What's up?

Life’s been a little hectic lately but just as exciting as ever. I spent the week, last week, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee facilitating for the Department of Energy. They’re in the middle of a program for the last few years in which they are attempting to bring federal employees together from all of their facilities across the country to write procedures, which all employees can follow. And you thought you had an exciting week.

On Monday I drove to Reagan, left my car there and flew into Knoxville on US Air. My car wasn’t ready at the Enterprise desk so they ended up giving me a brand new minivan/4x4 thing that was actually fun to drive. It’s about a forty-minute drive from Knoxville to Oak Ridge with hardly any traffic even during rush hour. I stayed at the local Double Tree, which I’ve stayed at before (you know, the place that gives you a warm chocolate-chip cookie when you check in).The work at the DOE was one the boring side but the people from all over the country were nice and easy to work with.

While I was gone, Dani and Barbara were home with our Golden Retriever, Lady. They spent most of the days at the pool with friends and in the evenings my folks stopped by a to have dinner with them but the most exciting evening for them was when they had a sleep-over at my brother’s house. The highlight of the evening was when they sat down to watch the DVD of the Simple Life, season four. My brother Bill was an unwilling participant.

When I checking my flight prior to coming home on Friday I realized that my return flight came into Dulles instead of Reagan, I really should have paid closer attention. I think from now on I am going to purchase my flights directly from the carrier instead of going through Travelocity and such. Fortunately, Bill came to the rescue and picked me up at Dulles and drove me back to Reagan during Friday rush hour. He will surely get into heaven because of that.

A dear friend of ours from church passed away and his funeral service was held Saturday. His name was Francis Gipson, an African American in his 80’s. The reason I mentioned that he was an African American is because of the impact he had on so many people with his life stories. Francis was one of the first troops to land on the beaches in Normandy with his all black platoon. As he found himself lying in the sand while so many other soldiers around him were being killed he prayed this one little prayer that has stuck with me, Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord. Whenever I don’t know what to say in a prayer I go back to Francis’ prayer.

Mr. Gipson was also a college football player who, I am told, would have been drafted into the NFL if he was white, he was that good. Francis left a huge impact on all that he met whether it was shaking their hand or helping someone out. He also help to start the Men’s choir at church 16 years ago. Thee men’s choir sang at the funeral service and I was also honored to be asked to sing a solo, Amazing Grace. Francis started asking me to sing at his funeral about nine years ago, I kept telling him to take his time.

On Saturday night Barbara and I took Dani to Dulles after her dance recital so she could fly to Florida to see her mom for a day or so before she met her friend Marikaa as they set sail on their cruise to thee Bahamas! On Sunday Barbara and I headed back to Dulles so she could visit her mom in Florida for the week while Dani was gone. I am sick of Dulles. I got pictures from Dani’s phone on the ship and I am sure she is having a fantastic time.

Rehearsals for A Funny…Forum are going well. I’m having a great time working again with my friends John Hollinger and Steve Hayes but man, oh man; I have a heck of a lot to learn before this thing opens. I’m doing a lot of yelling in the show; I hope my voice holds out. The show is at the Riverside Dinner Theater in Fredericksburg and runs from the beginning of August through October. I’ll be doing most of the Thursday show plus Friday & Saturday nights and Sunday matinees.

Dani is coming back on Saturday in time for us to go to orientation at Shenandoah University on Monday and then we pick up Barbara on Monday night. That’s right, DULLES!

I promise I’ll post some graduation pictures and such coming up soon!

A Few Thoughts from Jim

A plug for Mark Minnick’s blog and his latest interview with a dear old friend, Anita O’Leary (http://thefollowspot.blogspot.com/) but don’t go there until you’ve read and commented here first.

I am thoroughly enjoying my new position at The Perspectives Group in Old Town. I have been working with them for a few months now and the schedule is daunting. The main project I am working on now is with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors as they implement a plan to end homelessness in the county within ten years. It’s pretty aggressive but I have been working with about 100 government, nonprofit, faith-based organization, and private company employees who are all a lot smarter than me. There’s a huge group of citizens who devote a lot of volunteer time to work on this issue. The people whom I work with at The Perspectives Group are also fantastic in their own right. It’s a real blessing for me that I am now part of their team.

Dani has her senior prom tomorrow night at the Key Bridge Marriot. She’s going with a large group of seniors from West Springfield High School in a huge limo. She doesn’t know a lot of the kids but I think she’s going to have a great time. There will be a picture taking opportunity at one of kids houses so I’ll post a few shots of her and the rest of the group in a few days.

What comes after prom? Graduation! Dani is so excited to be graduating and to be able to move on to college. She really would have liked to have skipped her senior year and have gone straight to college because she felt she was ready and was done with high school. Her graduation will be held at GMU’s Patriot Center on June 13th. Barbara and I ,my folks and brother and sister will be there as will her adopted uncle Doug. Her mom will be flying up from Florida for the festivities, Mary’s folks will be there as well. After graduation Dani will be taking a cruise with one of her dearest friends, Marikaa and her grandparents. Then Dani comes back for a mission trip to Mississippi/Katrina followed by another mission trip to Tri-Cities which she has done for the past six years. After all of her travels she and I will be going to orientation at Shenandoah University at the beginning of July.

So, you may ask, “Jim, how are you going to keep yourself busy over the summer, other than with your job, taking care of the house, taking care of a puppy, etc?” Well, Ron Wehman and Steven R. Hayes asked me to come down to Riverside DT in Fredericksburg to play Pseudolus in a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It’s a role I have always wanted to do but because of my work schedule I didn’t think it was a good idea. Compromise, my friends, compromise. They said that since I couldn’t do all of the performances that I could do the Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday matinee shows. Also, some Thursdays when I don't have work conflicts. That works out great for me and for Steve since he’ll be playing the role when I’m not on and he has done it before. I’m excited that I get to do the show with some old dear friends especially John Hollinger. John and I started doing shows together at the Lazy Susan about 24 years ago. John’s a great guy but I don’t understand how he has aged and I haven’t. The show runs through August, September and October. I have a ton of lines and lyrics so I have to get my butt in gear.

Today is my parent’s 49th anniversary! I can’t tell you how happy I am for them. I’m not sure what they’ll be doing to celebrate but I do know that I have to start planning for next year. How can they celebrate a 5oth without their kids throwing them a huge party?

Barbara is going to a week of summer camp while she’s in Florida this month. So far they have gone to Chuck E. Cheese, the movies, and had Ice Cream day. Whatever happened to outside sports, arts & crafts, etc? Anyway, she seems to be enjoying herself. We went shopping for a phone for her to add her on to the Family Plan with Dani & myself. I wanted her to be able to call me whenever she wanted to without always asking to borrow her mom’s phone. She’s now the coolest nine year old since she has the Strawberry Chocolate phone, ooooooo.

My friend Doug Osborn, who is a Major in the US Army, is finally back in the area. Over the last three years he has been sent to Iraq ( a few times), Afghanistan, and for the last nine months he has been stuck in Rock Island, IL . The nine-month job was supposed to last a month and a half. But he is back and finally able to sleep in his own bed. It looks like he’ll be able to stay here for a good while. He has also added a new member to his family. He adopted a pug puppy named Sammy who has been his traveling companion for the last few months. They look just like each other.

Speaking of puppies, our golden retriever, Lady, will be seven months old next week and is growing like mad. She really is a great girl but there is no doubt that she’s still a puppy. You have to watch her all of the time just so she doesn’t get into things she’s not supposed to. She and Dani have become great pals, I’ll post some new pics shortly.

That’s about it from the Lawson. Have a great day and God Bless!