HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

The wife & I are celebrating 48 years of wedded bliss today. Yes, wedded bliss. Through valley lows & mountain highs, it has truly been blissful, & I have been blessed far beyond what I have deserved. Lois has been a faithful help-meet, especially during my months of recovery from my serious accident. She is a godly wife, & she has been a blessing & a godly role model for our children & grandchildren. I think I got the better part of this deal. Here's a prayer for a wedding anniversary.

"Heavenly Father, on our wedding anniversary I come to your throne of grace with a prayer of thanksgiving. I am grateful to you for my spouse. I bless You that by Your direction the pathways of our lives met & our hearts were united in true love.

"I thank You, dear Lord, that our love for each other has been preserved & strengthened through the years. In Your divine wisdom good days & bad, health & sickness, & all other experiences have bound our hearts & lives closer to each other & to You, our God & Lord.

"I confess that I have not always been as kind & thoughtful as I should have been. I regret that I have sometimes been selfish & indifferent. Help me to make amends. teach me to be quick to forgive & to forget any fault of my spouse, even as You no longer remember my sins for Jesus' sake.

"If it be Your will, grant us additional years of wedded happiness; cause the love that unites us to become stronger each day. When our life is over, take my loved one & me to the heavenly home that You have prepared for those who love You. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen." My Prayer Book

And just so you know, I got Lois a really expensive card, & I'm taking her to Divot's Downtown--a new restaurant, highly recommended by our daughter Rachel. Because that's just the kind of husband I am.

ACCIDENT UPDATE

I have made a lot of progress since my serious accident on Jan. 8, when I ran a red light on the way to church & got hit by a firetruck. It could have been so much worse, & I am thankful to God for preserving my life. I am also thankful for the many thoughts & prayers that have come my way.

My ribs are still somewhat sensitive--I fractured 3 of them. My right hand, which I fractured, still lacks some strength & flexibility, but I completed my OT & have exercises that I do at home.

Yesterday I had an epidural-steroid injection for my neck. Although I've suffered from a degenerative condition for years, the accident definitely aggravated my symptoms. One of the side effects is high blood sugar, which I'm experiencing, but I already am experiencing some relief. I'm not really supposed to be feeling much relief for 24-48 hrs.

RESOLUTIONS REVIEW

Here's the report card for my 2023 New Year's resolutions.

> Average 1 road trip per month. C+ T hanks to our trip to visit the kids in MN over Memorial weekend, we're up to 3. Our trip to Europe next month will get us closer.

> Lose 5 lbs. A+  I've lost 16 lbs so far, thanks to my "pseudo-diet." I probably could have set my sights a little higher.

> Add to our NP list. A+  We visited Biscayne NP in FL lasts FEB. There's a chance we might add a couple more parks to our list later this year.

> Avoid desserts. C  I was doing abysmally until I was diagnosed with seriously high blood sugar in FEB. Since then I've been doing much better. I'm trying hard to count carbs.

> Exercise & walk at least 4X per week. C  I've been walking just about every day lately in order to prepare for the serious walking we'll do in Greece & Turkey next month. I'm up to about 2 miles per day.

> Publish my "Buzzwords" devotion book. C  It's been a slow process. I'm still working on my final edit, & then I have to find a publisher.

> Write a new devotion book. B  I'm work on a 52-week "Chapter & Verse" booklet, & I'm making slow but steady progress.

G.P.A.  B

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

We've been keeping up with our favorite procedurals on Paramount+ (CBS). We've also been watching back-seasons of S.W.A.T. on Hulu. It's hokey, yet entertaining.

WHAT I'M READING

I finished reading "Becoming FDR:  The Personal Crisis That Made a President," by Jonathan Darman. The personal crisis was polio, which definitely shaped him. The author is an obvious FDR fan, but he doesn't hesitate to share FDR's foibles. He also shares some disquieting info about Eleanor. Overall I would give it 4 stars out of 5. I started reading, "In the Steps of Saint Paul:  An accessible guide to Paul's travels," by Peter Walker, in preparation for our trip retracing Paul's missionary journeys in Greece & Turkey next month.

