Down the road

I've been running a LOT for work lately. This is good because that makes payday extremely nice! :)







So I thought I'd share a couple of photos with ya that I've taken while out there. Here I am heading West on I-40 heading out to Arkansas.

Heading up to New Hampshire we were in the Mountains of Virginia and saw this rainbow. Unfortunately it's a little blurry, but that's cuz the truck was bouncing, it was getting dark but you still get the idea!

Heading to NC tomorrow. "On the Road Again!" :)

Bizy, Bizzy, Busy!

Wow, I just looked at my page, it's been a while hasn't it?!! After that long trip to NH - I was wore out.

Then Friday, we had to help a friend of Doreen's Grandma install a new satellite dish system, then over to another friend's for dinner.

Sabbath was a very busy day with church, then a picnic, then a long drive to some nearby falls, and then a hike then home, pack a lunch, change clothes, spend 30 min chillin, then back to work.

I took three trips this week - so not much else going on. Got a trip tomorrow night planned, then a back-to-back run Sunday night.

Aye, caryumba! Busy, busy, busy!!!

Interesting bits, Just learned this afternoon, that my dad is in the hospital. Get was getting home from a trip and he got a fever, then his leg began to hurt and got swollen. So they admitted him, ran some tests, no blood clot, but they're running some pretty high levels of antibiotics in him. Hopin, he gets better soon!

Joelle is quickly learning to read. Monday, Doreen introduced her in her studies to simple words, and they have some simple books - like Dick & Jane stuff, and yesterday when I got home from a trip, that's the 1st thing she wanted to show me she could read. Boy it was precious!!! Not only that, but because Joelle is picking it up - Natalie is very, VERY intersted and with a little prompting, she's quickly learning to read to! Can you believe it??!!

We were at the falls last Sabbath with some friends, and because I had to work - we left before the rest of 'em. Turns out, that Joelle's best friend, Jannah, dropped from some monkey-bars, landed odd and broke her arm. Oh - it was so sad to hear about that!!! Joelle has plenty of empathy for her!

Well, I'll sign off for now - until later, bye!

Good Memories. LD sent me

Good Memories. LD sent me to NH 4 a trip So on the way up we stopped in CT where DP & I drove 4 United. Good 2 see Dick Mark Kurt & Lynn! Cool!

I just saw an intensly

I just saw an intensly beautiful double rainbow coming out some billowy white clouds over the green Appalachian Mtns in Virginia. Cool,Thanx God!

Old Stomping Ground

So lately, the last two Saturday nights, my trips for work have taken me to some old stomping grounds in Ohio. In 1982 &'83, we lived in Miamisburg, OH. Dad worked in Kettering, OH and we spent a lot of time in Dayton, OH. My trips have taken me right to the Dayton area, albeit late at night! :)


One both of my trips, I drove right by this location - and the first time it was like, "I've been there!!!" It's called Carillon Park. They have this huge tower with bells that ring out beautifully when they play them. It's also displays... Collections depict history of transportation and early pioneer life in the area, including original early railroad depot and section of the Miami and Erie Canal fitted with an original lock; Dayton-built motor vehicles; Wright brothers' 1905 plane; 1912 steam locomotive and tender.

We used to ride our bikes from our home over to the park on Sabbath afternoons. Awesome! Great memory.



I also had to drive pass the exit for W.P.A.F.B. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It is one of the premier Air Force bases in the USA. Every summer when we were there, we'd go to the airshow there. Man, that was AWESOME!

I remember my first experience with the SR-71 Blackbird. At an airshow, they had one sitting on the tarmac. We got to go look at it. Then later on it took off and did a couple of slow loops around the field, then ZOOOM headed west. I remember 50 minutes later the PA announcer said, "Folks remember that SR-71 Blackbird that was here - it just landed in California." 50 minutes to go almost 2,000 miles. WOW.

Great memories, GREAT MEMORIES!

