Aloha, Alto!

As of 1PM, Friday May 25th, Stacey will complete her classroom duties at Alto Elementary. It is an exciting, yet stressful, time for us. While there is a degree of sadness for Stacey leaving behind a class she loved and the friends she has known for years, there is a nervous anticipation of what the future holds. Today, she held a luau for her class as a way for everyone to say goodbye. I'm sure once she gets settled back into the metroplex, she may even share stories of it. Through the ups and downs of it, I'm glad Alto offered Stacey the chance to get back into teaching after the two years of not being able to get a job in Alabama and allowed her to do something she enjoys.

This weekend will be the second straight weekend of me going to E. Texas to bring a car load of supplies home (okay, storage unit). So far, our second 5X10 storage unit is not ready to burst, but that'll probably change after the weekend.

While we continue to receive inquiries from interested schools, none have yet to make an offer for the 2007-08 school year. We are praying that we will hear something soon, but we are fully aware that we will wait on God's timing. Yet, it is time to enjoy the holiday and hopefully, be back on the trail come Tuesday.

We appreciate your prayers while we await the next direction we go.

The countdown continues...

If you talk to Stacey, you'll know that the end of school countdown has begun. Not that she is looking forward to saying goodbye to her class, because she is not, but she is looking forward to being home for the summer. Likewise, it is the same for me. After spending a large part of the last 2 years splitting time between our respective job locations, I'm getting excited over the prospects of having her home everyday. Stacey's class did well on the TAKS with both sections scoring in the 80th and 90th percentile. I guess I had better enjoy this weekend since it'll be my last one in Lewisville until the month of June due to the arduous task of bringing in all Stacey's school supplies and having them removed from the school by the 26th of May.

Meanwhile, we continue to get lots of storms. Two sleepless nights this week interrupted by overnight thunderstorms with intense lightning displays. We managed to see the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays play between storms over the past weekend and that was a good time with pleasant weather. As for me, work has been really busy and stressful trying to nail down a solution to a longstanding problem. I have been visiting grad school programs at TCU and UT-Arlington checking out MBA options and have started reading a riveting book by John MacArthur called Hard to Believe.

Not a lot to report on the job front for Stacey, but she has had some interviews that seem fairly positive. Regardless, it's in God's hands now. Once again, His mercy came to us today when we were trying to stretch my paycheck over three weekends and we received a dividend check from our insurance company. He's provided for us all along, I have no reason to doubt Him now.

I think I'll call in sick tomorrow....

Nah, just kidding. Although today, would you like fries with that sounded awfully appealing!! It has been one of those weeks!!

Here is a synopsis:
Monday: School goes into lockdown...long story which I won't bore you with!
Tuesday: My sister becomes really ill at school which I get to deal with...
Wednesday: Parent (school) being irrational over something I have no control over...
Thursday: Another parent being irrational....

Spring fever has become an epidemic in my class......need I say more???

Not to mention...the job search is still going on in full force, still with no luck, which is becoming very aggravating......

Pray for me!! I need it!!

Take Cover!

Ahh! Once again, we got hit with bad weather. Tuesday made the third time in less than 2 weeks that we've seen storms, hail and tornadoes. We had a weak tornado go through the adjacent suburb of Flower Mound about 10PM last night, fortunately no one was injured and another went through the town to the north, Denton. Fortunately, we only had to deal with a lot of rain, about 5-8" around here, but the lakes are so low that it's welcome.

The Texas Tornado...

This was the tornado that hit Haltom City yesterday, which is fairly close to where we live. We were eating dinner with Missy and Ryan and never realized it got this bad until we got home.

photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

Congratulations!!

Congratulations Justin and Sara, our friends from Lansing. They are new parents to Miss Ellie! Welcome Ellie!! We can't wait to meet you!!

Yes, this is East Texas!!

My brother-in-law decided to take his little canoe trip that he usually takes on Easter weekend. This is a 32 mile trip by river. Let's just say his trip was cut short due to the "blizzard". This is what it looked like when he got ready to leave. I have never seen weather like this in East Texas in April!!! Let's just say he was glad to be back home in the warm house!!! This will be a family joke around our house for quite some time needless to say!!

Ailments, Aberrations, and Astros = Adventure

After being with various ailments from allergies to some type of strep throat illness, I finally headed out to Nacogdoches to spend time with Stacey's family over the Easter Holiday. I didn't even feel up to talking or eating until Thursday evening with all the fun I was having with my tonsils being swollen together.

Once I got to East Texas, the weather was changing. Friday's weather was okay and in the upper 60's, so I really didn't think much about it. The Weather Channel was saying that it would be 70 degrees in Houston, so I didn't bother packing warmly to head to the Bayou City. Somehow, I knew I was in trouble when I started recalling a conversation Stacey and I held earlier in the week when I said, "I know it's impractical, but I'd really like one of those Astros sweatshirts." Thus, we head to Houston, it's 42 degrees in Nacogdoches, but remember, the Weather Channel says it's going to be 70 down there. We get about 2/3rds of the way to Houston when Stacey's sister calls and says that it is snowing in Nacogdoches. Ahh, whoopty-do, did they see one snowflake and panic like every other East Texan? - I thought. So, we keep going to Houston and stop off at a couple of sporting goods stores and there is that Astros hooded sweatshirt, almost on cue. Then again, I'm thinking, okay Minute Maid park is a retractble roof stadium and has A/C, so surely they'll turn the heat on, right? So, I bypass the $50 sweatshirt and head to the stadium. We get there and it's raining and 43 degrees on the outside and not much warmer on the inside. Yet, we proceed to enter the stadium with the Astros T-shirts and the medium weight jackets we have. That's right, this sucker ain't heated and we're freezing our booties off. To add to our misery, we are hearing stories that it's still snowing in the Nacogdoches area and Richard's canoeing trip ended early (see below). Still, I'm not totally sold on this idea of it really being that bad in the Piney Woods.

Since the Astros had started off 0-4, and were playing the World Series Champion Cardinals, we weren't having real high hopes for a win. Yet, Roy Oswalt took the hill and we knew they had a chance as long as he wasn't pulled for Lidge or let Albert Pujols hit the train with another of his bombs. Oswalt came through with a complete game, Pujols didn't crush anything, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee homered, and the 'stros won 5-1.

