Happy 4th Birthday Girl Kitty

Happy 4th Birthday to our "Girl Kitty!" Ramey-Jem is her official name (at least on her tags). She was originally called Ramey by her previous owner, who had to give her up because she was moving. We (mainly me) added the Jem to her name after Jem Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. We already had a cat named Scout, (also from to Kill a Mockingbird), so we just completed the set.

As we all know however, we hardly ever call cats by their real names and shortly after we got Ramey-Jem we started to call her "Boo-Boo Kitty" which eventually led to just calling her "Girl Kitty."

While trying to figure out how old our new kitty was, we knew the previous owner told us that Ramey's shots were due in September, which was two months before Scout's shots were due. So we figured Ramey-Jem was born sometime in March. So we (my daughter Rachel) got 31 little pieces of paper numbered 1-31 and set them out in front of the cat "to let girl kitty tell us when her birthday is." After sniffing around on the pieces of paper, Ramey-Jem picked the 7th, by biting it and carrying it off; so March 7th became "Girl Kitty's" birthday.

She is queen of the house. One meow, lets us know she needs something and if we don't respond right away, we get a loud chorus of meow's that lets us know she wants something "NOW." She's a diva I tell ya! She does reward us with a very loud purr, that melts your heart, when we do something she likes. We love her!

Things are a Little Bit Fuzzy Right Now!

Friday afternoon I was out and about with my beautiful bride, Jamie, when we decided to eat some lunch at Schlotzsky's. After spending some quality time with Jamie, I went to clean my glasses and "snap" I broke them in half, very much like the picture shown. This was my only pair that I had. My prescription was old, and I could not find a place that had any frames they could put my lenses into. So we had to get my a quick eye appointment and order a new pair of glasses, that should be in later this week.

In the meantime; things  are a little fuzzy. I can see well enough to function, but I cannot read anything and watching TV gives me a headache after a little while. I have taped my old paid together, but wearing them for any length of time, also gives me a headache. They are so loosely tapped together that they don't fit my face well, which makes things "wonky!"  So I am at the mercy of my son driving me around and my family reading for me until my new glasses come in. It's gonna be a blurry week.

Failing to live by my own Mission Statement

Shortly after posting my first blog! I came up with a Mission Statement to let people know what I stand for and to serve as a guide for my personal life. In the past year, I have been failing in several areas of my "mission" and I can see the results. Today I renew that same mission statement...Once again here it is (it is also listed underneath my photo at the top left of my blog)....

1. I will seek to continuously become a man after the heart of God.
2. I will serve my God and honor Him in all that I do; in failure as well as success.
3. I will continuously strive to grow as a husband and a father, so I can serve my family in the service of my God.
4. I will endeavor to serve others in love, using my Savior, Jesus, as an example.
5. I will listen to the words of truth as written in the Bible and to the Holy Spirit of God living in me, rather than the lies of Satan and the world. I will do this by spending intentional time in prayer, devotion, and memorization of scripture.
6. Realizing that I AM NOT IN CONTROL of the majority of circumstances that affect my life, I will look to God to learn from every situation, so that I may grow stronger in faith, and better serve God, my family and others.

Father God; Give me the strength of will, to fulfill the promises made above. Give me guidance to do what it right and just. Thank you for what blessings you have given me and help me not to forgot them. All that I have and ever will have is a gift from you! Bless my family and my future job! Your son, Mark

Beatles Movies

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my daughter, Rachel, loves the Beatles. I also mentioned in another post, I am trying to keep track of all the movies I have watched for the first time. These two things combined over the last couple of days. My daughter practically insisted I watch two of the movies the Beatles starred in.

First I watched A Hard Day's Night, (which was not to bad) and then I watched HELP! (a silly movie, but not so dumb it made my worst movies ever). That makes three new movies this year. I can't count Due Date because I never made it to the end of the movie before I stopped watching it.