What an awesome Job! :)

Family!!!

If there was one nice thing about Grandpa's funeral, it was the fact that it brought us all together. We're all so spread out (I'm the worst, living the farthest out.), and it makes it hard to get together to tell stories, to talk, to share lives and experiences. So it was so nice getting together once again to catch up.

Here are some 'family' photos from our trip.

Uncle Dick wanted an updated 'family' pic of us - so he snapped one out in front of their house in Florida.

At Sea World, they have an attraction called "Wild Arctic." It it most awesome - and extremely cool in the building. A nice get-away from the Florida heat! :) While we were in the exhibit, they have many things for kids to touch and do - here are Joelle & Natalie sticking their heads through a hole in the 'ice-pack."

Here's a shot of the Howard/ Pester/ Scriven cousins. (Some obviously are missing. :( Here's Sheri, LouAnn, Jeannie, Evelyn, Linda and Larry.) There was so much 'talking' going on with this group it was hard to get a shot. He, he, he - Finally I got a couple and Sheri gave me a hard time about not liking them so take another. So I did, as you can see - they are quite the playful clan! :) I come by it honestly! He, he, he

Those left there on the weekend got up and had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. As y'all know they all have the 'rockers' out in front, so I couldn't pass up this photo op.

Finally, I had mom take a nice updated pic of us at the Sunken Garden. This is kind of a nice shot if I don't say so myself!

Artsy & Stuff

Ok - some more photos to enjoy - most of this is artsy stuff.

On our latest trip we had a couple of times where the girls were EXTREMELY bored. So to keep them interested - I put a new card in the camera and said 'click away.' And they did, they filled it 3 or 4 times. I deleted a LOT of the pics, but kept quite a few for 'memories' sake.

While we were visiting at Uncle Dick and Aunt June's Natalie had the camera taking some shots. This was a theme of hers - shoes, with just the barest tip of her toes in the photo! Cute!



We really enjoyed Shamu at Sea World. It was really neat, even though we've seen it before - it was cool seeing Shamu jump out of the water with the guy on the tip of his nose.


At the Sunken Garden in Lincoln, NE we saw this beautiful flower on the water Lillies. Awesome.




Uncle Dick, showed me some photos of his time in the military, stationed on Guam, loading ammunition into P-47's. These are some of the planes he worked on. Sweet!

The Girls

On our recent trip to NE, the cousins - Emily, Rebekah, Joelle and Natalie had a LOT of fun together. (We were all a bit sad that Sarah and Brian didn't come though - I think they would have thoroughly enjoyed themselves too. Although, I'm being just a little selfish though. We're probably not gonna be able to see them until next Christmas and I love all my nieces and nephew and want to visit any chance we get!) They went everywhere together and I think really had a ball.

They didn't all sleep in this bunk in Mom & Dad's 5th wheel, but they probably would'a tried had we let them! He, he, he! Snapped a pic of them playing up there together one morning!


At the Lincoln, NE zoo - they realized that they were 'hatched' into this world. Did ja get that 'yolk?' Waaaa ha, ha, ha! (Sorry 'bout that bad joke)


The 'Sunken Garden' downtown had this statue at the top called "Rebekah at the Well." Of course my little Niece claimed it as her very own, but was willing to share it with the others for this photo op!


Grammy got involved in the 'girls only' pics here. I think she really enjoyed posing for this one.


Man, I LOVE it when they get along like this. The first morning we were there - we had to go into Wal-mart to pick up a few essentials. The 4 just naturally walked in holding hands like this. I didn't have my camera, so quickly grabbed Mom's and snapped a couple of shots like this. While for the time there - they got along very good - as always though, they did have their moments!



Of course I couldn't pass this photo up. And to kinda be more 'artsy' like my Bro-in-law encourages, I set them up like this and changed my camera to sepia for the shot. Turned out pretty good if I don't say so myself! :)

What a good trip.

Great memories!