Now, time to go home. Okay, so now it is 37 degrees and raining cats and dogs. By the time we get 40 miles from downtown Houston, the temperature starts dropping and we start seeing sleet. So, maybe they weren't exaggerating about the weather. Go another 20 miles and the temps are hovering around 34 and it's sleeting and snowing. Hey wait a minute, this is East Texas, not Michigan, eh? About half way home and it's coming down so hard that visibility is less than a mile and I'm having flashbacks of driving in the Michigan winters again. Next, we encounter freezing rain and 31-32 degrees nd the road has turned to slush. Stacey starts asking whether this is anything like Michigan since I'm not appearing nervous. We get to Lufkin and now the trees have snow on the branches and the cars are all covered. Thirty minutes later, we make it back to Nacogdoches and it's still snowing. Fortunately, we were blessed to get home safe and sound and no accumulation.

By the way, anyone think I can get that sweatshirt now?

Photos C/O Houston Chronicle

What time is it?

Have you ever felt like you just didn't have a grasp on what time it is? Well, that's what I've been going through the past week. Somehow, the IT department at work failed to upload the daylight savings time patch on my computer and that has me all out of sorts on my appointments. Secondly, not living a full year in Texas means I still don't know when it is supposed to be daylight (or daybreak to some of you), so getting up in the mornings has been a bear. Next, I have been working issues with a client in Singapore, who is 13 hours ahead, meaning that I'm working until 7-8PM on the nights we have teleconferences with them. Finally, Monday morning, I made a rush trip back to Alabama and returned home on the red eye Tuesday meaning I was up at 3:30AM in order to be at the Birmingam airport by 5.

All Aboard the Yard Heathen Express

Ah, it's great to be back in the metroplex again. Stacey and I took a few days of her spring break to venture off to Alabama to see my family. Good time, good BBQ, just not long enough, but we can still see that their Lab, Buster, is still eatin' good in mom and dad's neighborhood.

For those of you who don't know me very well, the term "yard heathen" was introduced in the 2001 time frame and it originally was intended to mean any child under the age of accountability (check your Baptist Theology if you don't know what that means) who tends to be the little kid who plays in the yard and makes mud pies, plays with all the critters that can be found, and comes home with dirt from head toe. This is in contrast to rug rat who stays in the house all the time.

One of those weird things happened to us again, somehow we figure it must be God's way of showing us some humor since we don't have children. First, there was the kids eat free night at Dickey's BBQ and now we were on the Yard Heathen Express. On Saturday afternoon, we flew from Birmingham to Dallas. I knew something was bad when it was a full flight. Then we got onboard and the flight attendants were grousing about some car seats for someone's yard heathen. You can see this is about to turn into a comedy of errors. Well, they had to delay taking off to get some of these child seats onto the plane, then as we're taxing down the taxi-way, we have to stop to move an infant away from the exit row area. BTW, did I mention there were something like 5 of these yard heathens under 5 sitting within 5 rows of us? Nothing like a blood curdling scream from one of these toddlers as the plane is taking off, poor Stacey almost lost it.

I know, one of these days it will be my turn, but hopefully, I'll be blessed with one of those gas guzzling, soccer mom SUV's to drive back and forth to Alabama.

12th and final SEC School

Well, I finally made it to all twelve SEC schools and have visited each campus. While I was growing up and was in school at MSU, I made it to all 11 campuses and SEC Football stadiums (including second home fields like Legion Field and War Memorial), except for one, the University of Arkansas. I don't know nor do I care, but they always seemed to have an aversion to playing MSU in Fayetteville and we ended up in Little Rock. So, being less than 2 miles from Fayetteville town limits, I drove on over to the campus to see the house of horrors disdainly known as UPig or University of Wal-Mart by the MSU faithful. Not a bad place, just very hilly, which is pretty standard for NW Arkansas. Felt bad for the students, they must need thighs and calves like tree trunks to handle all that walking. Have Mercy!

Sooner or Later

I had to go back through Oklahoma again and let me tell you, it was desolate. I'm currently in Springdale, AR attending a class for work and using the hotel computer. 5 1/2 hours through the backwoods of SE Oklahoma and NW Arkansas will give you a new appreciation for the 5 million inhabitants of the metroplex. Needless to say, my co-horts have lots of dueling banjo stories to tell. There's no telling what will happen before the week is up...

Let me end it by saying that I know why Carrie Underwood wrote a song about not being in Checotah (OK) anymore.

The Dust Bowl

Instead of the Cotton Bowl, Dallas is now home to the "Dust Bowl". This is what we lived in this afternoon. Yuck!!

Up, up, and away

THEMIS took off from the Cape Saturday at 6PM. NASA's most daring attempt at launching a satellite occurred with it releasing five separate probes to study the effects of solar storms on our atmosphere.

Now, with TAKS week here, let's hope Stacey's class has a success like this!

THEMIS Launch

While I won't bore you with the explanation of the acronym, THEMIS, I did want to tell you a story about it.

The pictures show the THEMIS payload as it is about to be encapsulated in the payload fairing and the other photo shows it from the inside so you can see the payload. For those of you who never understood what I was working on in Mississippi, this is probably one of the most practical examples of it to show you. There are two of these shrouds which make up a payload fairing for each mission and they primarily serve as protection while the spacecraft is on the launch pad and while it is ascending past maximum dynamic pressure. While this mission is a NASA mission that studies the affects of solar flares and the aurora borealis (aka Northern Lights), it was one of the first Delta II missions I worked on and one of the more exciting ones.

Launch is set for Friday, Feb. 16 just after 6PM ET from Cape Canaveral, FL.

Even churches are bigger in Texas...

This entry probably should be titled, "Bubba goes to the big church!"

One of my yearnings when I found out we were moving to the metroplex was to visit Prestonwood Baptist Church. For the uninitiated, Prestonwood is a mainline Southern Baptist Church on the outskirts of Plano and Carrollton and has about 25,000 members. The sanctuary is quadruple the size of our church home in Florence. It reminded me of Highland Baptist on steroids. I had watched Dr Jack Graham on TV for some time now (and occasionally listened on the radio) and had read some of his published material which has been biblically sound. No disappointment here, just amazement at watching a church that's part TV broadcast (with it's 200+ member choir, orcehstra, wall- to-wall TV and sound monitors, TV camera and boom, and 10 member praise team) and part on fire and spirit moved church with a baptistry full of folks, joyful worship, and sound message. And by the way, I left there with spirtual hoofprints on my rear end. God works in the big and the small places.

Stacey, can we get an "AMEN!"?

Of course, I temper this by saying, until we finally get planted into the metroplex, who knows where we'll end up, but it is great to know that we can be fed while we await on the direction we head next.

General update

Been a crazy few weeks for us, so apologies for not blogging.

