The Cycle of Life.

Paul relaxing after a tiring day.

Mark giving Paul a welcome kiss.

I have not posted in a while, mainly because I have to get motivated to sit down at the computer and put my thoughts into words. Sometimes it is because I have no words. Sometimes I have too many words going on in my head and I have to be sure that what I say is really appropriate. This time I am torn between overwhelming happiness and the sadness of losing people close to me.





On November the 8TH we were blessed with grandchild number eleven. He was born in Washington state and is all the way across the country from us. We are chaffing at the bits to see him. His name is Paul Atticus Sedlacek, he weighed 7 lbs and 13 oz and was just 19 inches long. Hopefully he grows taller like his dads side of the family. We plan to make the trip to Washington before the New Year. Thankfully Cody got to come home from Afghanistan to be with Sarah for the birth. We will be relieving him later this month at which time he will be returning to finish up his third deployment. The kids are loving having their dad home and Sarah is glad to have him there to bond with Paul and spend a little time with Luke, Charlotte and Mark.

This past week my cousin Ronnie Oldham passed away. He had been sick off and on for almost a year now. He died on 11/11/11. Ronnie was another one of the talented Oldham kids. He was a musician/songwriter and had worked with multiple artist including Percy Sledge, Hank Williams Jr, Narvel Felts and ZZ Hill to name a few. He was in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and had received other musical awards.

It always amazed me how much talent was in my family. My dad and all his brothers could play just about any instrument they picked up and could harmonized there voices so well. We had keyboard players, guitar players, drummers and songwriters. My cousin Judy had a beautiful voice when she was a teenager. She could sound just like Brenda Lee and Connie Francis and would always get up and belt out a few girl songs at dances we had at the rec center. But for all the talent in the family it was not evenly spread around. I myself took piano lessons for nine years and still can't play, even for my own enjoyment. I have numerous other cousins that are every bit as untalented as me. Maybe the talent is there somewhere but the rest of us just have not dug deep enough to find it.

Maybe the next generation will inherit some of the musical talent. Andrew is learning to play the piano, Matthew works at the guitar, Emily is in the chorus at school, John Pearson has a guitar, I think maybe David has some entertaining qualities in him and Luke has been told by his teacher that he has both a sense of rhythm and beat. Who knows maybe the talent is still hidden in one of my grand kids.

For Everything There Is a Season

For every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.