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