First, I have been sick for about 3 weeks. First was the afformentioned stomach bug in my previous post, then I got a second bout of it a week later. From there, I developed a respiratory infection and am just now getting over it. Luckily, it kept my weight down, but what a price to pay for getting ill.

Stacey has been busy getting her students ready for the TAKS as well as trying to settle some health issues as well. She got one of her two crowns put in last week. Been very long and trying since this was originally to be done in December and there were issues with it coming on time. Next, Stacey's foot really began to bother her again and is back in the walking boot, taking more medication and is doing P/T to curb some of the aggravation on her achilles.

Next, we each have seen examples of God's mercy and provision on the job for which we're thankful and pray this continues. More to come in the future.

7 lbs lighter and 2 days later...

Well, someone once told me that if there was a stomach bug to be had, I would catch it. They were right. Shortly after my trip to East Texas this weekend, I came in on Sunday night feeling a little uneasy.

That uneasy feeling continued until Monday morning and then it turned into a mule kick in the gut. From there, I knew it was all over. Thus, I got two days off from work courtesy the latest incarnation of the stomach bug traversing Texas. At least I can say that it was the kinder version of what I have received in the past, no projectile vomiting or the like. Just general blahs, no desire to see, smell or eat food, and you want to stay in bed - except for those quick U-turns. Yeah me! Any volunteers to be the next in line?

On a positive note, this turned out helpful in my work's weight loss challenge allowing me to lose the most weight for the week - just not the way I wanted to.

Get out of here, Murphy!

I'm sure you get the point that Murphy refers to Murphy's law. The weather here has been awful since last Friday. Starting Friday we had something like 5" of rain. The temperaures proceeded to drop nearly 40 degrees and hasn't been above freezing since Sunday when the rain switched over to freezing rain. Monday, I wasn't able to get to work because of the bridges and overpasses icing over and Stacey could not leave because the remnants of that wave of storms hit E. Texas. If that wasn't bad enough, my computer monitor died Sunday morning, my car battery died Monday night, and our humidifier went on the fritz overnight. I awaken this morning and it snowed in the metroplex and the roads are once again a mess.

Yet, I'm thankful that I haven't been in an accident (knock on wood) and had the means to replace those broken things. So all is not lost, nor do I mind a day off every once in a while.

Hopefully, Murphy will leave town, quickly!

PS Did I mention my cell phone battery, too?

Merry Christmas!!!

We want to wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas!!! We have already thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!! We have been with my family since Saturday and today we're leaving to go back to Dallas because Stephen's family is coming tomorrow. It is awesome that we get to see all of our family at Christmas!! May God Bless all of you!!

Alto Wins State Championship!!!

The school where I teach, Alto, won state championship today, 42 to 13!!! What an awesome season!! They are undefeated!

School will be interesting Monday!! :-) (in a good way of course!!)

Speaking of school, I am ready for Wednesday at 1:00, the time I am out for the holidays!!

It's snowing...well sorta

It's more like icing. I can speak from personal experience with the numerous amount of overpasses I had to take on the way home. The DFW area had a huge temperature drop of more than 50 degrees last night and then it rained, sleeted, and turned to snow. Not much snow for those of us who are used to living in snowy areas, but enough to turn the roadways into parking lots. Why? when you add roads that are not planned with it ever seeing snow or ice (many overpasses and high rises at that), it's enough to get the locals riled up.

Trip Home

Well, after 7 months away from Alabama, I finally got to go home and see my family for Thanksgiving. Yes, I was homesick for the Heart of Dixie and the trip couldn't have come soon enough. Of course, being home with my folks was the highlight of the trip. We even took a stroll over to Starkville, MS, got to hang out with the best man at our wedding and went to check out all the happenings at MSU. Lots of changes - in the 1.5 years since I have been to Starkpatch and some of it wasn't recognizable. We got to eat at Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, AL and that settled my pork BBQ cravings and we ate at the local Jack's Hamburger stand a couple of times while dusting off those steak biscuits.

Also, one of the fun parts of the trip was getting to play with the lab mix we got for my parents last Christmas. Buster is all grown up now, but he's still a big puppy. As some of you may know, I kept him for a week last December while I was waiting to give him to my dad. Unfortunately, he's no longer a little fella and there is no way I could pull him out from the Christmas tree anymore (without losing a hand). I tried to get some good photos of him, but he won't be still long enough to get a good photo of him. Yet, he's still a darn good doggy!

As you might suspect, here's a picture of Buster doing what he does best - begging for my mom to pet (or feed) him. Trust me, he eats better than Stacey and I, so no wonder he's looking for more chow. The Chowhound is quite the charmer, the first time she picked Buster up, he licked her cheek. Some things never change...

Sweet Home Alabama....

Tomorrow we'll be hopping on a plane to travel to Alabama on the busiest traveling day of the year!! Stephen is so excited he can hardly control himself!!! To say he's homesick would be a huge understatement.

Have a great Thanksgiving. Praise God we have so much to be thankful for. Take time this season to remember what all we have to be thankful for, especially that we have such an awesome God who is so good to us!!

I'm in the Christmas spirit now!!!

Wow!! I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream Saturday as Stephen and I went to the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. You can click on this link to get more info. Just click on Dallas because that is the one that we saw. It was better than I ever expected!!! Stephen and I were just like kids!!

This was my favorite, when they were toy soldiers!!

Four More Years!!!

Stacey's dad has been re-elected as County Commissioner! Our prayers have been answered!

To read more about this, click the link, and go down to the story about Precinct 4 Commissioner.

Swearing in will be New Year's Day 2007...

Best Birthday Ever!!!

I am officially 30 now. I don't feel any different!! I am quite tired though. I don't really think it's because of being older. It's just been a wild weekend. Not that it was wild, just crazy!! My family took me out to dinner Friday night at my new favorite place to eat, Jalapeno Tree. Of course I got embarrassed when they all came out to sing to me and I had to wear a sombrero. We got back to my sister's house to open birthday presents and have cake. My nephew has been sick, so he got worse. My sister had to hunt down a thermometer to take his temp. Meanwhile, my little 4 year old niece, Lauren, starts suddenly having sharp pains in her lower right side. We automatically assumed appendix, so we load her into the car and take her to the emergency room. We were there until 2 am when they finally admitted her into the hospital. They say now they don't think that's what it was, but I have my suspicions. They basically told my sister they had no idea what it really was but just hope it doesn't happen again. Whatever!!

