What I'm Thankful For - 2011

I am thankful for my beautiful bride, Jamie, who told me just yesterday she would take care of me, "even if my mind was gone." Some times I think she's doing that now!

I am thankful for my son, Caleb. God has great things planned for him.

I am thankful for my daughter, Rachel. She is so full of love for everyone; especially the kitties.

I am thankful for my job. It's not easy being a teacher; however, the few times you witness the look in kid's eyes when they "finally get it," makes most of the bad times, go away.

I am thankful for our two kitties, Scout and Ramey. They are always there for me after a bad day.

I am thankful for my best friend Brent. If only we could retire and watch Ranger games all summer long.

I am thankful for our new home in Mansfield.

I am especially thankful for the LORD God Almighty, who loves me despite the fact I am such a idiot.

There is so much more to be thankful for; however, I need to go. Things to do you know!

Nothing to Blog About

It seems that I am having trouble coming up with something to blog about recently. I don't want to create another list and I don't want to blog just because; even if this is what this blog is about.

I could blog about the economy and our government's efforts to handle the current economic crisis, but do people really want to read about how I think our governent is moving towards Socialism very rapidly by taking over the business of America, or hear me complain that our government is giving my tax dollars to a bunch of idiots who cannot run a business.

I could blog about the kids, but other than the average run-of-the-mill days, not much is going on with them.

I could blog about my wife, Jamie. I could alsways say something nice about her!

I could blog about my pets. The dog still poops on my daughter's floor at night, despite best efforts to stop him, and the cat thinks he is the boss of the house.

I could blog about the Texas Rangers and the upcoming baseball season. I might do that tomorrow!

I could blog about what I'm reading in the Bible. God's word is always powerful, but I don't get many comments when I blog about my Bible Reading. Hmmmm!

There is always dumb stuff in the news! I could blog again about what I do at work, but I've already done that!

Hey guess what? I blogged today after all. I promise to have more meaningful blogs the next 4 days! Get ready for 4 good ones in a row starting tomorrow! I promise.

This and That and Miscellaneous Stuff!

Over the past few weeks, I have found it hard to find topics to blog about. Finally, I just decided that I would do a potpourri of various topics until something just stands out.

While driving through the Dallas/Ft. Worth area recently, my wife and I kept seeing the billboards with pictures of people saying, "I am Second!", with the web-site IAmSecond.com underneath. We finally looked this site up. It is a site dedicated to people who are in recovery from various addictive behaviors. These recovering addicts tell their stories about how they realized that they needed God to help them in their lives. By putting God "first" in their lives and putting themselves "second" they are working to overcome their problems and stay on the road to recovery. It is a cool site. I really like the story of Josh Hamilton, who currently plays outfield for my Texas Rangers.

Speaking of the Texas Rangers, baseball season is almost upon us. This is my favorite sport by far of the major 4 (Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey) in the United States. It seems the Rangers are going to have to rely heavily on their young pitchers to step up and perform well. I agree with the Rangers strategy of not "breaking the bank" to sign big name players, and I hope our young guys, with some veteran support can do well this year. If I get to attend any Ranger games live this year, I will have to get a Josh Hamilton t-shirt.

Other news from the baseball front. It seems the ever so wonderful, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroid use back in 2003. Well, well, what a surprise! It seems baseball's golden boy did a little juicing himself. What is really sad, because of this recent scandal, one sports writer has resorted to calling the Rangers the worst abusers of steroids in baseball. The nerve of that guy. I am not going to sit here and say none of the Texas Rangers have ever used steroids, but to call them the worst abusers in the league; Come on man!

I refuse to comment on the goings on with our nation's government. If you have read any of my past blogs, I think you know I feel about throwing out billions of dollars to agencies, businesses, and even the common tax payers in an effort to stop the current financial crisis we are in. Hey, I am not about to turn down free money, if it comes my way, but I think we brought this crisis on ourselves by not being good stewards of the boundless blessings God gave us. Throwing more money our way will not help us learn the lessons we need to learn to prevent this from happening again in the future. I guess I commented after all! Sorry!