I find it interesting that the Beatles can still captivate fans even after 50+ years since they debuted in America.

Day 16 -- Happy 15th Birthday, Rachel

15 years ago today, my wife, Jamie, gave birth to one of the greatest blessings God has given to me; my daughter Rachel. This little pink newborn, has grown into a wonderful young woman in which I am very proud. She is strongly rooted in her belief in God and has grown confident enough to stand up to me and correct me when I am treating her unfairly. She loves her family, especially the kitties, and her love of the Beatles and the Backstreet Boys fill our house with music. Although she shares many great character traits with her mother, she finds it annoying she shares some OCD character traits with me as well. I love my daughter and I can't wait to see what the next 15 years brings into her life and mine.

Happy Birthday Rachel! I love you!

Day 10 - Need a Clue? We Got One, Two...Eight!

One of the favorite board games for my family is the classic game of Clue. The thrill of trying to figure out if Col Mustard, committed murder with the revolver in the study, makes this game of strategy one of my favorite games ever. I myself like to collect the different editions of the game. As a result; we have several versions to choose from when ever we feel the need to play detective.

Of course we have the classic edition (pictured first); with the original characters of Miss Scarlet, Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Col. Mustard, Prof. Plum and Mr. Green. For some reason I like to write the first solution to each edition inside the lid of the game box. For this version, it was Prof. Plum, Lead Pipe and Library. Other editions of the game we own are:

Clue: Master Detective - Which introduces new rooms, new weapons and four new suspects (Sgt. Gray, Miss Peach, MME. Rose and M. Brunette., Clue: the Great Museum Caper -- In this version the main characters attempt to apprehend an art thief., Clue: Secrets and Spies -- In this version the characters attempt to discover the identity of a mysterious Agent Black., Electronic Clue Talking FX -- This version is just an electronic version of the original clue, with new rooms, weapons and several new characters (Mrs. Meadow-Brook, Prince Azure, Rusty Naylor, Lady Lavender and Lord Gray), Clue Suspect -- A card game version, fit for travel or play without the board., Clue: Discover the Secrets; Chocolate Edition -- A delicious chocolate version of the game where the "cards" are wrapped pieces of chocolate. Sadly, the board is not chocolate. After playing this game and eating the chocolate, my daughter, Rachel, took the wrappers and taped them into usable pieces and turned them into a neat little travel edition of the game. Most recently we added Clue: The Office edition -- In this version, characters, locations and objects from the television show "The Office" are used as suspects, rooms and weapons, as they attempt to solve the "murder" of Toby Flanderson in order to win a vacation promised by Michael Scott. We played it for the first time last Sunday. (Toby was "killed" by Stanley Hudson with a rabid bat in the annex.)

At one time or another we have also owned and played; Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion (PC Game), Clue: VCR Mystery Game and Clue DVD Game -- A DVD version of the game that has several "interactive games" to play. Once you solve the several "games", this version becomes obsolete.

We have even watched the movie version of Clue and some episodes of the kids television series Clue on the HUB television network. My daughter also told me she has a version of Clue she plays on her I-Pod.

I would love to add Clue: World of Harry Potter Edition, Scooby Doo Where Are You? Clue (apparently no longer sold, which explains the high price tag), and Clue: Discover the Secrets -- an updated version of the classic game with new rooms and weapons, to our collection. (Shortly after posting this, my daughter informed me we already have Clue: Discover the Secrets; so, I guess the title of this post should end in Nine.)

Needless to say Clue has become a large part of our family game nights and I hope I get to play Clue with my grand kids as well.

Day 7 - HELP! There are BEATLES in my house!

