Jim McBride

James IV Update: The Journey So Far

As you probably know, my grandson James IV has had quite a journey in the first 4 months of his life. By the grace of God, he has endured two open heart surgeries and has been in the hospital for the last 6 weeks. He had his second surgery the week before Easter and is currently battling recovery as well as many other things. He has pneumonia, staph infection, and strep at the moment. He is on a strict regimin of medications daily, which makes for a much happier baby. Read more

James IV Update

Last week when James went for his regular checkup, the doctor conducted an echocardiagram, and it revealed more than normal leakage in the right chamber of his heart. He was going to try to talk with the doctors at Egleston about the second surgery rather than doing a regular echocardiogram in April. James was having more complications today, so the doctor felt like he needed to go back to Egleston for another echocardiogram to make a decision regarding the next surgery. We have just arrived at Egleston and are currently in the Emergency Room of the hospital, awaiting consultation with the doctors. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, strength for little James, and peace and encouragement for Buddy and Mallory. I want to thank all of you who have been prayer warriors for us on this journey. We have sensed your prayers throughout. I will continue to update you as we hear news.

When No One Else Wants To…

I began work at Coca-Cola Consolidated on March 15, 1985, in Greensboro, North Carolina. I started at the ground level as a delivery man for a “pre-sell” route. We started work at 6:00am every morning. In order to claim the easiest route of the day, the salesman would show up at 5:45am and begin to look through the thirty different routes. The routes varied in both time and workload. Cases of Coke cans were relatively light so routes that were predominatly cases of cans were the ones every salesman wanted to run that day.Weighing up to fifty pounds each, crates of sixteen ounce returnable glass bottles made for the most difficult routes. A “canned route” was highly coveted by the majority of delivery men.

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Do More Than What is Expected

When I was fifteen years old I worked part time at a Winn Dixie Super Market in Eden, North Carolina. At that time, soft drinks were primarily distributed in returnable glass bottles. When we had a break from our primary job, which was bagging groceries, we were to sort the returned glass bottles in a back room by brand and flavor. This room lacked any type of ventilation and was typically stacked wall to wall with every kind of soda imaginable. The broken glass and sticky floor made for an unpleasant experience for most anyone willing to do the job. Most of my fellow employees naturally hated this particular task and quickly “checked the box”, doing as little as possible as quickly as possible. Read more

Update on James IV

When Mallory took James for his regular appointment yesterday, he was scheduled for an echocardiogram. The test results gave evidence of a narrowing of his aorta. They recommended that Mallory and Buddy return to Eggleston for a heart cath to determine the cause of the narrowing. They did an additional echocardiogram and scheduled the heart cath for this morning. He went in at noon and they finished the procedure at 1:30. The procedure went very well and his measurement was 24, and they did the balloon procedure which lowered it to 5. Now his heart surgeon will look at it later to read it for the results. Read more

Super Bowl Sunday

With the number one overall pick in 1971, the “Boston” Patriots selected the Heisman-winning quarterback, Jim Plunkett, from Stanford University. This would be the starting point from which my father and I began watching football every Sunday afternoon. Through years of mediocrity at best, I began to develop a more vested interest in the team, going beyond a casual concern. Many individual players like Steve Grogan, Sam Cunningham, and Hall of Fame lineman John Hannah, became larger-than-life heroes. The team possessed attributes uncommon in the NFL at the time. Characteristics such as devotion to team over themselves and accepting less money to stay in New England. In 1985, after fourteen years of frustration, the Patriots played Mike Ditka and his Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, and especially the Fridge (William Perry) proved too much for my beloved Patriots, who bore the brunt of a thirty-five point blood-letting. Read more

Rite of Passage Radio Interview

This week I had the opportunity to conduct an interview on Faith Radio about my book, Rite Of Passage. This was time where I was able to talk about why I wrote this book as well as explain many of the topics that are in the book. It was awesome to be able to talk about this with Grace Reif and share the stories of my own children’s rite of passage. To hear this interview, click here. What an awesome opportunity to share with others about something that I am very passionate about!

The Legacy of a Good Friend

A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine passed away, and I had the privilege to speak at his memorial service. Buford Collins was a man full of tenacity, spunk, and joy. He lived his life to the fullest, and I have learned many lessons from him over the years. Many of you may know him as a frequent patron of  Cracker Barrel, Aunt Fannies, and Blackbeard’s because he ate out every meal; and some of you may not even know him at all.

Buford was born in Albany, Ga, on March 24, 1916 and moved to Tennessee as a young boy. He returned to Albany at the age of fifteen,  graduating from Albany High and attending Middle Georgia College. He was the starting quarterback for both schools. He served in the Army Air Force during World War II and the Reserve during the Korean War. He also worked for Coca-Cola for 48 years, retiring in 1986. Read more

Pictures of Baby Lane!

Victoria and Mark went to the doctor this morning to see their little peanut for the first time! They were able to hear his/her heartbeat and watch him/her float around! I couldn’t be more excited for them. Here are a few pictures…hope that you enjoy them!

Baby Lane: Due August 6, 2012 Read more

The Big Announcement!

Every year at Christmas, my family has many traditions- we read the Christmas story, we open presents by the tree, we gather together to watch old Christmas movies, and so many more. One of my favorite traditions is one that was started two years ago by my oldest daughter, Victoria. Every year, she makes each “family” a calendar. She fills them with family photos as well as marks everyone’s birthday, so that we can all remember and celebrate with all of our families. Not only is this a helpful “tool” for each family, but it is always fun looking at all of the family pictures that she has put in the calendar. This year, it was the first gift that we all opened. We were all so excited to see what pictures she had put in the calendar- it is always a joy to see my wife, children, their spouses, and my grandchildren in pictures having so much fun together. As we were perusing through the pictures, I noticed that she was getting a little ancy- wanting us to look quickly through the calendars. I could not understand why until I flipped to the month of August. There it was, in bright colors like a billboard on the side of the street- a picture of her stomach with the words…” GUESS WHAT? WE ARE”….and beside her belly she was holding a jar of PREGO spaghetti sauce. I immediately looked up with a look of shock and excitement on my face towards my oldest who was just recently married this July- she had the most amazing smile on her face and her eyes began to tear up. My wife, also with this same look, yelled, “Victoria! No way!” and she started to tell us that she was pregnant. Baby Lane will be making his/her arrival on August 6^th, one day after my second son Tommy’s birthday. I must say that I cannot wait to meet him/her, and I am so proud of my son-in-law Mark and my daughter Victoria. I am truly blessed, and so thankful to have, now, four grandchildren. I am one proud Papa!

PS- I will post some sonogram pictures and a video later this afternoon!