Mrs. Underwood

Before I was lucky enough to get a career in insurance, I worked for a few years as a delivery driver for a gas and fuel delivery business. I drove a tank truck to homes, farms and service stations, delivering fuel oil and gas. In any business, new customers are essential and I can remember walking into the office at Texaco and having Evelyn Lloyd, one of the owners, say to me, “you have a new customer, that you need to stop at the next time you are in Pekin”. Apparently a new customer had moved to a home in Pekin and needed fuel oil in order to be able to heat her home. Since I received commission for accounts like this I was more than happy to stop and fill the tank.

The next time I went to Pekin on deliveries, I made my way to the hillside on the east side of the railroad tracks to the address I was given to make the fuel delivery. Shortly after I parked the truck in front of the house, a elderly lady by the name of Mrs. Underwood appeared on the front porch watching me getting ready to fill her tank. In a few moments she appeared right beside of me introducing herself to me. She was a little frail elderly lady wearing a scarf over her head and looking at me through coke battle glasses that made her eyes look the size of coffee saucers. I would guess her to be in her mid 80s but that is only a guess. As I grabbed the hose to head around behind her house, she grabbed my arm and to be honest I did not know whether she needed help or she thought I did, but either way the three of us, me, Mrs Underwood, and 125 feet of fuel hose that held 17.5 gallon of fuel oil, headed across her yard and around back to fill her fuel tank.

Over the next few months I would make several trips to see Mrs. Underwood and each time she would be there to help me perform my duties. After getting to know her after a couple visits she began to confide in me and let me know about her life. She had grown up and raised her family in Kentucky where she and her husband had a few acres with some livestock, a garden, and an orchard that provided fresh fruit for her family for years. Sadly when her husband passed and she needed help do to her age and health, a son who lived and Pekin, decided to force her to sell the property in Kentucky where all her friends and family, her church, and her entire heritage was to come to Pekin where she knew no one except her son, who according to her was on drugs and only wanted her here where he could get his hands on her money. The more I got to know her, it was evident that Mrs. Underwood was inwardly distressed and would rather be where she came from rather than where she ended up.

More Good Memories….

You did not have to be around Mrs. Underwood for long to realize she had a tremedous faith in God and gave Him thanks for all things. She was the kind of person that when she was talking, you were listening! As weird as it seems, I actually looked forward to chatting with her during my deliveries. She always talked about her family, when she was younger, and about her late husband and his life. She gave me details about how her son had forced her to do things that she had not wanted to do and how she had felt she had no choice. Sadly she spoke of her son whom she loved but seemed undeserving to me as she told of his antics.

One day as I was fulfilling my duties there, she pulled herself close to me and looked up right into my eyes with those thick coke bottle glasses and said, “Jesus talked to me last night! I was praying and he suddenly was right in the room with me. He told me that everything was going to be okay and that everything was in His control and that he loved me! He comforted me and I felt such peace.” Of course as you can imagine, I thought, “Oh my, this lady has lost it! I was young and very uncomfortable with anyone professing such crazyness! What should I say? I didn't want to make her think that I thought she had gone off the deep end. Everyone knows Jesus does not appear in your bedroom and starting talking to you. Maybe she just meant suddenly she felt comforted while praying and was giving him credit for the sudden peace of mind she was feeling. She repeated ,” he was here in my bedroom in all His glory. He was here telling me that everything is going to be alright”. I just wanted to finish my job and get away from this crazy lady who it seemed had suddenly take leave of her senses. As I handed her the receipt and got ready to leave she grabbed my arm and looked my in the eyes again and said “You be good! Be a good young man”! I had not really thought about it until then but every time I had been there when I got ready to leave she said, “You be good!” As the heating season went on and I visited her more to provide her fuel and I really learned more about her and how she depended on God to provide for her and keep her going. Her son, who have moved her here, had no interest in visiting her or doing anything for her, leaving her with hardly anyone to spend her long days with. I have to tell you, I felt a connection to this elderly lady and I began to believe that maybe Jesus did visit her in the evenings to provide her comfort and teaching. After thinking about this, who am I to say that she is just mixed up and only imagining all this is happening. Am I to think that a man who went to the cross to wipe out the sins of mankind would refuse to appear and talk to an old lady who was suffering and tetoring on the brink of losing her mind when He had often told us that he would comfort us in times of trouble. I am not going to be the one who says that Jesus did not have a personal relationship with Mrs. Underood. Not me, no way!

