A whole lot of nothing
I have been slacking lately in keeping this updated. This week has been incredibly busy, just super swamped. OK not really. Tuesday was the release of Halo 3. You may have heard of it, if not it’s a video game. A video game that made 170 million dollars in one day and more than 1.7 million games were preordered. That just preordered alone not counting the games that were bought after it was released (my source: Major Nelson ). Pretty impressive I think, so yeah I’ve been busy playing that since Tuesday.
Anyways, I’m helping the youth pastor organize the 30 hour famine this year for the youth group. He has not heard of it and I think it’s a great thing for youth to do. The youth and leaders fast for 30 hours and camp outside all to raise money for World Vision to be sent to 3rd world counties. Jen and I have done the past 2 years and we love it, I get really excited when it comes around.
School is going well I got 99 on my last paper on whether God changes His mind or not. He said it was a very good paper. I’ll get them posted up soon so they can be read. Pretty short post this week, but not a whole lot going on.
I love you Jen.
warm and fuzzy feelings
I remember when the biggest thing I needed to worry about was whether I was going to be able to reign champion in R.B.I. Baseball for Nintendo. Now I need to worry about sub-primes, primes, and prime time….whatever that means. Jen sent me in article the other day about how the foreclosures nationwide are up 115% from last August. I did not think there was anything over 100%! I called Bank of America the other day to see what they could to help with our 2nd mortgage (line of credit). I asked if they could forgive us of that loan which she promptly said no. I ask then what else can we do because we are really struggling to keep our heads above water? She said well I could give you an increase in the line of credit and then refinance the loan. I said, “I’m trying to get less money lady not more”. Finally, she said well the national percent rate drop by .5 or 1 % I do not remember what she said. She did whatever she needed to do and said “well we could drop your monthly payments by roughly four dollars”. Woo Hoo! Sign me up. It would have worked out to like saving 35-40 dollars a year….big difference.
So for those keeping score at home these are the options: continue paying on the house and maybe one day, maybe before the return of Christ, the market will turn around. On the other hand, we can do a short sell of the house, which means we sell the house for whatever we can and the bank turns the remainder into a 10-year loan. For this to work though houses would need to be selling, which they are not, and it’s not even guaranteed the bank will accept the offer. Finally, we could just file for bankruptcy…ugh.
I asked the bank woman what are you guys doing to help with this national crisis and she could not give me an answer. I finally just gave up. I called trying to proactive looking for assistance and in the end all I get from the woman was “you can continue to pay or you can begin the foreclosure process”. Hmm thank you Bank of America I never thought of it that way. So right now, I’m hoping that one day Jen will tell me “honey we just got 75,000 dollars in the mail”! Until then I’m going to be working Saturday’s morning to bring in some extra money.
I haven’t updated in awhile and that’s because I’ve been lazy. The mountain biking bug is still going around. Quentin, the youth pastor, went and bought a bike because he’s hooked. Also, I think the Brian the music minister is hooked. Travis and I took Brian and Quentin to the White Water Center Sunday and they loved it. I told Travis it won’t be long until we have a mountain bike ministry.
I leave you with this:
Nothing Clever
Right now I am at work looking at my office phone flashing its little heart out letting me know I have a message waiting for me. Unfortunately I can’t check it because, well, I forgot my password. That is how little I get phone calls at work.
So this past weekend was a pretty laid back, but it had potential to be more. I was protesting for a nice relaxing weekend, but Jen kept trying to thwart that. Sorry Jen. Friday we went to the Greek Festival which I love going to and I really wanted to go to. There is nothing like a good Gyro and there desserts are something else.
Saturday morning Travis and I took Quentin mountain biking. Got to test out the new bike and it’s everything I expected plus more 
. I figure once Travis and I are done we’ll have the whole church hooked on mountain biking. We just don’t go out there and ride and that’s it. Riding is really only 50% of it. There are times when Travis and I will just pull over and talk for like 45 minutes or so. Other times we’ll talk to people and share the gospel.
Back to the subject at hand, it did not take long for Quentin to fall in love with it. It was a great time us three out in the words…it was peaceful. However, as soon as we got in the truck to leave the phone calls started…pick this up, get this, and so on. Saturday was Quentin’s daughter, Melanie, birthday party so because Quentin and I were already out they, Jen and Marie, figured it would be a good idea to call us. I said earlier it had potential to be a busy weekend because Jen volunteered me to dress up as Spiderman for the birthday party….done laughing? Plus she was adamant about wanting to go bowling. Anyways, neither panned out they were never able to find a costume and some of the people cancelled the bowling trip.
Shopping is mine and Jen’s thing to do together. We have others, but it’s just always been “our” thing to do ever since we were dating. So this week we heard of a different store called Bloom and the way it works is you actually scan all of your own groceries as you shop. You have a little wand and you scan and shop and when you’re done you scan a card associated with the scanner and the register tallies everything up.
I’m at the half way point for my theology class and it’s been actually really good. Better than I thought. I’ve had to write two papers so far one on biblical inerrancy which I got a 100 on and the one I’m working on now is if God Can Change His Mind. Math so far has been easier than I thought, but I still have twelve weeks left in the semester.
Keep Jen in your thoughts and prayers we are fast approaching her PE Exam date. I believe October 25 is the exam date and this test is huge. For those who do not know this is the exam that will determine if she will remain an E.I. (Engineer in Training) or P.E. (Professional Engineer).
I’ll keep you updated. Till next time folks.
Chickeeeens!
So this weekend we were in Tennessee for the annual Labor Day Pazdera (Jen’s mothers side of the family) family reunion. They have been doing this since 2005 and this was the first year that we could make it and I’m glad we were able to go this year. Jen’s uncle has 30 some acres of land so we all just camp out in his front yard. It was cool I was able to meet a lot of Jen’s extended family and get to know others a bit more.
We did so much this weekend and I don’t even know where to begin…lots of 4 wheeling, chicken chasing, fishing, horse feeding, fireworks, horseback riding, eating, story telling, & feeding the pet deer. I won’t go through the whole weekend, but there were a few highlights such as feeding Sandy, the pet deer. Yes her uncle has a pet deer, yes it is a buck, and I do not know why it has a girl’s name. This is not he first deer he has raised Mike said. He finds baby deer’s from time to time and he just raises them.
Another highlight would be coming close to getting kicked by a horse. ::Things to do before I die: Coming close to getting kicked in the head by a horse, check.:: What happened was Mike was trying to get the horses from the pasture and I was walking up along side of one and I guess she didn’t like it and she turned around and kicked. I was literally within an arm’s length from getting kicked. Later Mike told me he just got a new horse and they’re a bit anxious. I’ll remember that next time I’m near a horse that is anxious.
Probably the most memorable of all would be Lucas saying good-bye. Everyone is saying their goodbyes to Dallas and the rest of the family and out of know where Lucas, their youngest, starts running and screaming with his arms above his head straight for one of the tents. I’m thinking he was going to stop short of it or maybe even turn and go around it, but no he runs straight into it and bounces right off of it and straight onto his back. Greatest thing ever I just wish I had a picture or a video of it.
It was a really a good time and well worth the trip. I cannot wait until next year.
