A Confluence of Life.....

(Let us assume that it is 30 minutes from now and that today is tommorrow - August 6, 2008)

One score and fourteen years ago our Father, which art in heaven, saw fit to breathe His life into a little baby girl. Consequently, Robert Gillespie James and Linda Upshaw James begat Adrian Leigh and the world has never been the same.

>>>>>>>>>REWIND>>>>>>>>> to the beginning of time.....on the sixth day. God created man from the dust of the earth and said, "It is not good that man should be alone, I shall make a suitable partner for him." Thus God took a rib from the man and formed a woman.

>>>>>>>>>>FAST FORWARD>>>>>>>> to the ninth day of the tenth month in the year of our Lord nineteen-hundred and ninety-six. One will witness sovereignty and salvation; for that is the day that this man found his lost rib. (Forgive me and heaven help me if I am wrong). October 9th, 1996 was our (Adrian and Caleb's) first date. Our lives then converged and on September 22, 2001 our lives merged through Holy Matrimony.

Many people scoff at the idea of a sovereign God, an omnipotent universal being that reigns supreme throughout the heavens and earth. They argue that there is no proof and disguise the miraculous with explanations of random chance and happenstance. Ah, but if ever there could be a case made for the existence of the great "I AM" and His miraculous ways, it could be found in the marriage of Adrian and Caleb Seney. There are only two answers that suffice in the explanation of how and why Adrian would love and marry a ragamuffin such as I.

1. She is INSANE!
or
2. She is a miraculous gift from God who somehow is blinded to my glaring defects and can only see the best and brightest that lies deep with in me.

You can believe whatever you choose! I choose answer #2, and even an old hillbilly like me knows the only proper way to accept a gift is to do so with GRATITUDE!

Happy Birthday Adrian!!!!! I am grateful to God that he saw fit to let me do this thing called LIFE with you and I will spend the rest of my days trying to live it!

Meat is Literally Falling of the Bone.......

So yesterday, my wife and I decided we would weed the flower bed. We made this decision around 3pm. This is important to note because here in Louisiana, doing anything outdoors at 3pm on an August afternoon is like choosing to crawl inside a preheated oven just to hang out for a while or like saying, "Hey honey, let's fire up the bbq pit and take turns laying on it." It is plain insanity. A blatant disregard for human life. 20 minutes into our attempt at "Martha Stewart Living" we were both drenched in sweat and welcoming our certain death.

Hallucinations abound when one is dehydrated and facing their own demise. I had apocalyptic visions of homicidal bunny rabbits riding Harley's through our neighborhood terrorizing every man, woman and child. Luckily my wife's hallucinations were a bit more rational; she claimed to have heard our sleeping daughter Abby cry. With that our salvation was at hand. We ended our weed pulling expedition and sought refuge indoors.

Upon entering the Seney abode, I commented, "Landsakes, it is HOT in this house!" To which my wife replied, "Check the thermostat, I turned it up earlier." (Now, who in their right mind turns the thermostat up on an August afternoon. I thought a lunacy commission ought to be convened.) Armed with this knowledge, I headed straight for our trusty mercury filled thermostat to adjust properly for sweet relief. Lowering the desired temp to a comfortable 68 I awaited my reward; a click, a hum, and a gust of cold air. I got my click, I got my hum, but I was deprived my gust!!! Being a man full of skill, know-how, and intuition, I knew I could fix the problem. Drawing upon my wealth of knowledge I chose to do what was most logical; I thumped the thermostat. When I received no reward, I progressed to switching it on and off in rapid succession. Still I had no reward. Then it hit me, "EUREKA!" I started thumping the thermostat and switching it on and off simultaneously. But alas, frustration finally set in as all my skill and knowledge had failed me. My frustration exited and HORROR replaced it. WE WERE WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING! Sweet Mother of God, what were we to do?

This being a Sunday afternoon, I couldn't rightly expect a service technician to be at my beck and call, but expect I did. After making a call or two I settled into the fact that there would be no relief till Monday. That of course meant that we would have to survive until then. The family was placed on a strict regiment of cold showers, drawn shades, electric fans and Popsicles. Fortunately, we survived the night.

Well, today around 10:30am, the service technician arrived and immediately immersed himself in the bowels of the Seney Family HVAC unit. After a thorough poking and prodding he surfaced with sorrow filled eyes and sad, sad words. It seems that our blower/fan has gone "tits up" and will need to be replaced. This was bad news I could tell, but the worst was yet to come. "It is going to take at least 2 full days before a new blower arrives." At those words, I did as any man filled with grief, I FELL APART. I ripped my garments from my body, beat my chest, covered myself with ash and dawned a sack-cloth. And there was great lament and the gnashing of teeth.