One day when I was there I noticed she did not come out when I pulled up in front of her house to fill her tank. I filled the tank, went to the truck and made out the sales ticket and still no Mrs. Underwood.

As I was approaching the front door a lady came out and met me on the porch and told me that Mrs. Underwood was not doing well but she wanted to see me inside. I went in the house to find her lying on the sofa surrounded by three or four younger ladies that I had no idea who they were. She directed her eyes to me and whispered something that I could not understand so I moved closer and said “what did you says Mrs. Underwood? Once again with very weak eyes she looked at me and fixed her eyes on me and whispered again, “you be good”. Be a good you man! Her voice was so weak she could hardly speak but I knew what she was saying based on past conversations with her. That was the last time I saw her. She past away shortly after that. I have to say as a young man, she made a huge impression on me.

Over the course of my life I can remember meeting many people but very few have left me with the same memories that I have of the that old lady. If you know me very well you know that if we have a conversation, and that conversation ends, I am very likely before I walk away to mutter, “you be good”. Why, because some kind, elderly lady I knew briefly and admired 50 years ago used to tell me that!

Jesus Saves

Reminiscing Again……..

I Know It Was A God Thing!

For years I have been told my heart was having "PVC's" Premature Ventricular Contractions, a condition when your heart has extra beats between normal beats when your heart is actually beating with no blood in the heart chamber to pump. I have been on different meds to try to control this but none worked. For some reason it seems that after I had Covid 19 or after I was vaccinated for Covid 19, the PVCs worsened.

One day when I was talking to Barb Shelby as we were standing in her front yard after talking about the claim on their home after it was struck by lightning, the topic of my slow heart rate came up. After listening to me talk about my heart rate Barb wisely suggested that I tell my cardiologist that I should wear a heart monitor for 30 days to keep track of all the weird stuff my heart seems to do. Barb informed me that based on what I had told her I already had 50% of the requirements for a pacemaker.

When I saw my Cardiologist, who is at the top of his class, he readily agreed that I needed the 30 day monitor. At that very visit I was given that device and instructed what to do when certain things seem to be going on with me and my heart. When certain things happen I was to press a button on the device that would send a signal to the monitoring company and then I should write down what kind of episode I was having so that I could review it later with my Dr. For the first 26 or 27 days everything was ok. No problems, but on one of the last days to wear the monitor, I was suddenly feeling very poorly. Going up seven steps took all the energy I had and left me winded. I was not dizzy, I felt no pain but knew something was not right. After a few minutes I decided to push the button on the monitor and write down that I was short of breath. I told Vicki I was not sure what was wrong but I just did not feel good. This was a statement she had heard many times since I had been infected with Covid. After a little while past I felt better and went about my normal activities.

Later on in the day I noticed on my phone I had a missed call that had left me a voicemail. When the call had initially came in and I noticed it was from California and I just assumed it was one of those annoying Medicare calls. When I listened to the voicemail I found out it was from the heart monitor company wanting me to contact them. I assumed it was because I had pressed the button on the heart monitor when I was having an episode. I tried to call them back but was on hold for several minutes until I drove through an area with no cell service and was disconnected so I lost my place in the phone cue. I then had to call back and was on hold again for over 30 minutes when I decided I had waited long enough so I hung up. Several hours later after Vicki and I had eaten dinner, I was thinking about that call and decided I should call it again. This time I was patched through to a the rep who immediately asked me how I was feeling. I told him I felt fine and asked him why he would ask. He informed me "You were experiencing a serious episode with your heart and your heart rate went to over 180 beats per minute for a time."

I told him that I knew something was wrong and that is why I pushed the button on the heart monitor. He informed me that the heart monitor had sent the message and it's own well before I had pushed the button. He also told me that they had alerted my doctor and that the Dr office would be contacting me.

The next morning I received a call from the Cardiac Clinic at the hospital telling me that they had scheduled me an appointment at the clinic with the Cardioligist in the group who is the electrician. Apparently as cardiologists go, there are plumbers and there are electricians.

