UPDATE ON MY PHOTOGRAPHY CAREER

Chris and I discovered this display of pumpkins recently at our local grocery store.  We shot this one to add to our portfolio on Shutterstock.

Our most popular photo is of our son's African talking drum.  

Many customers have downloaded this close-up of  a Native American stone.

The next thing we need to do is learn how to put our photos on social media.

THEY CALL ME BILLY BOB

Davy and Jay in 1954.  I recall telling Jay to comb his hair.

It was two years after Chris and I married that Chris told me that I didn't know why I believed what I believed.  He also said he didn't believe what I believed.  This challenged me.  I began to study the Bible.  My parents bought two Bibles for me.  First I read through a paraphrase of the Bible called "The Living Bible."   Second, I used the New International Version of the Bible to study for my class in Bible Study Fellowship. 

Jay babysitting Davy.

Shortly after that Chris nicknamed me Billy Bob after Billy Graham because I preached so much.  I began to recollect that I had preached to my brothers as well.  

Me babysitting Davy

First I told Jay to comb his hair. Then I told Davy not to kick people in the back of the head when doing headstands in the back seat of the car.  Then there was the time when I was fifteen and Wayne was two.  He refused to eat his peas.  I told him that there were children in Africa starving as they had no peas to eat.  He cried and left the table.  Many years later he became a missionary to Africa.  He taught Jr. High students how to plant gardens.  

Evy babysitting Davy

 Evy babysitting Wayne and Davy

 Davy babysitting Wayne

Me babysitting Wayne and Davy

If you ask me now I can tell you why I believe what I believe!

 Jay supervising Davy

GRANDPA WAS CORRECT

Grandpa, Mom, and Davy in about 1955

My grandfather, (my mom’s father), lived with us on and off from the 1950’s to 1965.  He passed away in November of that year at age 84. I think the reason for this need to have him live with us was his depression at being so far away from his “girls,” and his lack of a regular job to keep him busy.  His increasing dementia may have had something to do with this also.

We lived in Virginia and his home was in Washington.  Because of the long distance from Spokane, WA to Alexandria, VA this involved tricky logistics of helping him travel to Virginia from Washington and back again several times a year.

I have the letters my parents wrote to each other and to others who helped with Grandpa’s transportation.  One time it involved my dad and Jay traveling with him.  Another time it was my mom with him.  They hitched rides from the Eau Claire, Wisconsin relatives many times as well. 

You may ask why I believe that my grandfather was correct in his thinking.  He was correct about the Communists.  As I recall he wanted to build a fall out shelter in our backyard in Alexandria.  I’m not sure how far he got on it.  My brothers may know.  I was out of the loop after I left home in 1961 for college. 

It could have been just some paranoia but I think Grandpa knew that Communism was an evil form of government.  It flew in the face of his faith in Jesus.  Communistic governments demand that the State is worshiped and not God. 

The Ken Burns special on PBS this month only covers one side of the war in Vietnam.  The Christians who still live in Vietnam today can tell the rest of the story.  They are persecuted and threatened with death and prison.  Here is a recording from the Voice of the Martyrs telling how a pastors wife in Vietnam struggled with the police over her Bible.  They wanted to take it away from her but she was willing to die or go to prison before she would give up her Bible.  Here is another interview on a podcast from the Voice of the Martyrs.  These same conflicts go on in every Communist nation.  Communism is evil and needs to be eliminated.  It will be eradicated in God’s timing.