Happy 33rd Birthday, Sarah!

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Thirty-three years ago today, a spirited whirlwind of a girl blew into our lives:

Watch out, world – this one is loaded for bear…..

….and we have never been the same.  Where has all that time gone?

God has a wicked sense of humor – ask any family that has more than two kids, and they will tell you that the third kid threw them for a loop.  Just when you think you have the whole “parenting” thing figured out – you’re thinking you know everything there is to know about raising kids – the third one comes along, and you realize that you don’t have the first CLUE…..

By the time Sarah came along, we had been parents for 6 years.  Poor Sarah got the “leftovers” – we were a lot calmer about things, but we were also just plain tired.  Rachel was starting kindergarten and Michelle was only a year old, so Sarah got whatever energy we could muster up at the end of the day.

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Still Crazy (In Love) After All These Years


Forty-five years ago today, two starry-eyed kids said “I do”….

To my wonderful husband, Paul – thank you for all of the special memories, and for making me so incredibly happy.

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Forever 26

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Today marks the day that we welcomed our beloved second daughter, Michelle, into the world.  It seems like only yesterday that we were counting her fingers and toes.

Never let it be said that God doesn’t have a wicked sense of timing. We had waited 2 years to start trying to have a 2nd child, and after 2 more years of silently mourning each time it was obvious that I wasn’t pregnant, I had finally resigned myself to the fact that maybe we were only meant to have one child. So I resolved to go see the doctor “the next month” to go back on the Pill.

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #4: Blue, Blue, Blue Christmas

Can you go a Christmas season without hearing “Blue Christmas” at least once? I say you cannot! This is one of those songs that grows on you over the years.

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One Small Step – July 20, 1969

Moon Landing.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Today marks the 56th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing. Those of us who are old enough to remember seeing it live can still recall the awe and wonder of that moment when Neil Armstrong stepped down and set foot where no man had gone before.

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Softly Call The Muster….

Muster 9.
On April 21, 2009, I answered “Here” for my sister, Beverly Suzanne Hamilton ’84.

In 2018, Paul and I answered “Here” for our beloved daughter, Michelle Elise Koch ’13.

One day our children will answer “Here” for both Paul and me. It is the last thing that the family of an Aggie is called to do for their loved one. It is our sworn duty to do so.

Softly call the Muster,
Let comrade answer, “Here!”
Their spirits hover ‘round us
As if to bring us cheer!

Mark them ‘present’ in our hearts.
We’ll meet some other day
There is no death, but life etern
For our old friends such as they!

– from “Roll Call for the Absent“, by Dr. John Ashton ’06

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He.Is.Risen.

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46 Years Later – The Best (Belated) Valentine’s Day Ever (a.k.a. “Boy Meets Girl”)

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Just a couple of kids…..

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It all started in a lecture hall at Texas A&M University in January, 1979. Yours truly was a freshman who started out in Pre-Med, but after one semester – and a tearful call home – I had decided to change my major to one which involved more math – Civil Engineering.

Well, the powers that be in the Engineering department told me that the Calculus class that I had placed out of as a Science major wasn’t really “the same as” the one they wanted Engineering majors to take, so I had to start all over again. I hadn’t changed my major until the spring semester started, so I missed the first “official” day of that class.

The next time that class met, I was sitting in a seat in the lecture hall, feeling quite lost since I didn’t know the professor’s name, office hours, etc. Some guy came in a little late to the class, looking all harried, and sat down in one of the few empty seats – right next to me.

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #25: Songs for Christmas Day


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Gets me every time…

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My Advent Calendar of Music – Day #24: The Night Before Christmas

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And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed….And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem….To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7 KJV)

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