Easter photos 2008

Easter Bunny + Brock

Easter cheese ball Angela made.

Easter treats from Angela, Tammy and Pam ->

Getting ready for football season.

Irish Words

In case you are planning a trip to Ireland, here are some common words you should know:

• boot = trunk of the car
• trolley = shopping cart
• lorie = 18 wheel truck
• people mover= van
• skip = ditch by the side of the road
• bank holiday = national holiday
• lift = elevator
• chips = french fries
• mobile = cell phone
• garda = police
• toilet = restroom
• post = mail

Ireland - Friday

Had dinner last night in the hotel again with the HR Manager and Business Excellence Manager. Toonari Chicken, very good, came with a fried banana, both tasted very good.

For lunch today had meatballs with mushy peas, which are what you think they are. My mom would be so proud of me. As a baby I always spit out the peas. but being in a foreign country, I chose to go ahead and eat them, not bad but will not get again.

Just finished last class on Change Management.

Waiting for limo to take me to Dublin to stay tonight. Interesting thing in Ireland, there are weddings scheduled every day of the week, the limo is at a wedding this PM. Apparently there are very few places to have a wedding so they are scheduled almost every day of the week. Ate lunch with a guy today who was married on 9/11/2001! He said his ceremony was happening at the same time the planes were hitting the twin towers in NY. They found out about it on their way to the reception. His wife is an american and as you can imagine a lot american people were very upset at the reception. But not his mother-in-law, when asked why she was not very upset, she explained she got married on the day President Kennedy was shot!! She was just used to a lot of drama on a wedding day.

Goes to show you that things in real life are stranger than things people make up.

Very tired and cannot wait to get home to see my baby doll!

Did get good news today that my trip to Chicago next week was CANCELLED!!! YEAH! No more trips until the last week of April.

Pray for Amy and extended family, next week could be a long week.

Love, Big Daddy!

Ireland _

Ireland - Wed/Thurs

Ate in the hotel again last night, very good food. For starters I had mushrooms cooked in a garlic sauce stuffed into a mini bread bowl, for main course I had a prawn and salmon open face sandwich and of course, it comes with chips (we call them steak fries). And everything comes with lots of bread.

One of the things I love about Ireland is the meals.

1. Regular breakfast is about 7 AM
2. 2nd Breakfast (that's what they call it) is at 11 AM
3. Lunch is 1: 30 PM
4. Dinner is 7:00 PM

The food here is very tasty, but pretty heavy, not sure how people stay thin.

Sorry if spelling is wrong, for some reason the spell check brings up German looking words, so it thinks everything I am typing is wrong.

Today conducted the training class for plant senior leadership team. Went very well, they taking me out to dinner tonight, but unfortunately it is back at the same hotel I am staying. I guess this shows how small the town of Cootehill really is.

Finish up tomorrow afternoon, travel back to Dublin in the limo and stay at the airport hotel on Friday night before leaving at 6:30 AM (2:30 AM Nerk time) Saturday. Get back in Columbus at 7:00 PM Saturday if all goes as planned. Pray for safety and timeliness of flights.

Hello from Ireland - Round 2

Made it on Tuesday, with no delays or problems. Left Chicago on Monday night and arrived London o700 local time, 3:00 AM Newark time. Flew on to Dublin at 9:00 AM, arrived at 10:00 AM, no problems. I call this Round 2 because I was just here a few weeks ago.

London Heathrow airport is a real pain to get around. It is old and hard to navigate. I heard they are opening a big new terminal for international flights soon. That will be nice. Imagine walking through a large corrugated drain tube and that is what it is like. Very small waiting areas, etc.

Made it to the hotel, very small rooms in this hotel, maybe smallest ever. Definitely has the smallest elevator (they call it a lift) I have been in. Think about the size of our 1/2 bathroom downstairs and its about that size. Straight in and out with the luggage.

One thing I forgot to mention last time is they do not use wash rags in Ireland, none in this hotel or the last one I was in. Just hand size towels and regular bath towels. Plenty of soap, so it not a cleanliness issue at all. just a little weird.

