They Make Me Smile - Abbie

Do you have someone in your life that the mere sight of them coming toward you or just seeing a picture of them makes you makes you smile?   I have come to realize that if we have only a few like that, we are truly blessed.

Now, if your reaction was something like "Oh sure, I know lots of people like that," then you do not understand what I mean.  I really hope that some day you do.

One of these special people in my life is Abbie.  I want to tell you about her.

Now, I've known Abbie's mom for a long time and Abbie since she was about 4 but I clearly remember the day she became special to me.... she was about 9 at the time.

I was standing in the back of our church after the morning service and turned around to see Abbie running toward me at full speed. When she was about four feet away she left the ground and yelled "Mr. Buzz!". Abbs landed in my arms and.... well... I was hooked :-)

From that time on, a huge reason I looked forward to being at church was to see Abbie and catch her as she flew through the air.  What a treat for me.  And what made it so special was that we would have these great talks about life and what she wanted to accomplish.  Abbie dreams big and I will not be surprised when she accomplishes big things.

I remember clearly the  day Abbie turned 12. She came bursting into our Sunday School room, threw her arms around me and said with such pure joy. "I'm twelve... I'm twelve!!!" She was so excited to be growing up.... for the moment.

That very afternoon I was enjoying listening to our choir practice when Abbie walked up and I noticed she had tears streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong and she so very pitifully cried out, "I'm twelve!!!".   She had just realized so was TOO OLD to go to the kids youth group anymore.

It was about this same time that a very sad thing happened.  Abbie was truly growing up and she had grown into a beautiful almost teenage young lady.  I turned around in church one evening and she was just leaving the ground headed my way.   Well, if I hadn't been ready we'd have both been on the ground... or in the E.R.  Abbs was getting too grown up to keep flying into my arms. I cannot tell you how sad that realization made me.  But, I do have to say, she still gives some of the best hugs ever.

Abbie has become one of the most spiritually minded young women I've ever known.  She truly loves the Lord and wants everyone she comes in contact with to come come to know Jesus. I have seen her moved to tears over people's souls.

This picture was at her 14th birthday party.  What a privilege it was for Kathy & I to be invited. Wow! How could she possibly be 14 already???

There is soooo much more I could tell you about Abbie and maybe I'll write more on her later.  But, for now, I want to list her as one of the true blessings in my life.  I just can't wait to see what God has ahead for "Princess Abbie".

Te quiero mucho Abbs!

Herb Paynter

Herb Paynter was one of the most faithful and honorable men I have ever known.

And one of the most important things he ever did was to be my precious wife Kathy's Dad.  You can read a previous blog entry about how I first met Herb HERE.

Herb immediately impressed me as a man who cared about others more than himself.  I had never had that trait in my life.  Everything had always been about me and what I wanted.  I saw in Herb something radically different and it had a profound influence on me.

I really liked Herb from the beginning because he was a true entrepreneur. He thought of things and then tried to make them a reality.  Didn't matter if the idea was virtually impossible.  Herb would give it his best shot.

He was a carpenter and a painter.  Actually very good at both.  I knew nothing about either but Herb patiently taught me those trades and we later spent hundreds of hours working together on various jobs to put food on our tables.  I had a blast.

I had never seen a happy marriage or a loving family. Until Herb and Doris allowed me into theirs.  I still don't get how they had the guts to accept me.  I was really rough and not just around the edges.  Herb and Doris taught me that you could have a great marriage and a lot about how to do just that.

Herb never had much materially and he taught me what really mattered in life.  He "showed" me how to love my wife as Christ loved the church.  His actions were so loud he didn't have to say much.

When Herb came up with the idea for a ministry called Tel-Evangelism in the early 1960s, he ran with it.  It was way before voice mail and he thought that if you had a clear and short recorded presentation of the Gospel that people could call on the phone, lots of people could hear about Christ. He also thought that there could be a phone number given at the end of the recording for people to call and talk personally to someone about what they had heard.

The idea was genius.  Anyone who was not interested did not get to the end of the message so only those who listened to the entire Gospel presentation even knew about the live person who they could talk. Over the years that Herb and Doris headed up this ministry, literally thousands of people around the world accepted Christ as their savior. I was blessed to be a part of this ministry.