TRENDING NEWS FROM THE BABYLON BEE *

* Your trusted source of fake news

> Study finds Target going woke has gotten more families out of debt than Dave Ramsey.

> Due to high crime, Mafia closes its Chicago office.

> Conservative wife turns into pillar of salt after looking back at Target.

> Man at Tower of Babel upset he didn't get the cool British accent.

> Deal reached on debt ceiling as McCarthy offers Biden two pints of chocolate chip ice cream.

> With all other companies going woke, conservatives make last stand at TX Buckee's.

> Local woman has more Hobby Lobby decorations than Lobby Hobby.

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE CALIFORNIA . . . 

"CA lawmakers to honor anti-Catholic sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member, despite Dodgers backlash." Fox News Online

. . . LIKE NEBRASKA

"Tax credits for private, parochial school scholarships passes. Nebraskans will soon have the opportunity to get tax incentives for donating scholarship funds for private & faith-based schools under a bill passed in the Legislature." Norfolk Daily News, 5/25

. . . LIKE ALABAMA

"AL bans transgender female athletes from women's college sports. FNO. Because, common sense.

"Alabama becomes first state to ban discrimination against mullets." Babylon Bee

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

"Liver, insects, sardines--oh my!:  8 'gross' foods that nutritionists say you should eat." NRO. I actually like sardines.

"John Kerry, climate crazies are coming for your burgers & 4th of July." NRO 

6 TERMS FOR VORACIOUS READERS

1. Bookworm (English); 2. Book caterpillar (Finnish); 3. Book moth (Hungarian); 4. Library moth (Romanian); 5. Library rat (French); 6. Book swallower (Welsh). Uncle John's Awesome 35th Anniversary Bathroom Reader

CORPORATE CAUTION

"A new era of corporate caution? Don’t threaten me with a good time. Imagine a beer company that just wanted to make good beer and sell it to you. Imagine if that company wanted to sell beer to everyone but didn’t feel that its job was to make you more accepting of transgender individuals, any more than it felt its job was to warn you about the national debt or teach you the value of standardized testing in public schools or warn you about North Korea’s intercontinental-missile program. Imagine a beer company that liked its existing customer base and didn’t feel a need to reeducate those customers and get them to give up their “fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor.” Jim Geraghty, Fox News Online

TOAST

"Social Security is toast. So is Medicare.Too many of us old people live longer, so there are not enough working people to support us. Soon both Social Security and Medicare will be broke." John Stossel, Townhall. And why aren't people connecting this to the millions of unborn "working people" who have been aborted since Roe v Wade?

SCARING CHILDREN

"As nearly every standardized test is showing, our schools are doing an abysmal job teaching kids how to read or do math. In some cases, kids graduating from high school can barely read their diplomas.

"But the schools are wildly succeeding with their climate change indoctrination program. When I speak to kids on high school and college campuses and ask what the greatest threat is to their generation, the answer isn't China's aggression. It isn't a drug abuse problem that is becoming the leading killer of our children. It isn't the failed schools or the corrupt government or the more routine violations of freedom of speech. It isn't the $32 trillion national debt soon headed to $50 trillion. (I always remind the kids, I won't be paying for this Mount Everest-sized debt burden. YOU will.)   

"No, they almost all raise their hands and moan that they are most worried about global warming or "climate change." We are raising a generation with millions of Greta Thunbergs. A Daily Telegraph poll found that more than half of teenagers surveyed believe that the world "may end in their lifetime" because of climate change. No one has ever told them that the climate has been changing for as long as the planet has existed. They've apparently never heard of the ice ages. The earth has gone through centuries of warming -- and that was before air conditioning, which the climate czars want to take away from us to combat warming. Figure that one out." Stephen Moore, Townhall