August!!

August = HOT.. I think we’re almost at the 20 day mark for continuous days of 100+ heat, yesterday was some relief it only got to 97° I believe but the humidity jumped to +60% so it was still very hot.

Had a great weekend with fellow brother Cavalry Scouts, though the commute was something else.  800 miles from Dallas, TX to Ft. Knox Kentucky.. and accomplished in 12 hours flat both there and back.  Though Sunday’s drive home was challenging in that I didn’t really get a whole lot of sleep while at Knox.

Whoops!

Talking with my mother this morning she reminded me that its been close to a year since I’ve wrote anything on this site.  I guess that’s what happens when one gets hooked on facebook and other social sites.

It’s been a busy 9 months or so.  I think the main reason I dropped off on posting is that right after my last post I developed a shadow in the vision of my left eye which turned out to be a partially detached retina.   Well after surgery in late June and the installation of a buckle around my eye, the left eye seems to be okay now.. although I’ve had to revert to wearing glasses.

Work keeps me quite busy which is good.  Just glad that this year pay raises were given out.. last year not even 0.01% was given

The Obamination of our national government has been on my mind a lot lately.  With the nationalization of health care I’m just nervous about what its going to end up costing me in the long run.  With a family of 6 kids the ole $$ don’t stretch all that far to begin with.  Now that the Socialist in DC feel that it is necessary to cover all children on a family policy until they are 26, no caps on what they’ll ever have to pay,  I can only cringe at what premiums are going to do this fall/next year.  I’m sure the Socialists will come up with some way to explain the loss of $$ and agony we’ll all be feeling..

Work, Work & More Work

The past week has been something else!  At work I’m on a schedule crunch to get a device completed/characterized and tested by the end of June.. going to be a challenge.

Then if your reading Kristelle’s blog you will  know that I’ve been busy at home helping out builing a chicken coop, mulching, building tomato cages… whew.. I need a vacation!

Luckily I get sort of a vacation every Wednesday night with the G8 Men’s group meeting which has been awesome in renewing my walk with God and connecting me with my fellow brothers to vent and share the challenges of life..

Rain, Rain, & More Rain

Well the weekend started off good on Friday with the view ahead of little to do.. just didn’t realize how little there would be to do since we’d be stuck in side for most of the day Saturday. 

Kristelle did make it out to do some garage selling in the morning, then take Karter to his end of year soccer party at 11… then the rains hit.  I’d say its been at least 2 years since we had as much rain as we had.  Our yard turned into a pond again, will be curious as to what the final numbers will be.

New Phone

What a weekend..

Saturday was really laid back, not much to do early on.  Kristelle made it out to do some garage selling looking for that bargain that could be sold on E-Bay for a profit.  The weather was overcast for most of the day but the kids and I manged to make it out that morning and wash Kristelle’s truck for her.  Then we had a soccer game, (Karter’s last one of the season), and Karter played awesome.  Watched a 6 year old boy who had never played soccer before this season show signs of aggresiveness and understanding of the game.. really made a dad proud!

Karter kicking away

Then it was off and back home so Kristelle could head out to work.  The sun had popped out enough to get the pool water temp up to 74° to 75°, so once again the kids were in there swimming to thier hearts content.

Sunday we attended our Church service where Pastor Robert Morris had a great message in his series My Best Friend, The Son; he taught about the healing nature of Jesus.  Then after Church service I made it to the AT&T store where I finally upgraded my old Motorola phone for a new I-Phone.. I’m a happy camper.

FRIDAY!!!

I’m so glad it’s Friday. It’s been quite a busy work week with a problem that’s been plaguing us for quite some time… think I’m making a break through finally.

Still doing good with the principals that Financial Peace University has taught us, we’re actually almost complete with Baby Step 1 which is exciting. One thing that we’re finding though is that we didn’t quite budget our gas expenditures quite as well as we needed to be… so adjustments are coming

Karter had his last Soccer practice this week which is a big relief. Wednesdays have been hectic, Klahdia dance at 5:45, Karter practice at 6:00 and I have Mens Bible study group that starts at 7pm..

Financial Peace University

I have to post about this because its having such an impact on our life.  Last week I finished at 13 part series by Dave Ramsey on Financial Peace.  Kristelle and I are enjoying a very blessed life but we’ve never really realized the dream of having financial peace… at least I didn’t even realize what I was missing until this series.  Anyway we started a joint effort between us and the kids to become totally debt free in 7 to 10 years.. this includes our MORTGAGE!!!  Almost 2 weeks into it and I have to admit its not been easy.  We’ve decided to cut back on discretionary spending.. which includes Cable TV, Gym Membership, Eating out.. etc.. and one cool thing is we’ve FINALLY put our self on a budget and we’ve started using the envelope system!  What really made me happy was opening a savings account for all the kids and teaching them sound/wise financial principles of saving.. and then seeing this bear fruit when Klahdia went to the bank and deposited a few dollars into her savings account!

Duhhh

Okay, I know I haven’t posted in awhile when I go to log in and I get the completely wrong site… I went to blogspot trying to post and I had to create a whole new account. It was then that I remembered.. I’m not on blogspot, I’m on wordpress… anyway at least I’ve made my way back home.

Scouts

It’s been a busy few months now in Scouts with both Landon and Rileigh active.  Landon is progressing through the Tiger Trail quite well and is enjoying it very much.  This weekend he gets to race in his first pinewood derby.. which I’m going to miss since I’m a merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts and I have to teach this Saturday

Rileigh’s doing good, he’s finished the requirements for his 2nd class rank, now he just has to do a Scout Masters conference and board of review to receive the rank.  Then its off to requirements for 1st class.

I’m enjoying having 2 active scouts and looking forward to Karter starting up this summer.  Going to be cool taking all 3 camping when the oppurtunity arises.

History

Since I’m at work I couldn’t watch it on TV and work blocks streaming video/audio but I did read about it online.. a proud moment for our country in swearing in the first minority as president.  I don’t care for the guys politics or philosphies, so hopefully he won’t screw things up too bad…. socialism is a big no no!