Middle America's Worldview

I was on support today for work and it was a busy day. We kept having a server go down all day (still down) affecting 4 facilties. The gurus were on the phone with HP trying to see what the heck is going on. I guess they are still on the phone. I will probably get the call when I am almost asleep tonight, whenever that will be.

Today I received the call from the jewelers regarding Kelli's ring. They already had it resized. Man, that was quick. So I took off down there after work before 9 p.m. and picked it up. Brought it home and asked Kel if she would stay with me for another 10 years. Yeah, she picked it out, but you gotta admit 10 years is something to be proud of these days. And we are actually happy together as opposed to many. I was glad it came in before Friday and able for us to actually get it.

I also asked Kel if she wanted to go out Friday night. She said she "didn't care we could even bring some food home and stay inside". I replied, "I wanted to do something special". In that sweet voice she stated, "any thing with you would be special". how sweet for her to say Then she finished it with, "I put up with you for 10 years, haven't I"? Classy babe. : ) Well Kel, put on something nice, we have reservations for 5 p.m. Friday. (wink, wink)

The Vice President of PTA came over tonight and the 3 (Kel, she and I) went through all the 'stuff' from the PTA. There were papers back in 97 and 98. Unreal. They, more than me, really cleaned through it all. She just now left nearly 10 pm. local time.

During this my son kept asking me, "Dad can you help me with this game?" I being the game master said sure. So I tried to get Shaggy across this scenario (scooby doo game) without freaking dying. After the 5 attempt and my son informing me the ice stage is next I gave up. Crap, where was my gaming abilities? I went back to the pile of PTA mess and when I looked up he was already passed my point of defeat. I said, "Your already there? Your better at this game than me." His reply? "Yeah, I know." Man, I feel old.

Monday wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be.

This week is Kelli and I 10th anniversary. It sure went quick for me. I am oncall this week, but managed to trade this Friday with another peer so I didn't have to worry about it. Kel's parents will take the kids Friday night to allow us some quality time. I looked into a night at Beland Manor. It is located in Fort Smith, not far away. It is also the outside location where we married. Due to finances and all our running this summer, I was still willing to bite the bullet. I also wanted to get her something nice but realistically I couldnt. Now comes the cool part. Kel spotted the exact anniversary ring she wanted in Kmart Monday. Kmart was having a 70 percent discount on their jewelry. So I grabbed the kids up and headed that way during my lunch to meet her there. The cost of the ring and having it resized is less than one night cost at Beland Manor. I think she was very excited about it. I personally was relieved to be able to get her something I wanted her to have.

I had a school board meeting Monday night as well. For the amount on our agenda, it went pretty quick. We were in there from 6:30 p.m. to around 8:20 p.m. I actually hanged a little afterward to catch an opportunity to speak with a couple of the other board members. I feel like I still need to get my language correct and more knowledge down before my next meeting. Fortunately, I wasn't called or buzzed from work during the time I was up there.

The weekend was nice in two ways. The first, we actually deep cleaned the house and organized. Well, Kel did most of the organizing. Second, we actually stayed home all day Saturday without having to go anywhere. Sounds crazy, but after running all week and having Kel work the full 8 hours everday it was nice to just stay home and clean.

We didn't even go to church today. I mowed mine and my neighbor's yard. It was hot as hell, figuratively, out there. Crazy thing was, when I finished we started to get a cool breeze. I guess the sweat did me good though.

We also went to our friends house today around 4 p.m. local time. They had invited us over for supper. It was nice to go to someone else's house to have them cook for us. Normally we have them over for these type of occasions. The food and company was good. Both our kids are around the same age so had a blast playing together.

Kel and I now are about to organize for the week to come. She doesn't have to work the full 8 hours each day, but again has a lot of running to do. It just crazy with all the running she does. Everything from doing the average errands, Doctor visit's, taking our son to the therapies ect.

Speaking of our son, I have to say he is doing great! We had our neighbor's girl come over last week and she could tell a dramatic difference in his speech. When I took him to the chiropractic and was informed he wasn't out of alignment. He also made 100 percent on his 4 syllable words. The speech therapist said he will now start on the 5 and 6 syllable words. Crud, I told him in the car, I would have to look those up. Those are too big of words for me. : )

Last night we started to watch The Greatest American Hero dvd I received for my birthday/Fathers day. My daughter loved it, but my son started to ask, "when is this movie going to be over?". Oh well, I was surprised they started to watch it with me anyway.

You can't but help feel sorry for some of these left wing organizations. Below is an email sent out by NOW rallying their supporters for a shout out to Bush. They are urging all to stop Bush from threatening women's lives. Little did I now women's lives were at stake.

I put the email in italics, my comments in bold.
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Women's lives are at stake. Tell your Senators to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who would threaten women's rights and civil liberties.

Lives are at stake our liberties could be removed from women. Wow all from one vote in a pool of others.

Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose any nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade or limit the civil and human rights of any group of people.

So here is the crutch of their worry. An overturn of Roe v. Wade. Regardless of the fact Roe herself tried to overturn it 2 years ago.

With the resignation of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, George W. Bush will have the opportunity to replace a justice who has often made the difference in the preservation of essential rights. With a fragile 5-to-4 split in the Court on issues like abortion and affirmative action, we must fight for the appointment of a justice who will uphold and protect our hard-won Constitutional rights. Justice O'Connor played that role in many key decisions for women. Urge your Senator to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who would overturn Roe v. Wade and limit the economic and reproductive rights of girls and women in the U.S.

How can it be considered 'reproductive rights' when your destroying life? How about bringing it to a state by state decision or better yet a vote from all people? I admit this is a sensitive subject but realistically why should a lifetime appointment pend on his/her view of one issue?

Action Needed:

Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose any nominee to fill Justice O'Connor's vacancy who would overturn Roe v. Wade or limit the civil and human rights of any group of people.

Again the plea of roe v wade issue. It's obvious their primary concern.

After emailing your Senators, please call their local office (it's more effective than calling the DC office) to request a meeting with them or their chief of staff back home to discuss the importance of appointing a Justice who will uphold and protect all of our hard-won rights. You may not actually get a meeting, or it may be with a staff member, but a lot of requests for meetings will demonstrate the depth of our commitment.

Yeah, that's what our Senate needs, another meeting. Personally I am bogged down in them with my work. Why would you want to hold a 'meeting' when a simple request via phone, email or letter would suffice. There are only so many ways to convey your message. I guess they can later use this as a tactic to state "my Senator wouldnt see me or hear my comments".

Background:

As Texas governor, George W. Bush demonstrated that he doesn't require legal skills for a judicial nominees. His only requirement was that judges share his anti-abortion, pro-corporation ideology. Many of his nominations to the federal bench seem to have followed the same pattern.

The man's been in a Presidential office going on 2 terms and they still can't accept it. Unreal. It has already been shown the majority of the people reside on the moderate to conservative side. NOW just happens to be on the far left in ideology.

The character and record of anyone nominated to our nation's highest court must be thoroughly reviewed and considered by the Senate in their important "advice and consent" role. The Senate must be certain the nominee can discern between personal conviction and interpretation of the law as they balance the interpretation of our Constitution and our democracy's promise to protect and expand the civil liberties of all people, not just the privileged few.

Yeah right. I think we already seen the mockery of how the Senate abuses the filibuster and we already heard from some Senators they will go to an all out war for any form of conservative nominee.

Again, take action NOW!

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Nice

Again, it appears they are very worried on this change in the most liberal circuit. I recently heard possibly 2 of the circuit may step down and retire. It would be interesting to see the most liberal circuit become a moderate or conservative one. I wonder how long it would take for an outcry to break them up? Guess we will see.

This 4 day work week sure feels like a 5 day work week. Man, the last two nights I haven't slept worth a flip. I am taking drugs tonight. Whether it's tylenol pm or Melatonin, I don't care. The night before last I had nightmares all night and last night I just couldn't get rested.

My honey had to work all week at her job. So I am home with the kids all week. That's ok, we pretty much have a routine down now. The brats sleep till after 9 a.m. and play games all day. : )
Just kidding honey. heh heh

Looks like terrorist struck again. This time in London. Unreal. I was surprised to hear this, but not surprised to hear the the left making unreal statements. When will people wakeup and realize we are in a war? We fight a ideology in terror and on the supreme court bench. The question is who is more persistant?

Other than that, I personally continue to pray for safety and health to all.

Man, has the time flown. We had a great 4th of July weekend! We arrived home safe Friday night and finally unpacked the last bag tonight. heh heh

Basically we hit Dallas, Texas Friday night and then drove on home. It took nearly 1.5 hours just to get out of Dallas due to construction. At least we didn't get lost on the way back. : )

Saturday we spent the day doing our necessary errands to catch up and put some food in our fridge.

Sunday we went to Kel's parents to help out with the yard and get things ready for the 4th. Actually worked that day on the yard and cleaning up the garage, ect. That night Kel cooked 80 cookies and 24 cupcakes. I ate about 10 of the 80 cookies. Some were broken (had to eat those) and some were not (had to do a sample taste).

Monday we spent the day with Kel's parents. We had some of our friends over and enjoyed their company. Her dad had two grills going and cooked enough for an army. We had many variety of meat with some special delicacy ect. Man it was good. Some were smoked and others grilled. Toward the end, we were comfortable enough to actually get out and play some volley ball. There were 3 (counting us) families with 4 in each plus her parents and aunt. Then her brother showed up with some friends and about 3 kids. They didn't stay though. Even with all those eating, all took food home.

