Caroling

Friday night was something special. Adults and kids from The Gathering UMC went over to St. Mary's hospital and did some caroling. We walked up and down the halls singing carols to try to brighten up the sprits of the patients there at this time of year.

My wonderful wife organizes this every year and this is the third year running and the first year I was able to go. In the past we just opened it up to children and family from the church. It was an activity for the kids ministry. The first year kids even made some wreaths to give out. This year it was decided to just open it up to anyone that wanted come and join us. My wife figured the more the merrier.

In order to make sure we covered all the floors that the hospital wanted us to cover she enlisted the help of another employee those also attends the Gathering. That way we could split up in two groups with her leading one and him leading the other. She was able to get two guitar players so each group had their own to accompany them. She also thought if we got enough we could leave a group in the lobby. Well not only did we leave a group in the lobby we had a ukele band playing in the lobby.

So when the time came we left a group in the lobby and the kids and some of the adults split in two and headed to the floors. We went up and down the halls singing and we had staff joining in as we went. Family members were poking heads out doors as they heard us coming. Patients were waving and smiling from their beds and chairs in the rooms as we went by.

After we got done with the floors the timing could not be better as both groups got the lobby at the same time and we joined up iwth the group in the lobby and just sang some more down there before finally calling it a night and enjoying some hot cocoa and cookies before heading home. A great time was had by all.

I can't even explain in words how it felt to see the patients smiling and waving, family members doing the same and making sure their loved ones saw and heard us, and staff members joining in as we past them in the halls. It almost brought a tear to my eye on more than one occassion as we went around the halls. What a feeling. The kids have a great time and even if they all don't quite realize how much it means to those patients that we come around I know some of them do. It is a great service that they can easily do that means a lot to the people there.

Canned Food Drive

My church The Gathering(gatheringnow.org) is doing a canned food drive for Kingdom House(www.kingdomhouse.org). We are challenging ourselves to collect 3500 cans in the month of November.

Not only that but the kids at church have decided they are going to collect more cans of food than the grownups.

If anyone would like to donate to this cause you can bring the cans to me or I can come get them from you.

If you have any questions or want to work out a pickup from me just call my cell or email me.

Here are items they need and some are marked with an * for priority.

Canned Foods:

corn

*spinach

green beans

carrots

potatoes

yams

diced tomatoes

saurkraut

pork and beans

*red kidney beans

fruit(peaches, pears mixed, pineapple)

applesauce

soups

beef stew

chicken and dumplings

*chili

ravioli

tuna

*SPAM or similiar product

*vienna sausage

spaghetti sauce

peanut butter

evaporated milk

Dry Goods:

dry beans(pinto, white)

spaghetti

mac and cheese

crackers

cereal

ramen noodles

instant rice

regular rice

*instant potatoes

oats

cake mix

corn muffin mix

*pancake mix

Other:

ketchup

mustard

salad dressing

*miracle whip

*frosting

*jelly

*syrup

juices

Any donations are mucho appreciated.

Fundraiser

Yes I am going to use my blog to put something up about a fundraiser. I wish I would have thought of this last week when I was bugging people to buy entertainment books from my daughter. Oh well.

Anyway here we go:

My son's school is doing a fundraiser. No surprise there. ;)

This is your typical catalog with various candies, items, magazine subscriptions, etc. I will keep a catalog with me if you would like to look at it.

I am also providing a link that you can go to and order from there. If you order online you can have it sent straight to you but you are out shipping. They offering a few deals if you order online including free shipping if you buy 10 or more items. You can also just look at what is there and then order through me. Just note that some stuff is only available online and I can't order on my sheet and some stuff I have can't be ordered online.

The sale runs through the 29th of September. The money is turned in that day so I need to collect all money by the 28th. Cash or money orders according to my sheet.

Delivery is Oct. 21st so we would pick up the order on the 22nd and 23rd during parent/teacher conference. In time for the holidays. :D

Here is the link to the online page.

http://www.teamschoolfundraiser.com/cart/index.lasso?id=1110

If you want to order call my cell or email me.

Thanks in advance if you decide to order.

Moving and school

Painting is done. Whoooo! Lots of hard work but it looks good and the kids are happy with their rooms.

Now of course comes the moving. Need to quickly pack up stuff in room. Kids are more or less packed up. The rest of it is in storage. Going to be lots of work but we have help and it will all be good. It will be great to get in there and get settled.

School starts for me next week. Pricing my books to spend the least amount of money as possible. Looking forward to these classes. I think they will be interesting. Taking the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt and Topics in English Literature: Fantasy Literature and the Reimagined World. Lots of reading but excited none the less.

