Well, it's me again. That's right the ghost writer. It's not so much that you don't know who I am, but you never know when I am going to post. :) Haunting, I know...
Our lives are still going on as usual...Same jobs, same school, same church, same vehicles, same number of kids, same dog, same weight, etc. The one big thing that has changed is that we currently have our house for sale and have an offer on another house about 1.5 miles away. The new house is smaller, it is all on one level, on a small lot, in a great neighborhood with everything we wanted. We just have to get this house sold, so we can buy the new one. That, my friends, is easier said than done. We listed it with a realtor about 3 weeks ago and have had a total of 3 showings, 2 of those coming from the open house we had last Sunday.
This process is not an enjoyable one for people with no patience. As a family, we are challenged daily with having the patience we should have as Christians. We live in a world where everything is now and readily available...Fast food, Tivo, microwaves, MP3, cell phones, hot water, e-mail, text messaging, and on and on and on and on. So, when it comes to selling a house, we expect the same speediness as everything in our daily lives. But, the cruel reality is that it very seldom happens that way.
We have until mid-November to sell this house before the offer expires on our new one. It has been a long month already. We spent most of last weekend cleaning(I was trying to contain my joy while doing it, but it was hard to hold it in...) But, that is part of it. Hopefully, all of the waiting and working will pay off. Other than that, life goes on. We are blessed and just trying to remember it.
Prayerfully houseless when we meet again.....
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Sunday, August 13, 2006
I haven't posted anything since March.....?
Wow,
I just realized I haven't posted anything on this site since March...Have a had a few changes since then...
First, I started doing a different job at Wal-Mart....I transferred to the Real Estate/Store Planning People Division back in May...Basically, I just go around and put out fires all day. But, it is a lot better than the job I was doing.
Summer is almost over...The other jolio is excited, because that means the punk and claw are going back to school..They have tried and tested her patience these past couple of months. It probably would have been easier, but it has been so stinkin' hot!!! I can't remember a hotter summer...
Anyway, life is pretty much the same..Still in the role of Worship Pastor at Lowell A/G..God continues to bless our church and my ministry...Kids are about the same...The punk has decided that he wants to go to the Air Force Academy when he grows up and has asked me to start training him...So, I watch what he eats and make him do some type of physical training everyday...Also, we have worked on some mental training...I told the other jolio that I should have the punk train me. Maybe I could lose some weight and get in shape. OH, the punk also just got his first pair of glasses. He looks good in them and seems to be OK with the idea, but we will wait and see once he goes back to school...WHICH starts in 8 days or so. :) 4th grade and 2nd grade....CRAZY, man, CRAZY....It goes by way too fast.They used to be our babies. Now, they are definitely a punk and a claw....
See you in another 3 or 4 months...
I just realized I haven't posted anything on this site since March...Have a had a few changes since then...
First, I started doing a different job at Wal-Mart....I transferred to the Real Estate/Store Planning People Division back in May...Basically, I just go around and put out fires all day. But, it is a lot better than the job I was doing.
Summer is almost over...The other jolio is excited, because that means the punk and claw are going back to school..They have tried and tested her patience these past couple of months. It probably would have been easier, but it has been so stinkin' hot!!! I can't remember a hotter summer...
Anyway, life is pretty much the same..Still in the role of Worship Pastor at Lowell A/G..God continues to bless our church and my ministry...Kids are about the same...The punk has decided that he wants to go to the Air Force Academy when he grows up and has asked me to start training him...So, I watch what he eats and make him do some type of physical training everyday...Also, we have worked on some mental training...I told the other jolio that I should have the punk train me. Maybe I could lose some weight and get in shape. OH, the punk also just got his first pair of glasses. He looks good in them and seems to be OK with the idea, but we will wait and see once he goes back to school...WHICH starts in 8 days or so. :) 4th grade and 2nd grade....CRAZY, man, CRAZY....It goes by way too fast.They used to be our babies. Now, they are definitely a punk and a claw....
See you in another 3 or 4 months...
Sunday, March 26, 2006
2 weeks since the tornado went through our front yard...
That's right!!! It has been two weeks since an F3 tornado blazed it's way down our street and zigged and zagged it's way inbetween houses. It tore down fences, removed roofing, carried away swingsets (we're talking Rainbow Playsystems here, not those cheap Wal-Mart aluminum things, although it moved those too!!), tore apart metal buildings and redistributed it all over our yard and the rest of the neighborhood, all in a matter of 20-30 seconds. The other jolio and I were bunkered down here in the laundry room. Thankfully, the kids were across town at my parents house and were in no danger. So, here is the story.....