Get to get out of here tomorrow. I am so ready. I have to say this has been a good week having the family with me. I chided my wife by saying 'I never done this before'. However, I have to say this has been a very enjoyable week with them.

Tuesday night I had literally no sleep. Well maybe one hour. I had a datamove that night and ...it .... took .... all ..... night. I was able to knock back 3 cups of coffee all morning. This allowed me to move through the day. In fact that same day/night, we went to see some friends we use to live near 6-7 years ago. It was amazing to see the 'baby' now nearly a teenager. Unreal. Talking about feeling old. I was told I looked more grey and pudging out. Yeah, tough crowd. It was nice to see them though.

Today, I spent all freaking day trying to assist a peer in her project. I didn't get anything accomplished on my own stuff and I will be traveling all day tomorrow. I refuse to do it now. Its nearly 10 p.m. and we need to get up 4 a.m. The plane departure time is 7:30 a.m. It will be an early morning.

Did I say I am ready to go home?

My first work day in PA wasn't too bad. I only had one meeting, which helped out a lot. The day was pretty much taken in creating documentation and material for some education I will give to the group on Wednesday. I will be going over some applications I pretty much soley use, within the group.

Seems like Kel had a bad time with the directions. She called me up and I had to attempt to steer her the way to the zoo. Looks like Mapquest was way off on this one. Fortunately she found her way there, was able to take some pics and more importantly find her way to me. I was ready to get out of there.

The thought of seeing everyone and getting to converse with them in person is a nice thought. However, the reality is your still stuck in front of a computer within a cube doing your work. The primarly form of communication remains IM and email.

The Hampton were staying at had Pizza for us Monday night. So we chowed on it. They hotel provided it to it's guess. How cool is that? I chowed on pizza and then had one merlot and one zinfandel wine. The hotel is more impressive than I had thought it would be. I think I will be saying goodbye to MainStay and start coming here. They are currently renovating but overall the facilties services have been excellent.

I sit here alone in a huge office meeting room. The interface team was to get together and share ideas, knowledge. However, that is not happening. Two of the six was in here about 5 minutes. One of the six skitters back and forth. Only the guys stayed here the longest discussing. Oh well. I have 2 more days after this and I get to go home where it is sane.

Man, it's been too long since I have blogged. I tried to start one before I left for PA, but the stupid thing crapped on me. Oh well. I was going to comment on the crazy events going on within the news. But, its already 10:30 p.m. est and I am tired. I gripe at the other bloggers I read for not blogging after a couple of days, so I also felt obligated to get back in here.

The kids did great on their plane ride. Both were excited and after we were above the clouds the gameboys came on.

Basically the week went as follows.

We had the extermco guy come and do his thing Thursday around 11 a.m He showed up around 10:30 a.m. The guy really soaked everything down with the poison. The more the better, is what I say. Kel and the kids went out when he started to be away from it. She took them to watch 'Shark Boy and Lava Girl'. I had no desire anyway. After hearing my wife would rather have a bullet than to watch it again or when she is pissed at me, I would have to see it over and over again, I am glad I didn't. Evidently the kids liked it but my wife kept looking at the watch. I stayed in the office to finish up my 'have to' stuff with work before I grew a headache with the fumes. I took off and ran to Fort Smith for a bit.

We left as soon as Kel and the kids arrived home. We drove to Dallas getting there Thursday night. This allowed us to get in the Airport early for our flight Friday morning. We got turned around more than once and it took us a bit to get to the hotel. Once there, we found we were able to park the van there for less than 3 bucks a day. This is far less than expected. They shuttled us over and will shuttle us back when we return. Yes, honey, I am sorry for the crazy drive there.

We hit the airport earlier than needed. But oh well, it's better to get there early than late. This was the first time I used Air USA. I normally take America Airlines out of Fort Smith. We drove to Dallas purposely so we didnt have to take on 2 flights (Fort Smith and Dallas to PA)with the kids. Just a flight to and from on one plane for us.

We are staying at Hampton Inn in King of Prussia. Again, it's different for me in this regard too. I normally stay at Mainstay. I am happy with this hotel so far. Evidently on the weeknights (mon-thur) they provide free drinks and a meal in the evenings. I look forward to seeing if its any good. If so, I will stay here from now on.

We also hit the Green Dragon the same night we arrived in King of Prussia. It was closing down by the time we arrived. We was able to grab some fruit for the week and had some food on the way back to the hotel.

I had a hard time getting to sleep and when I did, the hotel's fire alarm went off around 1:30 a.m. Evidently the lobby's microwave threw a circuit.

Saturday we went to the Central Philly and rode the ducks while they explained the history of the area. It was cool.

We then walked King of Prussia Mall this afternoon. A very eventful 48 hours.

Too much has gone on, so I will be brief and try not to digress.

Fathers Day was good. I was able to get the yard done, but unfortunately without incident. I should say, I was able to sweat my butt off while I did our yard in addition to our neighbors yard. As my lovely wife has posted, one of our dogs unfortunately ran into the wrong crowd. We have 3 little dogs in the back and when I mow the yards it allows them to actually roam free. They get to go mark the other yards. Well, the smallest one went into the fence of 2 larger dogs. Why, I have no idea. It appears they mauled him to death. When I got there, he was already gone. My daughter, justly so, bawled her eyes out with my wife following suite. I buried him in the back and was man enough about it, till I came in the living room. Listening to my daughter talk about it, with both girls shedding tears was just too much. My heart ache and my eyes watered. It's one of those things you wish you could do something about, but just can't. The only thing I could do was listen and keep saying we will get through it. I also had to tell her the story of my first dog I lost. Yes, we re-live through our kids, unfortunately also through the bad times.

Monday was just another busy day. I had the kids all day and made them work. heh heh I managed to get them to do one closet. Yeah, real slave driver.

We plan to go to dinner with the friends tonight. Supposedly the kids eat free at this place tonight. It was unexpected and came into light, during church.

I had the kids again today. I plan to put them to work, if I can pry them from their gameboy and cartoons. We made a run between my meetings to get haircuts here in town. I like this gal. She is quick and normally not that busy on the times I happen to hit her. I received the pleasure to hear how she and her 1.5 year husband split up 2 weeks ago. Fortunately we were pretty much in and out. A short cut for my boy, bangs cut on the girl and a good trim for me. Slam bam, thank you maam.

We are now planning to drive into Dallas, Tx, thursday night after work. We fly out to Pennsylvania Friday. I had to take that day off as vacation.

What remains of our week looks like this;

Tuesday - dinner at night with friends
Wednesday - work and dinner at night with Kelli's family for her birthday (Sunday)
Thursday - have exterminators over to hit it again, drive to Dallas that nigth after work.
Friday - fly to Pennsylvania.

In the mean time, continue to keep house up and clean. We still need to pack and get ready for the trip. Get the guilt trip from my parents to see them before we go. Fun Fun.

I was able to watch Star Wars Episode III last night with a bud of mine. It was the first time he and I got out of the house together. I enjoyed his company as we were transfixed with the show. He like I, has a wife with no interest in the Star Wars saga. Also, he like I, has a birthday this week. So, with both wishing to see it on the big screen, broke loose and watched it.

The movie in one word was, coooool. I had read the reviews and thoughts of others watching the movie, no spoilers for me. I agree with some but not all. I personally didn't think it dragged at first. The 2.5 hours went quick for me. Yes, the desirable questions were answered, why, why, why. As we watched it I caught myself saying out loud. 'That's why....' Yes, the movie was great.

The plan for last night was for me and a friend to watch the flick, while my honey had some time alone last night. The kids went to their nana and papa's since we will be flying into Pennsylvania next Friday for a week. I couldn't help having the image of my wife waiting for me in bed at home while I watched the show. Yes, my imagination is good. I also had the lingering wonder if she would actually be asleep, LOL. The movie was over at 9 p.m. and my buddy and I talked as I dropped him off at his house and headed for home. I unlocked the front room door and sure enougth the lights were out with the exception of the bedroom. As I came in, Kel said she had to hide the guys in bed. I thought she was kidding, but then she said "and the pokemon movie". Then I heard the movie in our bedroom.

"What?"

Our son was in the bed watching a Pokemon movie.

She explained around 8 p.m. someone was homesick and came back. I quickly calculated that gave her barely 2 hours alone time.

So, no alone time for my honey and my dreams of lust bit the dust.

The week has been busy, yet again. I have attempted to do more and get additional 'stuff' done during the day of my work while Kel and the kids are away. I think I must have vacuumed the house 20 freaking times, wiped everything down again and keep everything picked/straightend up with the exception of my desk.

Since I find Fox news becoming repetitive, I found myself listening to C-Span during the day. I have also been searching on the net for a free website without banners. I will be testing out CJB.CC to see how it is.

I turned 34 yesterday. I don't feel any older or younger. I tried to consider how I changed over the years with reflection. I may post on that later.

I acquired 'Greatest American Hero' and Star Wars on DVD yesterday. In addition two really cool "Fear God" shirts. All of which I am tickled to death to receive. The kids and I watched Episode IV Star Wars and I was happy and surprised they stuck with me throughout the movie. I thought it was cute how my 6 and 7 year old kept asking questions during the movie. 'What is the forc? Is Yoda in this one? Those people look weird. Why is there a silver C3PO?' On and on they kept inquiring through the movie. I think I will try to go see Episode III at the theaters with a friend tonight.