The Beatles are considered one the greatest rock bands ever; and I think I may have to agree. Not only were the Beatles one my parents' favorite bands in the 60's, I listened to a lot of their music during the 80's, and now my kids (especially Rachel) love listening to the Beatles as well. In fact my daughter loves them so much, she has them on her I-Pod and she looked up their movies to watch on Netflix and on YouTube. We have the Beatles album, ONE, in my car and I am forced to listen to it over and over again with my kids. I didn't realize how many of the Beatles songs I actually could sing by memory. (If I couldn't before I can now!) I also didn't realize that just under half the #1 songs on the album debuted after I was born. I was born in the middle of Beatlemania; Dang, I'm old. On a closing note, I think John Lennon sounds a little like Wakko Warner from the Animaniacs!

2012 - Day 3 - It's a Smallville After All

Day 3 of 2012 begins with me filling out a job application to become a sub and a Math tutor for Mansfield ISD. Once again, I am looking for a new job. Don't really wish to discuss how/why I need to do this, just back job hunting mode again. I am also going to be working at Starbucks again, hopefully for at least 20 + hours a week, so I can get insurance for me and the kids.

I have also started watching Smallville on DVD. My kids started watching it with their cousins over the holidays and now they want to get it through Netflix. So I borrow Season 1 from my sister-in-law and I am trying to catch up to the kids, so we can watch the rest of it together.

I am also trying to help my kiddos do a little catch up work with their home-schooling so they will be ready to re-enter public schools next year.

Sorry about the corny pun in the title! :)

Adjusting to a Life in Mansfield, TX

It has been one month since my family and I moved to Mansfield, TX. I finally have a new full-time job teaching 7th/8th Grade Math at Red Oak Jr. High School. So far I am enjoying it. My wife, Jamie and I are trying to car-pool to work on Mondays and Wednesdays to spend more time with each other. (She works in Waxahachie, TX at the Ellis County Children's Advocacy Center.)

We found us a great rent home in Mansfield and as of today (Oct. 22) our home in Longview, TX is under contract to close on Nov. 2nd. This will eliminate our mortgage payment, allowing us to use my salary to make larger payments toward our remaining debts. Dave Ramsey would be happy.

The kids are still enjoying home school, although they do miss getting out to mingle with other kids. We are looking into getting Caleb a car, so they can get out during the day while Jamie and I are at work. We are also looking for a new church home. We have visited a couple of great local churches and plan on visiting a couple of more before we narrow down our choices and try to settle in somewhere. We are hoping the kids get involved with the youth group and Jamie and I can get plugged into some good classes or small groups to make some new friends.

The only bad thing that has happened since we have moved here is my blood pressure has gone back up and I am back on blood pressure medication. I guess the stress of the move, the stress of teaching/disciplining kids at school and me not eating healthy, have triggered the rise in BP.

We are slowly unpacking and turning this rent house into our new home. We have an option to buy and the neighborhood is great. Maybe once we get most of our remaining debt paid off, we will see about buying this home.

Good luck to the Texas Rangers on going to the World Series for the 2nd year straight!

Homeschooling the Kids

The 2011-12 school year has started and Jamie and I have decided to home school the kids.

Rachel, who is entering grade 9, has been signed up with Connections Academy, a free on-line public school.

Caleb, who is entering 11th Grade has been signed up with Alpha Omega Academy, an on-line private school.

We have been considering this for sometime and the pending move to the Waxahachie area just made the decision easier.

Both curricula are highly rated and are accredited with the state. The kids can learn at their own pace and could graduate earlier than they could in public schools.

In other news: Continue to pray our house sells quickly so our family can be reunited soon.

Starbucks Coffee Updates

Earlier this year I posted how Jamie and I have started working our way through the blends of Starbucks Coffees. Here is an update on what we have already tried...

Red

Organic Blue Java

Organic Shade Grown Mexico

100% Kona

Komodo Dragon

Cafe Estima.

2010 Starbucks Anniversary Blend.

and Sumatra

We are currently drinking Guatemala Casi Cielo

Next in line is Aged Sulawesi Kalosi

I have added a Coffee of the Day gadget to my page, so you can keep up with what we are currently drinking. My favorite so far is Organic Shade Grown Mexico. Jamie's Favorite has been the Organic Blue Java.