My appointment was the next morning. When I met this cardiologist for the first time, I could see when he walked in the room by the look on his face that he was very concerned. With no small talk or any beating around the bush, he informed me that my condition was very serious. He said the I had had a

Ventricular Tachycardia episode that had lasted for 30 seconds, (apparently a very long time) and that often time it would cause your heart to stop and that would be the end. He paused to stop and look down at the floor as he sat on the edge of the bed across from me pondering what to do. For a brief moment he did not speak nor did I, but the thought of what could have happened raced through my head. As far as I could remember this was the only near death experience I could remember happening to me, at least for awhile. I later found out that a mere 4 beats of your heart when you are inVT is enough to stop your heart. My heart was in VT at the rate of 180 beats per minute for 30 seconds. According to him this could happen again at any time and as I recalled what it felt like when it was happening, I was pretty sure this was not the first time it had happened which made me realize that I had had other near death experiences and did not even know it. According to the doctor an ablation might be what I needed to take care of the situation but it would be a few weeks before it could be done.

An “ablation” is a process in which they go into your heart and find which nerves are telling your heart to beat out of rythym, and they deaden those nerves and hopefully your heart goes back into the pace that it should be in.

I could not get that done immediately, so I needed to get a defibrillator put in my chest so that if my heart stopped it would "jump start" my heart and get me going again. Some describe that feeling as that of being kicked in the chest by a mule. I must tell you that the guy writing this used to nearly pass out when getting a flu shot, so you can imaging how I felt when being given all this info. Suddenly all your priorities get realigned as you try to continue to grasp for every chance at life that you have. After my continued pursuit of getting this Defibrillator installed, it was determined (with considerable pushing on my part) that he could put it in two days later.

To make a long story even longer, the defibrillator was successfully implanted two days later and then I begun what seemed to be the long wait of having the Ablation which would hopefully put an end to my problem.

I must say that as I laid in bed in the hospital after having the ablation, and looked up at the monitor and saw a perfect heart rhythm without a single PVC, I knew God had his hand all over my situation. If I had not been talking to Barb Shelby about all these problems, and if she had not suggested what she did, and if the cardiologist had not been so willing to take her suggestion of the 30 day monitor, if the implementation of the defibrillator had not been changed from a few weeks away until 2 days away, and if the Cardiac Ablation had not been changed from the original 30 days or so after the Defibrillator implementation until November 30, who knows where I would be,

possibly not here at all! I was told by my neice,who has been a registered nurse and even Head Nurse in a large hospital at one time, when I was giving her the play by play of what had been going on, she said that I was a "ticking time bomb". How many people are walking the streets right now with the same problem I had and don't even know it because it does not cause pain and very few symptoms, or at least in my case it did not. Too many things have happened during my experience to just call it happenstance. I am sure God has been telling me, "I am not through with you yet'. I can tell you from experience that God hears your prayers. He may answer in many different ways but He hears your prayers. I have experienced it, and I can feel it everyday, and to that I must exclaim, “God is Good and Jesus Saves".

Roger Lloyd

I’m sad to say that an old friend, employer, and client has passed, Roger Lloyd. Roger was one of the first men who ever believed in me enough to give me a job. A job that allowed me to support my family my church and my interests. You see back about 1976 when I was a young man needing a better job and Roger needed an good employee, he allowed me to come to work for him driving an oil truck for five years.During that five years I worked side-by-side with him and Evelyn doing a lot of things that helped me develop the work ethic that I have today.Roger was the kind of guy who thought, if you want something you need to earn it, not have it given to you. That generation of men is almost gone. I can remember Roger and I working together on those fuel trucks of his during blizzards, 10 foot high snow drifts, 36° below zero temperatures, and at times when it didn’t get as warm as zero for weeks at a time. A lot of employers would just have had their employees go out and do it and sit in the warm and wait. Not him, he was always out there with me doing the same thing I did every day. I can remember one cold winter when he actually had to get out of bed every two hours and go out and start his oil truck and let it run long enough to get warm so that he could be sure it would start the next morning during temperatures that were 20 degrees below zero for several days in a row. All this just so he could make sure our customers were taken care of. I can remember working with him when the wheels literally came off the truck going down the highway.

He drove a tractor probably 15 miles to help me set my first tobacco patch, when I had no idea in the world what I was doing and of course wouldn’t take a dime. I helped him put up hay, unload train box cars of oil, even went to small claims court one time with him, to testify in front of Judge Ratts! LOL!

I am sure there were many families who stayed warm during the winter at Roger and Evelyn’s expense!