Yesterday before my wifes family and my dad came over last night, I cleaned up the Frog pool in the front. We have a small circular pond about 2.5 feet in diameter with a frog in our front by our door. Kel received it last Christmas from her Aunt. I cleaned it up and filled it up with water. I planned to turn it on to allow the water be spitting out of the mouth. Well, when i plugged it in, no water. Hmm, messing with it I found there must be something in the tube. Well the tube part comes out of the butt of the frog. I tried to blow that end with no success and then attemped to other end. The mouth to mouth didn't work either. Of course after I did this, I couldnt help having the realization of what it looked like. Grinning, I grabbed the air compressor and gave it a good shot in the butt with air. Whatever it was, finally blew out.

I was able to get Monday over with, finally. Yeah, its nearly 12 a.m. est.

Work wasn't too bad today. I was able to get some things done and accomplished. I only had one conference call, that always help. Afterward, I ran our son to speech therapy then a doc's appointment. We then ran by Walmart on the way home. Kel had the supper ready and we feasted. I had a School Board Meeting tonight at 6:30 local time. I managed to eat, clean the kitchen and start the dishwasher, throw the kids in a bath before I left. The meeting ended nearly 9 p.m. It ended up a long meeting. Sounds busy but my wife had a busier one. She had to do vacation bible school and afterwards take 3 kids (ours and one more) to basketball. She then took care of our daughter and friend, while I was gone with our son's running, till the friends mom showed up. Then while I was at the meeting till 9, the kids evidently did not let her do any work. They hit the bed when I arrived back home.

That was pretty much today. This weekend was pretty much the same busy-ness.

We arrived in town Friday night around 5:30 p.m. Once we entered the home, we were abruptly attacked with fleas. Unbelievable. Where did these come from? We immediately started to call exterminators. Fortunately we found one nearly 6 p.m. Making arrangements, the guy would come over Saturday morning. No way we could sleep there tonight. We didn't even unload our stuff. We drove over to Kel's parents house and all 4 of us spent the night over there. Not really what we wanted to come home to, but better to a burnt or damaged house.

The next morning, Kel and I ran back to the house, leaving the kids at Nana's and Papa's. I mowed the yard, dipped the cats and dogs before the guy showed up. I told him to spray everything and do whatever it takes. We had them exterminate the house and yard. Kel and I had to hang with the cats out of the house for about 2 hours allowing the poison to settle and let the fleas scream to death. After she and I went back in and actually tried to relax, microwaving a burrito for lunch, we ended up with headaches.

We took off for a bit and came back home for that night. It was better after awhile. We ended up cleaning top to bottom as far as we could till around 10 p.m and crashed.

Sunday morning we finished cleaning everything. Wiping down every room, vacuuming again and mopping we totally cleaned the place. I think we ran the crazy washer and dryer for nearly 10 hours.

We went to church that Sunday night and crashed that night.

Regardless, it is nice to be home. It was so nice to see green as we passed into the states from Arizona. We get to do the exterminator thing again in 14 days, right before we head off to Pennsylvania for one week.

Glad to say we get to leave the day after tomorrow now. Yesterday we had a small crises.

Kel took our son to the doc, but didn't get very far. The car wouldn't start. Sigh, I went out to check it and to me it sounded like the starter. She would crank it and nothing but click click click click as the starter attempted to turn over. Great. We ended up calling a cab (35 bucks one way) to get her and our son to the doc, then I started to make phone calls. Seems the price was going to be nearly 500.00. Nearly 100 for the tow and early 400 for the manual/parts, ect to replace the starter. The gentleman came to pick up the van and ended up doing a jump on the van. He said it was the battery not the starter. He had it running for me. My daughter and I paid him 45 bucks for his wisdom and jump and headed to find a battery. Not stopping the engine till we found a Autozone, the girl and I made up stories as we went. I pulled the battery out and took it into Autozone. They did a free test, I figured might as well get a confirmation. Sure enough it was bad if not dead now. So we ended up with a new battery rather than a new starter. 150 bucks (if you count the cab fare, battery and the tow guys jump/wisdom) was better than nearly 500.

I have a small frustration dealing with my son's situation. As you know our main purpose on this trip was to get our son back on track and into the ability of not having to return here (unless it's a simple checkup). Seems the good doctor was able to view him in a different surrounding while we were at his sons birthday party. How, I don't know, but I will leave that alone. Regardless, it seems we will be given a new exercise routine for him. During my short time to discuss with him, he kept asking me if I had any other questions. I replied with the fact its hard to ask the right questions. It reminded me when I started doing interfaces. I cannot ask the right question until I am in a specific situation of need. I am the type that learns by doing. I go head strong into a given subject, devouring the information then analyzing the required answers I need. Looking back, I did this all my life. When I was given a problem or interested topic, I would do research on it and then come out with my answers. The problem here, is I cant seem to get the proper information, therefore I am frustrated with the feeling of not having the answers. I recognize everyone is different and this is just the way it is, deal with it. My wife gets aggravated at me regarding the way I do certain things. Sorry, but I am just designed that way. It just seems if I do have a specific question for the good Doctor, I get the feeling of hesitation from him. I don't mean to back him up in a corner with specifics, but it is hard for me to work in a relative environment when I am attempting to get specific answers. Oh well, just blowing out my frustration.

This last weekend in Arizona has been fun. We were able to go to the Doctor son's birthday party. He invited us over for his sons sixth birthday. I thought it was a nice gesture and it supposedly allowed him time to view Bradens interactions. I ended up pitching to the 10 kids outside in the backyard without my hat. Now I have a sunburn on the top of my head. This is yet another reminder of how less hair I have then when I was younger.

This sunday we treated the kids out to a place called Mukutas Island. It was a combination of Chuckee Cheese and Rainforest cafe on crack for kids. The place was awesome. It had a huge floor with a giant tree in the middle of the room. Inside ladders, tunnels, firepoles, mazes within and all over the place. Kel liked the fact it didn't focus on the game playing (had a small area for the token games) but the play area itself. I liked the play area and trying to keep up with the kids, empasize on the keep up.

I bought Kel some socks and we put our stuff in the 50 cent storage locker and explored the place with the kids. I was impressed Kel actually went inside the tree, up the ladders, through the small holes/mazes, it was great. Me, there was no doubt, I had to go and play, but she normally sits on the sidelines. As we traveled the ever expanding tunnels on our hands and knees, we were reminded by our bodies the fact we are slower than the kids. They just kept staying ahead of us pushing us to go faster. heh heh

After the first round of play, Kel and I called for a break. We had to get something to drink and actually walk upright for a few moments. We bought the one 1.85 bottle of water and shared it for awhile. Then it was off again to run the playground. Kel held back, saying she was too old for this. I had to go on. Well, at first on that second round I was ok, then I started to sweat like a whore in church. Then I got really tired. Man, what was going on here? My body stopped reminding me and screamed 'give it up dude'. So I gave in and we hit the token games. After the tokens were gone, we took a lunch break and allowed the kids to hit the playground for another 20 minutes. I with Kel stayed out. For awhile we were all kids, then reality set in. I probably will be sore tomorrow, but it was cool.

You can check out Makutu's Island website here.

Ahh seven days to go and counting. We get to leave for home next Friday! I have enjoyed the stay in Arizona. I have enjoyed the bond and more bonding of the family as we lived in this 'hotel of four walls'. But the cracks are starting to show.

Unfortunately, some of the family members get anxious or upset (myself included) over the little things and it is becoming apparent more and more we are ready to go home. Just imagine being with your spouse, two kids for 5 weeks and the hotel room is as large as your living room. Yeah, I will leave it at that.

I think my wife is wearing me down on this cursed pool want. Prior of our 5 week tour, she was talking about getting one of those blow up pools for the back yard. You know the kind. I am sure you seen them in most of the stores. They range from sizes 15' to 18' in diameter coming with a electric filter. Yeah those round blue ones. When she brought this up, I must had initially looked at her as if she had 3 heads. Our kids get out of school and were gone for 5 weeks. When we get back to ou home, we have 2 weeks before we leave for another week in Pennsylvania. Then the kids start back to school August 11.

Hmm, lets see how this looks to me.
We start out with about 14 weeks of summer vacation for the kids.

Gone away literally for 5 weeks right off the bat, leaving 9 weeks left.

We are home 2 weeks. However, the first week will consist of vacation bible school during the day and basketball during the evening for both kids. Then we leave that following Friday, barely 4 days there. (Lets not forget getting our crap caught up from our leave) That's seven of fourteen weeks down.

We are then gone for one week in Pennsylvania. The family actually gets to come to work with me. Six out of fourteen down.

Alright, so that leaves six weeks for the pool. Hmm, that's if you play in it every weekday. With rain and other stuff going on, I am not sure. It just doesn't seem worth it to me, inititally anyway. She threw me a new bone the other night. Let's just say images of two adults under the stars. Not fair using that while we are here in the same room with two kids for 5 weeks straight.

For some reason, I woke up this morning contemplating on perception and in regards to ones situation.

There is a great book/cd out called ‘who moved my cheese'. I listened to some of it during our 10 plus hours down here. One of the things he pointed out made a lot of sense. He said “humans our different than animals in the regard we can decide our actions rather than our actions being decided on the outside stimulation".

