Jon's Home Again!

Yes, you read right... Jon's home!

According to a post on his blog from mid-day today; he's back home and recovering from surgery.

It also reminds us that Jon continues to need our prayers for regained strength, energy, and movement in all his muscles.

I thought maybe you - like myself - might enjoy listening to a sermon of Jon's from a series God led him & the Discovery congregation through back in January. Click HERE to hear part one of The Pursuit of Happiness (A study in Philippians).

I chose this one, because the message is right on - plus Jon mentions his shirt was tucked in and he was wearing a belt to boot! Dad loved giving Jon a hard time about things like untucked shirts, so seemed appropriate for these pages.

Need to hear more? Here's a link to the Discovery Community Church website. From there, click on 'Ministries' across the top, then select 'Messages'. You can listen to the other 3 of this series, as well as a bunch of others to choose from.

God Bless!
John:)

Wedding Crashers...

Have you been to any weddings lately?

I received this video in an e-mail from a family friend recently.

I'm sure most of you have probably seen it before - I know I have - but it's the funny ones that are always worth another look!

Heck, I think Dad e-mailed this exact one to me himself a few times!



Lots of funny memories come to mind watching that clip. Sure takes me back to moments during weddings Dad officiated that I attended or heard about.

Too bad we didn't videotape some of those ceremonies! Probably be a GRAND PRIZE winner on America's Funniest Home Videos!!

Enjoy Life!
Johnny:)

Thought for the day: Laughter, along with an active sense of humor, may help protect you against a heart attack, according to a recent study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

Update on Jon Fredricks

Thursday, March 22, 2007 (copied from jonfredricks.blogspot.com)

Home But Not For Long

Jon is at home. He will be home until he goes back to have surgery on his arm on Tuesday. It is great to have Jon at home but you can imagine the transition issues and care schedule that needs to be maintained. Jon is medicated for pain and requires Traci's full-time attention.

Please refrain from calling or stopping by for a visit and continue to wait until after Jon is done with all his surgeries and is recovering back at home. Traci and Jon appreciate so much your love and care for them and they can't wait until they can host and have regular visitors.

They love each and every one of you.

Politically (in)correct?

Not sure whether it's politically correct to send blonde jokes anymore, but Dad always did... so here's one I thought some may enjoy.

Blonde Momemt

A blonde goes into a coffee shop and notices there's a "Peel & Win" sticker on her coffee cup. So she peels it off and starts screaming, "I've won a motorhome! I've won a motorhome!"

The waitress says, "That's impossible The biggest prize is a free Lunch."

But the blonde keeps on screaming, "I've won a motorhome! I've won a motorhome!"

Finally, the manager comes over and says, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. You couldn't have possibly won a motorhome because we didn't have that as a prize."

The blonde says, "No, it's not a mistake. I've won a motorhome!"

She hands the ticket to the manager and HE reads...

"W I N A B A G E L"

I don't write 'em... I just pass 'em on!
Johnny:)

Praying for the Fredricks!

A wonderful friend to Dad, myself & my family, and to many of you - Jon Fredricks (as perhaps you have already heard) was in a car accident along with his eldest daughter, Mary, on Monday the 12th.

While Mary came through only bruised, Jon was pretty badly injured on the left side of his body. Currently he continues with his recovery at Harborview - with additional surgery scheduled Monday where the doctors plan to work on his arm and his jaw.

Yes, he's working hard on his recovery. I was blessed to have the opportunity to see him for a little bit yesterday, and as you can expect... rather than focusing on himself, he asked how I was, and where was I going to church these days. I reminded him that most people I know - if in his condition - would certainly be more focused on themselves instead of others.

His response?

"You need to get in church, John!" Yup, that's Jon... always thinking of others!!

I heard a blog was set-up, so I thought including a link from these pages seemed appropriate given how much Dad cared for Jon, his family, and his ministry.

Please pray hard, read the linked blog for updates on his progress, and prayerfully consider giving financially to help the Fredricks through this difficult time to ensure that Jon and his family have all the resources and care they could possibly need.

Here's the link: Jon's Update

Go... Pray... Give!

Pray Hard!
Johnny:)

I Miss You, Dad!

It's been a while, but as I mentioned before - I'd drop in to post every once in a while. I also mentioned that, most likely those drop-ins would be for special occasions.

I can't speak for the entire family, but for those I can - it's been an incredibly rough time of late.

As for me, Tuesday (as many are) was a real hard day. I went to Rotary, and over & over I found myself turning and looking to see Dad. As Dina & I talked that evening, I found that I'm not the only one that looks for him from time-to-time.

A chance to see his smile, hear his laughter or feel his touch. No matter how hard I try, however, it's clear that this is not a dream we're waking up from.

So, what's the 'special occasion' that sparked today's post you ask?

Could it be that Tuesday was 20 weeks since Dad started dancing in heaven? Nope!

Can't be Halloween... er, I mean Harvest Festival? Or Thanksgiving? Christmas or New Years? No, they've all passed already. And it wasn't our wedding anniversaries, MLK Day, Valentine's Day or President's Day either.

We made it (sort of) through all of those! So, what's so special that I felt I had to dump my thoughts onto the pages of the blog?

It was the television! Yes, the TV.

As many of you may know, Dad loved crime dramas and the like. Whether a book, the big screen or on TV... he thoroughly enjoyed them.

CSI & NCIS were a couple of his favorites. I too, am a big fan of crime dramas and, like Dad... I rarely miss an episode of NCIS (or the Unit immediately following). If we did miss one, someone would tape it.

Having had such a hard day... needing to kind of veg' a little, I was bummed when I saw that both NCIS and the Unit were slated to be re-runs. I sat down to watch anyway, and was pleasingly surprised to find I'd never seen this episode of NCIS.

How did miss it? No matter... I was just glad it was new. The Unit began and believe it or not... it was new too. Okay, now something must be going on. Maybe the TV Guide was wrong.

I went online to check again. Both re-runs. So I went to check and see what date they'd originally aired, so I could figure out what I was doing that had caused me to miss them both.

Okay, okay... I keep on rambling (there's a shock), but still haven't mentioned why any of this helped push me over the preverbial edge?

It turns out the re-runs of both shows had originally been on the same night... and I hadn't watched or taped either one when they first aired.

NCIS - Dead and Unburied First Aired: Tues., Oct. 17th, 2006
The Unit - Force Majeure First Aired: Tues., Oct. 17th, 2006

Go figure! No wonder I missed 'em. Dad missed them too. Don't worry Dad... I'll save the tape!

We miss you, Dad!

I Love you Pop!
Pedro:)