It's been a busy week!

This past week has been a little hectic and I'm sure it's not over yet.


The week started with a good worship service at church. The lesson and the song worship fit together nicely making for a wonderful worship experience with God.

Monday I had to meet with a couple of County Clerks to explain the in's and out's of our Healthy Marriage Program. It made for a 10 Hour work day with lots driving.


Tuesday, after a 4 Hour staff meeting at work, it was off to pick up school schedules and "Meet the Teacher" for my son Caleb. Jamie had already met Rachel's teachers and picked up her schedule earlier that day. The "Meet the Teacher" event at Caleb's school, Pine Tree Jr. High, started as a total nightmare. The school tried to funnel over 400 people down two different narrow hallways to pick up the 7th Grade and 8th Grade schedules. I'm not sure how 7th Grade did, but the 8th Grade hallway was shoulder to shoulder for almost an hour, as parents, the students and other family members attempted to get into the cafeteria to pick up their child's schedule for the year. Poor Rachel was hot and irritated, Caleb was having trouble breathing the sweaty, hot air, and I was a little "put off" at the poor planning of the situation. After much shuffling, we got Caleb's schedule and we headed off down various hallways to find his classes and meet the teachers. His teaches seemed very nice, but of course they all had their own list of school supplies they wanted our son to bring to school. Finally, we escaped the crowds and headed home.

Wednesday, I had another meeting with a county clerk. This one was cranky and had a know-it-all attitude. After putting another 96 miles on my car, I made it home to find out Jamie had purchased all of Caleb's school supplies. The small fortune of supplies reminded me of the size and weight of Caleb's backpack last year and I felt for him as he prepares to lug around a 45 pound backpack again this year on his barely 80 pound body frame. Why do teachers need students to have a 1 1/2 or 2 inch notebook for every class? When I was in school we survived with just one notebook for all subjects. After watching Caleb sort through all his supplies I had to pack a suitcase to head out to Austin, TX for another training.

Thursday started with some good news. There was a pay check sitting at my work station. I thought I wasn't going to get paid until Sept. 5, but I had miscalculated the times. Cool, I have money to deposit into the bank. After stuffing the check into my suitcase, my supervisor and I headed for Rusk, TX to meet with another County Clerk before heading to Austin. The trip to Austin seemed to take a long time because it rained heavily the entire time. We still managed to make Austin before nightfall, and we decided to go watch "The Largest Urban Bat Colony in the United States" head out for their nightly feeding. (Here are a couple of links to read about the Bats. http://austin.about.com/cs/bats/p/bats.htm and http://www.austincityguide.com/content/congress-bridge-bats-austin.asp) Because of the overcast skies the bats were a little "disoriented" about exactly when sunset was, so they came out later than normal. It was impressive to see millions of bats flying out from under a bridge. I tried to take pictures and short videos from my cell-phone but the view was obscured by the growing darkness and the skyline of Austin in the background.

Friday was spent mostly in training to prepare us for the upcoming changes in Texas laws regarding marriage licences and how our program can help couples take advanages of healthy marriage education to receive waivers on marriage licences fees and to help County Clerks with any questions they may have about the changes. At least the meeting ended a little early and my supervisor and I managed to make it home to Longview with just a little bit a daylight left.

This morning I woke up the news of an Obama-Biden Democratic ticket for President and Vice-President. Interesting choice Obama, interesting. For more information check out Obama's official campaign website. I wonder who McCain will pick? Now am blogging, waiting to get a shower and go deposit my paycheck, before heading out to Howe, TX to pick up my kids; who have been staying at Jamie's sister's home while I was in Austin and Jamie was attending the Women of Faith conference in Dallas. This will be another 5 hour road trip (there and back) but it will be worth it to have the kids home.

Next week, plans on being just as busy as we have meetings at work and as we prepare for the new marriage license laws to take effect in Texas. The kids also start school on Monday. Caleb will be in 8th grade and Rachel will be in 6th.

My "Ghostly" Encounter

Yesterday (Wednesday), my supervisor and I went to Palestine, TX, which is the county seat of Anderson County. We were making a presentation of our Twogether in Texas program to the County Clerk and her staff. The meeting took place in one of the records rooms in the rear of her office. In one corner of the room was a "closet" of sorts that had a large door, that used to be the door of an old safe. Inside the closet was a small refrigerator a mirror and a sink. There were no other doors in or out of this little room.

While my colleague was making the presentation to the County Clerk staff, I was standing in the doorway to this little closet. About half-way through the presentation, I felt a tap on my left shoulder, and I heard a masculine voice say, "Excuse me." Of course, in an attempt to be polite I said, "Sure" and I turned slightly to my left and started to move out the way to let the "person" out of the closet. I thought I saw an image of a man wearing a white shirt and a dark hair in the mirror. As I moved I realized there was no one in the closet or anywhere behind me.

Two of the ladies who were listening to the presentation saw me move away from the door and heard me say, "Sure." Of course I turned a little pale and I moved across the room to get away from the door.

After our presentation, I asked if the Court House was haunted. I was told by the County Clerk, that some county prisoners had died building the spiral staircase in the court house and some people have seen these prisoners from time to time, as well as hearing children in the building after the hours the court house has closed for the day.

Creepy! The photo is the exterior of the Anderson County, Texas Court House located in Palestine, TX.

Gators and Me

My family and I made it back from our last summer outing of the year. Going back to work was tough. We enjoyed spending time together as a family. The best part of our vacation, in my opinion was Gators and Friends. This little "hole in the wall" place was like visiting a small exotic zoo. Of course they had alligators, but they also had llamas, kangaroos, camels, ostriches, mountain goats, and a few other animals you could hand feed. We had a great time! I even got to hold an alligator. Rachel was just content to watch!

Ready for the Weekend!

I am so ready for this weekend. My family and I are going on our last little family outing of the summer. Saturday we plan on going to Water Town USA in Shreveport, Louisiana for a last effort at getting sunburned while swimming. We also plan to visit Gators and Friends near Shreveport on the way on Friday just to visit somewhere else family friendly.

As of now I am filling in my monthly schedule for my new job. Busy, Busy, Busy. Just the way I like it. A busy day makes the time go faster.

Training in Austin #1

I am currently on lunch break from my first training day in Austin. We are learning about a healthy marriage curriculum that can be used as part of our state grant. It has been fairly interesting and I plan on using some of the things I learn when I get home.

I didn't sleep very well last night. The beds at the OMNI Hotel are very comfortable, but I was missing the most important part of a good night's sleep: My wife Jamie. Pillows are OK to cuddle with, but they can' replace the feeling of your bride next to you.

I also forgot my bathing suit, so I can't swim in the nice pool. I guess I could swim naked, but I don't think I would still have my job after that.

I will let you know more about my training tomorrow.

On a different note: Some one finally came and took away the old couch from our yard. So all our "Garage Sale" stuff is finally gone.

On a different note: We should be having some people come and do some Lawn Care work on our yard. We finally got tired of being one of only two "brown" yards on our block. I watered it and fertilized it, but nothing seemed to grow, so now we are turning it over to professionals. It may take a little bit of our savings money, but I think it will be worth it.

I really miss my kids and Jamie and I can't wait to head home tomorrow evening.

Oh, by the way the Rangers beat the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion last night. Very Cool!

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.