Herb loved dogs.  Cats, not so much. He and Doris had a little Beagle they named "Snooper." Snooper would wait until they opened the door a couple inches and gave it her all to get out and run wild rolling in unmentionable things.  Many a time I watched Herb running down the street after Snooper yelling "Put you head down! Put you head down!".... She rarely did :-)

Herb loved all our dogs and they sure loved him.  Ruffy (the best dog to have ever lived) would sneak out of our back yard, run down our street about 7 houses, make a left, run down that street 6 houses and scratch on Herb & Doris' door. The phone would ring and Herb would say "We have Ruffy". Ruffy knew how good he'd have at at Herb's.

Even our bizzare and nutso dog KC won Herb over.  KC actually bit Herb a couple of times.  Once KC grabbed Herb's pants and ripped them while snarling.  Herb's response was always the same.... "Aww, he didn't really mean it."

I remember when Herb was in failing health, he was at a reunion in 2002 we put on for those who were involved in the church and youth ministry he was a part of in the 50s and 60s.  Herb was a fabulous song leader and loved to do it. So, when he had the chance to lead these people, who he loved, once again, he jumped at the chance.  When he was done he lost strength rapidly and our friend Lee Stanford noticed that and wheeled him out of the room.

We put him on a couch in the lobby while we called for an ambulance.  We turned around when we heard singing and over 100 people had come out, surrounding Herb, and were singing to him.  What a precious scene that was.

Not long after that we had to come to grips with the fact that God was calling Herb home. He was getting weaker but never lost his desire to see people come to Christ and to teach others how to share the Gospel.  We actually had over 25 people in Herb's hospital room at one time!!

Herb's grandson Ken was in a singing group and the group made a special trip to the hospital to sing for Herb.  Herb was almost in heaven.  What a super treat for him and we'll forever be grateful for these young men who gave of their time and talent to honor one who had served Christ for most of his life.

Go here to see the guys sing to Herb in his hospital room:
Hospital Singing

I sure do miss you Herb. See you real soon.
The Buzzard

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What is that noise???

Not long after we were married, Kathy and I moved to Philadelphia and had a fabulous year and a half there. I got hired as the Youth Pastor of a great church (another blog entry coming on that) and Kat worked temp jobs and then got hired at a doctor's office.

Even though we had a blast in Philly, one of the disappointments was that we were away from Miami when our niece Kim was born. We were in contact with Herb & Joan (her parents) so we got all the blow by blow info but we regretted not being there for the birth.

We took a trip back to Miami and headed over to Herb's place to meet this new niece.  As is normal in Miami, it was very hot so we had the air on in the car. As we pulled up to the place, I said to Kathy "What is that noise?"  We opened the window and there it was.... a screeching... no, a howling... no... I had never heard anything like it before.  It was our Kim!!!

Here she is on her first birthday.

Since we never had kids, I've never been too, shall I say, baby positive. I don't usually like little kids until I can have a conversation with them but, this turned out to be different. The second Joan let me hold her I was a goner. I fell in love right then and there and still love her deeply to this day.

That day started a long relationship between Kim and I that has been a true blessing to me. I can't imagine my life without her in it.

Summertime In Atlanta!

This is one of my very favorite pics of Kim.

When Kim was 4, she and her brother Kenny (8) started coming to spend the entire summer with us in Atlanta. This happened for many years and we loved it. It's actually a miracle they survived these summers since we and they had no fear.

Our house was on a HUGE hill with a very steep driveway that the builder had to curve in order for a car to be able to actually get up to the top. When Kim started skating, I would get on my bike and tell her to hold on to the back.  We would take off down that hill and had to be going 30 mph when we hit the street.

She would squeal with delight and she never once fell.  That really was a miracle. We could have killed her.

Go out there and find someone to play with!

Kathy and I didn't really know what to do with Kenny and Kim beyond trying to break their necks on the driveway.  So, one day I saw Kim looking out the window at a couple of little girls playing in the street.  I said, "Go out there and tell them you want to play with them." She looked up at me with those super blue eyes and said, "OK". And she was out the door.

When we moved into a new house, Kim actually came to spend the whole year with us.  What a treat that was.  She turned 12 while she was with us and we got to be in on her becoming a teenager. When she got there I took her out in the front yard (no hill here) and pointed at some people in a yard about 4 doors down.  I said to her "That's our church Youth Group meeting down there.  Go on over there and introduce yourself."  She looked up at me with those same amazing blue eyes and said, "OK."  And she was off.