I remember one day when I got ran off the road over an embankment by a big semi tractor coming back from Starlight and ended up in a big cornfield. I called Roger he came down there, climbed up on the front bumper of the truck in standing corn and he rode on the truck out of there as I drove. He looked like the largest hood ornament I had ever seen as I sat behind the wheel of that truck with him in front of me standing on the bumper! Of course he paid the farmer for the corn that we destroyed in doing this. He taught me how to water ski, (not very well), and we even spent some nights together in the woods coon hunting at his farm where we nearly walked right off into Lake John Hay in the pitch black of a Rush bCreek night!

When Vicki and I found out we were expecting our first son, he was one of the first people I told, and he was nearly as excited as I was. He and Evelyn were generous enough to invite our family more than once to their homes at Beaver Lake for a week and what a grand time it was.

When I was given the opportunity to go into the insurance business and told him about it he encouraged me and told me that it was a great opportunity for me and I should take it. He had no intention of holding me back. I have a feeling he probably told Evelyn later that I had lost my mind! I had no idea that later on he and his family would become some of our most loyal clients. He and Evelyn were very good friends with Vicki’s parents and there were times in their lives when they were all battling extreme health care situations together. Roger was a survivor, a battler and I can remember him telling the story about being in the Marines and being lost on Mount Fuji in Japan for several days before they found their way. Guys like Roger leave a legacy that it’s hard to match. There were no plans for retiring in Roger’s life, just changing careers so he could do what he had always wanted to do, farm!

Just today a man who grew up in Westside Village told me that Roger took him on his first boat ride when he was a boy living there and also his first plane ride. I am sure that today he is doing things up there that he always wanted to do here but never got the chance.

Good bye for now Roger. We will see you again some day. What adventures await, old friend!

Thankful!

Just saying....As I stay at home and try to stay away from people, there are a lot of people out there who are in harms way everyday. Due to the generosity of my employer at Loy & Fordyce Agency as the they realize I am at high risk, they are allowing me to stay at home and do what I can. Many many people do not have that luxury. They are required to go to their job everyday to serve me and others like me even though the risk of contracting the virus increases. Some took an oath to help mankind in whatever way they can, whether they get paid or not. Others just need to work an earn a paycheck to support their families. Either way they are all there for my benefit and yours. Some of these people are the pillars of our community and others we have never heard of but all are there for me and you. My suggestion to you would be to admire, appreciate, love, and elevate all these people to the level of "hero" in your mind from now on. If you think things are bad now, you cannot imagine what it would be like if all these hard workers decided to just not show up or go just home and not come back. From now on when I see a doctor, nurse or medical worker, grocery store employee, public utility worker, pharmacist, garbage truck worker, hardware store worker, convenience store employee, farmer, bank employee, fast food or restaurant worker, bug sprayer, lawn care worker, or ANY of MANY other workers who took a chance for me, I will remember and suggest that we all also remember what they did, and continue to do for us. Because of these people, I still have access to all of the things we call essential. If you are one of the people who have put yourself at risk because of me, THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!!!!

Disappointed

Disappointed,….I’m disappointed! Not at the Lady Lions or the outcome of the game, in fact I could not be any prouder of them and the way they have represented this town, they are all awesome! I am not disappointed at our hotel facilities or food we enjoyed while were there, and certainly not disappointed at the thousands of fans that showed up to cheer on the Salem Lady Lions.

You see as a photographer you are always searching for the image that conveys emotion, whether it be happiness or other inward thoughts or feelings, something that will make people remember that particular moment forever. We take sometimes thousands of action photos at an event like the 3A State Championship Girls Basketball Game, but the image that needs to be captured does not always involve a ball, a rebound, reaction of the crowd or coach to a bad call, but something that doesn’t even involve sport. That is what has disappointed me today as I thought about this weekend.