Trip Pics

All righty then - I finally got things figured out to be able to get our trip pics posted. Ayi, yai, yai! How annoying!!! It was nothing wrong with the site - of course it was 'user error.'

Enjoy........

We were wanting to get to Florida at a decent time - so we left early. Basically we got the girls outta bed, and into their car seats. Isn't this just so cute?!!!





We spent the weekend with Doreen's Aunt June and Uncle Dick. It was good seeing them again and we had fun hanging out with them.



Sunday we went with Doreen's cousins to the beach down by Tampa Bay. Here's the 'human' fish we caught in the Gulf of Mexico. Man - I couldn't believe how warm the water was, it was like a big bathtub. It was so CUTE to see her diving down and looking on the floor of the ocean for things! What a blast.



The girls saw this replica of Shamu and wanted to get a picture with it - so we did...









Later on, we went to see the actual Shamu perform - and before the program Shamu was swimming around and we went down to see him, and this was close as we could get, so Shamu posed with the girls - cute!



Of course - we had to go to Nebraska for G-pa's funeral. After it was all said and done, we took some time to go Geocaching with family! Fun, FUN, FUN!







Since the girls, had to sit so long on the trip, we decided to play hookie from church and go to the Lincoln Zoo. We had a GREAT time!









Before the Zoo, we stopped by the Sunken garden to see this new 'garden' in Lincoln. We got a photo of the whole family together.

It was a good trip - all things considered!

What's Up? OR Bad Movies!!!

What's the deal - I've been tryig to post some photos of our trip on the site here and have had NO such luck. Frustrating, annoying, flat out irritating. Hopefully, things will get back to normal so I can put some fotoz up soon! I think you'll enjoy 'em.

So what is up lately? Doreen and I have been picking some pretty bad movies lately. Aaarrrgh! The last three we've watched, Anger Management, Fun with Dick and Jane and Shopgirl. They were all sad.

Well, Anger & Dick & Jane wasn't too bad, but for almost the entire movie, you feel extremely frustrated for the characters. They can't catch a break at all and it gets to be too much. It's just 12 things after another knocking 'em down, even farther. The boom, in the last few moments - relief. They both had funny moments, but not enough to save the movies.

Then, THEN Shopgirl, aparently wrote, and produced by funnyman Steve Martin - oh man, man O man. What a miserable movie. It has NO point, the music is awful, the cinematography, while interesting - is TOO artsy fartsy - it distracts from what the story is. Wow - this is just a BAD movie.

Ok - 3 strikes and you're out, we're on to the next batter, so hopefully the next couple of movies we get will be home runs! :)

The Trip!!!

Wow, glad to be back home. Glad to sleep in our own beds on Sunday night. Wow! What a trip.

Ok - so here's the short (probably long... grin) of it... We left a week ago Friday for a 9 hour trip to Florida for a 7 day vacation. Of course on the trip down, we did some geocaching and Natalie caught a cat-nap in her car seat. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. :)

Got there and enjoyed visiting with Doreen's Aunt June and Uncle Dick. Sabbath morning, at Sabbath School, I got a text message from my dad, that Grandpa Pester was in a coma. So I left and called Dad. And got the story - Grandpa had a couple of small strokes earlier in the week, which I knew about. Turns out he had a biggie on Wed evening and wasn't doing so well. Late Fri he slipped into a coma - then later Sabbath - dad called to tell me that Grandpa died.

So for the next few hours we tried figuring out how to work everything out. We bought non-refundable tickets to Sea World - had some other pretty big plans. So what to do - and how to get to Nebraska.

After the funeral got scheduled for Thursday afternoon, we had things in place. We cancelled the hotel and Islands of Adventure. Then we decided to go ahead and hit the beach with some cousins on Sunday, Sea World on Monday and leave for NE on Tuesday Am to get to the viewing Thur evening.

