Thomas Wesley Morgan, 1943-2005

My dad lost his battle with lung cancer in the last days of 2005, following his last Christmas with the family. Jennie and I had hoped to deliver some good news in the later half of 2005 regarding a new little addition to the family, but God's timing was a bit different than ours. Not that such news would really help with the hurting that much, but it might have been nice to (at least for us) think of the time more as a transition, as in God gives and he takes away. Along with death can come life, and the fact that my dad chose to follow Christ in baptism in his last months underscores the theme of new life. Dad has new life now.

But he didn't get to know about Mackenzie before he went on.

I don't have a clue what heaven will be like. I imagine earthly things are mostly meaningless once a person is with the Creator of the Universe, but I like to think that he knows about Mac and our small family and the choices we make every day.

I think every son desires the approval of his father. I know he was proud. I hope he knows I am proud of him, too.

On December 29, it will have been two years.

I miss him.

Jennie and I put together a simple video for his memorial service back in January 2006. I ran across a low-quality wmv video file on my server yesterday in doing some clean-up and was reminded of the stack of DVDs we made for the family. Here is a rip from one of those DVDs, if you're interested:



Thomas Wesley Morgan from Tim Morgan on Vimeo.

New Niece

We have a brand new niece. Manda and Justin welcomed Inara Kiera Richter into the world at 6:23 p.m. yesterday. She weighed 9lbs 1oz!

Mackenzie's Blog

Mac has her very own blog now (does that really surprise you?). You can keep up with all our daughter's latest developments at mackenziemorgan.com.

Dad's Obituary

I found this online and wanted to save it here in case it disappears some day...

COLCORD, Okla. – Thomas Wesley Morgan, 62-year-old resident of Colcord, died Thursday, December 29, at his home in Colcord. Born March 16, 1943, in Delaware County, Okla., he was the son of A. Wesley Morgan and Amy McKinley Morgan. Tom farmed in the Centerpoint Community, near Colcord. He was affiliated with the Colcord Church of Christ.

Survivors include: his wife, Ruth, of the home; four sons, Wayne Edwards and wife, Sherry, of Colcord, Thomas Teafatiller and wife, Diann of Siloam Springs, Ark., Rod Edwards and wife, Marty, of Fayetteville, Ark., and Tim Morgan and wife, Jennie, of Tulsa, Okla.; three daughters, Cindy Teafatiller of Siloam Springs, Ark., Cathey Ivey and husband, Scott, of Siloam Springs, and Tracey Morgan, of the home; 15 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; his mother, Amy Morgan, of Colcord; two brothers, Keith Morgan of Colcord and Kyle Morgan and wife Betsy of Siloam Springs; and one sister, Cora Lue Huie and husband, Roland, of Golden, Colo.

A memorial service was held on Tuesday, January 3, at Wasson Memorial Chapel, Siloam Springs, Ark., with Pastor Larry Ellis officiating.

Cremation arrangements were by Wasson Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions can be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 2084 S. Main Street, Grove, OK 74344.

To sign the online guestbook, go to www.wassonfuneralhome.com.

Lex at the Sink

Graceland

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Originally uploaded by Tim Morgan.

Yesterday, we visited the home of Elvis. Frankly, it was a bit of a letdown, though it was a neat to see that Elvis lived a bit more humbly than I had pictured. Yes, he had some extravagant things in his home, but it wasn't near as crazy as the things you hear about in other celebrities' homes (none of which come to mind at this moment, but you get the idea).

The downer came in the cost and the hype. It was 22 US dollars per person, it was very crowded and hot, and the "guides" were anything but friendly (I say "guides" in quotes because they were more like cattle herders; the real guide was a pre-recorded message on a portable headphone device given to each person at the beginning of the tour).

I was hoping for something more like Mt. Vernon in Virginia. That was a very neat, cool (literally) place, wasn't crowded at all, and had very friendly guides (in costume I might add).

Thank you, thank you very much.

Tomorrow Jennie and I jump in a rented Suburban along with her parents and grandparents and head towards Memphis. I'm less excited about the destination than I am about the chance to get away from the grind for a few days. I'll be lugging with me the iPod and new Mac laptop, so I'll be fully "plugged in" -- I'll finally be able to truly play with all these gadgets I've acquired lately (I think).

We'll no doubt stop at Graceland for a bit to see the home of the peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich and other such peculiarities of the King of Rock and Roll. Should be fun.

Tracey's Wedding

Here's a compilation of video and photos from Tracey's wedding. Think of it as the wedding in a couple minutes or less.