Jamie and I enjoy drinking our coffee together in the mornings.

Together Again (at least for the weekend)

Last Monday my wife, Jamie, started her new job in Waxahachie. My daughter also started her week at ACU Summer Camps. The week before My son Caleb was at ACU Summer Camps and my daughter was spending a week with her cousin. That meant two weeks with at least two different family members gone. Last night we were all together. The kids are finished with camp and Jamie is home for the weekend. We are together again; until Sunday afternoon, when Jamie returns to her Aunt's house to start her 2nd full week at her new job.

The only news about selling our home I can update you on is, that our roof is about to get fixed. After 7 years of arguing with insurance companies about the horrible state of our roof, they have finally agreed to have it fixed. Insurance will pay to have the roof fixed; however, there is damage to the support beams that hold the roof up and insurance will not pay for that. To fix the "decking" alone will cost nearly $3000. That is money we do not have. We are hoping to pay for the decking repair out of the profit we make from selling the house or from the escrow taxes we will get returned to us from the Mortgage Company.

Meanwhile packing is still ongoing, (the wedding china is next on the list), with boxes and other items being moved into my dad's storage building or a rented storage space. We are having a garage sale next Saturday to sell furniture and other items we wish to get rid of. Keep praying that our house sells soon and that a school calls me to work for them full-time. I want our family to be Together Again soon.

A Week Alone With the Boy

This week I am spending a week alone with my son Caleb. (Jamie is in Waxahachie with her new job and Rachel is in Abilene at MPULSE with ACU Summer Camps.) Yesterday we went grocery shopping for the week; knowing we currently do not have a huge budget for groceries; he suggested we buy lots of soups, Ramen noodles, sandwich fixings and one frozen pizza. It reminded me of living life in college, when you tried to eat cheap and save your money for when you had a date.

Caleb has picked up the Dave Ramsey philosophy that Debt is Stupid. He so wants to avoid getting student loans and avoid debt that he strongly wants to attend College of the Ozarks, where you can work off your tuition and fees rather than have to borrow money.

This weeks I plan to have Caleb help me mow the yard and continue our "pack and store" momentum, as we prepare to sell the house and move. I also hope to continue to get to know him better. Caleb is a fantastic young man, who is developing his own faith in God/Jesus/The Spirit. He makes me laugh with his deep sense of humor.

Caleb really wants to find a job, but the potential move is hindering that, as he doesn't want to get a job and then have to quit to move with short notice. (Maybe he can get a job at Brookshires sacking groceries for a couple of weeks, they hire summer help all the time.) He also wants to get his driver's license, but we are putting it off until we move so we don't have to pay the fee it takes to change the address on his license. Plus we can't afford the raise in insurance rates until we know exactly what our new financial situation will be once we move.

ACU Summer Camps & Other Stuff.

Over the next couple of weeks, the kids will be attending ACU Summer Camps at Abilene Christian University. Sunday we dropped off Caleb at Kadesh, the camp for High School ages. Next Sunday we drop of Rachel at MPulse, the camp for Jr. High ages. It's makes for 3 long drives (drop off, pickup/drop off and pick up) but we feel the camps are worth every penny we spend to send them there.

Jamie and I will continue packing for our eventual move. Boxes are stacking up and we are getting ready to move some of them to my parent's house for storage until time to move. The kitties think we are building a castle just for them. We still need to pack up Jamie's "office area", scrapbooks, several items in both kids rooms and several books and misc. stuff in our room. We are waiting to pack, the two main televisions, the DVD's, the bathroom and the kitchen last.

For those of you who read this blog...keep praying that God reveals my full-time job to me soon and that our house sells quickly, so our family will not be separated for very long.