The example was our ability to choose to become angry, afraid, ect. with the given outside stimulation.I let that thought linger awhile as we drove into Arizona, now more than 3 weeks ago.

Last night similar thoughts entered in my conscience again. I heard my wife speaking with one of her friends on the cell. This friend of ours is also going through a hard time. She has a disabled child and it just seems an uphill battle for her in regards of the school providision. In addition it seems generally a bad week regarding her health. I heard my wife make the statement “I guess we did something bad in our life to have to pay for it now." Or something to that effect. So I made the statement to her “No we are making small steps for something good in our life". I think she thought it was humorous. However, I already see a differences in our lifestyle and way of thinking then in other families within our area.

We live in a small town with small ideas. With our family having to go outside the area and bring in ideas outside the box, it has given us new perception of life and knowing there is more than the local community. Having been introduced to new medical treatment, Kel has introduced this to a local Doc/friend. This has created a symbiotic relationship in regards to now having the medical equipment closer for us, and allow the doctor to branch his office to new more availability for others. Since our son is special in some areas, Kel has grasped everything available to Oklahoma parents and passed that knowledge onto others who are less fortunate in acquiring knowledge and rights. I personally have a better sensitivity toward other parents having disabled children and this will bring me more clarification regarding a school board member. I just wanted to point out a couple of things this experience has given me and my family. In addition I wanted to point out what I meant by perception. Rather than wallowing in the idea of woe is me. I am viewing this as an opportunity to learn from it. For now at least, I may be griping at a later date. Heh heh

Another example of a change in perception for me personally stood out last night. Being here in Arizona, one cannot help to notice the other people. I am speaking in regards to attitude and especially body habitus. There are some good looking girls/women around here. Being a guy, I simply cannot help but notice. Now, however, I have noticed a change in myself regarding my appreciation in their physique and appearance. It hit me as I was waiting for this skinny girl to fix my mocha. My wife and kids were waiting in the car as I stood there thinking about this. This chick couldn't be about 17 (but who knows anymore). She was a cute girl. I can recall my dad and I going out on the town, way back then before marriage and kids. He and I would scope out the chicks. As I stood there in line zoning and thinking on these things it hit me. ‘We would probably be scoping this chick out too and this girl'. Then another thing hit me, 'that could be my girl fixing the drinks while some perv was scoping her out'. It was a chilling but serious change in my perception. My daughter is going to the second grade, but I realize in no time flat she will be in this same situation too soon.

I know I probably digressed too much, but wanted to blog this as I was thinking about it. Never know when it might actually mean something to someone else.

On another note, Gary Bauer wrote this interesting statement yesterday. I thought it fit well with my view of perception so early this morning.

About Deep Throat

Well, the Washington mystery has been solved. “Deep throat," the source responsible for leaks to The Washington Post that brought downthe Nixon presidency, is none other than W. Mark Felt, formerly the number two man at the FBI.

Mr. Felt was being judged a hero last night for his clandestineleaks. But just a few years ago another “whistle blower," Linda Tripp,released secret tapes that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment and I don't remember anyone in the “mainstream" media calling her a hero. Did whistle blowing go out of style, or does your status depend on which president you attack?

I received another interesting email today. This time from American Family Association. It calls for a boycott on Ford. I intend too. In addition I have also added it to my 'check out links' on the top of my blog.

----------------------Here is the letter-------------------------------------
Ford Motor Company Supports Homosexual Marriage Movement You are probably unaware that Ford Motor Company is a major supporter of the homosexual movement, including homosexual marriage. From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda, to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, to sponsoring a "commitment (marriage) ceremony", to sponsoring Gay Pride Parades, Ford leads the way.

To let you see Ford's support, we developed the BoycottFord.com site. I urge you to take action today. Sign the petition to boycott Ford. Call your local Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar, Mazda and/or Land Rover dealer (all are part of Ford Motor Company) and inform them you will not be buying a Ford product until they stop their promotion of the homosexual movement and homosexual marriage. Be sure to forward this information to your friends and family. They will be as surprised as you to learn of Ford’s extensive promotion of homosexuality.

Click here to go to BoycottFord.com and take the action listed on the right hand side (signing the pledge and calling your local dealer). Remember, calling your local dealer is very important. Please be polite. If the dealer wants more information, refer him to the BoycottFord.com page.

Sincerely,
Don
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association

P.S. Don’t forget to call your dealer and to forward this to family and friends.
----------------------------End of Letter------------------------------------

On a lighter note,Michelle Malkin had a funny link to share of our weeping Senator. Poor George Voinovich.

Constatine is a heavily CGI film depicting halfbreeds (angel/demons mixed with humans) that get their butt kicked back to hell. The movie started out pretty good. I was thinking I might actually buy this one to keep but as the movie dwindled to a closing, I thought..nah.

I won't digress in the inaccurate theology (my opinion), nor the inaccurate account of Jesus death. I won’t even point out once you enter heaven or hell there is no turning back. No 2 way ticket on those rides. If you can overlook these main themes in the movie, you can enjoy the show.

Constatine was born with a gift/curse to be able to see half-breeds (demon-human) that influence us human kinds for our souls. The struggle between good and evil lies in the Earth where the quest for souls is the prize. Constatine unsuccessfully attempts suicide, thus puts his soul in the possession of hell. Regardless, he attempts to work for his acceptance in heaven as long as he lives here in Earth.

The show isn't bad as a storyline goes for entertainment. However, I wonder how many people will actually watch this and wonder if there is any truth in it. This is my primary dislike of the show. It is built around the concept of a persons actions to gain access to heaven by works. I realize this is the same concept as most if not all but one religion. This is not the fact of the truth, in the concept of Christianity. Biblically, the only means to attain Heaven is by accepting you're a sinner and ask Christ to take your place (as He did on the cross) for your sins. I digress.

I thought Keanu Reeves did well playing Constatine, considering the given character. Keep in mind I never knew of this character till the movie. I also enjoyed seeing Keanu with Rachel Weisz again. I liked them together in the movie Chain Reaction.

All in all it was a decent movie and entertaining to watch. The cool main website is found here.

Initially when we headed to Arizona for our 5 week tour, I had at least 3 things on my mind to accomplish. Unfortunately due to laxidazia and simply falling into a routine, they just didn't happen.

Thought number one. I figured I would start excercising on a regular basis. Either get up early to do it or during my work lunch hour(yeah right, more like 15 min) or in the evening. Somehow I started out doing more than normal and then it was shortened due to business to simply stopping all together.

Thought number two. I figured I could catch up on my web site creation, revision, and home projects for church ect. Again the thought was there, but I find myself on the computer all day for work. I am unable to get on the actual internet due to having to be connected to work via VPN. Hence my online activities are restricted to early before work (prior of 6 a.m. local time) or in the afternoons. Well, I find myself again tired of the computer after being on it all day. I normally just delete my personal email junk and read the blogs of interest, when possible. Needless to say, this hasn't been done yet either.

Do an indepth study of the bible or something and write a small article on it. Sounds good but this takes time to do and personal study. I find myself in my off work time simply playing with the kids. Then the fact being in the four walls, we find ourselves wanting to simply get out of the hotel. This is usually either in the park(when it's not hotter than hell) or walking the malls.

All in all, I have myself to blame. I should just simply do it, regardless of what the it is.

I finished reading Song of Susannah, the second to last book of Stephen Kings Dark Tower Series. It was an excellent book and I can't wait till July when the last book goes to paperback. I simply cannot spend 35 bucks on a book, sorry.

I started reading James Patterson' Big Bad Wolf, in paperback. I like Patterson's writing, as I do Kyle Mills. The chapters are small, but it started out pretty good.

I am completating on seeing the Keanu Reeves movie Constatine at the 2 dollar movie. It is only playing at 9:30 p.m. tonight. I would be watching this alone and while the kids and Kel more than likely be asleep at the hotel. I told Kel, 2 bucks is cheaper than a retal. This would be one of those movies where I alone would watch at night with the kids and Kel asleep anyway. Depends on how tired I am around then anyway.

Tomorrow Kel is taking our daughter to watch The Ice Princess while our son and I stay at the hotel. He doesn't want to watch it and my on-call starts tomorrow (yeah Memorial Day) anyway.

Since Yu-gi-Oh was so dark, we switched over to Pokemon. Little did we know the kids not only enjoyed ,Pokemon, but seem to be possessed by it. First it was the cards, then the movies, then the shows and toys! I mentioned we acquired a used Pokemon board game the other weekend as well.Yes, we are entrenched with Pokemon, so I figured I should analyze it.

Pokemon card game_Deck

Initially we bought 3 deck themes. The game was easy enough to learn. At this time the kid's ages were five and six. In fact, this game was far easier than Yu-gi-Oh was. Plus I didn't have to keep reading all the cards over and over again as we played.
Basically you can have a maximum of 60 cards in your deck. The guidebook we bought suggested 28 energy cards, 16 Basic Pokemon, 10 Trainers, 4 Stage 1 Pokemon, and 2 Stage 2 Pokemons. The easiest for a beginner is to just purchase a theme deck and then you can buy extra cards to change out, modifying the theme deck to your liking. I use Team Rockets, James theme deck. The kids just acquired 2 new themes decks, both Deoxys. Now they pretty much kick my butt. Luckily I just enjoy playing with them. The game plays as one on one. However, the kids and I all play the same time. Normally they gang up on me and annihilate me pretty quick. Before the Deoxys decks, I could still take care of them, but no longer. ( shaking head sadly) All in all, the game plays easy and well. I would suggest Wizards of the coast official guide ‘Lets Play Pokemon' book. My wife found it for 3 bucks in a discount table. We usually use it more often then the rulebooks.
This is one game I enjoy playing with the kids. I use to play Magic about 10-11 years ago. So this is a way for me to play again while enjoying time with the kids. In fact, I plan to look into creating a league in our area when we are able to. Yes, Yu-Gi-Oh is the primary card gaming in our area as well. However, I think this game can become popular with some push and organization.