Everyone asks me about the food. In Ireland it is not too much different than the USA. Steaks, chicken, fish all cooked the same way we would. They do have something called "brown sauce" in addition to ketchup. Not sure what is made out of, tastes like very weak soy sauce, but much thicker.

I was only able to take about a 1 hour nap before coming to the plant to teach a class. Was very tired, did not sleep much on the plane due to the guy next to me kept his light on all night. Watched a movie I think was called "August Rush", Robin Williams had a small role, pretty good for whole family. I did tear up, because a 10 year boy who was seperated at birth found his real mother and father. Great ending!

On plane watched my podcasts of Robin Meade from CNN. WOW! If are not watching her in the AM you need to start. She is very smart, does a fast paced show,and she is easy on the eyes. Also listened to Dr. Albert Mohler podcast of his radio show and Mike and Mike in the Morning.

If you don't know what a podcast is, ask your kids. Basically it is a downloadable verison of a show that you can watch on an mp3 player or on my Zune.

Nothing else really funny or interesting happening so far. Will update when possible, see y'all soon.

Pray for Amy

4,057 hits

4,057 views on my blog. That number greeted me today as I signed in. It is hard to imagine that I say enough interesting things that people want to read it.

123 posts - That is also hard to believe that this is the 124th time I have found things from my life interesting enough to share with people. That is the easy part, with 3 active sons, a wonderful wife, and the opportunity to travel for my work, I have found that things that really happen in life are much more funny than things anyone can make up.

4,000 deaths - As I am writing this, the news mentioned that over the weekend, the US passed 4,000 brave soldiers had passed away in Iraq. To me, it reminds me that we need to pray and thank God that people are willing to defend the freedoms we have.

A freedom that is often overlooked is the freedom of religion. Yesterday we celebrated Resurrection day all over the country, in many churches, of many different faiths. I even had 2 Mormon's knock on my door on Easter Sunday. The only thing we agreed on is that Jesus is risen, but there they were sharing their faith, misguided as it is, with others.

Some would say the battle we are fighting is not worth it, we should just leave, but I think not. Who knows what the future would have been if our leaders had not decided to pay the price to protect all of the freedoms we have, that some on the other side are dieing trying to take away.

1. Say an extra prayer today for the families of those who have paid the ultimate price.
2. Pray for the ministers and chaplains serving in Iraq that their message of salvation is heard, understood, and accepted by those in the service.
3. Pray for our leaders of our country for wisdom and discernment on what to do next.
4. During the family gathering over the weekend, Pam mentioned she had talked to someone currently in the Army, and asked her what the soldiers actually thought about the war, and whether we should leave or not. The answer was very telling, the soldier told Pam that there are very few Democrats in the Army! She explained that almost all of the soldiers she is around support the war effort and want to finish the job.
5. Thank God for all of the freedoms we have have here that we take for granted.

Easter Sunday 2008

He is Risen! He has Risen indeed!

Today is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ! It is the most important day of our lives. You see we can accept Jesus or reject him. Both choices have powerful consequences. I hope you choose Jesus and Life!

Other thoughts to catch up:

• Tyler was here for the weekend, great to see him, flying back to Memphis as I write this.
• Corey at the Knox's' celebrating Easter
• Brandon out cleaning his truck and working on his deer stand for hunting season already. He is going back to school and Morgan tonight.
• I leave for Ireland on Monday for work. Be back this week in time for our church musical.
• Church musical this year is pretty cool, it is about the time after Jesus arose and peoples reaction to him. It only makes sense that we are doing it next Sunday after Easter.
• We had the whole family here for the annual Easter get together. The Easter Bunny showed up and had presents for all the kids. Memi and JR were in Florida and not in attendance. Sandy had her new friend with her, Bill, we all liked him. Plenty of food, fellowship and fun, a good time was had by all.
• Polly and Carl even made an appearance, she is on the road to recovery, thanks for the prayers.
• Sillin's 3 boys today all had suits on, it was very cute and reminded me when our 3 boys were younger.
• Martin and Linda's oldest daughter had their new baby at church today. They were all smiling broadly form the front row.
• CONNECT group was full today, good time of sharing about how we are not alone in our christian walk. We need to rely on each other and never think we face this world alone, we always have the Holy Spirit and each other.
• Look for updates from Ireland next week!

cute girls

Finally home!