At church, Doreen ran into a cousin of hers that I hadn't met. So they brought the family over to visit for an hour or so Saturday afternoon. Also - Doreen's folks were in Orlando, FL - turns out they had a load to pick up Monday morning headed for West Nevada. So they were there too. We had a GREAT visit.

Went to bed early, got up early and headed down to Tampa, FL to go to the beach with some cousins that lived down there. By the way, we cached on the way down. :)

We had a lot of fun, then cached on the way home.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to Sea World. And what a fun, FUN day!!! Although it was HOT and it rained pretty hard a couple of times - but we always had it timed to be under cover and so we thoroughly enjoyed the critters.

So Wednesday, we left early, EARLY for NE - realizing we wouldn't make it in one day 3 & 5 year olds. So we drove a 15 hour day and made it to Mt Vernon, IL - exhausted. We all slept, then up early and another 9 hour day to Lincoln, NE. The last hour on the road, Natalie was sleeping and Joelle was getting so wiggily, she could hardly stand herself! :)

We arrived in time for the viewing, then back to my folks 5th wheel where all our family stayed, Ma & Pa, Sis Staci and daughter Bekah, Niece Emily (Cindy couldn't make it cuz of her husband having surgery.) and the 4 of us. We fit nicely.

The next day we said our final goodbyes to Grandpa, then had some good family visiting time, did some swimming, played games and did some caching Thursday, Friday and Sabbath. Instead of church, we went to the Sunken Garden in downtown Lincoln, NE and then the zoo for a bit.

Back to lunch and then packing everything up and head home. We took 2 days heading home, did some caching and took our time, but finally got home and it's good to be home! Oh it's good to be home.

Check out these numbers from our trip...

Miles - 3408
Driving Time - almost 58 hours
Max Speed we drove - 86mph
Average Speed (Moving) - 58.5 mph
Average Speed (Total) - 48 mph
States we Passed through - 8 (FL, GA, TN, KY, IL, MO, IA, NE)
# of days with nothing but driving - 5
States we geocached in - 7 (Didn't do any in TN - this trip)
# of geocaches found - 23
# of fuel stops - 10
Gallons - 148.5
Cheapest Fuel - KY $2.67
Most Expensive Fuel - IL $3.01

Man - what a trip. What an experience - boy, is it GREAT to be home!!!!

Survival Kit for Constant Chaos

Here's a kit for you to survive the Chaos of life...


An ERASER, so you can make all your troubles disappear.
A PENNY, so you'll never be broke.
A MARBLE, in case someone says you've lost all of yours.
A RUBBER BAND, to strech yourself beyond your limits.
A STRING, to tie things together when everything falls apart.
A PLAYING CARD, so you are always playing with a full deck.
And KIND WISHES, to remind you that someone, somewhere cares!!!

Breakfast Quiz

In the middle of the table is a round food tray with five kinds of Fruits on it.
They are:

a. Apple
b. Banana
c. Strawberry
d. Peach
e. Orange

Which fruit will you choose? Please think VERY carefully and don't rush into it. This is great, I was astounded! Your choice reveals a lot about you!

Test results...

If you have chosen:

a. Apple: That means you are a person who likes to eat apples
b. Banana: That means you are a person who likes to eat bananas
c. Strawberry: That means you are a person who likes to eat strawberries
d. Peach: That means you are a person who likes to eat peaches
e. Orange: That means you are a person who likes to eat oranges

I hope you find fulfillment in this new insight about yourself. May it bring you peace and understanding, tranquility and all that other profound stuff.


Waaaaaa ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Gottcha!

A World in Fluxuation

Ok - so we were supposed to be here in FL for 7 days.

Well - plans have changed!

On the trip down to FL I talked with Dad on the phone a bit. He said Grandpa wasn't doing very well. (I talked with him earlier in the week when G-pa had some mini strokes and then after he had a biggie stroke on Wed.)

Sabbath morning in SS I 'texted' Dad and My sis's as is my usual practice just to 'keep in touch.'

