19 Without, 19 With

19 years ago today, Doreen and I officially became a couple. That means that as of today, I have broke even. I was 19 when we met and became a couple and it is now 19 years later. So I had 19 years of life without Doreen and just completed 19 years of life with her. I'll take the latter any day! :)

I got to thinking about all this on my most recent trip and really enjoyed the memories. Now we met at Southwestern Adventist College the first week of school, and didn't talk for two weeks which basically brings us to near the 1st of September.

Our first date was a racquetball game at the gym there at SAC. We played an hour of racquetball then drove into Cleburne to the Dairy Queen for soda's and to chat. In the middle of our conversation, her drink slipped out of her hand and got Dr Pepper everywhere. I jump up and rush to the counter to get a rag to get things cleaned up. She tells me to go ahead and laugh - but I didn't because I was too nervous about making her feel bad and I didn't want to do that because I liked her.

Well - our time together for the next few weeks was spotty at best. I was a village student, and knew maybe 3 or 4 people at the school, plus working lots to pay for my time there. She had all her friends from Academy right there. We'd get together - then it'd be a week or two. Which brings us into the middle of October - or so. We started hanging out a little more regularly, and on Halloween 1989 we had a date. I was trying to remember if we ate somewhere or not, but can't recall. What I do remember is we went to a non-Halloween movie in the lobby of the Boy's dorm there on campus. After the movie was over, we went with some friends, and her sister Shelly, I believe, to a Haunted House nearby. After that I walked her back to our cars, parked next to each other in a parking lot just across campus. We strolled hand in hand chatting - but I was feeling a bit nervous because I was waiting for the perfect moment to 'pop' the question - would she be willing to be exclusive and be my girlfriend.

We arrived at our vehicles and I hadn't asked yet, and really, REALLY wanted to before we separated for the evening. So as we stood there I finally got the courage in a lull to 'pop' the girlfriend question. I waited expectantly - she looked at me - and LAUGHED! Out loud.!

That was NOT a response I had even considered or expected. But their it was. She finally regained her composure and said she kinda figured we were already exclusive, and so I told her I didn't want to take her for granted and just wanted communicate what I was thinking. She said that was very sweet, with a slight undercurrent of a chuckle.

Now, 19 years later she still laughs at me occasionally - but I know that she' mine!!! No doubts now, and so she can laugh all she wants! I've got a wedding license with both our names on it.

I tell ya - it was worth it all then and is even more so now. I love her very much and look forward to the next 19+ years we have headed our way.

Happy Dating Anniversary sweetie!!!

Birthday Party

Today we had a birthday party for Natalie (turning 6) and her friend Jannah. (turning 8) Jannah's birthday was actually today and Natalie's is tomorrow, Halloween. So we had a combined birthday party, that was a lot of fun!







Natalie received a lot of cool gifts. Her favorite one was the light up hoola hoop. I loved this little chair!











Here's Joelle taking a some serious wacks at the pinata.













A friend of ours owns a cake bakery here in town. He did Joelle's soccerball cupcake cake last April and so Natalie wanted a pumpkin - so here it is for ya to see. Awesome! Not to mention, EXTREMELY yummy!

Happy Birthday Pumpkin!

Facebook Fun

As most of you know, Facebook has some fun 'activities', besides catching up with old friends, viewing pictures and finding out what everyone's up to, to do to fill time quickly - Scramble, Word Twist, Mob Wars, Texas Hold'em, Parking Wars and I could go on and on and on and on and on.



Well recently in Knight Hood, I made high enough to be a Vicount of my own kingdom.


I have built a castle and upgraded my walls, towers, marketplace, workshop. I even have vassals, at one point, quite a few.






My precious wife is a Baroness. I am at peace and life is good. Feeling restless though, as of today I'm resigning my realm and moving on to something else. (Basically it's taking up too much time. Trying to streamline life a bit more!)









I just finished the top level in a game called Fighter Jets. You have air-battles against others with 5 levels to complete. This morning I made "Top Gun!" So now that I have 42 planes in my hangar with 1210 victories, I'll retire while I'm ahead! :) Here are some of my favorite planes in each level.



Level 1 is a WW1 Pilot. I had the most success with the Sopwith Camel bi-wing plane.







Level 2 was a WW2 Pilot and I did very well with the most awesome P-51 Mustang, although the Spitfire Mk XIV came through in a couple of pinches.