Pokemon cartoons

The family and I don't watch the Pokemon cartoons on TV. However, I found some DVD sets that contain plenty to watch, over and over and over again. Quite frankly it's to the point of identifying which cartoon by just listening to it. Sigh.
The cartoons are geared to the younger audience. I haven't heard any attempts to push theology on the kids, unlike Digimon. However, the cartoon isn't so silly as to not be entertaining to adults. Maybe it's the kid in me but I find myself watching the crazy things as well. We have 3 DVD sets. Within the sets, the team with Ash Ketchum works together along the way to some tournament. In each cartoon, Team Rocket (the humor part of the show) attempts to steal Pikachu. The characters are sound and the storylines are actually good. This is one cartoon I feel comfortable with my kids watching without me having to be in the room or preview them.

As a side note, I bought the Pokemons Master Quest rather than the individual dvds. You can purchase Pokemon Master Quest through Amazon.com here.

Below is an email from NOW in bold. My thoughts in italics within the email.

NOW Condemns Senate Confirmation of Priscilla Owen

May 25, 2005

Today the Senate approved the controversial nomination of Priscilla Owen after a filibuster was ended — the result of a "compromise" by 14 senators Monday night. Democrats filibustered Owen's nomination twice in the past four years, and it is worth noting that they again garnered more than the 41 votes needed to maintain a filibuster, had that option not been removed by the compromise.
"Another notch in Karl Rove's belt," NOW President Kim Gandy called the Senate's 56 to 43 confirmation of Owen to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Karl Rove's involved with this?


Owen, whose career from obscure Houston lawyer to the U.S. Court of Appeals was engineered by Karl Rove, embodies the basest of political motives—payback, pure and simple. Rove plucked Owen from relative obscurity and raised nearly $1 million for her first campaign. And he will no doubt be gratified, as Owens' anti-women, anti-civil rights, anti-worker and pro-business opinions benefit the wealthy and powerful—George W. Bush's political base. Like her fellow Texan Tom DeLay, Owen is ethically challenged, having taken campaign contributions from corporations like Enron and Halliburton and then ruling in their favor.

Are they speaking about a terrorist here?
According to the facts... She was a standout at the top of her Baylor University Law School class; she became a partner at a major Houston law firm, Andrews & Kurth, where she practiced commercial litigation for 17 years; and she was elected in 1994 to the Texas Supreme Court, and re-elected in 2000. She received the highest rating, "well-qualified," from an American Bar Association committee that reviews judicial nominations.
Hardly from an obscure past. If she is so anti (such a negative word) why did she get nominated twice and well spoken by the American BAR Association?

"Priscilla Owen is now the proud owner of a lifetime appointment to the second highest court in the United States, where she can inflict her utter disregard for individual rights on the people of Louisiana and Mississippi—as she has been doing for the more than 10 years in Texas," charged Gandy.

Unlike your ideology oppressing the public, eh Gandy?

As a member of the Texas Supreme Court, Owen consistently took the side of big corporations and the powerful against workers and against ordinary people who had been injured by wrongdoing. In one case involving a young man who had been injured in a truck accident, Owen delayed writing the opinion for a year and a half. According to the New York Times, "the man, who was on a respirator, died when the family could not afford nursing care because the appeal delayed the multimillion-dollar verdict." Her pro-business bias is so strong that in her 2002 judiciary committee hearing, despite an extensive record of dissents, she could not find even one occasion in which she had dissented in favor of an individual suing a corporation.

Rather than pulling one example in 17 plus years, I would like to see the whole grid of her actions.

Owen's contemptible record on women's rights, civil rights, and individual rights makes her unfit for a lifetime appointment, and many innocent people will pay the price for this base act of political patronage. Her opinions were publicly criticized at least a dozen times by Bush's own Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, when they were both on the Texas Supreme Court. In one case, when Owen tried to re-write Texas' abortion laws to suit her own ideology, Gonzales referred to the attempt as "unconscionable judicial activism."
"Our democracy and our rights were compromised by the machinations of a power-hungry administration and its lackeys in the Senate who put their allegiance to George W. Bush above their oath of office," Gandy said. "The fight is not over. Moderate senators must put the interests of their constituents ahead of the Republican leadership's slash-and-burn politics, and refuse to be strong-armed into approving any more extremist nominees."

Dang Gandy, sounds like your in a war, rather an organization to further your cause. Who were the lackeys in the Senate that compromised the unwilling up or down vote? Put the interests of the constituents ahead? That would be a first.

Today I was itching to get out of the hotel room. I don't know why today moreso than any other ones. I wasn't on support at work, but it went fast enough. I was able to catch up on my projects and get rid of the ever increasing tickets. I managed to do all this with the family in the same room most of the day. I had only one conference call scheduled today, but end up on the phone about 3-4 times.

I sent a long email to the Doc. Regarding Kel and our son. It wasn't blistering, but I hope to drive home a couple of things. Like a good little hubby, I let Kel read it before I sent it. I had to get the email address from her anyway. Perhaps he will return it with some clarification. I also will try to take a day off next week to get some clarification from him. I get out of here 2 p.m. local time. This should also be enough time to allow a evening discussion without me losing a day. I guess we will see.

I am ready to get back to my routine at home. Tonight, we are stealing the one tv in the room. I will be watching the last Contender finale and then Kel wants to watch Dog the Bounty hunter. I think we are both pretty much cartooned out. The kids can watch a movie on the portable dvd player.

I also been progressively playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 on the PS2 with the kids. Nearly have this one beat. Even with some cheat codes, this is a booger to beat. We finally beat the bloody thing.

Other than this, I been laughing my butt off of Jays, Trashman, and Jacks blogs.

Being in the hotel, we found 'Robots the movie' to be on the pay per view. We watched it last weekend. In short, a great family movie with a good message.

The story consists of a son of a dishwasher robot, dreaming big. The dream is to be an inventor that makes the world better for the other robots. As he grows up to the point of moving out his mother wishes for him not too. The father on the other hand supports his son and tells him about his own dream he had. The dad goes on and explains, if you have a dream and do not follow or try, you will always wonder if your life will be different. He was trying to explain he had not followed his own dream, rather just became a dishwasher as his dad wanted.

Finally a show about the Father having the brains in the family and supporting the kids in a clean decent way.

The son heads to the big city to only find it's not what it's cracked up to be. However, he ends up helping others, as he wanted to do.

The story unfolds more and in the end the son of the dishwasher comes out on top. I am not going to give it away. However, I will say there were many underlying jokes (my wife and I got, but the kids didn't) that cracked us up. Did I mention this is an incredible story with a resounding good quality message? Most movies anymore has the message of tolerence. This message is about someone wanting to use their talents to assist and better others by following their dreams, believing they can be more than they are.

I was surprised of all the known actors providing their voices in the movie. The list contains; Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, and Robin Williams.

This is a movie, I will definitely buy for the kids once availble on DVD. The official website is found here.

You can also purchase the dvd from Amazon.com here.

What can I say. It's been a busy week. We have mainly been eating in the hotel all week. We broke that last night by actually sitting in a nice restruant. So what did I order? A double hamburger with all the works, lettuce, tomatoe, red onion, cheese and mustard. Sigh. Man it was good. I finished it today for lunch.

This week we also revisited a used book store. I was going bonkers to get out after being cooped up in the hotel. At least home, I can step away from the office. In here it's all the same room. The bed, foldout couch, and island to separate the little kichenette from the bed and couch. I don't feel like I can step away. Anyway, I found 2 magazines to read. A biblical archeology for 2.50 and an old wired magazine for a buck. The kids found a used Pokemon board game. We already played it 4 times. It's actually a good game and last for about an hour for the 3 of us to play.

Kel took the kids to a zoo today. It sounded very impressive. It was their luxury outing this week. She was good to take some pics which I could see this afternoon. Sounded like they had a blast.

I had also bought the Song of Susannah, Stephen King, book this week. I started it last night. I am a fan of the Dark Tower Series and look forward to the story wrapping up. I bought the paperback and seen the last one in hard back. The hard back looks thick, approximately 5 inches (no kidding). I noticed the Song of Susannah is large print and not very thick, so don't expect it to take too long to read. I am not ready to swallow the price for the last hardback though.

Nearly half way there regarding to staying here. Last night during our meal, I noticed our son staring out and mentioned it to Kel. Then he had a full blown seizure. It's not the kind of grandmal seizures of the jerking but a starting out lost of time kind. Kel called the doc and took him back within that hour, dropping my daughter and I at the hotel. Kel later told me the Doc. was glad to see this episode and believes he now knows what to do to resolve our issue of his body to progressively keep the toxins out. I don't know, Kel didn't ask any specific questions and I had plenty. I guess I will have to do a 101 QA with the doc at some point to get all my inquiries out there. I want to get to the technically specific and it is a bit frustrating to hear Kel generaliize. I get the feeling this doc is one of those generalizer's that doesn't like specifics. Perhaps doesn't want to get put in a corner. I don't know. I hate to speculate.