Got a message back about 30 min later that G-pa had gone into a coma Fri night and wasn't doing good at all.

So I walked outside and called Dad to get the lowdown. Turns out that after the biggie stroke, his left side was paralyzed and basically had completely shut down. He was breathing, barely, and that was about it.

Well - that was extremely sad to learn. Then after lunch during potluck - Dad called and G-pa had passed away.

So now, we've changed our plans. Tuesday morning we're getting up bright and early, leaving FL on a 26 hour trip to Lincoln, NE for a funeral. Sad - but sort of calming - because now G-pa no longer has to suffer!!!

Not looking forward to the LONG trip though!

More info later - if time and an internet connection allows!

Blessings!

Florida or Bust

Vacation is HERE!!!

Yeeee hawwww!

I've been at my new job almost 10 months now and lovin it. Although it is good to take some time to get away. I've been working extra trips to try and catch us up financially - so this time is important to not burn out!

Also - I've got an elbow issue happenin. I've got a bit of tendonitis going on in both elbows because of the work I do. So some time off will help those heal!

We're looking forward to spending some fun time in Florida. Friday we leave to spend the weekend with Doreen Great Aunt and Great Uncle.

Then Sunday we're gonna visit some cousins and go to Howard Beach in Tarpon Springs.We're looking forward to that.

Monday we'll check into a motel and then Tuesday Doreen and I have to spend 90 min saying 'NO' at a pitch for a time share. Then we'll head to lunch and then Universal's Island of Adventure! We'll spend another day at the same theme park. Then we'll spend another day at Sea World - then Friday head back home.


Hopefully, we'll be rested, relaxed and rejuvinated!

Tell ya all about it - with photo when we get back!

The Medicine You Need

Prescribed by the Great Physician
*****************************
The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember.
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
Mary Magdalene was...
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer..AND
Lazarus was dead!

Now! No more excuses!
God can use you to your full potential.
In the Circle of God's love, God's waiting to use your
full potential.

No More Tom-catting Around.

As reported by Eric in his blog a while back...

Atlantic Ocean (March 10, 2006) – F-14D Tomcats from the "Tomcatters" of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31) and the "Blacklions" of VF-213 perform a fly-by in formation over USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) after departing for their home port of Naval Air Station Oceana. VF-213 and VF-31 are completing their final deployment flying the F-14 Tomcat. For the past 30 years, the F-14 Tomcat has assured U.S. air superiority, playing a key role in ensuring victory and preserving peace around the world. The F-14 Tomcat will be removed from service and officially stricken from the inventory in September of 2006. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Chris Thamann (RELEASED)

Early or Later

Doreen and I stayed up to 4:30a this morning talking after watching a movie. Oy, I'm a bit tired - and I got to drive to Kenosha, WI this afternoon. Oy!!!

Yesterday, when we were having some conversations with friends, someone mentioned that they're thankful to have had kids 'early' in their marriage - so when they're 40 something, their kids will be adults.

Obviously, Doreen and I started the kid thing 'later' in our marriage. So we'll be 50 something when they're adults.

So - the conversation turned to which is better? Kids early or later?

Well, Doreen and I determined that in our opinion, for us, later is better. I mean, we had 7 years before kids (BK) to just be ourselves with freedom from all the responsibility that kids bring. We got to thinking about 'those' who have kids early and plan to enjoy that 'freedom from all the responsibility' after kids (AK) may not quite have the 'freedom' we did BK. I've heard a number of 'elders' in and around my life say that even though the kids are moved out and gone, they still have all those emotional ties to what is happening with their kids and may even have to help out from time to time - so they don't truly have the "freedom" we did during our 7 years BK freedom.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts! BK or AK! :)

Softball Wife

Doreen has become the softball player in our house this year! She joined a womens team and has been practicing and playing games the last few weeks. It's kinda cool getting out and helping her with some of the fundamentals of the game. Good exercise too!