So, I sit here today a sweaty, sweaty mess........Ah, but hope springs eternal, and in a day or two thou shalt hear a rejoicing in the hills of Ruston that thou hast never heard before. The Seneys will be restored to Air Conditioned GLORY AND GRANDUER!!!! I will stop at nothing to see it done!

a movie review......

an old flame hath rekindled my heart. there was a time before children when i was a bonafide movie buff. if it was out - you could bet your "bottom dollar" that i had seen it. i lived for the flicks and i fully appreciated the art that is cinematography. as life does what life does and way inevitably leads on to way, i had recently found myself out of touch with the movie scene and i distinctly remember feeling as though i had outgrown that love. but alas, old flames never truly die, but rather they are usually just suffocated by new ones to the point of exhaustion. lying dormant, they await the day that fresh air brushes the soot off their embers and they ignite once again to burn warm and bright.

my invigorating breeze came by way of the stiff, cold, bitter wind that is "there will be blood." i was captivated from beginning to end and found myself anxious and nervous as if there was a certain impending doom around every turn throughout the epic. daniel day lewis deserved and earned the academy's oscar with his portrayal of turn of the century oil man daniel plainview in this film noir. his performance coupled with stunning cinematography and emblazined by a haunting score will forever mark this movie as an instant classic.

i knew very little of the film when i sat down to view it for the first time. i knew that it was lengthy, about oil, and that the film had garnered much recognition at the award shows. i must say that this lack of foreknowledge was to my advantage. i had heard much adoo about "no country for old men" and being a fan of anything coen had overly built my expectations for said film. now that is not to say that i was not pleased with "no country," but it is to say that my pleasure was expected. not so with "there will be blood," my expectations were none which led me to surprise. for my taste, i can not overstate how much i enjoyed this film and i give kudos to the composer who crafted that haunting score. In an effort to whet the appetite and not reveal the meal, i will leave the reader with this............there will be blood!

and then there was ONE!!!!!

When last we spoke, the maternal Seney was suffering from the stomach bug and Nostradamus was predicting his day of doom to be Saturday. Well, folks, I should go to the races because I was right. No sooner had Adrian recouped than did I have the "poops" (my feeble attempt at a ryhme).

I returned to bed around 8:30 am Saturday and did not rise until 11am Sunday morning. A solid day gone, but I felt much better. Adrian's sister is in town visiting, and it looks like she got more than she bargained for because the dreaded "poop & pukes" found her aswell!!!!! Audrey stands alone as the one Seney untouched. She must have an IRON CONSTITUTION!!!!! Her Seney and Smith genetics must be kicking in, because we all know a James will get sick if a cat walks within a quarter mile of them.....

Anyway, I made a full recovery and was cleaning the house by Sunday noon; not out of want to mind you, but fear! My wife scares me! She gets fixated on laundry and housework and though she may make other plans that occupy her time, the thought of a semi-messy house torments her and thus torments me!!! She is crazy, but so am I and I love her.

"There she blows.........."

It has been a rough couple of days for the Ruston Seneys. Abby decided to contract the dreaded "poop and pukes" the other day. She began wednesday with evacuations from her southern exit and ended the day evacuating from the north ENTRANCE! By noon thursday, the poor thing was empty. Not once did she stop laughing or playing...........that kid's a trooper!

We now believe that mother Seney has a case of her own...........however, her spirits don't seem so high. My luck being what it is, It will make its assault on me this weekend, thereby squandering all R&R possibilities that I might have planned. Anywho, we do what we can!

a tall cold glass of Schmitz Gay!

This morning as I was doing Daddy duty and dressing our youngest daughter Abby I caught myself audibly debating whether white socks or pink socks would best accessorize her little "GAP" outfit. I was actually debating what color would best accentuate Abby's inherent cuteness! That is when I asked the question that is lingering on your minds at this very moment, "Am I GAY?"

I was terrified! Had I not this very morning awaken in a pink bed in pink bedroom (Audrey's room). Did, I not, just last night spend 20 minutes talking about how "precious" Audrey's new hair-doo was. The panic quickly dissipated as I realized that I am not Gay, but rather I am DADDY to two beautiful girls.

So with my masculinity reassured I dressed for work feeling lucky enough to be a fat, sloppy dude who has 3 women who love and adore him.

OH, PLOPPY SIG! OH, PESSY MIG! OH, DILTHY FIRTY SWINE!

Holy Cow my desk is messy!!!! Not to mention my car or that corner of the bedroom my wife allows me to occupy and lets leave the checkbook and finances out of this. ITS ALL A MESS - A FILTHY MESS! The Story of my life!

I am a part of a men's group and we are in the process of life mapping - looking back at your life and recording the key relationships and events that have brought you to were you are today. A very big part of this process is recognizing themes and trends in your life. In my quest to life map it has become apparent that a constant theme in my life is a lack of discipline - wether it be internal or external. I used to rebel against anything or anyone that sought to discipline me or hold me accountable - NOW I CRAVE IT!

It is crazy how I could live over half of my life demanding to steer my ship and balking at any form of direction and today I stand ready and willing to hand over the reigns of my life to Christ. I have handed them over and in the same breath taken them back. I have given it all to Him in complete surrender only to bargain for some of it back. "Here, God, you take this and I will keep this." I think I am starting to get what Paul called a "daily dying unto self."

So, that being said, just for today, I am giving ALL (the good and the bad) of my life over to Christ and I will let tommorrow take care of tommorrow. Today, I will follow Him in hopes that he will find some use for me in His ever expanding kingdom and maybe somewhere down the line He will help me clean up MY MESS!