I will say this day was the fastest of the other 3 this week. I ended up on 4 conference calls and more IM's. I grow tired of the PC by end day.

Yesterday the family and I went out to get away from the 4 wall hotel room. It was nice to stretch the legs outside and leisurely walk around.

On our way back to the hotel on Broadway street, I witnessed something I never thought I would.

Waiting on the red light to change, we sat in the second to last right lane. The farther right lane turns to the right. A guy on a Bicycle was cruising in front of us from the left side to the right. A car on the farther right lane started to make a right turn. The guy on the Bicycle approached him and I could tell was screaming "GO! GO! Go!" Well the car didn't just go. It stopped halfway in the turn in front of the path of the bicyclist. That evidently infuriated the guy screaming Go, because he nearly stopped and literally tried to hit the back of the car with his hand screaming obscenities. The car finally moved along away from the screaming guy on the bike. Then to add to the comical scenario, another guy in a van in the other street screamed at the 'mad bicyclist'. Probably to chill out. The bicyclist responded with a finger.

What the heck is up with some people? Perhaps a bad day? But in a logical setup, the car could had backed into the guy and creamed him easily enough. Unreal, but somewhat amusing.

I guess this would be week one down from five. I think it was a bit slow, although busy. I basically been in the hotel with the exception of one night we ate out and two errands I had to run. Personally I don’t care. I am pretty much use to it working home.

I noticed something else too. My wife needs more sociability than me. She literally lights up when a friend calls her on the cell to talk. I knew she enjoyed time chatting, act. With her friends, but didn't really understand the need till this trip. I read somewhere guys more easily picked up old friends easier after years of not seeing them or required less 'guy time' than what was considered 'girl time'. I guess it holds true.

This weekend we plan to hit the Mesa Market. It's basically a large outside flea market. I am looking forward to getting out and just leisurely looking around. I will bring my pda with me in case I get a call from work. Tomorrow we plan to have a picnic in one of the nice parks nearby. I haven’t been on a picnic for quite some time. Again I am looking forward to it.

Arizona surprises me with its cleanliness and obvious leaning on the natural healthy side. There are more health shops, natural stores than one can shake a stick at around here. We went into a simple store the other day and I bet there were 4 aisle of nothing but vitamins. Ironically there were 6 aisles of wine. All but one brand I never heard of. This was only part of one side of the store. Nothing compared to home. The medical ideology is a dichotomy when compared here and home. It seems more natural, higher if not different technology here than at home. Those here are more apt to have different views on the attempts to cure someone here than the 'thinking in the box' view at home. I find it fascinating when comparing to the states.

One gripe I guess I have is my wife has been taking our kids to places and out during this whole week. That isn't the gripe. The gripe is our kids seem to require 24/7 entertainment time. Their though of going to Mesa Market is 'what are we going to do for fun today or tonight'. I hadn’t realized how much they are in to 'the me'. If nothing else, this trip has opened my eyes on many things. I see some of these things in my family and also some of me. I recognize I require 'getting away' time as well. This is done by watching a movie when the kids are nearly asleep or reading. I went through a whole book in a matter of a couple days. I read slowly so I think I astounded my wife. I continue to be sick of being on a computer after on it all day. So I find entertainment in playing PS2, battle with the Pokemon decks we brought with the kids, ect. Oh well. As previously thought, this will be a long 5 weeks, but not I also believe it will be eye openers.

Midweek of one out of five already. Well, regardless of the busyness with work, it still seems slow. This getting up 4 a.m. and to work around 5:30 6 a.m. is something else. My computer's clock remains set to eastern time to help me with my scheduled conference calls. I have to turn around to the microwave clock within the hotel room to see the local time. When I came into this hotel room I recognzied the layout. I asked the main desk later this week if they were affiliated with MainStay. They said they use to be MainStay, but no longer. This is the exact floorplan as the MainStay hotel I stay at in Pennsylvania. How freaking weird is that? The room is smaller than the one in PA but the same layout.

My wife had another emotional day today. She came into the room and I could see she was crying again. Seems the every other day schedule has been changed to everyday for our son while we are here. However, the Tuesday and Thursday's are only for 15 minutes. Seems our son informed the Doc 'mom been doing physical therapy, speech therapy, ect' Yeah, it's called excercise and continued speech therapy since we are in bumville and not home. So the gracious doctor thought it best to come in on the T days to do some physical therapy. Probably charge us another 2 days per week for this. The other thing that is upsetting her is the office stating it may be longer and/or more expense than we have informed you, prior of coming. But we will take a percentage off, ect to assist. Man, I wish they would find the solution and soon. We been out 10K out of pocket for this and most have come from charity or assistance. I shouldn't bitch because most families could not even do this. I have a lot of blessings and lattitude as opposed to most. Yet, it is frustrating to continue to see my wife and family go through this rollercoaster.

It boils down to this...The metals, toxic's ect that we have and flush out of our systems on a daily basis is not big deal. However, our son seems to not be able to flush those same metals, toxics ect out of his body. They want to remain there and build up. This crap then brings on the seizures, inability to concentrate, ect. The doc here is the only one identifying that and can remove it from his system with the high-tech equipment and treatments. However, the issue is for our son to continue to do so on his own. This is what the doc is now trying to figure out.. him and whomever he is consoling. We had hoped and was told the full program should remedy this issue. Since only being here a little over one week was such a remarkable improvement, it sounded logical to us. The set back we experienced was due to our son not continueing to flush this out without the laser, daily treatments ect. But we really can't live here, so we are hoping and praying for the answer to remedy this.

Our daughter stays with me in the hotel room while Kel and our son goes to the doc. She fixed me lunch and we took a break to hit the excercise room. I actually walked 2 miles on the treadmill. At least it blows steam and maybe some calories.

Work went as usual today. Three conference calls, worked on 4 projects and bothered by peers. If one thinks by working out of a hotel eases ones load, think again. The main difference? The 3 hour difference. Having to work 6-2 rather than 8-4 makes my day seem very quick. I am on call this week, but next week will enjoy the evenings off with the family without the worry of a cell phone ringing.

My daughter and I took a break today to work a little in the excercise room. It has a nice treadmill, stair climber and bike to work with. Plus the abilty to watch the whopping 12 channels on their tv. yeah.

Thankfully our PS2 works well. The abilty to play games in addition to movies will be a lifesaver. There is nothing on TV, so Pokemon DVD is it. I will have to use the portable dvd player tonight to watch a 'dad's movie'. I been cartooned out already. I was able to catch some news this afternoon just to get an idea of what is going on in the outside world.

This is going to be a looonnngg five weeks.

Well we rested today. Still having trouble with the time change. It is 2 hours behind here from where we are. So at 5:30 at here the kids are playing PS2 in pajamas (already showered) with the sun still up. Kel and I are like...ready to get prepared for bed?

Although we 'rested' today, we ran around checking the grounds around us. We found our old stomping area in Mesa. We hit a couple of stores to walk around and found a really good park. I was impressed with the park and we will probably be hitting it quite often. I managed to do the laundry (unbelievable, but yes already)this afternoon. We also managed to play in the park, get our bearings, play in the pool here at the hotel, found the excercise room and tried out the 3 items, and get settled in the room.

Other than that, we called our mothers to wish them a happy mothers day. We ate at Macaroni Grill here for lunch.

I also checked the buisiness email so it won't bog me down too much tomorrow.

Made it to Arizona! Talk about God watching over us. Man, it was a long drive.
We arrived in Amarillo yesterday around 3 p.m. We stayed all night with Kel's aunt and uncle. Thinking it was 5 a.m. we actually were up at 3 a.m. and drove it straight through to Arizona. We are all tired but with needed showers done and pizza in our bellies, contempt.

We continue to get ready for our drive to Arizona. We have nearly everything ready. I will be glad when we finally arrive there.

Want a free DVD? Check out Last Best Chance.org They are sending out these DVD's while they last. It depicts off facts regarding terrorist's getting nuclear arms. It looks intense.

Today is our son's 6th birthday. It is hard to believe he is already six. Man, feeling old. We will be going to Chuckie Cheese tonight for him to play with his friends. Yeah, fun fun.

A lot is going on in today's news. Here are some highlights and my thoughts.

2 toy grenades were loaded with gunpowder blasted small damage outside the British Consulate.
My thoughts...What if it has nothing to do with the Brits, rather a probe to see how we respond and timing us?

Sex offender in Florida cuts off his ankle tracking bracelet (near school yard) and flees

OK guys, it's getting crazy for these sex offenders running helter skelter. This makes 2 sex offenders escaping in Florida doing this. What the he** is wrong with them down there anyway? I say plan a GPS in all sex offenders body (say internal that will detonate upon attempt of removal) regardless of victims age. Have their GPS on the net so anyone can view where the he** they are on a given moment. They already have their mugs on the sex offenders list anyway, so this would only bring it to real time. The bleeding hearts worried they will be looked after to be picked on, tough. They should had thought of the consequences when they were enacting their own desires on a innocent.

No. 3 in terrorist group caught and talking.

Who knows what the guy is saying. Perhaps the government just leaked it to the media to watch the ants run.

Documents to prove Kofi Anon may be guilty of the Oil and Food Scandal

Is there anyone really not surprised?

