This and That Wrap Up for the last few days of March!

There is nothing really exciting going on at the English household at the moment, so I will just wrap up the past few weeks.

Jamie and I are now, Dynamic Marriages certified and hope to start teaching those marriage classes soon at our church.

The Texas Rangers and the rest of Major League Baseball is about to start the 2009 season and I cannot wait! I think the Rangers will field a pretty good team this year, if their pitching holds out.

Apparently there is some sort of government stimulus check coming to us soon. Not sure where this money is coming from except from our own taxes. If that is the case, then we are paying ourselves a bonus from our own pocket. How nice. I can't quit figure out how the government has any of our tax dollars left to give back to us after giving it all to failing banks and companies.

Twogether in Texas, my current employer, is fighting to keep its funding from being eliminated in the Texas Legislature. Apparently the Texas House of Representatives wants to increase our budget, but the Texas Senate wants to cut it or eliminate it. It seems at the present time, we will still have some sort of funding but how much is the question. It is possible I might have to look for another job teaching school again. I am about to sign up to become certified to teach Math.

My bride, Jamie, had a surgical procedure performed on her last week to prepare her for taking a new drug that will help to prevent her from getting breast cancer. She is still a little sore, but recovering.

My kiddos are tired of school and my son especially is worried about Band Camp. He has heard stories of certain kinds of "hazing" or other mischievous play, and he is worried it might happen to him. There are some older band kids that attend our church who have assured him they will do their best to look out for him. That made him feel a little better.

LTC, Leadership Training for Christ, is coming up Easter Weekend. The kids will be competing in various "competitions" that help them develop their Christian characters. Caleb is competing in Art/Photography, Bible Reading and Puppets. Rachel is competing in Art/Drawing, Daily Devotional & Prayer Challenge and Puppets.

I will try to come up with a good devotional or deep thought soon! Until then, I have been very busy and haven't had much time to do anything, including spend time with my family. I need a solid weekend off.

Marriage Partners for Life

Jamie and I are now trained facilitators of two highly effective marriage education courses; Dynamic Marriages and Prepare & Enrich! We can also teach other marriage curriculums as well, but we don't have to be "certified" to teach them.

Jamie and I are dedicated to helping save and protect marriages in our community. God saved our marriage several years ago and we plan on doing our best to help save other marriages as well. We hope to start a marriage specific ministry at our church, where we teach others important skills that they need to keep their marriages strong or get new and future marriages off to a great start.

Divorces happen in our nation at a rate of once every 45 seconds. The "Enemy" is out there and he is out to destroy us one marriage at a time. We hope to thwart him whenever possible.

That being said, pray for our marriage as well. We can not help others if our marriage is not strong itself. Satan will definitely try to take us down.

Dynamic Marriages and ME!

This weekend, Jamie and I are going to take a class to become certified instructors for Dynamic Marriages. We get to spend 3 days together getting to know the curriculum from the inside out to better serve marriages in our community. Because Dynamic Marriages is primarily religious in nature, I cannot teach this curriculum as part of my job with Twogether in Texas, but I can teach it at my church or offer the classes to the community as a whole, on my own time.

Despite the fact that the Texas Legislature, is seriously considering cutting the funding for Twogether in Texas, I think it is a great thing for me to become a certified facilitator for Dynamic Marriages. Even if the State takes funding away for marriage education, my wife and I will continue to support healthy marriages anyway.

About 4 years ago, Jamie and I went through a Dynamic Marriage Class, while we lived in
Gilmer. It was a great class and we have wanted to teach it to others since then. Now we are getting our chance.