Recently in Miscellaneous Stuff Category

The kitchen remodeling project is finally finished, and Robin and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary in style.  We were surrounded by our family and friends.  It was nice to see all the hard work we have all done come to fruition.

Robin wasn't expecting it, but we renewed our wedding vows.  It was a great surprise.  My daughter had prepped her and had asked her to write something that she wanted to share with me in front of our guests.  She had no idea that it was part of our renewal ceremony.  She did a wonderful job, and in a series of sentence snippets, laid out our entire lives together, from the time we met, to the present.  It was fun reliving the thoughts that had gone through my mind when we kissed for the first time.

(For those who are curious, the thought that went through my mind was, "Wow!  She kissed me back!)

For my part, I had written her a poem, which I would like to share with you.

    All Over Again
    If I had had a crystal ball
    And had seen the future once for all --
    If what I know now was known back then
    I'd marry you all over again.

    The ups and downs of ord'nary life:
    Times of peace and times of strife--
    Knowing we'd go through thick and thin,
    I'd marry you all over again.

    Through all the good times, and all the bad;
    When we had joy, when we were sad;
    Though we were nearly torn in twain
    I'd marry you all over again.

    Knowing that poor might not lead to richer,
    Seeing when children would enter the picture
    Knowing our lives could be filled with pain,
    I'd marry you all over again.

    So, now we've lasted all these years,
    We've shared our laughter, shed our tears.
    But I'm eager to see what the future contains
    For today ... I marry you all over again.

I am so blessed this wonderful woman is in my life.  She has brought me great joy, two lovely daughters, and is a wonderful grandma to the two most beautiful granddaughters a grandpa could ever hold.

Thank you, honey, for marrying me once.  Thank you for standing next to me through all these years.  Thank you for renewing our marriage before our friends, our family, and our God.

But most of all, thank you for kissing me back!

Peace.

Bob

It has been a busy time here the past few weeks. Robin and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in July, and our daughters are hosting a party ... at our house. For the past several weeks, we have been renovating our kitchen with the help of my in-laws.

Two weeks ago, we ripped out the tile, put up new drywall where needed, and my father-in-law rebuilt some of our cabinets. My mother-in-law re-upholstered our kitchen chairs. This past weekend, we put in laminated flooring. This week, we are painting and putting up wallpaper.

We have ordered new counter tops and a sink, and with any luck, they will be in before the anniversary party.

The changes we have made are remarkable, and have completely changed the look of the kitchen. It will be a beautiful, cozy kitchen when all the work is done. It really will be the best kitchen we could possibly have given the constraints of time, budget, and other resources. I was reluctant to try to do so much in so little time. I didn't think we could actually get it done. In truth, I didn't have the courage to make the changes that have needed to be made for so many years.

My in-laws have moved in with us while the work is being done, and it has put a crimp into my podcast recording schedule. I have found that I am quite self-conscious when recording my podcasts early in the morning. Whether it is because I don't want to wake them, or because I don't want them to hear me repeating the same passage over and over, I couldn't say. All I know is that I won't be able to get back to recording the podcasts until after they have returned to their home.

So, in the meantime, I have been going through a final proof of "Jabez: Conceived in Pain, Delivered in Victory", and I am glad I did. I have found and corrected about 20 different spots. These were all minor things that either didn't get caught in editing or were introduced when I was applying my editor's fixes.

In some cases, the changes were so minor as to be almost unnoticeable, except by the most picky of readers. For example, in one spot, I had written, "... the Philistines battle wagons ...". As a few of you might notice, I need an apostrophe after "Philistines". Really minor, but important.

In another place, I wrote, "... only more body remained ...", when it should have been, "... only one more body remained ...". This must be a really gripping chapter, because not one person had caught the missing word. My super-picky editor missed it, my picky test-readers missed it, and more importantly, I missed it, even though I have read, re-read, and re-re-read that chapter more times than I can count. Within the context of the chapter -- or perhaps the way the sentence fell on the page -- the mind must have filled in the missing word.

So, although the changes were minor, they were all important. Could the book stand on its own without the changes? Of course it could. But I am glad I had the courage to make the changes, because, without them, the book just wouldn't be the best it could be.

So, changes without, changes within. All in all, everything fits together. The work on the kitchen led to my in-laws staying with us, which led to my inability to record the podcast episodes, which led to a final proofreading of the actual, printed book rather than a manuscript, which will lead to my applying for an ISBN number so you will be able to purchase the book wherever books are sold.

Changes without, changes within. Major improvements, minor improvements.

May you also improve in all you do. May you have the courage to make the changes that you can.

Peace.

Bob

Hi there, and welcome to BobRench.com. I am glad you have chosen to spend a little time here.

I intend for this blog to be a primary place where you and I can share ideas and thoughts, whether about my books or about life in general. I look forward to having great conversations with you.

I hope you don't mind, but you will need to register to post comments. Hopefully, this will keep out the riff-raff and trolls who, for some reason, take great pleasure in making life miserable for others in an anonymous fashion.

My interests--and, subsequently, the contents of this blog--can be summed up in one word: Everything. I have yet to find a subject out there that doesn't have at least one or two interesting facets to it. Let me take that back ... actuarial science probably won't ever make an appearance in these pages. (Now, watch ... some actuarial scientist will write to me and point out a few interesting things. Go ahead ... I'd love to learn something new!)

I realize that "Everything" encompasses quite a few topics, so here's a short list of the things that might find their place on these pages:

• Writing / Self-publishing
• Podcasting
• Philosophy
• History
• Quantum Mechanics
• Programming
• Languages
• Word Play / Puns / Humor
• Religion
• Life
• Motorcycles
  

So, again, thanks for joining me on this journey. I can't wait to hear from you.

And, just so we are all on the same page, I absolutely believe in freedom of speech. Every single one of us has the right to say whatever we want. However, if someone writes something that I consider utterly offensive, blasphemous, or completely off-topic, I will exercise my right not to have it on these pages and will remove it.

I can already hear someone asking, "How can you do that? I thought you believed in freedom of speech!"

Well, I do. Just remember, everyone is allowed to say what they want to say. That is freedom of speech. However, there are no laws stating how long the words said have to be allowed to linger. Thus, I can allow a person to have their say, but still not subject the rest of the readers to stuff that doesn't benefit the majority.

Hopefully, it won't be a problem. For those who might cry "Censorship!", my only suggestion is to find a forum that is more open to those types of postings. And if the forum cannot be found, then one is always free to start one's own.

Peace.

Bob