Beech Tree News Network

Often when little girls play dress-up, or dolls or "house," they affect a different accent . . . a foreign, or maybe New York brogue . . . which of course is also about as foreign as you can get. Or sometimes they give themselves names more glamorous or different-sounding than their own. First wife Bett said she always gave herself the name "Suzanne."

My phone rang last Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m.  When I glanced to see who it was, I was surprised to see that it was one of the social workers I know, who works with foster parents.  In my sleepy fog, I thought to myself, why is she calling us?  We are a closed home. 

There’s a tee shirt I’ve got to have.  It reads: I Have CDO  It’s Like OCD  But The Letters Are In Order.  That pretty well sums up my attitude on a whole host of topics, and none more so than the subject of closing doors behind me (physical doors, not metaphorical ones).  Like many things in my life, I can trace this particular obsession back to an experience from my childhood.

It's been a few weeks since I've taken the time to sit down and write my article.  I have always said that we make time for what we want to make time for...so for those of you that's asked me where I've been, here is a little bit of that answer.

New Laws on the Books Beginning July 12th

FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 5, 2012) – While most of the public’s attention was focused on the passage of a new budget for the Commonwealth, and the redistricting fiasco that ended up in the hands of the Kentucky Supreme Court, we in the General Assembly were busy approving more than 160 bills into law.

Friday June 29, I went to Nashville for my sister’s wedding at Riverwood Mansion. It was 109 degrees at the time of the wedding-not exactly comfortable weather, especially since I was one of the guys in a tux! A day after the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been involved in, my family met my new brother-in-law’s family at Monell’s At the Manor, located at 1400 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37217.

Extended family vacations are memory makers. Recently, 15 of us (representing four generations, ages 4 to 81) spent some time in a house in Florida. Previously, we had not been away together for more than a long weekend. Our vacation was memorable.

Pray for the children entering foster care today, that they find an appropriate, kind and loving foster family to care for them until their birth families or relatives are able to do so.

Pray for the sibling groups of children entering foster care today, that they will be placed together in one foster home.

Pray for all the foster children in care, that their first foster home is also their last foster home as multiple placements rob children of stability and love which is required to build the self-esteem needed to grow into responsible, caring adults.

More Than 235 Years Later, We Are Still Fighting for Our Freedom
 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It’s been more than 235 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote those words as part of our Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 and the reason why we celebrate Independence Day.

What I saw from the bench at Wal-Mart: After an hour or so of people-watching, I saw fat women in stretch pants---not good. I only saw two real plump (real plump) women in short-shorts (I did sort of risk one eye). I also saw one or two old knobby-kneed men in knee-length shorts. Also not good. All in all, I did see a lot of obese adults . . . not many fat children. That's good.