Speaking of emergency rooms, Stephen and I had quite the time people watching!!! You can really see some crazy folks in an ER on a Friday night!! Let me tell you!! There was 1 woman who was majorly strung out on something!! She was the patient and she was dancing around the waiting room. There was a man that came in with possible heart attack and they made him wait until they could do paper work. Stephen was sure to tell me to never bring him there if he was having chest pain. Bad!! I could go on and on!! You would have just had to see it!! If you ever need entertainment, there you go!

Honestly, this was the best birthday ever!! My family took care of me!! Stephen came to work with me Friday and was my "aide"!! He can grade papers like no other!! He's handy to have around!! :-) He works pretty cheap too!!

P.S.......

Who said that the root canal didn't hurt?!??!? That wasn't me!! My poor mouth is still sore!! I have had some not so good times at the dentist office lately!!

I go over the "hill" Friday. It's a big deal to me. I always thought that 30 wouldn't be, but it is!!! When you're in your 20's, you're still young. 30 just makes you old! No offense to my elders, but I just can't help it! At least now Stephen won't feel like he's robbing the cradle (too much!) :-) By the way, I think he has something up that sleeve of his, but he won't tell me anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anybody wanna give me a hint????????????????

More than you bargain for...

Poor Stacey, she's at it again. Yesterday, she went to the dentist here in N. Texas after the failed attempt to go 2 weeks ago in E. Texas and had a rough time of it. Under the belief that she was just getting a crown to complete the endodontist work from September, Stacey went in thinking this would be an uneventful visit.

So much for that, we got there and our new dentist shows us the damage to another tooth that we thought only needed a filling. So, we relent and let him start working on it in hopes only a crown would suffice and there wouldn't be a need of a root canal. Wrong again, the good news was the root canal didn't hurt, the bad news was that it was a root canal.

Long story short, four hours later, Stacey ended up with a new crown, root canal, filling, and a permanent crown still to come. Fortunately, we were able to see with photos and X-rays how severe it was, but it was still difficult to swallow.

Pssssst....someone's birthday is coming up!

Not me...and it may be a big one....

Busy weekend complete

Wow! It's nice to be back home. No offense to Stacey's family, but I never felt like I rested the entire time I was in East Texas this weekend. Stacey, her nephew- Ryan, and I went to the Alto - Grapeland game on Friday night expecting a good game since both teams were ranked in the top 10. Instead, we witnessed another blowout by the Yellow Jackets and thus keeping their unbeaten record in tact. While I enjoyed attending an event where Stacey works, my poor nephew was bored to tears. Of course being up 40-0 before halftime kinda has that affect.

Saturday, we basically surrounded ourselves with the SFA homecoming events. We were running late and the non-sensical blocking of traffic for the parade made it even worse. Yet, we arrived just as the parade made its way down to where we eventually came to view the parade. From there, we dropped off the kiddos back to their parents and headed out for one of my favorite stops: Butcher Boys. Once again, a pleaser. We went to the game and witnessed SFA fall apart again only to come back and then squander two FG attempts that would have tied or won the game.

Sunday morning, everyone lost shut-eye because of the excitement over the local paper's endoresements were coming out. Once again, my father-in-law was endorsed for the position which he is running for re-election. God willing, there will be a third term. From there, we went to church at Woden and watched the baptistry stay busy. Always an exciting time to see God working in people's lives. We can hope and pray this is just the beginning for these people. From there, we went to another popular hangout: Clear Springs Cafe and of course indulged in onion rings. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and running errands before I had to trek back to the metroplex.

Go Cowboys, Yellow Jackets, Lumberjacks, Bulldogs, Corndogs, Tigers...

What a week!

It's been crazy for all of us. Stacey attempted a break-neck attempt to finalize her crown only to be delayed by the flooding weather and an uncooperative medical professional. So, a couple of more weeks and she'll finally be done with that part of everything. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to fill you in on the rest of her eventful week when she manages to get online again...

Last weekend, we managed to go to the State Fair of Texas. I must say that I enjoyed it even though it is completely overrun with folks and in an atrocious area to access. I even managed to chomp down on a thingy called a corny-dog, which is known to the rest of the US as a corndog.

Of course, last Sunday was the Cowboys-Texans game at Texas Stadium. Wish I had some pictures to post, but Stacey headed out with the digital camera and has yet to send me the pics. Yet, Stacey mentioned that she learned a valuable lesson, never wear the opposing team's colors in Dallas (not that we did). We hopped a tram to the stadium along with 40-50 more Cowboys fans and they heckled and harrassed every Houston fan they saw on the way. Guess we have to keep the Houston stuff hid while going through Irving from now on. The weather was dreary and rainy and the Cowboys' offense was just as bad in the first half. Fortunately, we sat just under the overhang of the roof and got to see T.O.'s final touchdown happen right in front of us.
The Boys 34- Houston S*(%S 6

This weekend it's off to see Stacey's alma mater, SFA play the McNesse St. Cowboys for the homecoming game at SFA. Never been there for HC, hopefully it won't be a blowout. Hopefully, I will get to see our own Friday Night Lights tomorrow evening when Stacey's employer, Alto, is playing their district rival and their undefeated record is on the line.

How bout those Detroit Tigers?

Oh yeah, did I mention that the Bulldogs (MSU) finally won? All I can say is finally...


PS I started my Christmas shopping today, how about you?

Latest news

Sorry for the lack of info.

First of all, Stacey's sister Shelley is out of the hospital after a week's stay. She was released on Monday after suffering from a nasty form of staph infection called MRSA. She is at home recuperating and is slowly regaining her health. Thanks for the prayers on her behalf.

Next, last weekend we were able to see my parents. Always good to see them, just wasn't able to spend enough time with them. Yet, we will be flying home for Thanksgiving, so that will be some consolation.

Stacey's mouth is starting to heal up and she goes back to the dentist on Monday to have the final work done on her mouth. Hopefully, this goes well and she can be pain-free back there.

This weekend we're going to my first Cowboys game at Texas Stadium. My only chance to see them in the past was in Indianapolis just before the triplets were disbanded. Anyone who knows how big a Cowboys fan I am can appreciate what this means to me. Okay, so maybe I don't care too much for #81, but I'm still planning on having fun.

BTW, Mom and Dad's dog, a mixed lab named Buster, is a year old. Unfortunately, he got to spend his birthday at the vet getting fixed...Yet, he's a good boy and a great guard dog.

Doctor visits out the wazzoo

Both Stacey and I have been to the doctor this past week. I went for my bio-monthly check-up to have some bloodwork re-done and to change some allergy medicine since I'm still struggling with it since I moved to N. Texas. Fortunately, all is well with the new allergy medicine for me.