You see as I was standing between our fans and a 96 foot long row of tables adorned with computers, cameras, local personalities, sports figures, radio and TV Broadcasters with voices being heard by thousands over the airways just moments before the tip-off of the biggest basketball game in Salem Sports history, I noticed coach Jerry Hickey walking from his bench toward the Salem faithful some 100 or more feet away, and I thought “what is he doing”? Just then as I glanced slightly right I saw his daughter Kendall standing at the edge of the bleachers with a cheek to cheek smile and her arms extended toward him. As he got to her he grabbed her, squeezed her tight and for a moment time seemed to stand still in complete silence. I don’t think a word was spoken but feelings were immeasurable. The look or her face seemed to convey the thought of, “You make me so proud to be your daughter. I am so happy and grateful for the life you have provided for me and our family. Enjoy this day and know that you are my hero, win or lose!” His face seemed to radiate, “ I love you and thank you for allowing me to be able to do this, you are the wind beneath my wings, and what makes the my earth revolve around the sun.” At this point as I stood with camera in hand I realized that this was truly the Kodak moment of my afternoon and as each of them released there grip on the other I knew I had missed the shot that each of them could have cherished forever. I soon realized that even a slam dunk or a buzzer beating full court shot would not mean as much to either one of them as that single embrace, and I had missed it. I am disappointed, disappointed that Jerry Hickey can not pull out that photo on Kendall’s wedding day and remember how special that moment was for he and Kendall at that time, disappointed that Kendall will not gaze upon that photo when perhaps she is elderly and recall what it felt like to hug her dad in front of thousands on that day. I had been so focused on what was about to happen on the court that I missed one of the most eventful things that would happen on that day that did not involve a ball, a rim, a cheer or a trophy. Disappointed.

Lady Lion Basketball

From the time the ref tosses the ball into the air at the opening buzzer, and Lettie Nice swats the ball to Mac, and she hits Karly Sweeney breaking to the basket for the layup, then you see the Lady Lions set up in the “32 Minutes of Hell Defense” you know you are in a battle. Leah Miller then deflects the inbounds pass and Mac dives on it, grabs its and makes a rollover pass to Hope Tomlinson for a high arching “thrrrreeeeeeeee pointer”. The opponent steps out of bounds with the ball and faces the defense, makes a pass over the top to mid court and another pass to a player breaking for the basket for what appears to be a layup, but Lettie Nice swats the ball out of the air and Karly Sweeney heads the other way with the ball you thought was a sure layup a second earlier. Two more quick passes result in a Leah Miller layup and you are right back where you started, standing out of bounds facing what appears to be 25 Lady Lions on defense backed up by 2000 screaming Salem fans led by an army of black & gold clad cheerleaders whose voices are deafening in the contents of the gymnasium.

You feel relief when you notice that Coach Hickey is making three substitutions. You realize just after Natalie Noel steps into the passing lane, knocks the ball down and Lexi Garloch picks it up and hits Callie Backherms who has already made it to the other end, that there is no lull in the Lady Lion defense. You notice Coach Jerry Hickey standing on the sideline, arms folded smiling with enjoyment and head nodding up and down. All this time you notice Abigail Ratts, Maci Tomlinson, Brooklyn Brown, Wade Tomlinson, Don Burton, Joe Jackson, Kristi Noel and Abbi Shields on the sidelines doing jumping gyrations and screaming hysterically while The Lady Lions inflict pain to your entire team.

When you see Lettie Nice being replaced by Olivia Weber, you think maybe this is our chance but your thoughts are squashed when Ashton Thompson threads the needle from the right wing to Olivia, who quickly drop steps left and turns right, bangs the ball softly off the backboard and into the net. You ask yourself, “when will the punishment end”? Certainly not as long as Hope, Leah, and Karly keep reigning down threes from the perimeter like Skud Missiles and Lettie Nice and Makenzie Underwood keep grabbing the misses and sticking them back in the basket. All this time as you face the Lady Lion defense, you notice they are all smiling at you, not with look of“the eye of the tiger' but more like the look of “how you doin”!

You realize that this is what they were born to do, take apart their competitor one limb at a time, and enjoy every minute of it in pure jubilation! At this point you realize you are not just facing the Lady Lions but opposing an entire zip code.
WE ARE SALEM!

Can you imagine.................

Just last Sunday as we sat in worship service and as I heard Steve Corp reflect on Christmas and how it all works together for our Christianity, my mind began to drift to what it would have been like that day to actually be there and experience and be part of the setting that night when The Savior of the entire universe was born. There must have been a strange mystical feeling in the air. We are told some things  about this in the word, but I cannot imagine what it would had been like to actually experience this as a true to life onlooker. Perhaps being there and knowing that a child was being born in a stable because that was the only place available when the mother of this child's time had come. Imagine being told the the lady delivering this child was giving birth as a virgin, untouched by man. Imagining the response most would have had to that bit of news.