Sunday, our preacher, gave us an excellent lesson about. "Flying Stand-By!" Have you ever flown stand-by? I have not. People who fly stand-by have to wait to find out if someone else has cancelled a flight or if their will be any unbooked seats on a plane in order to board that particular flight. It creates lots of uncertainties and stress because they do not know if they will be able to board the plane or not. People who have already booked their flights and have their tickets can arrive at the gate with a more relaxed attitude because they know they are going to get on the plane.

As Christians many of us live like we are on "stand-by" when it comes to our eternal salvation. Despite the many promises of God and the gift of Grace through the death of Jesus, many Christians have not accepted God's "free ticket" to get into Heaven. We still believe we have to earn our way into Heaven. We live a life of uncertainty, as if we are unsure if we will get into Heaven or not. Those Christians who have fully accepted the Grace of God through Jesus, can live a life focused on the important things we have to do while still here on this Earth. We can relax (to an extent) knowing we are going to going to live with our King forever. All we have to be concerned about is fighting the battle against darkness and making sure others know that God has give them a free-ticket on the plane to Heaven.

Also just to catch you up on the recent concerns regarding Jamie's health; read her recent blog about what is going on with her health.

What's new with Mr. E! (for August 2, 2008)

Thursday was my last day as a teacher of Adult Education at Kilgore College. My fellow staff members took me out to eat at a local Chinese restaurant and they also gave me a $50.00 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Whoo-Hoo!

Friday was my first day as the Healthy Marriage Coordinator for Twogether in Texas. I spent most of it filling out paperwork for insurance, HIPPA, and payroll. The rest of the time I was filling out a calendar showing my trips to Austin (apparently these are a monthly thing), and possible training days for me to teach our sub-contractors. Monday I will make my first visit to Austin for a training and I should be home on Wednesday. I will miss my family during the trips to Austin, but I have been told that if I am traveling alone, or it's a time when the kids are out of school, that they can come with me, I just pay any additional cost, if charged.

Saturday (today), we had a garage sale to try and raise a little money towards our last summer family vacation. We managed to pull off $100 exactly and we got rid of a bunch of stuff. We still have a old couch, an ironing board, a trundle bed frame and a box spring for a twin bed, sitting out by the curb, with a "FREE" sign hanging on them. We look like we have a "red-neck" yard. I hope someone comes along tonight and "Frees" us from the rest of our stuff.

Life is Good!

Update (4:20 pm): A few moments ago, someone picked up some of our "FREE" stuff that was left on the curb, after the garage sale. They picked up the ironing board, the trundle bed frame, and the twin bed metal frame. They left the twin bed box spring and the couch. Come on people...relieve us of our stuff!

Update #2 (8:30 pm): Some fellow just took the box springs, now if someone would just take the couch.

New Job Possibility & Other Stuff.

Today I found out that the High School in the school district my children attend has a Social Studies teacher position open. I quickly called to verify that the district had my current application and resume and then I e-mailed my resume and a nice cover letter to the Principal. Pray that I at least get an interview. It would be great to work on the same schedule as my kids.

I am so looking forward to the Texas Rangers baseball game on July 12th. I haven't been to a game all year and I am itching for some live baseball. I hope to see several Rangers who have made the All-Star team this year. Some of our Rangers deserve to be on the team.

Our home-based business Four English Peas Travel is slowly picking up a few clients. The recent rise in gas prices may be affecting the number of people who plan to travel this year. All the same if you plan on going on a vacation or planning on doing any traveling, check out our site. The prices you find are comparable or better than the leading other travel based sites, which I won't mention by name.

I also have created a Facebook account for anyone who cares to view it. It is sort of like a blog, but not.

I plan on doing the "If Your Life Was a Movie" blog about the music soundtrack sometime soon. Just haven't had a lot of free time at home recently.