This morning, Stacey had to see an endodontist in Irving about a broken tooth that has been troubling her for some time now. After doing a root canal and some additional work, which I don't understand enough to speak of it, it looks like she'll be getting a crown in a couple of weeks once the swelling and healing is complete. Stacey is now back in East Texas and planning on returning to work on Tuesday.

Also, Stacey's older sister wound up in the hospital this weekend after developing a Staph infection in her leg. After going for 4 rounds of IV's and some oral antibiotics, she was not responding to treatment and was admitted to the hospital in Nacogdoches. Prayers for her healing would be greatly appreciated.

Much Ado About Nothing

Basically this is a post to say we're still alive and kicking. It finally looks like the 100 degree weather is finished after 43 or so days of 100 + weather. Football season is here and well both of our alma maters are taking it on the chin at 0-3. Gloom, despair, and agony on me...at least we have the Cowboys!

Stacey finally got over her bout with strep throat and is back to normal. Still has to have the tonsils out, but probably will wait a while if we can. As the first six weeks nears its conclusion, the ever mindful Stacey is trying to ensure all her grading is done for preparations for report cards have been underway all week. We spent the first two weekends in September helping Stacey's sister move into their new (rental) house in Frisco, so we haven't spent much time at home.

As for me, I've been fighting a cold that seems to be going around my workplace. I've also been hitting the treadmill pretty hard (except for this week) and seems like my clothes have started getting baggier. Still enjoying work, just easy to say love it tons better than my old job. Last weekend, we had a company picnic at the Fort Worth Zoo and it was lots of fun. Nice to be appricated! I must say that it is awesome when the Lord can calm your fears about changing careers/jobs and leaving the one thing you've always wanted to do behind.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???

Yes that's right, I can talk once again! Yeah!! I think I had the worst case of strep throat ever!! My tonsils were literally swollen together and completely white. I couldn't talk, eat, or drink. Praise the Lord I'm feeling back to normal again. Needless to say, I have to have my tonsils taken out. But first things first, I have once again decided to have my foot surgery on December 1st. It is getting harder and harder for me to walk. It's time to do something and SOON! I will take off from work until at least after New Year's. I will be on crutches and I won't be able to drive for 6-8 weeks. I'm not looking forward to having to miss work, but you have to do what you have to do!

Nothing much is going on other than that. I wish we could have 3 day weekends every weekend. I think I would have a much better outlook in life!! :-) I hate Mondays!!

Can you speak up, Stacey?

Obviously, a poor attempt at humor at my wife's expense.

Stacey has been sick since Tuesday night when she started complaining of a sore throat. So, we first thought it was sore throat or tonsilitis. Nope! Strep Throat. So, she goes to the clinic on Wednesday morning and they give her a shot and some medicine. By Thursday night, she is no better, but worse. Friday, she returns to the clinic and they first think it's mono, but not sure. So they send her to an Ears, Nose, & Throat doctor. Long story made short, no mono, but an abcessed tonsil and severe case of strep throat. Another shot and a new prescription later, she finally starts getting some relief. By the time I get to Nacogdoches, her tonsils are pretty much swollen together and they are solid white, not the rosy pink you'd normally expect. Stacey had not eaten hardly any solid food since this started.

Currently, they are discussing whether to remove her tonsils because this episode of strep was so bad, but the tonsils are so bad that they'll have to wait on the infection to go down before performing surgery. Keep us in your prayers....Thanks!

Friday at last!!!

This was perhaps the longest week of my life!!!!! I kept looking for Friday...it took forever to get to it!!! :) My first week of school was great. I have some awesome children in my classroom!!! I really don't have any problem children this year. That may all change, but for right now I'm loving it! As always, I have been so busy. I can't get everything done during the day, so I have to bring work home at night. Hopefully that will subside soon.

The only thing that will make school better is for my AC to get fixed!! It has been over 80 degrees in my classroom. Well, when it is over 100 degrees outside, you need some air!!! COLD AIR!!! I get very grumpy when I'm hot!!

I drove to DFW this weekend to be with Stephen. He was a welcome sight!!

That's all for now!

An interesting ride home

As you probably know, I spent the weekend in East Texas helping Stacey get ready for the start of the school year. On Sunday night, I was returning back to DFW and saw something on fire on the eastbound lane of the interstate near Kilgore, TX. As I got closer, I saw that there was an 18 wheeler rig on fire. Following the crowd, I pulled over to the shoulder in the westbound lane to make room for emergency personnel approaching. As I came to a stop, there was a concussion from an explosion - the truck's gas tanks and the fireball spanned across the eastbound lane and into the median. Amazingly, no one was injured, just a charred mess. Fortunately, I got out before the freeway was shut down. Here's the story of the event from the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Photo courtesy the Tyler Morning Telegraph website.

Who's that Dawg?

Now that it is football season and you all know how I love the Bulldogs, I thought I would throw in this tidbit from today's practice.

Lookie who decided to join the boys in pads...




The person in the photo is Sylvester Croom and he's poking fun at some of his players who stay hurt all the time. Now, can we imagine Dallas Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells suiting up and surprising Terrell Owens who can't seem to get off the stationary bike with his hamstring injury?









Photo courtesy Scout.com

Now I'm gone again....

I survived my first day at work, BARELY!! I am so tired...I forgot I could be so tired!!! I hurt in places I didn't know existed!!

On my way home today, I had a flat tire. Thank the Lord for Onstar...they sent someone within 30 minutes to change my flat. Awesome!

Not much else to report......I can't wait for Friday!!

I'm home!

I had to be in Nacogdoches for a workshop on Monday and Thursday, so I stayed in between and worked on my classroom. I can't believe there is always SOOOO much work to do at the start of a new school year. Where do I get all of this stuff?????????? I drove home yesterday afternoon. The countdown has begun. I have to be back by August 9th, but I'll probably go the 8th. A new batch of kiddos......it makes me a little nervous. I hope I have a good group.

Nothing much is going on other than that. Just trying to enjoy my last few days here in Lewisville with Stephen.

Hacker, be gone!!

Ok, so our computer is fixed, for now, thanks to my brother-in-law. It was wormy. You never realize how much you rely on your computer until you don't have it. We were having to use the computer in the business center of our apartment complex. It was pretty bad having to fight the "myspace.com" addicts.

We had a cold front come through here. It didn't get in the 100's today. First time in 12 days it didn't break 100. Thank the Lord for miracles.

Bye for now.

It's 107 outside

Can we import some ice cubes?

Funny sign on the traffic report this afternoon:
Bellaire Rd (Lewisville) closed. Pavement buckled due to the heat.


Never thought I would see that one.