When our little dog Chippy died we were heartbroken but Kim had other ideas.  She came to us one day with the newspaper classifieds and pointed to an ad for an Adoption Day and said"we're going to this!" Kathy and I were still heartbroken over losing Chippy and refused but Kim wore us down and we went over there.

There was a big box of Lab/Golden Retriever mix pups in the parking lot.  Kim walked over to it and saw one of the six pups quietly sitting in a corner.  She pointed at it and said "that's the one!" She scooped him up and we took home what was to become the best dog in the world, Ruffy. I can never thank Kim enuff for finding him.

The More Names You Have The More Loved You Are!

Yep, that's what Kim said to us not too long ago. We call her, among other things; Kim, Kimberlee, Kimberlee Layne, Peanut, Peanut Butter Sandwich, PBJ, Tootsie, Tootsie Wootsie, Honey, Baby and more.  And yes, we do love her beyond measure so, I guess she's right.

I have a lot more to say about Kim but I'm gonna save that for another post.  Let me just skip ahead to now and say what a true joy she is to me. I love my Tootsie!

Here's my favorite pic of Me with Kim exactly where she always should be:

The Buzzard

Hello, I love You! Won't You Tell Me Your Name??

Do you believe in Love At First Sight?

I'm not sure if you can actually fall in love at the first sight of a person but I sure came close.  When I was 14 I had just become a Christian and I was anxious for all my friends to hear about Christ as well. I had a good buddy named Frank DePadova.  We hung out a lot at his house since we never knew if my Aunt would be drunk and lock the door at mine.

The guy who first told me about Christ, Wally Crowder, and I decided we wanted Franky to hear the Gospel and Wally suggested we take him to a guy who was really good at explaining it. That guy was Herb Paynter. So, we picked up Franky and drove about 15 miles down to Cutler Ridge where Herb lived. Herb had no idea we were coming but that didn't matter to him.

We rang the bell and Herb opened the door. Wally said "This is Frank.  Can you tell him about going to heaven?" We physically pushed Franky into the house where Herb was very happy to talk to him.

Before we turned to walk back to Wally's car, SHE WAS JUST 17, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? AND THE WAY SHE LOOKED WAS WAY BEYOND COMPARE... I SAW HER STANDING THERE! Hmmm?  Sounds like a great Beatles song. I was taken back by her.  I have an indelible image in my mind of what I saw.  She was putting a record on  the HiFi.

Beatles Fans Click To Hear It. Be sure to come back and finish reading.

For the next few days, I couldn't stop thinking about her.  I didn't even know her name. I think Wally told me it was "Kathy". "That's the coolest name ever," I thot to myself.

From that point on, I couldn't help notice her at youth meetings and church.  I remember she sang in a girls trio and, to this day, I would rather hear her sing than anyone in the world.

In fact, one of the main reasons I started playing the guitar was because Kathy got me interested in music.  Well, I was interested in her and SHE liked music.  Good enough for me. I LOVED to play for her to sing.

What Did She Ever See In Me?
When I met Kathy I was not a guy you would want your daughter to be around.  I was a street kid.  Motorcycle, black leather jacket and a 4 inch switchblade in my sock.  I almost always wore all black. I was a thief.  Actually a very good one.  I figured that if you had something that I could steal from you, well, you didn't deserve it anyway.

I remember screwing up all my courage to ask Kathy out on a date.  I asked her to go to the church missionary banquet with me and, to my surprise, she said yes.  I remember I was so excited that I ran back to the car and actually ran up the trunk, over the roof and down the hood.

NOTE:  We are the adorable couple in the angled chairs on the lower right.

I think Kathy felt she had made a big mistake when I showed up at her place dressed in all black. She had a gorgeous velvet formal on. She later told me she had run to her parents and told them "I can't go out with him looking like that!"  I'm grateful forever to Herb & Doris for telling her she had to go.

Kathy hated my black leather jacket. But, I actually still have it and she will not let me get rid of it.  Here's how I managed that:

When I asked Kat to marry me, she was helping me clean up a room I was gonna move into at a dorm. She had been cleaning the windows with newspaper and her hands were black with the ink.   I got down on one knee and "popped the question" pulling the ring out of the zippered pocked of my motorcycle jacket. Now that jacket is super important to her :-)

I was 147 pounds when we married so I can't wear that jacket any more. But, it fit my precious niece Kim when she was a teenager.  I do have to say it never looked this good on me.

I gave Kat a heart shaped locket exactly 1 year before our wedding.  We would tap it and say "One year to go". She wore and treasured that for years and a few years ago we lost it.  A sad day that was.  But, She still has me!