I will be the first to admit I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. However, I have to tell you this one. As you know, I been attempting to pull a index of school board members in the attempt to have the members a way to converse across the districts for ideas, ect. I happen to find out our area is district 14. On the ossba.org site there are 2 contacts listed. I called one of them to inquire what their roles are. I found out they were considered directors of the district, voted in by the other districts school board members. Hmm, ok a person of information. I explained to him my history of inquiry with no answers and asked if he was aware of any index of contacts. Nope, he doesn't believe it exists. I could ask OSSBA. I informed him, I already went down that road. So this was another dead end. Then he stated the district has 2 meetings a year for a chance all school board members within the district to get together. Perhaps I could attend and bring it up or make some contacts that way. OK so I asked the obvoius question. How does the members get notified of the when/where/ to attend? He answered very quickly. Oh, the OSSBA sends out a letter to all the board members with that information..... OK, I repied, that would be an indication they had a index of contacts. Only silence from the other end of the phone.

We had our last PTA meeting last night. I for one am glad of it. We were in and out within 30 minutes. Fortunately no hassle from anyone. I will be the treasurer for next school year as well. Guess, I am doing something right on that part. ( smile )

2 days after today, before we leave for Arizona. I need to get some stuff down around the house, big time. I was on support for work yesterday, hence no time to do anything else.

Wow, what a day!

I must say, today was fun. We had our son's party at the place, and it was a blast. We were the first there and had a chance to look around. It wasn't so much as a large place, but they organized the space well. They had only 5 tv's consisting of 3 x-box's and 2 PS2's attached to it. They had Halo2! I had to try it out. It was great graphics and easy controls. Too cool. In addition I played pool with a couple of friends and my brother. I haven't played in a looonng time, so it was nice. The place wasn't too big for the little ones to get lost nor too small to be crowded.

The kids seem to have a blast as well. In addition to the games, they had remote control vehicles, a blow up slide (which was a hit) and a 900 lb riding mechanical bull. Some of the kids got on to ride and for pictures. One mom and my brother and I. Yes, I had to try it. I think I held my own. I was surprised the inside of my legs were the most tired from it. I guess from squeezing the sides.

After the party we went over to my dad's and checked out his new truck. We cruised on home and was greeted by our friends. No naps for us. They stayed till nearly 7 p.m.

We then showered the kids, played pokemon card game (dueled), ate snacks and prepared for bed. My honey is already asleep, exhausted. I just layed the kids down and figured I better write this while I can.

We have 4 days of school left and leaving for Arizona Friday. Our plan is to hit Amarillo, Texas Friday evening. Then head straigth to Arizona Saturday. It's about 6.5 hours to Amarillo and another 14 to Arizona. Yeah, long A@@ trip.

We will actually begin packing tomorrow. Sounds crazy, but if you seen our schedule for this coming week, you would understand it will go faster than this week. This week flew faster than a 407 on crack.

This week simply flew. I mean really really flew. I looked up Friday afternoon at the clock to see it was 4:30 p.m. thinking, crap what happened to the day? That was pretty much everyday for me.

Thursday night, my wife went to the PTA wrapup party. They went to Logans to eat. I was also going to go but had to attend the School Board meeting. I found it interesting, albeit I was nearly late. I had to try to find, scan and send a file to Kinkos for the PTA yearbook. This all 15 minutes prior of the School Board meeting.
I did make it right before the roll call. The meeting was interesting and I felt more comfortable in asking questions, ect. When I came back to the house, our babysitter (neighbors girl) was playing hard with the kids. I asked if she could remain for a few more minutes and I ran the file to Kinkos because it was simply too big to email. I met the girls (wife and PTA group) at Kinkos then left them to it.

I relieved the babysitter, put the kids down for the night and finally went to bed myself, flipping through the channels. Kel made it in awhile later.

Thursday night was also my first night of a decent sleep. On-call didn't kill me that night.

Friday, as I said flew, during the day. The kids had a day off. We went to get haircuts around lunch, took care of car insurance and grabbed a Sonic for the them. Kelli had to work her butt off. A friend of hers asked for assistance on her job. So she had to clean, scrape, ect on a newly constructed house. I was surprised she isn't as sore this Saturday morning as I expected. ( I had to biofreeze her back and shoulders for her, ((grin))

This Saturday morning we are going to 'Smarty Partys' for our son's birthday. It has a 900 pound riding bull, X-box, PS2, 50 games to choose from, pool table, remote trucks on a terrain, ect. for 2 hours. I hadn't seen it yet, but looking forward to checking it out. It's pretty new in town and I know of one mom coming without her kids just to try out the bull. LOL

With the prospect of Euphenasia in USA and our continual eradication of our youth, one wonders how much life is worth anymore? I guess it depends on who you ask.

Evidently in Palestine, it's worth about 100 NIS (around 23 U.S. bucks) for as many as you can get.


Two More Boy Bombers Nabbed in West Bank - Margot Dudkevitch

Two Palestinians, aged 14 and 15, who were paid $23 apiece to detonate a bagful of bombs near soldiers at the Jalameh crossing north of Jenin, were arrested on Wednesday. Major Yariv, a commander of the unit deployed at the crossing, said the two had been instructed to approach the soldiers and ask for a drink of water and then detonate the bombs near them. It is the 11th time since the beginning of April that terrorists have recruited teens to either smuggle weapons through the checkpoints or blow up near soldiers, security officials said. (Jerusalem Post)

It's nearly 11:30 at night and I still continue to wait. We have a facility moving their system over to another server. I already have my stuff down, been done for 4 hours, however, I have to wait for the other side. We were hoping like crazy they would be done and ready by 10 p.m. but alas it isn't so.

I received 2 calls last night during on-call. One around midnight and the other around 4 a.m. I stayed up after the 4 a.m. call. So here we are approaching midnight again and I have to wait. Because God knows if I lay down the call will come. Such is the life.

Since I am on-call this week, it seems my life revolves around work. Just can't get away from it. Fortunately it's only for one week.

My wife is stressing to the max. She puts everything on her shoulders. I mean everything. She plans what is needed, required, and to do before, during and after our road trip to Arizona coming up. She gives me a simple request and I seem to always miss the ball. I had said I would make an errand today. Well, today was the craps, since I was on support and 2 meetings to be in. Hence I didnt make it around lunch. I was on the phone all the way up to taking our son to therapy and totally wasnt thinking of the simple errand. Of course this was pointed out to me nearly 7 p.m. this evening. Crap. I could had made the errand if I left at that point, but that wasn't the point. The point was I failed to do it and it just another marker on the board. (In my mind anyway)

I will take the kids to school tomorrow morning. They are out Friday this week. The lucky brats only have 4 days of school this week and 4 days next. I plan to watch them Friday and all three of us to get a haircut. I wonder if a catastrophe will occur to ensure that simple request will not happen. Hmm. Guess we will see.

Now 11:35 p.m. and the vendor hasn't replied to my email. She must be doing something on her end. Perhaps she will give the thumbs up soon. Too late to start a movie. I already ate the remaining salad and munched on potato chips. There isn't crap on tv and I already read up on my blog roll. Crap, I hate having to wait.

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the OKC conferences regarding the new School Board members workshop. The only 2 complaints I had were; they did not hand out pamplets per class, rather what you wrote down in notes is what you left with and there is no index of Oklahoma school board members. I was really think there should be a contact list to allow new members to gain insight what each district is doing in regards to policies, issues, ect. This would help facilitate and promote the state in whole. Yes, I did actually put this in writing on our feedback form.

Other than being in the class most of the whole day, I enjoyed the time with Kel. It was nice to be able to walk around the mall or store, withiout little ones asking to go home. Yes, we missed them, but the break in that regard was cherished. Kel and I didn't make it out to a movie Saturday night, but we did spend some quality time by eating dinner. Since I continued to have sinus issues and she was tired anyway, it was benadryl and melatonin time at night. It was rough sleeping Friday night, but I crashed hard Saturday night.

We acquired a new PS2 game, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' to bring back for the kids, myself included. The kids and I have beat Shrek2 and we are working on TMNT now. The game allows four players at once, hence the three of us get to play and work together on it. Cool deal. Kel just asked not to be dragged in. heh heh

I finished watching season 3 of 24 last night. I had to put it away for a time due to our crazy schedule, but I was able to finish it up last night. Talk about a very good storyline and intense show. I can't wait till season 4 will be on dvd as well. Maybe it will be a Christmas present. (hint hint)

I seen the other day 'The greatest American Hero' first season was out on dvd. Did anyone else watch this show? I loved it as a kid and will be watching Ebay for it.

Work has been crazy already this week. Not bad crazy, thank God, but busy crazy.

Better get back to work, currently changing IP's for a new Rad server for a specific hospital. I have a school board meeting Thursday night. I will present a lot of questions. Yes, they will see me as a pain in the butt, because I don't want to be a bench warmer.

Made it to Oklahoma City, tonight. The past 2 days I basically been scanning the PTA yearbook. Finally finished it today as well and sent the 20 bloody CDR's to Kinkos for them to create our yearbook. 170 PDF files scanned and done! whew.

Looking forward to this weekend. My wife and I actually have 2 nights alone in a hotel room. I will be in the School Board class all day, but we will have the evenings. Unfortanately I am still not over my allergy crap. My voice is returning but my sinuses are still acting up.

