Before I get into the "happenings" of today, I wanted to ask for special prayers.  If you remember, we ordered some dirt from this local man, a man who has done everything he said he would do WHEN he said he would do.  Unfortunately, our delivery was delayed a couple of weeks, and unfortunately might not be the right word.  Certainly, we did not get the dirt delivered as originally hoped; however, the weather played a big part in that.  A bigger and more serious reason for the delay, however, was the fact that Mr. Smith had to be in Shreveport with his 21-year-old son who was just diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes in his neck.

Mr. Smith spent last week with his son; his wife spent this week there.  Mr. Smith called this afternoon to say that he had a truckload of dirt and did we still want it.  Of course, we did--we had no intention of getting it anywhere else, especially because we were so satisfied with him.  He said he would arrived within 15 minutes--and he did; he said he would dump some of the dirt at the first hole we had discovered on Weze's property--and he did; he said he would dump some over the hole that we discovered near our carport--and he did; he said he would dump the rest where the trailer used to be--and he did. 

Now, we didn't know this, but Mr. Smith planned on leaving here to see his son as soon as he was done.  Did he just dump the dirt and leave?  No way!  Before we found out about his plans, he began helping Sid break up some of the clumps that were in the piles, helping him spread out the dirt.  Of course, as soon as we found out his plans, we insisted that he stop doing that, finish dumping the dirt, and just get on his way--and he did that, too.

If all businessmen ran their businesses--big or small--the way this man operates his, it would be a pleasure to do business for anything.  He was a real gentleman, a very responsible businessman, and a very nice person to deal with.  We will certainly recommend him to anyone here and will also not hesitate to use him again if we have a need for more dirt.

I ask that you pray for his son, Darius, and for the entire family as they go through this terrible time in their lives.  All of us have been touched by cancer at one time or another, so we know what they will be going through.  You already know that I am a firm believer in prayer--and I think most who read this journal agree--prayers can work miracles!  So, let's pray for a miracle for Darius; and if the kind of miracle we seek does not occur, pray that his family has the strength to deal with whatever happens.  Thanks to all of you!

Randi and I attended Mass at noon today, after we which we had dinner at Morel's again.  I don't think I've ever eaten there twice in the same week, but we decided to eat sandwiches from there.  I have never seen that place so crowded and with so many waitresses there.  Unfortunately, none seemed to be assigned to our table, so we waited--and waited--and waited for someone to take our order.  No one came!  (Although most of them did look in our direction, none came to see if they could help.  In fact, one lady, who started today, came and chatted with us but did nothing else.)

I've mentioned before the young man who works there--seating the guests, getting initial drink orders, checking during the meal for refills or whatever, cleaning up afterwards.  He did that again today.  After a while, I think he noticed that we had not been served, so he offered to take our order to get it started.  We certainly agreed to that.  (By the way, his name is Darryl, just in case you're ever around here and stop for a meal at Morel's.)

Darryl took our order to the back; within minutes, he came back to bring my salad.  He kept checking on us to make sure we were OK, and eventually brought our lunch to us.  He continued to check on us, but at some point, I noticed he hadn't been around for a while.  I just looked up and saw Darryl working in the kitchen setting up what seemed to be the silverware.  As soon as I saw him finish, he was back at our table to check on us.  Needless to say, HE was the one who received the tip today.  (Incidentally, the lady who own Morel's was there today, and she actually got Randi a refill of her drink.  When she brought it to Randi, I made sure to compliment Darryl to her.  This guy does EVERYTHING. As we were leaving, she tapped me on the shoulder and thanked me.  Hopefully, Darryl will get some benefit from that--he certainly deserved it!)

All the dirt info occurred right after Sid got home from work.  As he was finishing up with Mr. Smith, his cousin, Barry, stopped by.  He told Sid he would return with some kind of attachment to his tractor and would spread the dirt for us.  Well, Folks, you know how that is--people say things and sometimes they don't follow through.  Guess what!  Barry DID follow through!  He was here in a little while, climbed up on that tractor, and had all the dirt spread just the way Sid wanted it within no time.  We thank him so much for that help!  It would have taken Sid hours to get that done.

So, BOTH new-found holes have been filled with cement and dirt; the pile of dirt has been spread out.  Life is good!  Speaking of a good life, Jess sent me a quote today that I think fits today's journal entry perfectly.

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."    --John Lubbock

NOTE:  I guess this quote could easily show the difference between an optimist and a pessimist.  Truly, today we met an optimist--Mr. Smith.  As bad as things seem to be for his son, he had a strong faith and is looking forward to a happy ending here--and so do we.  If we try to find good in what we see, we usually can!  If we try to find bad, we probably will!  So, you know what to do--go for the good!  And enjoy your life!