The wife just started her new job. I guess she’s been going in a little here and there for “training” and “experience” and she was punching a clock then. But now it’s for real and it’s just here there behind the desk running the show. That’s all good and everything. We’ll get a little more $$ so we can start knocking the mortgage back a little and maybe even put away some savings. The place has some decent employee benefits too. But the scheduling has caused a little tension.

Our work schedules overlap just a bit and it creates a situation of “where does the kid go?” for us. I think we’ve seen how it will work when her current job at the preschool is over, but between then and now there will be some reshuffling of afternoons and what not. I think it will all work out in the end, we’ll see. I’m also wondering about our social life now. Not that we were big socialites or anything, and not that anything really went on in our town to begin with. But if she’s going to be working most weeknights…who knows?

But I was thinking about it last night some. It really did seem that this job and the benefits of it were God given to begin with. Then we started seeing some details that weren’t obvious to us at first, and we started to balk. But we’re going to have to trust God in this. And I need to seek Him more about our future together as well.

Now, time to work on those taxes sometime before tomorrow.

A year ago my mom had no idea how to send an email or view a web page. But as of the past 2 weeks, she calls my house at least once a day with a question about the internet. I hooked her up with a dial up account on Juno and she’s been going to town with it. Emailing friends in other time zones, looking up weather and newspapers, probably getting syndrome where your hands lock up from overuse.

This week has been a kicker. It started off with a concert in Starkville. It was great. GlassByrd, Caedmon’s Call and Jars of Clay. Told everyone we’d be home around 10:30…got home at midnight. Part of the problem was that I ran over the curb at Abner’s and popped a back left tire on the bus. Couldn’t change the big thing but there were 3 other tires on the back left, so we just drove home slow with it. But the concert was awesome. Pretty laid back, low key.

Turns out the tires on the bus (go round and round…wait, nevermind) were all way underinflated. Only had 40 lbs. of pressure in them when they needed 80. That’s what popped the tire. Not my stupid driving. Whew!

Now the Railroad Festival has taken off. It’s not so bad. It used to be my #2 holiday when I was a kid. Then it turned into a reason to get out of town. But now that our church has a food booth each year, it’s a semi-hassle. Today is my day to be in charge of the cooking. Woo Hoo! It really isn’t so bad. I like hanging out with the other workers, adults and kids alike. But it can be a drain of energy. Especially since I woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I’ll be a zombie tonight and worthless tomorrow. Ah, the joys of the festival.

Later…

I got a letter today from the child I sponser through Compassion International. She is a ten year old girl living in Kenya. My wife and I have been sponsering her for about 2 years now. She writes me now and then and I’m usually impressed with her maturity. She tells me of her family and how they’re doing. Told me about the animals they own and that they just had a new batch of chickens. Said that she’d even give me one when I came to visit. Man, would it be nice to visit!

Even thought it is early April, the letter I received from her was written in December. She said that it was a good holiday season so far, except for some of the bombings. There was a local hotel that was bombed and ended up burning to the ground. Then what she said really rocked me. She said that she hoped that God would touch the guy who master-minded the bombing like….[now at that point in the sentence, I had no idea what she was going to say, but I was thinking it was going to be about vengence of some sort. I mean, heck, someone just bombed the mess out of a hotel and caused death and destruction, you know. And this is a 10 year old]…like He touched Saul. What did she say? I was floored!

This ten year old girl from the other side of the world has a greater understand of God’s grace and mercy than most people I know. Wow…just wow. If you don’t know how (and why) God touched Saul, it’s found in the book of Acts. Saul was well known for his persecution and even death sentences he threw at the early Christians. But Jesus did a number on Saul, and his name was changed to Paul, and he became the greatest evangelist who ever lived (most would say.)

Lord, give me the mercy and grace to respond as you would….

There are reports everywhere on the news now that maybe Saddam is dead. I’d heard this on the radio this morning and wondered if Bush were to find out that Saddam and his two sons were all dead from the bombs and what not, would that be the end of the war? I mean, what truely is his objective in this war. Is it #1 to kill Saddam? Sure, liberate the Iraqi people, blah blah blah. But is that accomplished by the death of Saddam or or there other measures still needed?