Sooo much more to come on me and my wonderful soul mate.

The Buzzard

Chocolate Pudding For Lunch!

The memories I have of my GrandMa are very few but vivid.  She rarely spoke English. Mostly Arabic but, it seemed like she was always mumbling something.  I remember that, until she passed away, she and I shared a bedroom.  That never bothered me. In fact, I found in comforting to know my GrandMa was there.

I remember that she began to deteriorate into senility which, instead of scaring me, made me smile a lot. One night I woke up to find her trying to tie a coat hanger onto the shade cord of the window.  "What are you doin' GrandMa??" I asked. "Need a light in the window for Habib", she said.  Habib was GrandDad's name and he had been dead for several years.

The Bed On The Left Was GrandMa's. This was about the age I was when she died.

GrandMa was a fabulous cook. I loved everything she made EXCEPT boiled okra.  That stuff is disgusting and I can't believe my family actually ate it.  Yuck!!

As a young boy, GrandMa would pick me up and sit me on the kitchen counter.  She would then proceed to feed me spoons of white sugar.  Yep.  Plain old table sugar. She told me more than once to "Eat this.  It will make your teeth strong and white." I know you're thinking she was crazy but, to this day, I have not yet had a single cavity.  I still love a big ole spoon of white sugar.

GrandMa didn't smile much because she had damaged teeth.  A couple were broken and, I guess, she was embarrassed.  I was in 5th grade at Silver Bluff Elementary when my aunt Mary picked me up after school.  GrandMa was in the back seat which wasn't unusual.  I turned around to say hi and I was stunned by this HUGE white smile.  She had gotten her teeth fixed.  That changed her personality dramatically for the few remaining years of her life.

Back To The Chocolate Pudding!

A little over a year ago I was at a Cracker Barrel having breakfast when I bit down hard on a hard piece of bacon. It really hurt and it got worse as we drove on to Florida.  I couldn't chew anything.  Had a horrible vacation.

It didn't get better so I screwed up my courage and headed to the dentist. I went to a friend in my church who I knew well and liked a lot, David Anderson.  David and his sweet wife Susan are both dentists and I trusted them. David found the tooth to be OK but filed it down some to get the pressure off.  It got a lot better but a couple months after this visit, I bit down on something and cracked the tooth in half.  Same tooth.

After a few months of stupidly thinking it would get better, I finally went to an oral surgeon and had it removed. 

Have to eat soft stuff for a few days and Chocolate Pudding is definitely soft.  My precious wife just finished making a batch.

I do have to say that because I have never had a cavity, my fear level was really high.  Blood pressure was 199/110. The surgeon sent me home the first time last month but I was able to squeak under the limit this time and get it done.  I just now took my BP and it's down to 139/88.  Not perfect but the stress of the tooth thing was obviously worse than I imagined.

Note Added 4/10/10  - BP is at 127/80 Yay!

Thanks to all who prayed for me through this.  I love you all.

Buzzard

I Hate Dogs.... I mean I Love Dogs....

When I was an infant, maybe about 12 to 18 months old, I was bitten on the head by a doberman pincer. I was too young to actually remember this but it resulted in a rush to Mercy Hospital in Miami along with a lot of blood and several stitches.

Here's how I saw dobermans after that. Actually, ALL dogs.

I'm sure that doberman was not really trying to hurt me since, if he was, I would be dead.  As it was, he put my whole head in his mouth and clamped me.  Maybe he thought my head was a strange pink ball, I don't know.  There may be some scars but all the bites were in the scalp and I've never shaved my head to see if they show.

This was the beginning of my terrible fear of dogs.  It didn't matter what kind of dog or the size.  They ALL scared me and I would do anything to avoid contact with one of those evil creatures. This fear stayed with me until the year Kathy and I were married.

We lived in a great little duplex on 25th Terrace in Miami.  We had the back apartment and the front one was occupied by an elderly Jewish couple, the Shapiros.  Mr. Shapiro had severe emphysema but he smoked non stop.... while wearing an oxygen mask.  And, God help me, they had a DOG!!!  It was a little white toy poodle with bright red painted toe nails. Might as well have been a 100 pound pit bull.  I was terrified it would bite me and I steered clear.

One evening, there was a knock on our door and there stood some friends of ours, Rick and Eileen Rodriguez. I normally would have been glad they came over but, to my horror, Rick had a DOG in his hands. It was a 7 or 8 week old puppy with brown and gold hair.... or fur.... whatever it is they have.