Here in practice, she's about to put a hurtin' on that softball!!! That's one of the things we've been working on, hitting. We've got about 10 softballs and I'll go out and just pitch and pitch and pitch 'em to her so she get's her 'groove.! (The girls like to jump in and run the bases, play catcher and hit a ball as well - I'll upload some photos in the near future!)

My sweetie in her uniform. I'll try and get some photos of her and her team in action when they have the game in daylight. My camera doesn't do well at any distance at night. By the way, the team name - the Holley Rollers comes from their sponsor, Steve Holley, a painter. Pretty good pun don't ya think!

Fun, fun, fun!

Downside/Upside

Got home this morning from work about 5am. (Yup, we drove ALL night returning from Mississhippy - got some sleep though and that is a good thing!)

For the last 4 months, up until this last week, when I'd come home during normal sleeping hours, a 'doggy' alarm clock would go off barking her fool head off - after she jumped under the bed of course! (Guess there was something under there she really needed to protect! He, he, he)

Of course, even though both Doreen and I knew this routine, it typically would scare the beejeebers outta us.

Well - getting home this morning - I subconsciously expected routine eruption, on the downside it didn't happen. How sad to think about our gone puppy. On the upside though, the routine eruption didn't happen so we both calmly crashed after I crawled into bed.

Another thing, yesterday morning when I was making my tuna sandwiches for my lunch, I always left a 'little something' in the can and called for Sugar. I left the 'little something,' put the can on the floor and was just about to call when I remembered. How sad!

Then this evening, after a little 'Pester' family softball practice - when got home, Joelle ran into the basement and called, "Sugar." She then paused for a sec, then said, "Oh yeah, poor Sugar died."

Oh - Doreen and my heart just went out when we heard that.

Precious yet sad!

Sad News Today

Today, we had a small tragety in our household. Our precious puppy, Sugar, got out into the road and hit by a car and died.

We were over at Larry and Sandra's house helping them move a bedroom suite to Grandma March's house. Doreen, Larry and I were inside, Joelle & Natalie were sitting on the tailgate when we heard Sandra begin hollering. She was rummaging in the pickup for something when she heard the noise and looked up to see Sugar laying in the middle of the road, hurt. I ran over and picked her up - she wasn't moving except gasping to try and get a breath. She was moving her head some - but very little.

Larry and I rushed her to a local vet only 5 minutes away, but on the trip there I keep checking her little heartbeat and by the time we arrived - it had stopped. We ran in and the doctor confirmed the same thing, Sugar was gone. The Dr suspected a broken neck along with massive internal injuries.

Poor little puppy didn't understand. Doreen and Sandra had made mention that we needed to keep her off the busy road and we'd called her back a couple of times when she got to close - but it just didn't register with her that was a 'danger' zone. Unfortunatly, for 2 mintues we got occupied putting the furniture in the truck and in that extremely short period of time, she went out and got hit.

Fortunately, the girls didn't see it, and Doreen kept them in the garage while I got her, loaded her up and took off. At the vet we 'paid' them to humanely 'dispose' of her. I would have liked for them to have been able to say goodbye, but not in the shape she was in.

They both seem to understand and were sad for a while, but seem to have put it out of their minds. Occassionally one will say they 'Miss Sugar' but overall, it hasn't been too tramatic of an experience.

Maybe it's because we only had her for about 4 months, and she was just really getting to be part of the family. But we'll miss her.

I'll miss her hiding under the bed, anytime I came into our bedroom to lay down for the night, then when I got cozied in, she'd come up and want to be petted then the 3 of us would fall asleep.

Sugar Pester March 2005 to July 2006 RIP

Confession...

Ok - I've got something serious I have to fess up to. I need to get this out and not keep it as a secret. It's something I'm not ashamed of though. I think you all should know I've been having an affair with my hair stylist. Yeah, its true. Not at all shocking though when you see the beauty that my hair stylist is...






