Thursday, April 17: After 14 weeks, thousands of miles on the open highway, and way too many red-eye flights, I’m getting a break from all the breakneck travel. For the next few weeks, I’m sticking close to the home fires while I stay in the Sunshine State promoting the Perfect Weight America message.
Let’s review what’s happened so far this week. I got back to West Palm Beach late Monday afternoon from Columbus, Ohio, where I had spoken at World Harvest Church. Upon landing at PBI, I had just minutes to spare to arrive at a dinner we were hosting for about five dozen retailers from Whole Foods, Vitamin Shoppe, Nutrition S’Mart, and Nutrition World in the Palm Beach area. In my talk, I reminded them of how much a difference they can make in people’s lives just by working in a health food or vitamin store. The dinner was held in a ballroom at the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott Hotel, which brought back fond memories. Nicki and I celebrated our wedding reception at the hotel, but not in the same ballroom.
Our growing family had something else to celebrate on Tuesday—the formalization of Alexis’ adoption. We’ve had custody of Alexis since we took her home two days after her birth last October, but there were still some paperwork challenges. Those hurdles were all met on Tuesday when our family of five appeared for Alexis’ official adoption ceremony at he Palm Beach County Courthouse.
An amusing incident happened when we approached the bench in the courtroom. “Say hello to the judge,” I said to three-year-old Joshua, who was bug-eyed by the new surroundings and the larger-than-life judge perched above us in his black robe. Joshua regarded him for a moment and said, “I didn’t know you were a judge. Samuel was a judge.”
Nicki and I chuckled—and offered an explanation to the judge. Joshua meant no disrespect. Since he doesn’t watch “Judge Judy” on afternoon TV, the only “judge” he had heard about were the judges in the Old Testament, like Samuel, the 13th judge of Israel. The courtroom judge shared a chuckle, and then he let Joshua climb up and make the official stamp to certify the adoption. There were smiles and kisses all around after Alexis officially became part of the family.
Later on Tuesday I did a Perfect Weight America seminar at the Nutrition S’Mart health food store just a few very long blocks from my home in Palm Beach Gardens. Actually, this is my “home” health food store, the place where I do the bulk of my shopping, so I saw a lot of familiar faces. Plus I knew where to find things on the aisles. A nice crowd showed up, too—around 200.
On Wednesday, I drove about an hour to the other Nutrition S’Mart (there are only two in the state) at Pembroke Pines, which is a Ft. Lauderdale suburb. We had around 170 drop in and hear me speak. Earlier on Wednesday, I had an emotional meeting with Keith Thomas, who used to be my youth pastor when I was in high school. Keith is now the senior pastor at Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, one of the largest churches on the Gulf Coast. He is fighting pancreatic cancer, but he told me that he has been employing our health principles in his battle against cancer and has experienced some victories. For instance, Keith has been through chemotherapy treatments, but he hasn’t lost his hair or experienced bad side effects. He told me his oncologist was blown away. I was greatly moved to meet with my former pastor during such a trying time.
I got back on the road today for the two-hour drive to Miami, where I gave a seminar at a local Vitamin Shoppe store, but attendance was sparse. That’s okay. When I was done, I got sleep in my own bed, as I have all week long.