my brother--a legend in his own mind

Tribute Tuesday-----just in time to honor a request from my brother. While discussing my blog in an e-mail, that I received this morning , he had a few suggestions. "write more about me. like, have a j.t. tuesday thing where you always write about your famous brother on tuesday. starting today."

So--here goes. A tribute to my brother JT. My "little" brother, who came along and took away my spot as the baby of the family. I think I tortured him relentlessly because of this. Well, at least till the day that he actually got bigger than me and could hit back.

My brother, who one minute I could pin down on the floor and not feel bad about torturing, but at the same time wouldn't let anyone else mess with. Did I mention my brother could be quite the pest and he was a skinny little fellow back in his younger days? He'd pester someone till they came after him, then big sister would have to step in when he took off running.

But, our relationship wasn't always about fighting, even though our mother has many stories of having to discipline us for arguing over one of us touching the other, getting in the others space, or heaven forbid, just looking at the other.

I remember many a rainy day making tents in the living room with blankets and chairs, with my brother. We even spent entire afternoons setting up those little red, green and blue plastic cowboys and indians. Strategically placing all the little green army men was fun too.

When I really got into playing Barbies, he always wanted his GI Joe to play along too. (Is this the kind of stuff you wanted me to write about, dear brother??) Sadly, I rarely let GI Joe get in on the action.

During Jr High and HS, if I ever had a question about a band or a song that I liked, my brother was the one I turned to for information. He had (and still has) a great love and knowledge of music and a record collection that was amazing!! He even went down the road of "rock star" and played in several bands through the years.

This year my brother turns 40! The BIG 4-0! Wow! In some ways he is still that little aggravating pest. He just has a knack for it. No one is spared. My heart goes out to his wife and children for what they must endure. (wink)


But let me tell you. I am very proud of the man (husband, father) my brother has become. He traded in that long hair for a much shorter style. (not that there is anything wrong with long hair--but thank goodness he got over his mullet stage!) He traded in playing in rock bands in bars for playing praise music at his church. And several of the songs are his own special lyrics and music. Last year he was ordained into the ministry and is working on become a full time missionary with International Commission.

I hate to break it to him, but I will not be writing a "JT Tuesday" every week here. But, he will be featured in upcoming posts about our trip to Azerbaijan. Lets just say that I was very much impressed with my baby brother's knowledge and faith, as well as his ability to share this faith with others.

And, maybe, from time to time, like when he does things like he did with this crazy photo, I will have another JT Tuesday. Just for my favorite brother.

My brother-----he knows people!

Can you believe he used to be a skinny lil ole runt?

t This was taken after he officiated my niece's wedding ceremony. Thankfully he didnt wear these during the wedding, but she sure was brave in asking him to perform the ceremony!

See More Tuesday Tributes Here

St. Bernard Project Tribute

Well, I am back from my trip to New Orleans. It was an awesome experience and I would love to go back again. It has been such a busy week, that I didn't really feel organized enough to be posting yet. BUT--as I was just trying to catch up on some other blogs, I saw that it was Tribute Tuesday on The Seven Clown Circus Blog.

OK--so again--not really organized since I've been back--but want to take this time to do a quick tribute of my own, and to spend a few minutes on my own blog, so it doesn't feel so neglected. So here goes..........

St. Bernard Parish is a community adjacent to New Orleans. Before Hurricane Katrina hit the area in August of 2005, the population for this Parish was 67,000. There were 27,000 homes and 14,000businesses. All 27,000 homes were inhabitable after the storm. Now, almost 4 years later, there are still countless numbers of houses that are still in need of repair so that they can once again become homes for families to move back into this community.

So much has been done in this area, but there is still so much more to be done. FEMA has already started removing the trailers that families have been living in. Some of these trailers have been parked right in front of the homes that the families once lived in. But, when the trailers have to be removed, some people will again be homeless. There are still 1000 families displaced in St. Bernard Parish. 75% of homeowners did not receive sufficient funds to rebuild their homes.

That is where the St. Bernard Project comes into the picture.

This is a non-profit, community based program that is helping to get people back in their homes. The Project has helped to rebuild 221 homes, and are currently working on 30 more homes. I had the privilege of working with the St. Bernard Project last week on a home. And like I said, it was an awesome experience.

So-----My tribute today is to the St. Bernard Project for putting together this awesome organization and helping to get people back into their homes.