...of course it's my beautiful wife! :)
He, he, he! Did I get any of ya? Hope so! I've been after Doreen for years to cut my hair. She always claimed that she couldn't do it. Too hard, don't know how, etc! Well, the ladies I've been going to get my hair cut at lately have been doing a mediocore job. $10 a cut, including tip, is just too much to pay to be unhappy with the result. So... I watched closely the last couple of times I went in, and then proclaimed to Doreen that she COULD do it!

This last week, we went and bought a hair trimmer and today was the day she gave me my first cut. I explained to her exactly how they do it at the store, and voila - with a little prompting here and there on how the 'pros' do it - she did it. And what's more I'm VERY pleased how it turned out. As good or better than any of the people who'd been to beauty school and I paid 'em to cut it.

So now, we've got to get through 4 cuts and the trimmers will pay for themselves and then we can start saving that $10 every trip I had to go in, plus I get to keep my hair shorter - cuz I can afford to. I told Doreen that after we 'pay' for the trimmer, she needs to budget in a small amout for herself to 'pay' her for the haircut job!

Kinda, extremely COOL!

Photos & Stuff...

In trying to blog a little more, I thought I'd share some photos with ya before I have to go to work tonight. Gotta go to Kentucky. Oy vie!

Ok, so here are the girls helping Doreen one morning make gluten. Yummy!

One afternoon, we headed out to a park in downtown Chattanoonga. It was a VERY hot day, so we played in the fountain! In the water, I see a little girl having a TON of fun! :)

See if you can find 3 people in this photo you recognize. Oh yeah, we are having fun and staying very, VERY cool!

Joelle hollered to me the other afternoon that she needed help. Turns out she had climbed to the top of her doorway. It was cute, so I grabbed the camera - shot the photo and helped her down. So precious!

Still Alive and Kickin'

Hey y'all,

What do these dates have in common??? (Kinda like the game Tri-Bond!

Jul 02 Hint
Jun 11 Hint
May 20 Hint
May 04 Hint
Apr 26 Hint
Apr 25 Hint
Apr 08 Hint
Mar 10 Hint

Each of these people, my favoritiest family and friends, like me have seriously procrastinated with blogging. (Note; I spared listing those who have at least posted in July.) These are a few of the links I check each day to see if any news of family or friends have been posted to keep up with what's going on with everybody and feel sad when I see nothing. Then I realize, I have been neglegent in posting since the beginning of the month myself. Shame on me!

So I'll share a couple of quick stories and then later in the week, as time permits, I'll put up some photos I'm sure, or at least hope, you all will thoroughly enjoy!

Lately, we've had a 'time' with our dog, Sugar. On the 4th of July, I was in Michigan working and got a call from Doreen - our dog was missing. They'd put her in our fenced in backyard, and headed out to see fireworks. When they returned home - the dog was gone. It wasn't until late the next day that Sugar appeared at a guys house, miles and miles and miles away. He called the number on the tag and Doreen, Joelle and Natalie went over there to retrieve our dog.

To combat that problem, we purchased a 'metal-rope' to keep her tied up when we leave the house. Again - on a trip, I get a call from Doreen, the dog is gone. The plastic hasp on her collar was broken. So, the dog is gone and the collar is still there. No way for anyone to call this time. Sure enough though, a few hours later - she shows up on the front porch.

So - we've gotta find the 'hole' she's escaping through, and then we've got to do some serious training so the dog will learn to stay home!!!

Last Friday, we had a get-together at a friends house to say "goodbye" to the team that had worked so well at My Former Place of Employment. Many of them don't have any idea of what they will end up doing. They're all searching and trying to get some Heavenly guidance on where to go. We wish nothing but the best for each of them.

As a former collegue and I were discussing this event, we decided to have our own little awards show, to have some fun and yet, say "Thanks for being a 'great' coworker." I believe it came off quite well!!! I think we all enjoyed it thoroughly and it gave each of us a time to remember, with fond memories, working side by side in a ministry Connecting Listeners with Christ. It will be time cherished, both the work and the get-together!