Kids started school yesterday. Katlyn is super stoked with her teacher. She had prayed for this teacher. This teacher was part of Girls on the Run last year and Katlyn really likes her. Plus some of her buddies are in there as well. Keep that teacher in your prayers. :D Katlyn has also started the school year with a new style. She is not a fan of the uniform policy. Nothing against different colored accessories so that is what she is doing. Various color tights, knee socks, necklaces, bracelets, etc.

Joseph like his teacher. Says there is no helper in there. Probably not a good thing to not have two adults in a kindergarten class. Brand new teacher who is fresh out of school I think. Very soft spoken and didn't have a lot to say at open house or when I talked to her on the first day. Hope that changes or the kids and parents will eat her alive. Time will tell.

Chess club is looking good. Between returning players and new siblings only 10 spots open. Over 50 kids said they were interested in playing and being in those 10 slots. Out of those so far 17(I think) have already responded to emails double checking their interest. Waiting list for sure this year it would seem. Awesome to see that many kids want to play.

Maybe after we get settled I can finally get into some kind of exercise or running routine. Would love to do more 5K's.

Okay starting to ramble now. Stick a fork in me I am done. :D Later gators.

A great house update

Been a while since blogging. Figured good start is a house update.

We actually got the house we started with. The other deal feel through and didn't close and we get to come right back in. How cool is that?

So we redid the paperwork yesterday. The realtor needs to meet up with owner to get him to sign all of it and that will be good to go. Homeowners inspection done today. City inspection for occupancy is set for next week.

Should have keys by the end of the week so we can start cleaning and painting. Then we get to start moving in. :D

Other than that same old stuff going on. My daughter did a great chess presentation a few weeks ago on the Grunfeld Defence. Now hopefully she will use it some to help her do well when playing black.

School starts soon. I could do a whole rant blog on school stuff at the moment though but I think I will pass for now.

I need to pick classes for myself for the fall. Have not done that yet.

The main thing is that we got the house and we are super excited.

Later gators.

A special community

I just wanted to say that I am a very blessed person to be involved in such a wonderful community. The community known as the Gathering. This is where my family attends church at and it is a wonderful community to be part of.

We were attending St. John's and unfortunately St. John's had to close its doors. It was a small congregation but we loved it none the less. We were hit very hard by it. Pastor Wally and the District Superintendent Nancy told everyone that there was very new up and coming church that you should check out. Their pastor Matt came and talked to us and told us about him and his church. I was hooked then. He even came one Sunday and did the sermon. Unfortunately we were out of town that week but we had already gone to The Gathering a couple times plus we were listening online.

We went to both churches for a few weeks due to services being at different times but that got to be a bit much so we stayed at St. John's to the end. Once St. John's had its last service and closed we started full time at the Gathering.

My wonderful wife jumped right in once we got there. She mentioned she would like to help with the children's ministry and they put her right to work. Shortly there after I like to joke about being ambushed to also join the team. It was not like they twisted my arm or anything though. So I also started working downstairs with the kids and I love it. Granted I feel that I am more of a helper than teacher and I pretty much let my wife do all the teaching when it is our Sunday to teach. :D I love interacting with the kids and seeing the wonderful things they can do and how much they learn from the lessons. Great group of kids that have done their share or service projects.

We started doing small groups when we could and we still do. We have met and gotten to know lots of people through the small groups and working with the kids downstairs.

We went through the commitment classes when they were first available. I was even baptized at the Gathering. We try to be as involved as we can be. Easier said that done though with our crazy schedules at times.

The people are awesome and it has been a blessing to get to know everyone. Matt and Nate are just the best. I miss Nate already but I am so happy for him at his new church. The staff past and present are wonderful too. Everyone has been so supportive of us as we have searched for and thought we had a house only to be back in limbo again. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts guys and gals. I am sure I have not said it enough. Special shout out to Becky for offering to babysit and do whatever she could to help.

As much I hated to see St. John's close I was so glad to see the door to the Gathering open and it has been a blessing. I don't think my words can really express how much I love this community that I am a part of and the wonderful things that this community does. It is special for sure and I just felt the need to share.

Intro of sorts

Well since I am went ahead and made a blog here I figured I would do an intro of sorts for people that come across it. This is just going to be a blog of stuff about my life to a degree and just whatever strikes me.

Millertime Rebel is just the name I took on for online activities. I use MTR for short a lot though or some variation of MTR with the number 08. Basically combination of old nickname and the mascot of Ole Miss where I went to school at.

I work in a library and have worked in libraries for quite a while. Even then it honestly took some years to realize that I actually wanted to be a librarian. So I am not there yet though. Still trying to finish my undergrad. Slowly but surly. Maybe before my kids get there. Ha!