Side Note: Here's the earliest pic we have which was just after we got him.  He's playing with our nephew, Kenny.

They explained they just got this little monster but their landlord told them they could not have it in their apartment and they had to get rid of it.  With that, Rick held him out and said, "here, you guys take him."  Before I could tell what was going on, I had the puppy in my arms and Rick & Eileen were walking back to their car.

I quickly dropped the critter onto the carpet where he graced it with a moist little gift.  Then he laid down on my foot.  I was hooked. How could I be afraid of this little...... fur ball.

The next day was a holiday.  Not sure which one.  We had planned to drive up to Cocoa Beach where my Dad worked and we were not about to change our plans for this little dog.  So, we got in the car and took off.  After an hour on the road. the little guy climbed into Kathy's purse and went to sleep. Maybe he wasn't gonna be as big a pain as I thought.

We were too dumb to get dog food.  We took a package of hot dogs and gave them to this tiny little puppy whole.  He actually fought his way through this challenge. Tough little pup.

Pound For Pound The Strongest Dog In The World!

His name was Ben and we didn't like that.  Because he reminded us of a chocolate chip cookie, we decided to name him Chippy and that stuck.  He grew up to be a whopping 37 pounds but looked a lot bigger due to his ample supply of reddish gold fur.

I've never seen another dog like this one.  One time he saw TWO huge Afghan hounds being walked about 50 yards behind our apartment. He took off and actually blew right through our sliding glass door.... it was closed at the time.  He shattered that door and was on those Afghans in a matter of seconds.  Chippy bit one on the stomach and the other took off squealing like a little piggy.

In Philly we lived in a third floor walk up.  Our cousin Ken worked downtown and he would bring people he worked with to our house just to "walk the dog."  Ken would show up with a guy wearing a 3 piece suite and say, with a huge grin, "he wants to walk Chippy."

Ken would snap the leash onto Chippy and then tie the other end securely around his friend's wrist telling them, "they really love this dog so we don't want him to get away."  Chippy would sit quietly at the top of the stairs until I opened the door and said "OK." With that he took off like a rocket and when he hit the end of that 12 foot leash he'd be going 30 or so miles an hour.  It did not matter how big the guy was, he was goin' down those stairs.. NOW! It was common for some big guy to be screaming like a little girl within seconds of the "walk." 

Chippy's death was a terrible blow for us.  He'd been a member of our family for nearly 15 years. I credit this tough little guy with curing me of my fear of dogs.  What a friend he was.

Interesting Note:  The dog we now have is a fabulous and very sweet black Lab and DOBERMAN mix.  Can you believe it!!!

Buzzard

Big Head... Big Brain... Smart Kid!!!

I've always known I had a larger than normal head. Never easy to buy a hat since my size is rarely available but, my Dad always found the best in things that had to do with me.

When I was a baby, Dad wold plop me into a stroller and wheel me around downtown Miami. When people would stop to look at me, Dad would say... "Look how big his head is.  That means he has a big brain.  He's a really smart boy."

Realizing the massive contribution to mankind my brain would be, my Dad realized he was honor bound to protect it.  So, he had a special leather helmet made for me to wear so if, heaven forbid, I were to fall down, the world would not lose my brain.  I cannot make this stuff up.

This helmet was normal attire for me until I was about 3 years old. Once I was a toddler secure on my feet, they figured it was safe to let me out of the house without that cool headdress.

Not Easy To Leash Train A  Buzzard!

The exquisite helmet was replaced with a custom made harness and an expandable leash.  Yep my Mom walked me every day on a 10 feet rubber leash.  It allowed me to run away but when I hit the end of that 10 feet.... well.. I quickly returned to her.  Sometimes nearly knocking her down.

When I hit the ripe old age of 4, my Dad decided I was in danger of falling out of bed which could possibly damage my amazing brain. Soooo, he had a carpenter come in and custom build a "CAGE" around my bed to keep me from falling out and, of course, to prevent "brain thieves" from entering my bedroom at night and taking me, or my brain for their own gain. I really wish I had a picture of the leash or cage.

Kathy didn't really believe all this until my cousin Ronny who was about 10 years older than me actually told her the same stories. He was there..... God help him!

My Dad must have been right in all this since, never once did anyone successfully steal me or my 50 pound brain.

The Buzzard