I never really liked Level 3 - the Jet Powered Pilot. Those early jet planes are flat out ugly! The Hawker Hunter though did the best for me.







Level 4, Modern Jet Pilot, was my most favorite. I loved fighting with the F-16 Fighting Falcon, but also used the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle regularly. The SR-71 Blackbird also fared well. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone but I'd even use a MIG-29 occassionally.)



Finally I made it to Level 5 - a Super Jet Pilot. Here I always would use the F-22 Raptor. don't think this plane is beatable. It rocks. I'd fly a B-2 Spirit occassionally just to throw a curve at my opponents.

Lots of fun!

Camping at Harrison Bay

Our Sabbath School group went camping this weekend. The weather on Friday was scheduled to be rainy - and it was. Sabbath and Sunday were predicted to be beautiful and they were!

On the way to camp Friday morning though, I stopped to take a pic of the loaded pickup, one canoe, 4 paddles, 4 bikes, 2 tents, 1 container of camping gear, 2 roasting sticks and a 1/4 cord of woood. It was a good start!





The Girls loved playing in the rain.














Joelle did great riding a 4.5 mi trail.



















Natalie was so cute preparing her own pancake for breakfast.












Dessert for Sabbath lunch was home-made carmel covered apples. Joelle did pretty good considering she's missing 3 of her front teeth!














Snapped a pic of my 3 favorite girls one morning before we got ready and headed out of the tent for the day.

It was a GOOD camping trip.

Artsy Fartsy - Camping

We just got back from a campout at Harrison Bay, just North of Chattanooga. It's a great place to spend a weekend in nature. It has a 4.5 mile loop that runs along the lake, so Sabbath afternoon Joelle, Doreen and I, along with some friends went for a ride. Natalie wanted to stay back at camp with her best friend.

We came around a point and I saw this view and just had to snap a photo!










On the way to the campground early Friday morning, I saw this scene. It was a rainy day, but right then the rain had stopped to allow this perfect glassy looking lake photo. Love the fall colors on the tree in the background and the 'smoke' just above the lake.






Then just before we left we made sure to put the fire out and I just loved the smoke/steam rising from the firepit.

Splitting - Wood that Is

I did something today I haven't done in YEARS! I split some wood with a maul for our camping trip this weekend. Boy was it fun. I think the last time I did that was when I was living in Colorado - umpteen years ago. Got a nice little pile to burn and enjoy this weekend.













Got Joelle to pose for a pic for me, and immediately after I clicked she trying to split this one on her own. CUTE!













I got Natalie to pose - but you can tell she wasn't into it at all!

What fun!

Another set of Bubbie Box Outfits

For church today my girls got dressed in these get'ups. Once we saw them, we remembered they were from Bubbie boxes.

In fact, the week we got the box Natalie had been asking for a blouse/skirt outfit. Amazingly enough in the very next Bubbie box was a set the perfect size for her - the set she's wearing in this picture.

I am just amazed at how precious my little girls are.

3 Years OR 1 of 6

Hey y'all,

Can you believe as of last Friday I've been at my "new" job for 3 years? Man, it feels like I just started driving for LD a couple of months ago. It's unbelieveable how time FLIES! Dude - it has gotten on a rocket ship recently! :)

Well, I have really enjoyed having a regular partner and a regular run. I tell ya, that makes all the difference. I know where all the drops are and places to eat and go potty. That info sure help to make a run easier.

Here's to another wonderful year of work! :)

In other news...

Last week Doreen had 3 exams at school. One of them was pretty tough. Only 6 Dental Hygiene students of 16 passed. Thankfully, Doreen - my beautifully brilliant wife was one of them. It IS truly amazing how good she does at keeping up with things at home, church, Adventurers and add school on top of all of it.

Another month and then she'll have one semester to go!

Fireside Sabbath Entrance

Last night the four of us brought in Sabbath but sitting around the fire. What a pleasant time that was!

The quirky thing about this situation was, we've had that portable fire pit for a couple of years and just hadn't used it yet. We INTENDED to, but hadn't.








So tonight after supper Doreen was going to have girls get ready for bed - but we talked and the four of us went out and built the inaugural fire in that pit this evening and enjoyed it immensely.

Here's Joelle making marshmallow taffy!









It was a very cool evening and Joelle, Natalie and Mocha ran wild in the yard for a bit - we still had some good quality time just enjoying each other's company and toasting marshmallow and trying to make Marshmallow taffy like my sis Cindi did for us when we were on our CO vacation a while back.