How about being a shepherd in the field just minding your own business looking after a flock of sheep when suddenly a brilliant light appears overhead in front of you and in the middle of this light an angel appears and informs you that a Savior, the Messiah is being born close by. Then all of the sudden you see the angel being joined by a multitude of heavenly beings praising God and speaking of the Glory that God deserves. Suddenly you realize the entire sky is lit up with a tremendous aerial show of angels and all of the sudden you think "Wooo, I'm scared, something strange is happened here! I am going to go see what this is". The angel says, "don't be afraid dude, it's all good! Praise the name of Jesus"!

Later after you have found the birth place and the the baby Jesus wrapped in a blanket, you see camels ( I assume) riding into town with all kinds of precious gifts strapped on for the baby Jesus. You are told the the guys with the camels are very smart and are called wise men! The were smart enough to know that when they saw a single star moving across the sky when all the other stars were still that something phenomenal was happening. "Hey, let's take some gifts and go see where that star is going! Something cool is happening! It must be that divine birth we have been hearing about!"

Years later after all that had taken place that night had pretty much gotten back to normal, you are walking through town and you notice a big crowd of people gathered around a single man. This man has a different look about him, a look of peace a look of confidence and humility. You ask someone, "what is going on"? Someone tells you, "see the man over there, his name is Jesus." He just just healed that woman. She touched his garment and he could feel the power leave his body and it healed her of something she had been sick of for many years and now she is made perfect. They say he has also made blind men see and just other day, he raised a child from the dead. I heard him tell someone he is the son of God. Some people don't believe him but with what I have seen him do and say, I believe him. Who else could do the things he has done. Just the other day, out at the edge of town, I heard him preaching and it was getting late. There were thousands of us. We were all getting hungry but we only had a few fish and some bread. He took that small amount of food and somehow fed the entire group of thousands! We even had a bunch of food left over and we were all stuffed. I am telling you this guy is special. He cares about people, not only about their physical well being, but about their spiritual life! He must be the Son of God!"

All of the sudden you realize that this man is the baby who was born years ago in that stable, attended by angels, shepherds, and those smart guys with the camels and the gifts. You can remember thinking at the time that this kid is someone special! You knew at the time of His birth that this baby would  make His mark on mankind. And that, my friend, he has done and keeps doing EVERY single day! And now in modern day, everyday that same man still changes the lives of people who call upon his name. Thanks you Jesus for being in the our lives every day, day after day, and for allowing us to feel your presence with us every day!

All of us at Dowling Family Photos would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year and healthy and prosperous 2018!

God is Good!

So , on Saturday morning I got up and made my way to the office at about 8:45am. At 9:03 my phone rang and it was Vicki, telling me that she had a terrible pain running up her left arm. The pain was unbearable! I hurried home to see that this was serious. I called Charlene Clark, our resident neighborhood nurse, who quickly says "get her to the ER, now"!

We quickly headed to the ER and when we got to St. Vincent_Salem, we were surprised to be the only one there. They quickly took us back and began a multitude of tests and exams. At first it was thought that it was probably a pinched nerve and that everything would subside. EKG and blood work had found nothing. Most of the pain lessened and we were thinking we would be heading home but after another series of chest pain and a dizzy spell were told, "this changes things". "you are going to need to stay around for a few more hours because sometimes at the first stages of a heart attack, the enzymes in the blood do not point to a heart attack right away". every test that had been taken had said "no heart attack". Three hours later after another blood test the numbers came back and it was thought, this must be an error. The EKG is fine. Let's do another blood test. We then confirmed the the second test was correct! The second test numbers had doubled the first from three hours earlier and the third test numbers have nearly doubled again. When you hear the words "Heart Attack" it gives you a sick feeling in the stomach and thoughts run through your mind that you don't want to think about!

It was determined that we needed to get to another hospital capable of taking care of this. Baptist Floyd was the choice, but Baptist Floyd where our Cardiologist practices does not have a room. "We will get one one as soon as one becomes available, hang tight, we will be in touch. By then Vicki's situation had stabilized do to the great work of the nurses and doctors at St.Vincent -Salem. By this time it is around noon. So we wait for a room, hoping the the process taking place in Vic's heart is not doing more damage as the heart is starved of oxygen and day progresses. Many calls were made to Floyd checking on the availability of a room and finally we were told,"someone is going home and we will have a bed in maybe 90 minutes". This is maybe 6:30 in the evening and the heart attack continues.

