have you forgotten it was YOU driving the BUS!!







Now pass this along to all your friends and pray they do better than you.

PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!!


Bonus Question:

You are in a house. The house has four walls, and on these walls there are four windows that as you look out them they all face the south. A bear is at one of the windows. What color is the bear?


White. It must be a Polar bear because you are at the north pole if all windows face south.

Hard lesson

Sometimes it takes another to make you realize the feelings you have buried for so long. I was talking with a collegue at work this morning abuout my latest find at a thrift store...a tennis racket for buck nintey-eight and how Spencer would enjoy that..and she was laughing at my find and said maybe he would like something new some time....and I said he does get things new, that I had learned some hard things from our oldest son, things he never told me until later about things that I had bought him and how they made him feel. The tears were coming and I needed to leave...I know that I have done the best that I can for kids, for who I am...could I have done more...hindsight is 20/20! It really hit me hard how important an education is. I have had a really great time in my profession. I love advertising and design and the creative process and to be compensated for this is fantastic. There were many paths I could have chosen and I remember all the forks in the road, some that I created and others that were thrust upon me. I pray that my kids and others will look to all the opportunities given and take advantage of their time in school to really learn, seek counsel and find what it is in life that you truly have as a passion. What are you passionate about and have you done all that you can in your life to see that you embrace it? It is never to late...trade your sorrow for joy and let me know if you made it happen.

Is what you said what I heard?

All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest, hmmmm....Simon & Garfunkel, The Boxer

The key to poor communication of men, sad, but true....just a moment of reflection
Sometimes it is best just to hush and listen...and listen...and listen and ....

Time to lay off the dead beat legislator

When we don't do the work we get fired. When the bosses decide that the economy is stripping them of cash they layoff. Who? Usually those that are not producing or the ones with least seniority. So what happens when the government is not doing what it should for the people... Nothing...so we have to wait another 4 years to vote them out... There is no penalty for when they are not producing the legislation that will help us to rise above the recession. No consequences when the lack of participation in the House or Senate has penalized us with less income, housing problems, healthcare issues, immigration problems, just to mention a few. Think hard and make sure that when you vote the next time you do your homework on the issues and who will be your best advocate. Next time is a ways...so what do we do now? Make your point felt by letting your representative know you are not satisfied, even a mite upset, angry, as to where we are as a nation. Unload on the right people.

Things that really annoy me

Having grey hair before I really thought it would happen (I know, at least you have hair--one of the comments that really annoy me)
Seeing my retirement funds retiring themselves.
People that do not know how to use a turn signal.
Not moving out of the left lane on the hi-way(they want to police our speed.)
Not getting to my wished height
Friends that really do not act like friends
Pimples at 57
That actors get paid more than any teacher
That Jay Leno really is coming back to TV
Good shows get cancelled
etc, etc, etc.....what annoys you?

If you never ask you will never know

I have no problem talking to people. Ask my family and you will probably get some kind of embarrassing tale of woe. I always seem to run into someone I know wherever we go, and conversations can go on, and on... but this time it was a complete stranger. This guy was watching our group as we were participating in a pioneer celebration. I saw him and was prompted to go over and talk to him. We talked about old junior highs in the area, he had gone to Mayberry and I to Hadley, fierce rivals in my day. He seemed to be in his forties and we continued talking about the area, what we do and the topic turned to why he was here at the park. Old memories of hanging out before school...had come back to town to see family...where had he come back from? Panama City, FL. No way...some of my old stomping grounds during school. We exchanged stories about living there, how much it has changed and our own memories...small world? All because I was not afraid to ask a simple few questions.... how many people do we encounter on a daily basis that if we were to talk to them and ask a few questions, would open avenues of knowledge? How well do you really know the people that surround you, at work, family, church...enlarge you circle and see how far your ripple will travel. Start small and ask your best friend to tell them something you never knew. Have fun with this and let me know what happens...if you will...please

The Jaygawkers among us

Going down the local hi-way that intersects Wichita the other day I was caught up in a traffic jam of sorts. I was headed east bound and was listening to the radio for what was the problem. Flash...a roll over accident had taken place in west bound traffic about a half hour ago and they were getting things cleaned up. The west bound? Here I was sitting in the east bound and it was backed up from I-235 to Meridian...so what was the problem in our lanes? Jaygawkers!!1 People having to slow down to see what was happening...causing delays and the potential for other accidents. Move on, I realize your concern for the others in the accident... But there is nothing you can do for the situation, but move on and stay safe. Anyone else ever encountered this situation and frustration? Am I overreacting?

Late summer nights and forging memories

My son has been taking advantage of the summer nights and being able to stay up late...can't blame him, school is not that far off. But he asks me to stay up also and I still have to get up for work, ...but those times are precious. We talk, watch movies, growl at each other, make goofy faces, chow down and other assorted late night antics. Reminds me of times with my dad and late nights after closing the Hut together. We would grill some steaks and watch Memorable Movie, but mostly talk and see what was happening. Soon after I entered the Air Force and those times were put on hold. I have always enjoyed the relationship with my parents, through the hard times and the good. But my dad and I have been close because of time we worked together. Well...he worked and I helped out...cleaning buildings for extra money, building dune buggies, helping out at the gas station, spending time at the old Harpool offices...just being with my dad I was able to appreciate his work ethic and relationships he had with others. Relationships that I want to reinforce with my kids...and if it means sacrificing some sleep, so be it. It is well worth the effort. Spend time where and when it matters...and if you want share some memories of times with your parents that made your bonds a little closer

401 or not K

So who is going to bail us out? We are the ones that are paying for the banks, auto manufactures and mortgage bailouts and where does that leave us? In debt up to our ears, looking for part time jobs just to get by. So what do we do? Wait it out? Look at extra years of work just to make up for the losses? Invest what we can on low market stocks.... A million ideas, but what will really work for you? Your thoughts please

Big & Tasty for so much more

So what is up with taking the Big & tasty off the dollar menu? McDouble? Double the trouble and no salad in the mixing. I always ask for no mayo, no pickle and add mustard. I miss the $1 fix and want it to come back...I'm fried and fed up

Who is stringing you along?

Ever felt like a puppet? Somewhere, somehow some one is pulling the strings and you are moving in a direction that is not in your control....you want to cut the strings and yet you know if you do you will be out of control or really on your own. Obligations stand in your way or family or both. you are afraid of what might happen. you don't really enjoy the helplessness but it is easy for someone else to be at the helm. What do you do? Has this ever happened to you or is it happening now? Now is your chance to unload.... be fair and don't lash out..who is yanking your strings?