Changes are a Comin'

Yesterday (Tuesday), my wife, Jamie, accepted an offer to work for a Children's Advocacy Center in Waxahachie, Texas. It is the perfect job for her qualifications and it has benefits. Now, I need a job in the Dallas area. I have applied for several school districts in that area and I am hoping that one of them calls for an interview soon and that a new teaching job will soon follow.

Our most immediate concern in the meantime is the selling of our house. We will have to contact a good Realtor in the area and put our house up for sell. I hope it sells fairly quickly. Having a full-time job offer for me will give us a great starting spot to look for a new apartment or duplex to rent.

If God chooses not to have me work full-time before the end of the summer, we will just have to find an apartment close to Jamie's new job and I will sign up to substitute teach at the local school districts and see if I can transfer my Starbucks job to a Starbucks location in the Waxahachie area.

Pray that this new transition in our life goes smoothly, that our home sells quickly, and a school offers me a full-time teaching post soon!

Hobo Dinners

One of the favorite meals of our family is what we call a "Hobo Dinner". Preheat oven to 400 degrees. You will need about 1/2 pound of hamburger meat (for each dinner), some sliced potatoes, onions and baby carrots. Add the meat and veggies together, along with any spices you may wish to add, and wrap it together in aluminum foil. Place the dinners in a cake pan or cookie sheet with an edge (to avoid spilling juices) and cook for about an hour.

It is a healthy treat your whole family will enjoy.

King and Queen of the House

As you can see we have cats! They are the King and Queen of the House.

The original kitty is named Scout (aka: Fuzzball). Despite the addition of a new kitty, he is still Ruler of the House. We think he believes we got HIM a new cat when the new kitty came along.
He gets his way often because he captured the heart of my wife.












The newest member of our household is Ramey-Jem (aka: Girl Kitty). She joined us almost one year ago. She gets her way a lot because she purrs really loud when she's happy (we like that) and she meow's loudly when she wants something. She's even trained my daughter to turn on the faucet in the bathroom so she, the cat, can have a drink of water




We love our kitties very much and most of all they love us!

The Love Dare

In an effort to reconnect with my bride, Jamie, I have started The Love Dare. I am praying that it changes our relationship for the better. With God's Help I know it will.

On a totally different note; Pitchers and Catchers reported to their Spring Training Camps today. Baseball is back!

Spaghetti-Tacos and Other News

Thanks to the Nickelodeon television show iCarly, my family tried a dish called Spaghetti-Tacos last night for dinner. They were actually pretty good. You just make spaghetti, like normal, then put in some taco shells. Yummy and crunchy.

It seems my Texas Rangers are working hard to make the playoffs. Thanks to some great pitching and (cough, couch...gag....) the New York Yankees, the Rangers are tied for the wild-card spot. They are even making a race out of the Western Division by being just 3.5 games out of first place. If we could just keep beating those dang Angels.

My son Caleb, just got back from High School band camp last week. I can't believe he is a Freshman in High School this year. Just to drive the point home, he picked up his schedule for his Freshman year, along with his textbooks and school ID.

My search for a full-time job has yet to bear much fruit. All of the local schools filled their staff positions for the upcoming school year; and I have yet to get an interview with any other place I have applied for. I sent in an resume today to work with the Texas Department for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Abuse today. Keep praying that something comes up soon.

Also I have two books to recommend for reading. The first is called Crazy Love by Frances Chan, the second is called Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. Both books will challenge your thoughts about how you view Christianity in today's world.

To Arkansas and Back Again

Yesterday my family and I returned from our last summer vacation at Hot Springs, Arkansas. (The childhood home of former President Bill Clinton.) We had a wonderful time and we can't wait to return again sometime.

We started our Hot Springs vacation by taking a Hot Springs National Park Duck Tour . This tour gave us an entertaining tour of the Historic Downtown Hot Springs area as well as a short cruise around St. John's Island on Lake Hamilton. Our "Captain/Guide" was nicknamed "Bubba" and he was very interesting and funny as he gave us an education about the history of Hot Springs.