Off and on during the afternoon ambulances come and ambulances go, but we cannot get on any because there is no room in the hospital. Finally at around 8:30 or so we get the call that the room is ready we can head that way but,.....there is no ambulance available. One had headed for Riley, and the other for Norton. Those two ambulances are the only ones available capable of handling a patient who has a "drip", which is an IV dripping medicine to break up a clot. Now what do we do. We are told a helicopter will not be an option because the patient is stable and suffering a "non stemmy" heart attack.

I am not sure what happened, or who pulled strings at the hospital but I do know that the ER doctor at the hospital talked to our cardiologist and he said, "take out her drip and put her on the next ambulance and get her down here" When we looked up another ambulance was pulling in to unload a another patient and shortly my best friend was enroute to Baptist Floyd with two EMTs and a sick lady cutting holes in the night with flashing red and white lights at 10:30pm.

When we were there, and got to talk to our Cardiologist, we found that the tests taken on Vicki show two very different tales. Three absolutely perfect EKG's and three enzyme tests showing someone with a serious problem. The next morning we should be able to find out the real story when they would do a Cardio Cartherization.

Word spreads quickly about stuff like this in a small town. Sunday morning I was getting texts and emails quicker that I could answer with well wishes and informing me that people were praying for us.

At approximately 10:30 I received texts from friends saying that their Sunday school class is praying for good results, it was being announced at churches that Vicki had suffered a heart attack and was having a Cath at that minute and people were asked to pray for her situation.

When a doctor that had done 5000 heart cauterizations came out of that Cath lab at Baptist Floyd and told me that my wife had "no blood clots and perfect arteries" and only a condition that causes heart attacks for no apparently reason, once again in my life as I have so many times before, I understood that the "God of the Ages" has heard our prayers and answered!

I could not help but think about what God would be willing to do for our generation if we would but "humble ourself and pray"!

Tomorrow she will come home from from hospital with a couple bottles of small pills that will keep this from happening again.

Thank you all so much from each and everyone in our family for your prayers and concerns and thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff of two hospitals and the ambulance service for doing such a fantastic job for us!

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME and ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Destiny

Jared & Alyson

Kiddos

Kennedy Reid Sings "Embraced In Grace"

Please check out this music video by my friend Kennedy Reid. At age 16, she is an extremely accomplished singer. Please watch, like and share. It is awesome! What a talent. Words and music to this were written by my good friend Rick McDonald. Please listen! Enjoy!

...just observing

Tonight I was lucky enough to get a chance to make portraits of the Salem Middle School 7th and 8th grade football teams as we do every year. I took a shot of every player on the two teams except one who happened to be late arriving. I did not want him to be left out so I agreed to hang around him he got there so we could take his portrait.

After the photo work was done for the team and after Eight Grade Head Coach John Hammond had left the field, Seventh Grade Coach Blair Thompson brought his team to the center of the field and had them take a knee to listen to what he had to say. Apparently the night before on a bus trip from Bedford something had happened that left coach Thompson less than impressed with his teams behavior. He began to address his team about the way that he expected his team to represent their school. He reminded them about what was printed across the jersey of every player on the team, "SALEM", and how their behavior was a direct reflection of not only their school but also their community. He told them about how he had coached for years and how he had coached even many of his assistant coaches and that then nor now would he accept less than perfect behavior from his players. The next statement he made was what got all of our attention. He said " boys, I was diagnosed with cancer four years ago and it was not fun. It fact  "it sucked"! "It hurt and I was sick all the time and lay in bed most of the time, but you see the lessoned I learned and the struggles I had when I played football and high school sports at Salem Schools is the reason I am here today. I learned in sports that things don't always go the way you want them to go. Sometimes life can suck, but life goes on." Not an eye blinked, not a head turned. No one cleared their throat. I don't think a bird tweeted and for a moment I thought the water in Brock Creek stood still as he went on, not always in a calm voice. "You see, when you work for something and then it does not go the way you think it should you learn to deal with it. That is why you are here. Playing sports is what taught me how to be strong and how to be a leader! Winning is nice but you can't always win but you can act like gentlemen. You can act like men"! He said "I have coached teams that went winless and that is no fun, but I would rather do that than coach an undefeated team who is not 100 percent respected by their school and community."

