Encouraged to follow his dream of joining a team of astronauts on the Space Station his parents offered him the auspicious gift of a video camera on his 11th birthday which resulted in a shift in career track! He ended up graduating, Cum Laude, at the tender age of twenty, from The College of Santa Fe with a degree in film. For the past seven years he has worked in his chosen field on industrials, commercials, weddings, short movies and television series, most recently Dallas Season 3. He is currently in the process of shooting a pilot for an original concept and has given up the idea of buying his first house to hang around his neck freeing him from the worrying of keeping his lawn looking respectable for the neighbours!
Self-encouraged himself to seek a career with the animals, “Otherwise,” he told me, “I’ll just end up an ignorant lawn guy!” So he put away his toys and red-necked it to Texas A&M where he joined the Wildlife and Fisheries Department and passed all his exams to the utter surprise of his homeschool teacher who thought he couldn’t read. He became a herpetologist while he wasn’t attached to the rock wall at the A&M gym where he made quite a name for himself as an athlete. Upon graduation, at barely 21 years old, he declared his ambition to travel the world as a rock climber gaining sponsorships along the way. With a few dollars in the bank his parents smothered a laugh and after a year of denial and living quite comfortably at home he was gainfully employed at The Dallas Zoo where he put his degree to good use shovelling Okapi manure! This year he married a bird trainer and together they are working in a Thai restaurant and other part time gigs in order to realize their dream of producing live exotic bird shows at fancy resorts.
The eldest daughter who inherited the roaming bug. As soon as she was old enough she dashed off to Africa to serve on The Mercy Ships for a year as a missionary in Liberia. After four months of independent living, away from the parentals, she was struck down by malaria and airlifted by Lear Jet to a hospital in Germany where her father met her at the entrance to intensive care. Several pounds lighter she returned to college and attained her Associate of Arts Degree specializing in Child Development and Special Education. Now six years later she works locally as a self employed nanny to anyone who can say, “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”
The youngest child and earned her Associate’s of Arts Degree at the local community college. A chronic outbreak of hives curtailed her passion for dance so she took a break until she decided she couldn’t live without pirouetting. As a Star Barista at a famous coffee shop she can fall into a job anywhere in the world. After spending a year at a performing arts college in Essex she is auditioning for anything to do with stage and dance and taking classes at Pineapple to stay in shape. She makes delicious coffees at one of the many shops in Covent Garden and wows tourists with her Southern drawl.
Father of the four fine children above my Texan has spent his life working in the entertainment business both at home, and on the road. He is the spiritual director of the family and witnesses to the Lord’s love by shouldering the responsibility of providing security, stability and shelter under God’s jurisdiction. He is a hands on Dad who taught his sons to be Southern Gentlemen and his daughters to expect nothing less.