As part of a package deal with the Duck Tours, we also purchased tickets to The Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum. The wax figures of many famous Americans and world figures are on display here. Although the tour of the museum was very interesting, many of the figures look like they have been slowly melting over the years without any upkeep. The figure of former President Jimmy Carter was especially scary looking. The best two figures in the museum were Jack Sparrow, from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and President Barack Obama. They are the two newest figures on display. I'm not saying, not to tour the Wax Museum, but just be prepared for what you see. (see the above link)

After visiting the wax museum we visited the last part of the package deal we purchased with the Duck Tours. We did wine tasting at The Winery at Hot Springs. Their locally blended wines can be shipped to any address in the U.S. that has a state that allows alcohol to be shipped by mail. We tasted 8 local wines and almost purchased a bottle or two, but alas we were limited on our vacation budget. I had never tasted wines before and it was a treat for me to so. I will have to do it again sometime.

We then went back to the hotel (Howard Johnson) to swim a while before heading up for me to watch Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby. Although I fell asleep watching it, I found out the next morning that the Rangers own Nelson Cruz finished 2nd. Way to go Cruz!

The next morning, I went to one of the only two active Hot Springs bath houses to take in one of the famous baths Hot Springs is famous for; The Buckstaff. I got the Whirlpool Mineral Bath package and enjoyed it very much. While I was soaking in the relaxing and healing hot mineral waters, that God and I had a talk about my current job hunt and some other life issues in general. I think I left a lot of worries in that water. I have been very relaxed since then. I hope it lasts. (Jamie, my lovely bride, took her bath the next morning.)

After the hot bath and spa; we visited Magic Springs/Crystal Falls. All of the large roller coaster rides at Magic Springs were out of order during our visit. They were waiting on parts to come in so they could finish the maintenance they needed to operate properly. Oh well, the kids came to swim anyway. We spent most of the afternoon at Crystal Falls enjoying their wave pool, lazy river and a few of their water slides. (Their wave pool had nothing on the waves at some of our more local water parks in Texas.) Surprisingly no one was sunburned despite record temperatures in the low 100's.

We returned from Magic Springs/Crystal Falls and decided to eat some local Arkansas Bar-B-Que. Sadly we overpaid to eat at a place that made almost all of us a little sick to our stomach. I would mention the place by name, but maybe it was just a bad batch of Bar-B-Que and I hate to bash a place over one bad visit.

That evening, we went to see a local magician called Stonehenge. He provided us with a great show filled with amazement. All of his magic was up close and personal and his show was very family friendly. He (or at least his sound guy) was a Christian and Christian music played before and after the show. He called several members of the audience up to the stage. Caleb, my son, was called to help with a pretty nifty card trick. The two hour show was worth every dollar spent and we will definitely go see him again next time we visit Hot Springs. I'm still not sure how he cut his nice assistant in half! He and his assistants provided autographs and photo opportunities after the show and seemed very interested in learning about the audience and where they were from, etc.... Sadly I missed MLB's All-Star Game during the magic show, but it was worth it to see a magician who did not have all the cult references many magicians have today. I recommend Stonehenge as a must see if you go to Hot Springs any time soon.

Wednesday morning, we went to visit a local rock dealer who sold a wide variety of locally earthed volcanic rocks and crystals. We got a free "Arkansas Diamond" (a polished crystal) just for stopping by. After the rock dealer we went to tour Garvan Woodland Gardens. This would have been so much better if it were not for the intense heat and our still slightly upset stomachs from the previously mentioned Bar-B-Que from the previous day. Still, the gardens offered many beautiful examples of waterfalls, local plants and wildlife and we enjoyed our shortened visit, before heading back home to Longview, TX.

We did drive by the boyhood home of former President Bill Clinton and did see the High School he graduated from; however, I think we enjoyed swimming the hotel pool more than we cared to stop and visit these historic sights.

I am glad to be home, although I could use another hot mineral bath.