Heat wave, computer hackers, and other annoyances

Well, in case you haven't heard, it's been over 100 degrees the past week. Not that we didn't expect it, it was one of those things that's just mind boggling that it's still 101 at 8:30 pm and 86 at 6AM. It was 105 today and supposed to be 107 tomorrow, can't wait for winter at this point. Yet, I'm thankful the humidity has been low or we'd really been miserable.

Stacey and I went away for the weekend to sell more of my stuff (isn't that the way it always works out???) in a yard sale with her family. When we came home our computer wasn't working. Obviously, the work of a hacker, and they have locked up our logon, so who knows what it will take to get working. For now, we're using the computer center at our apt. complex. We had trouble a couple of weeks ago with a hacker putting pop ups trying to get us to buy some software and my brother in law (a bona fide computer genius) put a stop to that, but the hacker decided to pay us back. Oh the joys of internet security with DSL...

We have finally gotten a new road opened up in our area. We thought it would be a blessing, but it has been a nuisance with the increased traffic and the heat seemingly making everyone just want to do the craziest things...

Yet, I have had some fun the past couple of weeks, the inner nerd came out and we found a park by DFW to watch the planes take off and land. Oh what fun and cheap entertainment. Even my 10 year old nephew couldn't get enough of it...

That's all for now.

Here I am again...

It's been a long time since I have had time to post. We've had family for 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have traded it for the world!! I love company!! 3 weeks ago, like you read below, my sister, niece, nephew, mom and dad were here. The day they left, Stephen's parents and Aunt Ann and Uncle Roland came from Alabama for a visit. We showed them around the "Big D" and then we took them to San Antonio. It was fun. We got a REALLY good tour around the city, much more than any of us really wanted!! Let me explain. There are trollies that go around the city. We paid for a day pass. We never really caught on to the concept. That night when we were trying to get back to our hotel, it took us 1 1/2 hours. We circled the city for what seemed like 24 hours!!! It was dark and we couldn't tell where we were. It got to the point that EVERYBODY on the trolly felt sorry for us and was trying to help us. Pretty embarrasing. I'm just glad we weren't paying by the mile. It would have cost us a fortune!! :)

A few days after they left, my sister, her husband and 2 children came back. We have been so busy!! We went to 6 Flags, Dallas World Aquarium, Go Carts, Shopping, shopping, and more shopping!!! They just left today but my nephew stayed with us. He will be here until Friday. We are going to Nacogdoches to have a garage sale. We are trying to get rid of some clutter. Watch out Stephen!! :) It will be like that commercial. The wife brings the stuff out to sale and the husband brings his things back into the house!! :)

I haven't heard anything about a job yet. I'm just assuming I'll keep the same job in Alto. I'll drive back and forth during the weekends. One more year. I don't want to get out of teaching again.

I hope you all have a good week!!

Would you like fries with that?!?!?

It is very disheartening when you see people being dishonest. That is my #1 pet peeve I do have to say. The other day Stephen and I went to McDonalds for dinner, along with my sister and her 2 children. A lady forgot her cell phone on the table and Stephen saw the guy that cleans off the tables swipe it. She came back in and of course he lied about it. We told her that he had taken it. Very sad. What kind of example is that for children????

Anyways, my dad had a commissioner's conference here in Dallas, so my mom, sister, and her 2 kids came with him. We had so much fun. As always, I hated to see them leave.

My in-laws along with Stephen's aunt and uncle are driving in from Alabama today. We're excited about seeing them. We haven't seen them since me moved. We are strolling down to San Antonio this weekend. None of them have ever been. It will be fun.

We spent 2 hours in the pool yesterday. I forgot one important little thing....SUNSCREEN!! I am scorched!! OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess no luck with the job interview. I haven't heard. But I know that it wasn't meant to be. There must be something better down the road. We'll wait and see what the Lord has in store.

some things never stop amazing me.....

WHO would do this??? Only in Frisco....

that's all i'm going to say about that.....

more pics

the full moon allowed us to see the water at night....

Gulf of Mexico....Galveston Island

This is the view of the gulf from our hotel room.

More Astros pics...

Fireworks show after the Astros game....pretty awesome!!!

my favorite baseball player in the world!!!

LANCE BERKMAN!
Astros vs. Braves
I am the Astros fan, Stephen is the Braves fan. Not a pretty site...especially since my Astros beat up on the Braves!! :) This picture was taken during batting practice.

Go Dallas Mavs!!

Dallas has officially gone crazy with its fanaticism!! Everywhere you turn, there is tons of Maverick items.....but that's ok. It's kinda cool to be a part of it! I have to admit, we've even become fair weathered fans. We have been watching the games just as everyone else....we have to have something to talk about with these people you know!! We are actually going over to our friends' house tonight to watch the game. They have a really nice media room. It will be pretty cool!

how refreshing.....

Stephen and I just got back from a mini-vacation. We strolled down to the Texas Gulf Coast. We stayed on Galveston Island. It was so fun. Our hotel was on the water. Lots of fun! We left on Thursday when Stephen got off of work. We ended up getting to Galveston around 11:30 pm. On Friday we headed back north to Houston. Stephen has always wanted to see the Johnson Space Museum (NASA)...go figure!! :-) Then, we went to the Astros-Braves game. Believe it or not, I convinced Stephen to wear his Astros stuff! We got there in time to see the Astros batting practice. We got some really close up pics of some really cool people. Then, we headed up to our seats. Seaction 419 Row NB (nosebleed). For those not familiar with the Juice Box (Minute Maid Park), that is the very TOP section of the stadium. YIKES! Do I need to mention here that I am scared of heights???? I mean, I won't even get on an escalator. I had an anxiety attack. Meanwhile, Stephen goes down to accommodations and buys seats on the bottom, so I eventually recover!!! I had fun after that....

Saturday.....we went down to the beach for a while. Then, we ate at this place that was OUT OF THIS WORLD! It was called Fish Tales. YUM! They had the best shrimp! Then, we went to Moody Gardens and rode the Colonel Paddlewheel Boat. This was definitely the wrong name of this boat. It needs to be renamed Yard heathen mobile!! It was covered up!! Stephen did get to meet a new little buddy though. I should have taken a picture of the two of them, they got to be quite close throughout the trip. It was like they were opposite ends of magnets!! Awww....NOT! The kid parked his little booty right in front of us. At one point, Stephen put his foot up on the rail and the kid said, excuse me so Stephen let him by!! It was hilarious!!! Come to find out, it was a school trip for the gifted kids!! :-) No wonder he and Stephen were so compatible!! After the boat experience, we went to the Strand, a downtown little shopping district. Pretty cool. For dinner, we went to Gaidos, the best restaurant on Galveston Island, in my opinion!