We’ll see….

Okay, I think I’ve registered at BlogShares, but I’m still not sure what I’m doing. It’s a fictitious financial game where you buy/trade shares of different blogs you invest in. Blogs vary in value based on links into and out of the home page. Anyway, I’m trying to get my blog listed to begin trading. Seems that I’ve gotta wait til I’m worth something first. Oh well, probably never happen. But if you’re reading this, link to me and get me some value!

Heh heh.

I realized today that you really don’t take into account how dirty your car is until someone else rides in it with you, then you begin to notics all the junk in there. I had two friends ride with me yesterday. One was in the back and I kept trying to think of what all he was seeing in the floorboard back there. It doesn’t help that my daughter throws all kinds of stuff back there and I never really pay much attention to it.

But I cleaned it out (all except vaccuming it) this afternoon and had to make a few trips to the garbage can, the laundry room, the dish washer (old milk in a sippy cup is quite rancid) and the book shelves.

It’s amazing how our cars (and even lives) can get so cluttered up and we’re blind to it until we look through someone else’s eyes. So I wonder how others see ME? I wonder how God sees me?

I’ve never done one of these, but figured “what the heck”. Some people hate them, some love them. I’ll give it a shot. So, here it is from The Friday Five.

1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life?
Four houses. Two apartments. Four dorm rooms.
2. Which was your favorite and why?
My current house is nice because it is actually ours. We can do what we want to/with it. My mom’s house still feels comfortable to me though. And I liked a few of my dorm rooms (though I’d never want to go back now) just because of the time of my life I was in them and the social aspects of them.
3. Do you find moving to a new house more exciting or stressful? Why?
It really depends on the house I’m moving too. I don’t like packing and unpacking. But the new possibilities that lie within a new house are usually quite exciting.
4. What’s more important, location or price?
Hmmm..Well, location, I guess. Of course the two have a close relationship. But now that I have a family I have to take them in to account (like a good husband/dad would, you know.) One of my apartments was in the hood. I mean it was in a ghettolicious area. But it was no problem at all for me.
5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)?
Big ole bathtub that’s almost like a small hot tub. Nice pool with a patio out back surrounded by a fenced in yard. Fully equiped kitchen. Walk in closets. Nice little office space for me. Up stairs play room for the children. And the whole house wired with a T1 connection.

I can’t decide if they are genius or just plain stupid. But The Wiggles must be doing something right. A friend of ours told us about them. Said her daughter loves them. So I watched it with my daughter once. I thought, “What the heck?!?” I thought it was just plain stupid. But for some reason my daughter ended up liking them a little. So I’d turn it on now and then for her. I ended up finding some music from the show for her, even borrowed a cd from someone.

Now? I have songs by The Wiggles in my head all throught the day! Drives me crazy. So whether they’re stupid or not, I have Dorothy the Dinosaur, Fruit Salad, Where it Thumbkin, The Monkey Dance, Shake Your Sillies Out, and many more in my head. So The Wiggles must be doing something right, huh?

You know how you see the local news and there’ll be a story of someone kidnapping someone, being chased by the cops, then someone getting shot? And after you watch the story, you think, “Man, that’s stinking crazy!”

Well that was on the news last Friday here, but it turns out I knew the guy. He was my uncle’s stepson. He kidnapped his wife he was seperated from, the police chased him about 60 miles or so, then he committed suicide. Yesterday was my first funeral because of a suicide. Not that any funerals are “feel good” occasions, but this one was really low.

I really wasn’t close to him at all. Hardly ever saw him. We weren’t really friends and didn’t have a lot in common. But after a funeral like that you end up wondering if there was something you could have done…should have done maybe. Not saying I could have made a difference at all. But could I have swallowed my discomfort in bringing up issues that he was dealing with and trying to offer him the truth that there is hope in Christ. Instead I usually kept to myself and went about my own business.

May God make me more aware of opportunities to be a light for Him….even when it may not be the most comfortable thing for me. Not my will, but His.