I will be sore tomorrow, for sure. Friends of Kelli had created a fundraiser held tonight in our assistance. Jack's Skateland offered their place for 2 hours and all was able to skate. Yes, I pulled on the rollerskates (not blades) and went around and around. I had my son on one arm and a friends son on the other. I think I held them up half of the whole evening. My arms are telling me I did. I enjoyed it though and received a good workout.

We came home and put the kids in showers, teeth brushed, into bed. I think it was about 14 minutes and my girl was out like a light. Our son is still struggling to hang on. LOL

I didn't have any conference calls today, so that was good. I continued to scan the PTA yearbook pages. I am up to page 75 of 180. Yeah, moving right along.

In times like these, it's appreciated very much for friends like these.

Glad Monday and Tuesday is over. Work continued to be busy with conference calls, ect. Seems the tone has changed to "push" the vendors along. Seems they are not moving fast enough.

The girls came over last night trying to finish up the PTA yearbook. I say girls but all of them have kids the same grade/class as mine. I had Kel's parents digital camera out (they let us borrow it) and was snapping pictures. Not often I have a lot of good looking women over. (grin)

I also lost my voice as of yesterday evening. I been fighting a alergy cold, much like everyone else and it finally caught up with me. I guess it was good it lasted till after work, but sucked last night, since I couldnt hardly raise my voice over a loud whisper. Fortunately my main form of communication is email and IM's at work.

I don't really feel 'bad', just can't talk. I hope it gets better by the weekend, due to me being in Oklahoma City for the School Board 2-day classes.

I just finished watching the Contender as I put up the clothes and backed up my laptop files. It was good. I missed it Sunday and was able to catch-up on it, tonight. Cool.

Today was a Monday for sure at work. I had 3 conference calls that lasted all morning.

The weekend was good. I was able to clean the vehicles over the weekend, mowed the yard, ect. I was also able to play with the kids and enjoy some quality time with the family.

I happened to catch a piece of 'Desperate Housewives' last night. I must admit, I never seen this before and only seen a part of it. However, the part I seen kind of erked me. Evidently an actor playing a son thinks he may be or is gay. The mother is freaking due to thinking he will go to hell. She had the priest come over for supper. The actor playing the priest came in bible carrying and all. Evidently there are no pocket bibles in Hollywood. What irked me was the priest relentlessly came in and started to talk about the kid’s sexual interest. No couth or sensitivity at all. Of course the kid stated he knows himself and he is cool about it. The priest stops the discussion to the moms chagrin. She kept asking 'Is that it?' to the priest. Correctly the priest replied the kid didn’t want to discuss it anymore nor could the priest change his mind. The dad played the role of support 'whatever the kid wants we need to support him'.

That is my rant. Here is my reason for the rant. Because I don't believe in griping about something without a reason or resolution, here are my thoughts on it. The idea of someone going to hell for being gay is incorrect. Correctly the reason we go to hell is due to not accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. Yes, most believe heaven is attained by good acts and deeds. But that is why Christianity is different than any other religion. Rather than by your own deeds or actions, heaven is only attainable by the blood of Jesus. He died for our sins so we had a choice to be with God (in heaven) or not and end up in hell. I like Ray Comforts take on it.

Look at the 10 commandments. Have you broken the 10 commandments? Have you ever stolen something at any point in your life, regardless of the worth? Have you ever lied about anything? Sure we all have, myself included. That is only 2 of the 10 commandments.

So we have all sinned and come short. Rom 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

The only payment for sin is death. Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;

This means we all have sinned. Not just gay, murderers, sexual predators, ect.

The bible makes it clear the law shows us we have sinned. It's like a light showing the dust on a table. The light didn’t make the dust but shows it. The law doesn’t make sin, but shows it to us.

So what can we do to attain heaven and not death?

The bible makes it very clear what the answer is.
Jesus said to him,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." -- John 14:6

Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice of death for our life eternal with God. Rom 6:23 ....but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you haven't accepted Christ as your saviour, allowing Him to be Lord of your life, I would urge you to do so now. What He offers is a free gift of eternal life and you only need to ask him for it.

It is a simple message passed down the ages. Unfortunately in the show, this message was not said or told. That is what irked me. If it was a true priest, he would have given the message and corrected the mother.

Its been awhile before I could get a chance to blog. Just been really busy, between Church, School Board, Family, Work, ect.

We recieved good news today. The initial doc bill has been changed to no more than 4500 this is very good, considering the first quote around 8200. This is a far easier goal to set. This also includes the meds and supplements while we will be there. Praise God!

Also Kel's friends, we have learned, are working diligently on ways to acquire money. Through fundraisers ect. This is a blessing beyond words. I had a good feeling Sunday morning on the way to church and now it seems to be blossoming. I am relieved beyond words.

I will be going to Oklahoma City the weekend of April 22nd. I will be leaving that Friday and attend 2-day conferences regarding Oklahaoma law and policies regarding School Board. I look forward to this and hope to gain some valuable info. Although a newbie, I hope to energize the School Board out of its apathic state. Kel will be going with me, without the kids! Unreal. She can relax all day while I am in the conferences and we can enjoy the evenings together. Fortunately her parents will keep them for us.

Work has just been that, work. Let's not go there.

The kids used their money to buy Shrek2 for the PS2. We had rented it and all 3 of us can play it at the same time. I was able to play with them tonight and we made it past the next chapter! woo hoo.

I had posted a possibility for the next pope and the possibility of him being the false prophet. I received two other interesting emails. One is a link indicating he has a nearly 50 already supporting him. He requires 77 to be the next pope. The other makes reference of the last pope will have a females name. Intereting enough, this same pope, Ratzinger, has Jean-Marie, within his name. Interesting.

Yesterday was a busy day. Work was stressfull in the sense of an ever continueing project coming to a head. Let's just say Corporate was pushing and the facility pushed back, I was stuck in the middle (again).

I took both kids to our son's speech therapy. As they were in the back playing I ran to the bank and post office. Grabbed them, ran to the video store, renting Shrek2. We then proceeded to Burger King, treating the kids with a kids meal. Proceeding to a nearby movie place, I acquired some passes for the PTA fundraiser gifts. From there a hop over to Putt Putt Golf for additional passes. I was trying to acquire all the necessary fundraiser prizes while I was in Fort Smith. Most of these guys don't open till after 3 p.m. This makes it difficult to do on a lunch. I don't see how Kel runs like this all the time.

In the evening the kids and I stayed home while Kel ran to a friends house working on the PTA school book. I knew she was stressed out so made some no-bake cookies with the kids. We straightend up the house (cant tell it now) and played the Shrek2 game. We can all 3 play at the same time, together.

I called Kel a couple times checking on her and found out on her way home, she had a melt down. It is difficult, because it's one of those situations, where you just simply have no control over. I can't help recognize we made it this far, no turning back now. With the stress of the job, family and pressure from others (too many to laundry list here), it is no wonder she held out this long. Hang in there Kel, I am stil waiting on the word go from the Lord. It will come.

On another note, I also picked up the agenda for the school board as me and the kids headed to Fort Smith yesterday afternoon. I was shown the bids for the new roof at school. I received a call from one of the other board members last night as well. I think i had more answers than she thought I would. This is not boasting, but I could tell she was a bit surprised I was actually in the loop already. As she ended the call, I re-asked her to call me anytime. She said ok and hung up. Too me, this is not much difference than work. Communication is key and it looks like it will hold true here as well. But then again, what do I know? I just started and havent been sworned in yet.

I am pleased to announce I have won the School Board election. I actually won pretty big in small town standards. There was a large turnout as expected due to the City Council having 2 wards being voted on the same day. I appreciate everyones vote for me on this and hope to do my best. It is a 5 year term. I also learned another board member will resign in the next meeting. Monday night will be my first School Board meeting, not as an observer. They will swear me in first thing, and then proceed. I will be required to go to Oklahoma City in the end of April for 2 days of conferences. I actually get to go with another School Board member. The School's secretary had called 2 weeks ago asking for my availble days, in case I win. I chose the same days as the other School Board member, thinking it will be more beneficial we partipate together. I should learn a better understanding of the rules and process in class as well as what really goes on outside of class by my peer.

Now that this ulcer is over with, gladly so, another one raises it's head. In 4 weeks we are scheduled to drive back to Arizona for a duration of 5 weeks there. This is for our son's medical need. The 5 weeks will consist of the full program that will alleviate our son's issue. When we went a couple of months ago it had a major difference in enhancing his progress. However, as of today, he is not progressing.

The issue was found to be a residual of metals in his body, speculated to be from his 2 year immunization shots (he is now 5). This resulted in a long arduous account of issues. Issues being seizures, inability to speak correctly, ect.

I truly believe we were lead there for the answer. At this point, I wish we stayed the full duration while we were there the last time, but I also know we really couldn't due to school, work, ect. Rather than going back and forth, it has been decided to go the full 5 weeks. The cost will be 8200 dollars in Doctor fees. Our insurance will not cover any of it, due to it not being viewed as mainstream medicine. It is Holistic. Regardless if these procedures show improvement, it simply doesn't matter. Sounds crazy, but if you have kids, you understand a parent will do simply anything to enhance his/her health. I am concerned how we will manage to find this prior of leaving. On the other hand, it must come from somewhere. Why else would we had been lead there in the first place? I don't think God sets us up for failure.

So I am asking those Christians who happen to read my blog or stumbled across this article, to please pray for me and mine. Thanks.