He and coach Risen continued calmly for several more minutes until he turned and walked several steps away followed by the rest of his coaches. He looked back and said "I am done and we are through but it might be a good time for you guys to talk about this". He continued on his way and as i looked to the huddle of boys, they slowly all turned to the center of the circle and one after another and sometimes more than one at a time began to apologize to the rest of the team about their part in whatever had happened the night before. I heard sincere apologies coming from the mouths of seventh grade boys in ways that I have never heard grow men speak. I stood there in amazement as I took it all in. It literally brought tears to my eyes to hear those boys stand up for each other and talk about what leadership really is. What an example of leadership I saw in the way Blair Thompson handled this tonight as he overplayed winning by trying to emphasize leadership and sportsmanship. I could not help but wonder how many of these kids heard this from a true leader but had never heard it anywhere else including from me.  I was extremely proud of the way Blair Thompson handled this and it made me proud to be a supporter of the black and gold!

SMS Grade Seven Football Team

SMS Grade Eight Football Team

A Tremendous Example

They both stood before us looking at each other, weeping and I am sure I heard them say to each other, "I love you"! At that particular time I remembered years earlier Don Burton setting before a group of people such as this, with McKenzie Underwood in front of him as he professed to her in front of a different group of people that he was sorry her biological father has passed away much much too young. It was at the wedding of Don and Michelle that he was publicly telling McKenzie that he loved her as he vowed to provide for her, love her and watch over her and her mother from that day forward. You could have heard a pin drop in that church as we all thought how neat it was that he would tell her on her mother's wedding day in front of all those witnesses what his intentions were as he made this promise. Just a few minutes before this memory ran through my mind, Don and McKenzie had made there way, arm and arm to the front on the church so that McKenzie could profess her desire to dedicate her life to Christ and be baptized.

I could not help but think, this man promised to this little girl years earlier that he would provide for her, watch over her and teach her the lessons of life and on this day, years later, he would be a part of one of the most important days of her life, the day she confessed Jesus as her Savior and as he would baptize her. I have known Don for many years and I know he is the type of father that has made absolutly certain that he and Michelle have made a bigger impression on the life of McKenzie that any other individual on this earth by the example they set before her. I had to say to myself, "that is what Christian fathers do, they set standards according to God's word, and then they follow through" 

Wow what an example of what God wants a father and Christian to be! Cool! Cool Cool! Way to go McKenzie! We are all proud of you!

2015 Holiday Tourney Champions

Salem Girls Stop Eastern

Just some thoughts.......

Well, another year is nearly gone and we all find ourselfs in the midde of the hustle & bustle of an over commercialized holiday! For the most part it has been a good year. Vicki and I have another grandchild that we adore. Her name is Blair. That is her picture that pops up when you type in www.dowlingfamilyphotos.com into your web browser. She is a stinker and already pretty much controls her family. Her only opponet from the perspective would be older sister Danika, who is also the apple of our eye. What joy these two have brought to our lives! Vicki had hip replacement surgery earlier in the year and that has been a success. She is pretty much pain free of that nagging hip pain that has plagued her for years.

We have watched many, many of your children smile as we have taken their portrait at different places and venues that we visit each year in this business. Thank you very very much for supporting our efforts! We appreciate it greatly! Some of the children we started photographing in preschool are now in high school and above. How time flys.

On a darker note we have had some bad times this year as well as the good times. We lost my brother Wayne not long ago and that hurt us greatly, but we know he is in a better place and his family is doing well, so that's ok. We realize how lucky we are to have had him for over 80 years. What an example of a christian man, husband, father, and friend! I miss him! We have also had a family member dealing with the "C" word, but God has chosen to heal them and for that we are happy and thankful!

The insurance business has been good and as always, hectic. I work for a family owned business, and they are good to all of us. I like to think we compliment each other. They are very patient with me and I appreciate it. My family is healthy, well fed and blessed beyond recognition with the essentials of life! We have made new friends this year and still cherish our old friends more than ever. It is amazing to me how putting all the basic things in life in the proper place makes for a happy and successful life.

Merry Christmas to all and please reminder in this season of giving and sharing to keep Christ in Christmas. Put him first in ALL you do. Give praise where praise is due! Spend time with your family! Enjoy the season! Merry Christmas from all of us at Dowling Family Photos!