(This is the train station)


Made it home last night after a Loooooong day of traveling.

Flight to Washington took 10 hours due to head winds, then we finally get close to Washington and they are having a thunderstorm (at was 50 degrees there) so we had to circle around for the last hour. The co-pilot came on and said we have about 20 min of reserve fuel left, so after 30 min she come back on and says we have cleared to land and we will land in 20 more min? 30+20 = 50 min, wonder what reserve tank they were using but thank God we landed.

Watched 4 movies;
Elizabeth = B+
Alvin & Chipmunks = A for Alvin!
Lions for Lambs = D When Tom Cruise a conservative Senator, you know what to expect, nothing good for conservatives.
No country for old men = D for Dumb
Also watched parts of some Tyler Perry movie that looked like Desperate Housewives for blacks

Well Dulles Airport was a mess, flights canceled all over, I was supposed to be on the 5:05 PM , but it was cancelled, got on the next flight at 7:25 PM but luggage did not make it, so I had pretty bad night due to my sleep apnea. But it is worth being home with the love of my life.

Leave today for Chicago at 5:00 PM for 2 days, home for 2 weeks and then back to Ireland. No church today but no sleeping in due to jet lag. My body is 6 hours ahead of the clock.

Don't forget to turn clocks ahead.

Later, Big Daddy.

Starting home!

Last night's dinner was very good, but a man can only eat so many 5 course meals, so tonight I continued my tradition of when I am out of the country eating a meal before heading home at .......

Burger King

That's right I ate tonight at the BK in the airport in Amsterdam. I am staying at the Sheraton at the airport. It's connected to the terminal, so I walked over, did a little shopping and had dinner.

Last night we walked around downtown Zwolle, Netherlands with 2 guys from the Abbott plant there, got to see some of the sights, but got dark quickly. They explained the the old city was surrounded by a canal and had a fort built around it. Of course most of it was gone, but there were still parts of it to see.

Part of the problem eating a 3, 4, or 5 course meal in the Netherlands, is they do not get in a hurry!! It took 2.5 hours for dinner and the place was not even crowded. Food portions over here are very small for each course but very tasty. Cannot wait to taste the cooking of my queen (Angela)

Today I taught for 4 hours and Zwolle people taught the other 4 hours, took the train to Amsterdamm about an 1.5 hour ride. This time it was sunny enough to see the countryside. Nothing spectacular, but many small villages with high pitched roofs.

Plane leaves 12:20 PM tomorrow local time 6:20 AM Ohio time so pray for safe travels and no delays. Angelica (AKA baby doll) told me about the big storm, since I have to fly to Chicago on Sunday, I sure want to get home for a little while anyway.

Nothing else much going on, watching the Cleveland Indians playing spring training baseball game, it is good to watch ESPN again!

Continue praying for all those suffering right now, those kinds of wounds do not heal quickly. Pray for protection of all class members and their families. Continue to pray for my mom.

God Bless the USA!

More interesting Food.

Last night I ate in the hotel because I was exhausted from all the training and traveling I have been doing. Last night dinner was very good, had a steak with potatoes and asparagus, for starters I had quail eggs and salmon. The eggs were cooked what we would call sunny side up, but were the size of a quarter. Kind of odd but they tasted OK. The salmon was good, which I expected since we are so close to the coast. Today for lunch we had sandwiches, again. It is odd here that one of the most popular types of sandwich is called a "fillet to Americana" something like that and is raw beef, not rare but raw. I told them most Americans like their meat cooked a little and got many strange looks back. They also serve nothing else with it, no chips, no cookies, no salad, nothing. Maybe that's why people here are so skinny. I also had apple strawberry milk today, very good.

One thing I heard is very true, almost everyone in the country is over 6' tall, what is not true is the women are beautiful. The only beautiful woman I know of lives on Park Trails Drive in Newark, Ohio!

Chinese Chips?