What a great way to bring in the Sabbath. I'm still enjoying the smell of smoke on my t-shirt! Hummmmmmmmm!

Happy Sabbath all!

Thankful for Plumbing Problems

Today I re-plumbed under our kitchen sink. The family who live here before us put in a garbage disposal. The only little problem with that is that we're on a septic system. I don't want to plug that thing up! Plus - the disposal has been dead for 6 or 8 months now.

I hadn't done anything about it - but when I was on the phone with Doreen the other night, she told me that the right sink in the kitchen was draining extremely slowly.

It was time. This morning, sorry I forgot to grab a pic - I cleaned the cabinet out and started tearing it all apart and got the disposal out. We ran some errands this afternoon, including a stop at a do it yourself place for some new pipes.

I got home, put one in and realized I needed to run back to the store for another pipe to be able to finish assembly. Got back and whipped it all together. It's nice to have that thing gone!

I'm very "thankful" for the plumbing problems though, cuz as I was working, I was thinking how grateful I am to be able to have regular schedule at work so now I know when I'm going to be home and what kind of time I have available to complete a project.

Not real thankful for actual plumbing problems, but thankful to know that God is leading in our lives and to be patient and wait for Him and how much better things will be in the end!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bread Finished

Yesterday morning we got the bread down we'd mixed together and preheated the oven and set it to bake. Remember, we'd gotten this recipie through cousin Laura Marie who picked it up from youtube. It is super simple to make and actually tastes pretty good.









Here are my girls holding the final product. Natalie likes it plain or dipped in tomato soup, Joelle likes it with butter & jelly, Doreen likes it with butter and honey and I like it all those ways and probably even more! :)

The only thing a challenge with this bread is the crust is super hard. Maybe we ought not bake it quite as long. The inside is perfect though. Yummy!

Mid Term Report - Fall 2008

Doreen got to go to the kids Parent/Teacher Conferences on Tuesday to see how our little girls are doing in school.

First up was Joelle, in every catagory of the cirriculum is proficient at grade level. I am SO very happy to see that. I love a report like that. Her teacher went on to say that she excells at having an obedient spirit and displays a positive attitude. My precious little girl. A comment the teacher wrote in is, "Joelle is more focused this year and is so pleasant and caring." Awwww - that just makes my heart melt!

Next up was Natalie's report. In most every catagory the teacher marked that she is independently achieving her objectives with a couple marked that she is progressing toward achieveing her objectives and skills. The teacher then wrote, "Natalie makes teaching fun! I love trying to challenge her, but sometimes she doesn't seem up to it. She's exceptional in all areas and such a sweet heart." That is my Natalie.

I am so relieved that my girls are doing so well in school. They have been enjoying their week off, yet they can't wait to get back. The love to learn and their friends and the whole school experience!

Awesome!

Catchin Up

Just trying to catch up on some misc photos of stuff going on in our lives!

Here are my girls and me relaxin on Sabbath afternoon at a friends house.









This week is the girl's fall break from school. So Monday night they had a movie night where they got to stay up late with the big people watchin the Parent Trap - the original one. I guess Joelle really got a kick out of it and the adults loved to laugh at Joelle laughing. Natalie just loved the girls in it.







My little pirate, with her do-rag she's been wearing constantly lately, is showing some of her abilities. She made this pyramid out of legos all by herself. It is actually very well done!


















Since the girls had today off and so did I, after the kids we were watching left, we started a project. I saw a post from Doreen's cousin-in-law on how to make super simple bread. So we made some. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out after we bake it tomorrow!








All Natalie's mixing is flour, water, salt and yeast.












For years my grandma, Bubbie, has been sending boxes full of clothes for the girls. We call them, "Bubbie Boxes." We have always appreciate them and enjoy some of the stuff out of them. Recently I got an idea to send her a Granddaughter box. We're sending a couple of boxes of her favorite Little Debbies and some cards the girls created and this pic of the girls - growing up SO very fast - in some of the very dresses she sent. Aren't they so precious?!!!!










Today we went to a park to play and Jannah, Joelle & Natalie got a big spin on the tire. What fun!

Pickup truck problems

Last week the engine in our pickup truck had a wicked knock in it. I figured it might be a problem with the oil pump or something wrong with the top half of the motor. It had me freaked out.

So we had it looked at today and all it turned out to be was the surpentine belt tensioner (and a new belt) and a drive belt idler pulley.

