Mom and Dad’s Birthdays My dad’s birthday is on February 1st and my mom’s birthday is on March 1st. We enjoyed celebrating their birthdays again this year (a month apart).

Working and taking classes is challenging. I’m always impressed by non-traditional students who manage to work, raise children, and complete their degrees. Taking classes outside my profession has made me appreciate the work and sacrifices of non-traditional students.

I use both mastodon and micro.blog for personal blogging. I still have not learned to coordinate them both — just dabbling a little with each of them. If you use both services, how have you coordinated them? Do you find synergy in using them both?

It is a cold and icy day. It is a good day to be indoors.

This is Lux, our 13-year-old beagle-dachshund mix. She is a rescue dog and is a very sweet dog.

I am learning to use peertube. This is my first video post using peertube.

I am grateful for another Christmas with my family. We enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at Kernersville Wesleyan Church. It was a candlelight service and included Christmas Carols. My parents and Emily went with Julie and me. Julie fixed a wonderful meal for our family on Christmas Day. Here are some pictures of our family.

Amanda, Emily, Julie and Rita Spriggs Celebrating Mother’s Day This post is a couple of weeks late. On 5/11/2025, our family celebrated Mother’s Day. We had dinner at Amanda and Will’s home. Of all the blessings in my life, there is nothing I am more grateful for than my mom, my wife, and my daughters.

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. I have written about his experience in Vietnam in my blog post: Jerry's Journey to Vietnam and Return Home On April 30, 2025, my father and I embarked on a poignant journey known as the Flight of Honor. The mission of this remarkable organization is to celebrate veterans by inviting them to partake in a day honoring them at the nation's memorials in Washington, D.

Julie and I live about 30 minutes from Hanging Rock Park in North Carolina. We decided to go to the park after church today. The weather was beautiful and ideal to enjoy the park. We spent about 30 minutes walking on an easy trail. We enjoyed seeing the trees. There was a waterfall, and it was the highlight of our walk. Here is a brief video of some of what we saw.

Dave and Julie - Easter 2025 Dave and Julie - Easter 2025 Easter Dinner 2025 Easter Dinner 2025 Happy Easter 2025. Julie and I enjoyed the Easter service at Kernersville Wesleyan Church. We attend the service at 8:30 am, which is a traditional service. After church, Julie spent most of the day preparing a delicious meal for dinner. Our girls were able to join us, but Amanda's husband, Will, was not feeling well, so he was not able to come.

Jerry Spriggs’ Army Photo, February 1966 Introduction My dad, Jerry Spriggs, is an Army veteran and was deployed to Vietnam in 1967-68. While growing up, I noticed my dad’s patriotism and pride in his military service, but he was reluctant to discuss his experiences in Vietnam. Like many combat veterans, my dad rarely spoke about his military service when he was young. He was busy raising a family, working, and meeting other responsibilities in his life.

Mom with her birthday cake We enjoyed celebrating my mom’s birthday with her a few days ago. My mom is very kind and loving. We didn’t do anything fancy for her birthday, but she said several times about how much she enjoyed her birthday. We enjoyed family dinner and some time together. Just that simple celebration made her happy.

My family enjoyed celebrating my dad's birthday earlier this month. Next year, he will be 80. We had a nice dinner and cake and enjoyed spending time together. He has been visiting my brother in Montana for the past week. He will be home soon. I'll look forward to hearing about his trip.

Last year was a good year for me. My health was much better. I enjoyed time with family. Each new year brings opportunities and experiences to enjoy. This first half of 2025 will include couple of unique experiences for me. My dad was accepted for the flight of honor program. I attended a flight of honor send off about 15 years ago to honor a WWII Veteran who attended my church.

I have been enjoying vacation and will be off from work for 2 weeks. This is the busy time of year for my wife Julie. She is a mail carrier and her post-office is short-handed. She has worked Christmas Eve more times than not over the past 10 years. She was home by 5pm this year, and we were able to attend Christmas Eve church service. As we were getting ready for church and driving there, we discussed some challenges in our lives.

We are grateful for another good year. We live in a multigenerational household with our youngest daughter, Emily, and Dave's parents, Jerry and Rita. We are glad our family can be together and enjoy sharing meals and holidays. Julie continues to work in the capacity of a rural carrier at the local post office. She has found it rewarding to serve her community and get to know her neighbors. This is the busy season for the delivery folks and many people find it convenient to order online.

Rita Spriggs, Troy Pence, Don Pence, Paul Pence in 2018 As 2024 draws to a close, I reminisce about the past few years. Christmas is a wonderful time of year for me. I look forward to it each year. My earliest memories are enjoying the love of my family and extended family at Christmas. My extended family would father on Christmas Eve. The children would perform a Christmas play and then we would open presents.

Today was a wonderful day. I enjoyed spending time with my mom and dad, my daughters, my son-in-law, and my wife. We had a delicious meal. It was good to just be together. I wish my brother and sister-in-law could have joined us. Hopefully, we will celebrate some day soon. We have a tradition in which each person spends a few moments sharing gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for that each of us could speak a long time and not accurately describe how blessed we are.

As this year is drawing to a close, I realize that 2024 is an anniversary year for me. I started working in the mental health field in 1994. My first position was working in a group home serving adults impacted by traumatic brain injury. I think like most professionals, I learned a lot about healthcare from my first job. I learned how important nurses are to the system of healthcare.

Julie Spriggs enjoying a birthday treat We celebrated Julie's 60th birthday yesterday. She had a busy workday delivering the mail and didn't come home until about 6pm. We enjoyed a good meal and some birthday treats and Julie opened her presents. She will have Thanksgiving Day off, so will have more time to celebrate her birthday later this week.

For the past year or so, I have had a decline in my vision. By the late Spring of 2024, my vision had deteriorated to the point that it was becoming difficult for me to drive. I also have found some of my responsibilities at work that involve reading challenging. I was able to do it by using magnification software on the computer screen. I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist and she measured my vision at 20/100 and she advised me to have surgery to remove a cataract and also place a new lens in my eye.

I traveled to Michigan to attend Paul Royce Pence's funeral on 9/19/2024. My mom and dad made the trip together. It was a sad occasion, but we were grateful to spend some time with family. Paul was my last living uncle. It has been sad to say goodbye to all of them. Growing up, Paul attended all my birthday parties and important events, including my high school and college graduation.

Julie and I went to the Kernersville Little Theater today. We saw a matinée performance of Beauty and the Beast. The actors and musicians were good. We enjoyed it very much. Emily went with us and brought a friend. The performance was at Kernersville Elementary School. The theater is raising money for an auditorium. I hope they are successful. I look forward to seeing more productions.

I ordered a Pedego Interceptor about 3 weeks ago, and it arrived on Wednesday. I haven't ridden bicycles in over 10 years. This is my 2nd day riding it. I am having a lot of fun. It is also good for my health to exercise. Today, I cycled more than 14 miles. I am using an app called Strava to record the rides. So far, I have just gone near my neighborhood.