Married to my soul mate. It was just meant to be. Not sure what I would do without her. Probably starve actually. I have two wonderful kids(well most of the time). They never cease to amaze me in many ways. My daughter has a great heart and is just growing up to be such a special person.

Stay busy with various activities mostly dealing with my daughter. Won't be long before my son starts getting active in various things. We also work with the kids at church and try to do small groups there on a regular basis. Plus I am back in school so yeah it can be a busy life.

I am sports nut as you can tell from previous ramblings. I love to read and sometimes write. I am sure I watch too much tv. I am big fan of professional wrestling. Starting to get into chess due to my daughter playing. Other various interests in there as well.

Enough for now. Later gators.

Sports to get my mind off stuff

Need to get my mind off the house for a bit.

So I haven't talked sports much in a while so why not.

Super excited by the performance the US men's soccer team at the Confederations Cup. The first two games were not that good but they made up for it with that great run to the final that included a win over the number one team in the world snapping a big unbeaten streak and win streak that Spain had going. Shame they could not hold on to that 2-0 lead against Brazil and take home the trophy but that is the way it goes. It was a great run and something to build on. Now to the Gold Cup and wrap up World Cup qualifying.

I have to admit I have not paid as much attention to my Cardinals I normally do. Totally missed the trade that took place until today. :( Got to snap out of it and keep up. I am such a slacker.

DC United is on top of their conference in MLS. Playing in the US Open Cup tomorrow as they try to defend that title from last year. Set to play Real Madrid in a friendly in August. Things looking good there. :)

Athletica get to host the All-Star game at the end of the season. Good deal. Still have not made it out to a game. I wanted to make sure to get there this season but I don't see it happening at this point. The Sol seem to be running away with the league. I honestly thought that the Athletica would have a better record than they do. They have some talent there. Guess we shall see how the rest of the season and playoffs go.

The St. Louis Lions made it to the US Open Cup before losing in the first round. To be expected for a PDL team though. Glad the made it to the tournament.

Blackburn managed to stay in the top league. Hopefully the rebound for a not so great season and get back towards the top of the league and back into European competition.

Looking forward to some Ole Miss Rebel football this fall. I love college football. :)

Okay enough ramblings for now. Later gators.

Housing situation

Okay first off I am starting a blog on a blogging site just because now that I am doing stuff on twitter I may have people that are not on facebook or myspace. So I will just put the blog on all three places more than likely. Give options for people. :)

Anyway so first I just need to hit the house situation since that is on my mind and people want to know the long story on why we don't have it at the moment.

So here is quick review for those just joining us. We are looking for a place to live. Been staying with in-law's but it is time to go. Been looking for a while and struggling finding something we can afford in a decent neighborhood.

So my wife stumbles upon a house we drive by a lot in our neighborhood that has a sign for lease to own. She looks into it and we go check it out since we can afford the rent and we are interested in finally owning. We really like it. Great place and we go ahead and put in the application.

Well there was another applicant as well and after sweating it out for almost a week we found out that we were approved to get the house. So that is where most people left off. Some know part of the next.

Okay so that was Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we go in to do all the paperwork. Up front we were told that an offer to buy the house was coming in. Realitor wanted to just present everything to owner and let him decide. She felt things shoudl be okay because depending on the offer he stood to make more money off us leasing for 3 years and then buying.

So we signed some stuff and went through the whole process. Took the lease contract and sales contract home to look over and have other people look over. Looked good. We signed, and dropped off at drop off box of office and emailed to tell her that it was there. She responed the next morning saying she got it and was meeting with him later and she would let us know.

She called that night. Not good news. Offer was for more than asking price. She did sell us to the owner though and he is interested and having us as tenants. So he countered higher thinking he woudl walk away. The guy accepted the offer so we are out of the house. Not out of the running just yet though. Still inspection to do and the owner does not plan on doing anything to the house if the guy asks him to. For us he is willing to do a couple things but not for him. So if the guy walks away the house is ours. She is taking it off the market to keep other offers from coming in. So we should know midweek what is going on there.

In the mean time the owner is willing to buy another property in the area and do a three year lease to own situation was us in whatever property he finds. So the realitor is checking out a house today actually and will be letting us know what she looks at as she goes. So we could end up with something better. Just don't know at this point. It may work out in our favor.

Either way I am bummed. Not so much over the house as much as not knowing what is going on. Being in a transition period and not knowing what is going to happen next. I was excited and ready to go and now the rug is out for under me. I will be fine once we know more concrete things. In the mean time we keep packing and preparing to move at some point in the near future hopefully.

Just want to add a huge thank you for all the prayers and support from our friends. We have the best friends we could ever ask for I think. You are all wondeful and we probably don't say it enough. Just keep praying and I am sure it will work out in the end.

Later gators.