On Monday night I went out to dinner with several people from the training session I conducted. It was quite the UN of Abbott. There was someone from:

1. US


2. China


3. Italy


4. Spain


5. England


6. Ireland

We went to an Irish place to eat but it was closed on Mondays. Ended up at a Chinese place in downtown Cootehill, Cavan county, Ireland. The owner was from China so the Chinese guy in our group was able to speak Mandarin to each other and found out they were from neighboring provinces, which are like states to us. Small world. We ordered dinner and with dinner you get rice or chips. For appetizers we had prawn chips, very good, very light, so I thought that was the option, but the Chinese guy ordered chips and it ended up being french fries! In Ireland, chips = fries, but I never thought you could get them in that kind of place. It was odd to see him eating them with chopsticks, but it worked for him.

I taught 1/2 day Tuesday and then started the long trip to Zwolle. 2 hour car ride to Dublin, plane delayed an hour due to snow and high winds in Amsterdam, got on wrong train, found right train quickly, ended up at hotel about 11:00 PM local time, 5:00 PM your time, drank a diet coke and went to bed.

Very nice room, brand new 5 star hotel, slept pretty good. Breakfast was OK, eggs and some type of sausage, but the bread was GREAT! Very fresh, there was 4 different loaves sitting out that you cut a piece off of, I put butter and jam on mine, do not know if that was right or not, but it tasted good.

Went out to meet my cab and became quickly amazed at the number of people riding bicycles, not exaggerating, but number was in the 100's. Pretty amazing, but oddly many people were smoking while they were riding. Had a cheese sandwich for lunch, was told "this is dairy country we like our cheese" by someone who lives here. Nothing to drink at lunch but milk, some had flavors in it. I had orange milk, tasted OK.

Class today went fine, but feet are sore. Writing this while giving them a break, going for walk later before dinner. By myself tonight, tomorrow group taking me on a tour and to dinner.

Caught on on Angela's emails and I think Satan is attacking our church, need to redouble our prayers, specifically to pray for protection for all members. God is powerful and on our side.

Finished the book, really good, not sure if that is what heaven is like, but I really enjoyed reading it. Cannot what to pass on to Angela to read.

Baked Beans for Breakfast?

Well I made to Ireland OK. Long trip = Newark - Columbus - Washington - London - Dublin and then a 90 minute ride to Cavan, Ireland.

The driver said he knew a short cut to avoid all the Church traffic, so I saw parts of Ireland most people would not get a chance to see. Did not look much different than last time (I was in Sligo which is about 2 hours the other way last year). Narrow roads, villages with narrow sidewalks, narrow cars, Narrow bath tubs in my room to take a shower. Is everything getting narrower or is it me? Nay, things are just getting smaller.

Nothing exciting happened during the trip. The dumbest thing was right in Columbus, going through security and I got behind a guy who had never flown before, took forever (worse than
Angela on the cruise). He was nervous like he was taking something bad on the plane (again like Angela on the cruise). He took 3 bins for all of his stuff, when he really needed 1. He was so nervous that when he finally made it through he left his laptop at security! I had to tell him it was back there.

On the flight from London to Dublin we got an official Irish breakfast: scrambled eggs, banger sausage, rasher bacon, 5 little potatoes, and baked beans, YUCK! I do not mind baked beans at all but for BREAKFAST, NO WAY! Couldn't believe I ate them anyway, too hungry.

A few details, it is 5 hours ahead over here, so Shawn is probably leading the singing at church. Flight from Washington to London took 6 hours. We were delayed an hour at Washington due to the strong tail wind across the Atlantic. London has a law that planes cannot land before 6:00 AM local time. The wind was so strong we made up the hour and more, had to circle a little so we could land on time.

That's about all for now, keep Andrews family in your prayers this week, Angela said Rochelle's mom passed away, they were on the road last night, going to be a long week for them and then Billy starts his new job next Monday.

I'll update as I get a chance and if anything interesting happens. Promise it will be more than the Kenya Team! Just kidding. By the way Pastor Dear gave me the best book to read, called Safely Home (I forget the author cause I have to sit in the lobby to get an Internet connection) about the persecution of Christians in China. WOW! It is a real page turner I read about 50% of it already. Ask him for a copy. he had a bunch in Carla's office.

Well I miss my baby doll already, boys take care of your mother, TTYL.

Big Daddy