We were out on our date night (after church on Sunday mornings, the kids go home with my parents and spend the night, so we get a date night every week. We are so blessed!!) and had just seen a movie. We had not had dinner yet, so we drove around trying to decide where we wanted to go. It was about 9:30PM, so we decided just to drive through Arby's and take it home. I think God had his had in this decision. If we had been out driving around when the tornado came through, there is not telling what would have happened to us. Because, the tornado hit at about 10:10, after we had been home only about half an hour!! Anyway, we get home and turn on the TV and the weatherman was on tracking a tornado coming out of Oklahoma and heading towards the Siloam Springs/Gentry area, which is about 30-45 minutes from us depending on the route. We knew it was really windy and going to storm out, but that is usual around here, so we didn't think anything of it. As we are watching the storm tracker thing ( I don't know what they call theirs..They all have fancy names like Super Doppler 20 or Tracker2000 or whatever :)) we notice that it is starting to head our direction. Then the weather guy says it is going to hit Bella Vista in about 13 minutes. Well, that was close enough for me!! I called my parents and asked them if they were in a safe place. Mom said she was going to wake up the kids and put them in the closet with them. After that, I got the jolio and told her we were going to the laundry room. I grabbed a chair from the dining room table to sit on and we both grabbed our pillows and the dog and went in. Looking back, I wondered why I didn't grab anything else. The rest of the house could have been destroyed, blown away, and all I took was my pillow!! I guess at the time I made sure what mattered the most was protected--my family and my dog. I should have probably grabbed a flashlight, some water maybe, my laptop computer, my guitar. But, no, I just grabbed the living creatures and headed in there. That was a little off topic, so back to the story...After we had been in there about 5 minutes, the power went out. About 2 minutes after that, we started hearing "thuds" against the garage door and house. I assumed it was hail. The news had been talking about large baseball size hail being reported from this storm. I'll admit I was scared and was doing a lot of praying. Anyway, my truck does not fit in the garage (mostly because my side is not cleaned out) so it was out in the storm. I just knew when I went outside that it was going to be in ruins. The "thuds" we heard was actually debris from an F3 tornado hitting our house and my truck and the tornado itself ripping off part of our roof and siding and taking out one of our large bushes. It also made a small dent in my hood, with quite a few scratches, but that was about it. We were the fortunate ones. Almost all of our neighbors lost parts of their fencing, as well as the majority of shingles and paper from their roof. Some had blown windows and missing sheds, but, thankfully, no one was injured or killed that we know of. This same storm kept going past our neighborhood and gained strength. It took out an entire neighborhood just a half mile from here, leveling houses!! It then proceeded to the small community of Little Flock and uprooted 100 year-old trees and destroying homes and property. The town of Centerton was hit hard before it made it to us, as well as the brand new state-of-the-art $13 million football stadium that Bentonville had used only one season. It took down 4 of the large light poles leaving one on across the bleachers and peeled back a roof from a building.
So, to boil it all down for you, we ended up with about $5000 worth of damage, but we have our lives and a God who always has His hand on us. I can't explain why the tornado skipped our house and chose the path it did, but I do know that I give God all glory and praise for keeping us safe and not allowing our damage to be any worse than it was.
God continues to amaze me on a daily basis!! He is great and if you don't have a personal relationship with Him you can and you should!!! He rocks!!
Until the wind blows our way again........
We were out on our date night (after church on Sunday mornings, the kids go home with my parents and spend the night, so we get a date night every week. We are so blessed!!) and had just seen a movie. We had not had dinner yet, so we drove around trying to decide where we wanted to go. It was about 9:30PM, so we decided just to drive through Arby's and take it home. I think God had his had in this decision. If we had been out driving around when the tornado came through, there is not telling what would have happened to us. Because, the tornado hit at about 10:10, after we had been home only about half an hour!! Anyway, we get home and turn on the TV and the weatherman was on tracking a tornado coming out of Oklahoma and heading towards the Siloam Springs/Gentry area, which is about 30-45 minutes from us depending on the route. We knew it was really windy and going to storm out, but that is usual around here, so we didn't think anything of it. As we are watching the storm tracker thing ( I don't know what they call theirs..They all have fancy names like Super Doppler 20 or Tracker2000 or whatever :)) we notice that it is starting to head our direction. Then the weather guy says it is going to hit Bella Vista in about 13 minutes. Well, that was close enough for me!! I called my parents and asked them if they were in a safe place. Mom said she was going to wake up the kids and put them in the closet with them. After that, I got the jolio and told her we were going to the laundry room. I grabbed a chair from the dining room table to sit on and we both grabbed our pillows and the dog and went in. Looking back, I wondered why I didn't grab anything else. The rest of the house could have been destroyed, blown away, and all I took was my pillow!! I guess at the time I made sure what mattered the most was protected--my family and my dog. I should have probably grabbed a flashlight, some water maybe, my laptop computer, my guitar. But, no, I just grabbed the living creatures and headed in there. That was a little off topic, so back to the story...After we had been in there about 5 minutes, the power went out. About 2 minutes after that, we started hearing "thuds" against the garage door and house. I assumed it was hail. The news had been talking about large baseball size hail being reported from this storm. I'll admit I was scared and was doing a lot of praying. Anyway, my truck does not fit in the garage (mostly because my side is not cleaned out) so it was out in the storm. I just knew when I went outside that it was going to be in ruins. The "thuds" we heard was actually debris from an F3 tornado hitting our house and my truck and the tornado itself ripping off part of our roof and siding and taking out one of our large bushes. It also made a small dent in my hood, with quite a few scratches, but that was about it. We were the fortunate ones. Almost all of our neighbors lost parts of their fencing, as well as the majority of shingles and paper from their roof. Some had blown windows and missing sheds, but, thankfully, no one was injured or killed that we know of. This same storm kept going past our neighborhood and gained strength. It took out an entire neighborhood just a half mile from here, leveling houses!! It then proceeded to the small community of Little Flock and uprooted 100 year-old trees and destroying homes and property. The town of Centerton was hit hard before it made it to us, as well as the brand new state-of-the-art $13 million football stadium that Bentonville had used only one season. It took down 4 of the large light poles leaving one on across the bleachers and peeled back a roof from a building.