Sunday.....we didn't do a whole lot. We ate at a place called salsa's, not very good. We rode the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula, got to see the Bolivar Point Light. Then, we drove the island from the eastern tip to the western tip. Yes we are nerds! :-) For dinner, we ate a Boudreaux's on the Bayou. Another great place to eat. Then we went back to the beach.

Monday.....we actually went to the Kemah boardwalk. It's a fun little touristy area. We ate at the aquarium restaurant. very pricy but good. Then, we went to Nacogdoches to surprise my family.

today is Tuesday and we are really tired! Tomorrow is our 3rd year anniversary and I have an interview at 2 pm. Pray for me! Pictures are to come as soon as I download them to the computer.

great...........

Well, just as we get settled into the new apartment, i met one of our neighbors today. Not to be ugly, but i wish i had not.....

she says, "so, have you seen any snakes yet?" I reply with, "in the apartment???" Yep, that's right, she found a snake in her apartment. Ok, most of you know I am HUGELY afraid of 2 things, both of which I have already seen or heard about at this place, snakes and rats. I saw a rat on our patio (thank goodness it wasn't IN our apartment!!) Just to let you know in advance, if I die a sudden death, it will be because of seeing a SNAKE in our apartment!!!! That's how scared of them I am!!!

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more day...

Wow, almost 10 months, an eternity to some! Friday will be the last day of school at Alto and that means Stacey and I will finally be back under the same roof again (at least for the summer).

On July 31, 2005, Stacey headed to Texas in hopes of getting back into teaching and our family on a firm footing. Come May 27, 2006, we're back under the same roof and I'm loving it. While our current jobs are not in the same town and I could commiserate over what hasn't happened; I have chosen to be thankful that we are both doing something we enjoy, are not living with large scale uncertainty (i.e. living hand-to-mouth), and we are able to spend the each weekend together. Selfishly, I hope something happens in the metroplex in the near future, but right now I'll rejoice in having Stacey home EVERY DAY!!!

To those of you who prayed, thanks! We couldn't have made it through this year without those prayers. Yet, keep praying. Stacey's still interviewing and we still need it.

Interviews, interviews, interviews....and more interviews!!!

That's how my life has been lately. Not that I am complaining!!! Things here are super crazy! I had an interview this past Sunday (how crazy is that?!?), and that went ok. I had another one Monday which went berzerk! That's a whole other story in itself! I have 2 more 1 week from today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. So we'll see. I am definitely getting more opportunities here as opposed to Alabama. At least I feel a little better about myself now! :)

As I said before, things are crazy! This is our last week of school and it is just insane how busy teachers are this time of the year. Awards assemblies, field days, grades, etc.......I am so tired I think I am going to bed RIGHT NOW! :) Good night...................................

Interview!

I have an interview on Monday at 10 a.m. Please keep me in your prayers! This is a really good school district in the DFW area.

Dear Mom, guess what else I saw today...

as a continuation of my first post. Forget all the nice thoughts I had about Texas Drivers...the kamikazes are back.

Well, Stacey and I have a couple of favorite hamburger places. One is Johnny Rockets and the other is Fuddruckers. In the Dallas area, they are located almost directly north and south of one another. After trekking to Fort Worth, we decided to check out the mall that Johnny Rockets is located in Arlington.

We ought to have known that something bad was going to happen when you have a cop directing traffic into the mall. Next, circle the mall going in and out of differing parking areas before resorting to the parking deck. Thus, we gave up and got into the line of traffic to exit. When we tried to exit the parking deck, we had someone start backing out of a parking spot (yes, we had the right of way), and refused to stop while we were honking the horn. The lady literally tried to hit us in order to force her way out of the parking lot. Then, we decided to go across the street to a crafts store and here we go again with a Texas redneck and his jacked up F-250 pick-up trying to run us over in more of a sideswipe manner. I mean, this is like Evasive Driving School 101. So much for "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way". I don't know what they are feeding these people down here, but they need to find something else.

Poor Stacey, she was in such a panic mode, we left without even stopping at any of the shops. Needless to say, the grass is greener is Lewisville.

Woo-hoo!!

Only 10 more school days left!!! Can we say hallelujah!!! :) I wanted to give an update on the job search on my behalf. I have applied at TONS of schools in this area. I haven't really heard any feedback yet but my principal told me the other day that one of the schools contacted her for a reference. So we'll see. I'll give you updates as I get them. If all else fails, I still have a job next year and I'll keep traveling on the weekends. At least I have the new car......

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To all of you mothers out there....Happy Mother's day!! You have the hardest job in the world and you are appreciated!! I want to especially wish a Happy Mother's Day to my 2 moms: Lynette and Pat!! You two are the greatest in the world!! I wouldn't make it without you!! You are appreciated!!!

Dear Mom, guess what I saw today...

In honor of mother's day and remembering a recurring theme from my days at MSU, here's a anecdote of yesterday's events.

For the first weekend since moving to Texas, we actually had free time to not have to spend on moving/storing/unpacking activities. So, we struck out on an adventure to see other parts of the metroplex. Armed with map in hand, we headed out to drive down to portions of Dallas.

First, we go to a shopping complex with a large costume jewelry and handbag store anchoring it. Let's just say it was enough to make any sane male to want five testosterone injections after dealing with the suped up estrogen levels in the store and the parking lot. Next, we took off to downtown Dallas to see how the downtown area was and we had originally thought about going to the Book Depository where President Kennedy was assassinated, but passed on it due to poor directions. Since neither of us had been to downtown Fort Worth (or in recent years), we go through the downtown area and start venturing to Fort Worth. On the way, Stacey mentions something about going to a wax museum she visited while growing up. I don't really want to go, but I relent since it's near my new job and I figure the area is safe.

When we arrived at the wax museum, we noticed something; we didn't fit in with the rest of the patrons. Most people either have children or fit into the freak, geek, or redneck category. We had a couple of toothless wonders taking pictures of every statue of a president you could find. There were some of those folks you find with the bermuda shorts, high knee socks, thick glasses, mop hair do, and fanny pouch types as well. Then we had two poor fellas without any social skills following behind us in the latter part of the museum. You almost had to feel sorry for them being so socially inept. One of the first statues in the museum was Forrest Gump, and that was about as fitting as it could get. "Hi, muah nahme iz Forrest Gump, they call me may Forrest Gump!" It's one of those places it's okay to see it once, but it's definitely a tourist trap.