Here's another story, and I believe I've saved the best for last. It's about the differences between my two girls.

In searching for 'gag' gifts for these people, we went into the Dollar store for an item or two and walked down the 'toy' isle. Mistake. Gotta remember as a parent to NOT take kids down the toy isle - to avoid the question, "Daddy, can I have (Input whatever toy you can think of here!)?

Well, since we were in the Dollar store, Natalie, my youngest a HUGE Barbie/Dolly/Prissy toys fan, saw a Barbie like character and began begging for it. So I said yes. Then my oldest, Joelle, asked for one and I said yes to here. Not 20 seconds later she saw a bag of little green toy soldiers - and immediatly said, "Daddy, can I have these instead?" Talk about shocking my socks off. My girls are SO very different in their personallities. It is so very cute, and quite fun to watch!

Okie, dokie - watch for some pics to follow - SOON!!! I promise!

Later y'all!

This Week in Photos

It's time for Joelle to learn to ride her bike sans training-wheels. So we (Doreen) just took 'em off. So Sabbath afternoon we went to the local Academy parking lot and did a lot of running. Doreen and I switched off so one of us didn't have to run ourselves ragged.



Here's Joelle's little cheerleader. Natalie's bike ended up with a flat tire - that we gotta get fixed! So she hung out in the truck playing and occassionally sticking her head out the window and saying, "Go Joelle, go Joelle, GO!" Too Cute!



Joelle was getting it but not with a lot of confidence. She was still very wobbly concerned that we were hanging on. Here she's almsot got it - so on the next time I had my turn, when she got going - I ran beside her showing her that she was doing it on her own and riding. She seemed to gain a LOT of confidence, then...



...she took off and just did it all on her own - riding and riding and riding and riding. Too Cute!

This past week at our church was VBS - and it was a "Fiesta!" They had a LOT of fun with all the stuff they did, from the stories to games, snacks, crafts and the Adventure Theater.


Group publishing sure comes up wih some pretty good ideas on this stuff and the children really seem to enjoy it and the best part is they learn about Jesus! We sure love taking our kids to these things!

That's last week in a nutshell!!

Have a good week!

Politics vs Doing the Right Thing

Once again, I'm thinking about church politics and politics in general. We noticed on the way home from church that gas, again, has jumped another $.07 cents since I bought gas yesterday morning. That means in the last 5 days it's jumped almost $.30. That is shameless.

I've got a friend who has a very good friend that works at a local gas station and at this particular station they only make $.06 on each gallon of gas. So who get's the rest? Big oil.

Who is and has been sticking it to the car owners/drivers of the country the last year, year and a half? Big oil!

Who is protecting Big Oil, allowing them to get away with this type of price gouging? Our goverment. Who's in the government? Politicians. Why are they there? To have power, to stay in office, to make money! Is that what they are there for? No - they are to be there for the good of the country. That is definetly NOT what they are doing!

Just like politics in the church. Are they there to help the benefit of the church? Not most of them. Why is politics in church, to have power, to be in control. Why should they be in leadership in the church - to get the message of Jesus Christ to ALL people. Is that what they're doing? Not as efficitvely as they could.

It is sad - so very sad. So many people, in goverment and church politics are making decisions to help themselves and their own, when they should be making the right decision to help others and the cause.

They need to be doing the 'Right' thing.

I am so tired of having companies make HUGE money at the cost of the little people. (A company is entitled to make a good profit, but it has a responsibility to be fair to consumers.) I am so tired of having church politics be played to the point where people focus on themselves and what they get or deserve to where it hurts people in and out of a church and distracts and detracts from the message of the Gospel getting out! I'm tired of living with the devils influence all around us. I'm looking forward to heaven!!!

So, here's to the "Right Thing," looking towards Heaven and a perfect world, once again!!!