So, to boil it all down for you, we ended up with about $5000 worth of damage, but we have our lives and a God who always has His hand on us. I can't explain why the tornado skipped our house and chose the path it did, but I do know that I give God all glory and praise for keeping us safe and not allowing our damage to be any worse than it was.
God continues to amaze me on a daily basis!! He is great and if you don't have a personal relationship with Him you can and you should!!! He rocks!!
Until the wind blows our way again........
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Oh, the weather outside is frightful.......
We are sitting here "buried" under 3-5 inches of snow, and there is still some coming down. I say buried, because we usually just get ice here in Arkansas, not snow. We are not use to all of this and, unfortunately, neither are the road crews. To top it off, we received a layer of ice underneath the snow last night, just to make it more exciting!!!
The kids' basketball games have been cancelled and we are not going to venture out to Fayetteville to see our beloved basketball Hogs take on top 10 Florida at Bud Walton arena. We have season tickets, but we decided that $36 was not worth risking life and limb over. Besides, the Hogs are kind of hard to watch anymore. You never know what to expect. We will stay home where it is safe and watch on TV.
The punk and claw are having fun playing in the snow. Well, they stayed at there about 10 minutes and decided they are warm-blooded animals and came inside. :)
See you when the snow melts.....
The kids' basketball games have been cancelled and we are not going to venture out to Fayetteville to see our beloved basketball Hogs take on top 10 Florida at Bud Walton arena. We have season tickets, but we decided that $36 was not worth risking life and limb over. Besides, the Hogs are kind of hard to watch anymore. You never know what to expect. We will stay home where it is safe and watch on TV.
The punk and claw are having fun playing in the snow. Well, they stayed at there about 10 minutes and decided they are warm-blooded animals and came inside. :)
See you when the snow melts.....
Thursday, February 09, 2006
And we're back.....
Wow!!!!.....I don't know about you, but that was some holiday. I about didn't make it.
No, just kidding. I have just been lazy. It looks like I haven't posted since November, so I thought I would throw something on here...
Of course, I haven't done anything as impressive as breaking boards and the belt I wear is brown, not green, but life can't always be so eventful :)
Anyway, life is pretty normal here. But, if anyone has any advice on discipline for 8 soon to be 9-year-old boys, I would be happy to listen. Our own punk has found himself in the principal's office 3 times this year for various things. Mostly, for not being able to control his emotions and not thinking before he acts. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he comes by that honestly, no thanks to me. But, we are hoping we finally have laid down enough ground rules that he will figure it out now. He is the smartest kid I know. He has always made high A's in school. He is in the gifted and talented program. He is a drumming prodigy and is currently learning bass guitar and piano, but can't seem to do a simple thing like keeping his mouth closed so no sounds come out at the inappropriate times. Oh well, I guess that is part of growing up!! :) We will leave it in God's hands now and know that it will all work out.
Still at WM and the church. The other jolio may soon lose her nice part-time set up she has going, but then again may not. One person is telling her she may be replaced by a computer, another says she is not going anywhere, anytime soon.
Both kids are playing basketball and are doing very well. The claw made 3 baskets last game!! Not bad for the smallest kid on the team. But, hey, she's speedy!!
That's about it. I will try and get in here more than once a quarter.
Snap back to reality.......
No, just kidding. I have just been lazy. It looks like I haven't posted since November, so I thought I would throw something on here...
Of course, I haven't done anything as impressive as breaking boards and the belt I wear is brown, not green, but life can't always be so eventful :)
Anyway, life is pretty normal here. But, if anyone has any advice on discipline for 8 soon to be 9-year-old boys, I would be happy to listen. Our own punk has found himself in the principal's office 3 times this year for various things. Mostly, for not being able to control his emotions and not thinking before he acts. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he comes by that honestly, no thanks to me. But, we are hoping we finally have laid down enough ground rules that he will figure it out now. He is the smartest kid I know. He has always made high A's in school. He is in the gifted and talented program. He is a drumming prodigy and is currently learning bass guitar and piano, but can't seem to do a simple thing like keeping his mouth closed so no sounds come out at the inappropriate times. Oh well, I guess that is part of growing up!! :) We will leave it in God's hands now and know that it will all work out.
Still at WM and the church. The other jolio may soon lose her nice part-time set up she has going, but then again may not. One person is telling her she may be replaced by a computer, another says she is not going anywhere, anytime soon.
Both kids are playing basketball and are doing very well. The claw made 3 baskets last game!! Not bad for the smallest kid on the team. But, hey, she's speedy!!
That's about it. I will try and get in here more than once a quarter.
Snap back to reality.......
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