GLAD to have it back and running properly.

Wheew - I feel like we dodged a bullet!

Hate it when vehicles break down!

Fallin the Smokies

Found this beautiful tree recently. It's a sign, that fall is pretty much here. I loved it cuz the bottom part is green and the top is flaming red. AWESOME! It's kind of a toss up between Spring and Fall of which season I enjoy more, I just know I love both of them.

Right now though, seein' that tree, Fall is my fav.

Have an Awesome Autumn!!! :)

FORE...

Did something today I haven't had time to do in almost two years. I played golf at a little par 3 golf course I found recently. Tell ya about findin' it in a sec.









Here, I'm'a plannin on wackin that little white ball pretty hard in a sec... right in to that group of trees on the left you see there! Waaa ha, ha, ha, ha! Man, I had a FUN time. Gotta go do that again soon!









Had to take this pic. I really like being near the Smoky Mountains. (That is if I can't be near the Rocky Mountains!!!) It was still pretty early in the morning and the "smoke/clouds" were still hanging low over the mountains. NICE!!!

About finding this course. I've tried a couple of times to try and find a par 3 course - cuz they are just so fun to play. The only one around, according to a friend, closed up years ago, so I quit looking. Last Friday I had to go out to our freinds place to help put up some tents for the Adventurer campout. On the way up, I was gonna take the interstate, but couldn't cuz of a HUGE semi-truck accident. So I took a frontage road trying to get there another way and missed a turn. I ended up 14 miles away from where I needed to be. Along the way however, I happened to see a sign for this golf course. Dude, I was stoked and took the first opportunity I had to go play it! What an awesome mistake!

Adventurer Campout

This weekend, Doreen and the girls went to the Adventurer campout. They had a ball. Here's Natalie drinking some warm hot chocolate on a chilly Sunday morning.









Saturday night the kids played capture the flag and Joelle was stoked cuz she grabbed the flag the first time they played. Good for her! That is a ball to be the one who actually gets the flag and makes it back to your team's side!







Joelle this campout also learned to roast the perfect marshmallow. Before this she would just burn them. Eewwww! At the campout she roasted about 6 perfectly golden marshmallows in a row and shared them with everyone.

I Love my girls!!!

Deja Vu to 1977 - Gas Shortage

Here in SE Tennessee and N Georgia, we've had a bit of a shortage of gas since Hurricane Ike hit the coast of Texas shutting down the refineries.

It was kinda erie, a couple of weeks ago I was actually in Atlanta, GA on a trip for work and had to go to 3 different suburbs - practically every gas station had bags over the handles of their pumps to show they were closed. Some stations were completely closed and some still kept the convenience stores open. Still, it was weird.

Last Friday, we had someplace to be and decided to get gas on the way to it, we left home about 4pm. The first gas station we tried was closed, no gas. The second one we looked at only had the 'low grade' fuel. So we stopped in their - even though it was a nut-house and filled up.

We drove by 2 other stations along our journey and they were both closed, another was still open but with quite a wait to get to a pump. Wild - cuz it took me back to 1977, when we were visiting my grandparents in Maryland. I remember sitting in a long line, that extended out to the road with my Papaw as we waited to get gas.

All that made me thankful for the practial theory my father taught me. "It costs the same to run on the top half of a gas tank as it does the bottom half." So we rarely let a gas tank get below half way. It has served us well over the years and even more so now since gas has been not the easiest thing to obtain as of late! :)

Thanks Pop! Never even thought that would come in as handy as it has. We've had friends running from station to station around on E trying to find some gas. Ewww! I don't like that thought at all!

Well - it should be interesting as we get closer to the time of the end to see how things transpire as the world grows older, worse and more sinful!

This is just a taste I believe.

A Taste of the Life to Come?

Looking through some old photos, I found this one. In 1973, when I was 3, we were visiting family in Texas I believe. I got a chance to climb up into my Uncle Maurice's truck, who was working for McKee deliverin' Amercia's Number 1 snack cakes.












Who would have guessed that 32 years later I would be driving for the same company doing the same thing. When I was three, I wanted to be an astronat or a police officer! :) My how things change. I went to school to be in radio, and did that a few years and now I drive a semi truck. The nice thing is I am content where I am! That is what is important!

I'll tell you one thing though. I am SO thankful to be driving a rig from this era. Just look at the difference! More room, more comfortable, better ride. Oh yeah!!!