From there we ventured to Fort Worth and then on to Arlington. Needless to say, the trip to the mall in Arlington was awful. That's another story about rude and careless drivers we'll save for another entry.

Well, it's official...

the three scariest words I can speak are now true. "I'm a Texan."

This afternoon, I went to the Denton County Tax Assessors Annex and bought car tags, registered to vote, and surrendered my Alabama driver's license to the Department of Public safety. When it was sad to let go of something of home, I sense the Lord making me realize it is not the time to look back.

I will say that it was almost a carnival style atmosphere at the assessor's and DPS offices. You wouldn't believe me even if I tried to tell you. Maybe I'll save that one for another message.

New ride...2nd pic

Our new ride....

Well, we finally did it. We bought our first new car together. I have to tell you it was a little scary!!! It is a 2006 Saturn Vue. We absolutely love it!!

This falls under the "I don't believe it " category. I was driving home from work today and an 18-wheeler threw a HUGE rock up and it hit my windshield and hood. I have a pretty big chip and crack in the windshield and 2 dents/dings on the hood. This was only the 2nd day to be driving this new car. I was sick!!

Did I do that...

he he he, snort, snort, snort (ala Steve Urkel).

Well, we'll have a surprise for you in a couple of days...Pictures to come...

Only in Texas

this one has to take the cake. This morning on the KLTY morning show, they were telling a story about a new website run by Texas PBS stations that featured longhorn cattle for people who have never seen barnyard animals/cattle. It even has a 24 hour webcam so people can watch the cows. It's called mootube.com, and I can't imagine being that bored. Only in Texas...

More heat, less heat...

Well, looks like we have a reprieve from the heat. It was 101 yesterday followed by a struggle to reach 80 today. Looks like we have two days of bad weather before the weekend which should keep the temps near normal (whatever that means)...

Heat Wave

Yesterday's high: 95
Today's high: 102
Tomorrow's high: 98

It's only April, I shudder to think what August will be like...

Life's little ironies

One of life's little ironies happened the other day. We had to get a storage unit since we downsized our apartment about 150 sq. ft. Since, I had to go to work, I sent Stacey to find a storage unit and she came back with a contract and got us a 5' X 10' unit across the street from our apt. Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I am almost fanatical in my following of the Dallas Cowboys, but I stay aggravated at the Jones' running of the club and that includes the acquisition of Terrell Owens who stomped the Star at Texas Stadium.

At first, I thought nothing about it, but I went to the unit to drop some stuff off on Friday and noticed the place was called Blue Star Moving and Storage. Then, I went inside the office and noticed everything in there had the star of the Dallas Cowboys and there was high end Cowboys memorabilia in there. When I inquired about where did they get their stuff, the worker said that he didn't know because the owner gave it to them and that the owner was none other than Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys.

Long story made short, I guess I'll be paying T.O.'s salary whether I like it or not...

Drive Friendly - The Texas Way

As Stacey previously posted, looks like traffic patterns will have some control over our lives. There have been times which I could make it to and from work in a leisurely 30-35 minutes without any trouble, and then there have been two instances which came in at 50 minutes and one hour fifteen minutes.

Now, to be honest, I can easily tolerate the time, after all I was driving an hour ten minutes one way from Florence to Iuka, but the pace and the aggressiveness is another thing all together. I have to laugh at a sign that I see whenever we enter Texas, it says: "Welcome to Texas" and underneath the Texas flag, it has "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way". I still say that ought to be changed to a simple picture of what a friend of mine describes as the typical North Dallas kamikaze driver: a forty-something uppity redneck (think Ole Miss grad) driving his imported luxury car, talking on his cell phone, flipping off traffic while doing 80mph coming off the LBJ (I-635 for the non-locals).

Happy Easter Y'all!

GREETINGS FROM TEXAS!!!

Since it's my first post from Texas, I had to throw the obligatory "Y'all" in there. So, let's catch up, I survived the move, however hectic it was, and now I'm trying to get settled in. I just got my computer hooked up a couple of hours ago, so now I can start communicating with the outside world again. BTW, can we say H-O-T? Have mercy, it isn't even May and it hit 95 today with tomorrow expected to be 97-99. This ain't right!!!

For me, it's been one of the hardest Easter's to celebrate because I'm still in a whirlwind of trying to get settled in and accustomed to a new home and starting new routines. I have so much to be grateful for: a new job, a promotion, a new home, more opportunities to see Stacey, new places to go and things to do; that it stands to reason why the world forgets what the season is truly about. Yet, I am thankful for a God who takes care of me and let His Son die and rise again which is a better thing that all those things mentioned above.

As for the whirlwind, it has been a busy week. First, we got here and then our relocation group botched our temporary housing reservations which meant we slept on an air mattress in an empty apt. Thankfully, our stuff arrived last Sunday morning a day after the mix-up. Monday, I started my new job. On Wednesday, probably the best thing was that I had my washer and dryer hooked up and did not have to resort to recycling any clothes. On the same day, I had my Direct TV hooked up and now can watch TV with the exception of Fox Sports South or FSN-Detroit, so I'm in a pickle not having SEC baseball or Red Wings or Predators hockey right now. Stacey made it up here on Thursday evening and her family made it here on Friday around lunchtime. We were able to unpack the kitchen and the living room, now it's on to sorting and straightening. We're about 70% unpacked at this time with plenty of runs to the storage unit.

As for work, after going 4 days without a computer, I finally have one. Fortunately, it was a short week due to the holiday. The job is fun, but going to be a challenge since I am no longer doing composites, which I have done for the past 10 years. Next week should be interesting with more opportunities to get thrown into the fire.

More to come...

General Update

Our movers delivered our belongings on Sunday morning. They couldn't believe it when we told them we were going to a SMALLER apartment. They said, "Two words....storage unit!!" And that we did! I went yesterday and rented a 5' x 10' unit. We have too much stuff!! Our living room is so small that we can't even have our coffee table or one of our end tables. I have a 5' by 8' rug and when i put it down, it barely fit and it covers the whole living room!!!

We're starting to get things in order. My mom and sister are coming this weekend to help us try to finish it up.

Stephen's first day at work was yesterday. He left at 7:15 with having to be there by 8. Well, it took him 1 hr. 15 min. to get there!!! However, when he left at 7 this morning, he made it in 30 minutes. Traffic patterns will rule our lives!!

I had my interview yesterday. I'm not sure how it went, she wouldn't tell me anything. I didn't come out with a real good feeling, but we'll see. I still have my job at Alto and we are willing for me to commute on the weekends if I have to. We definitely both have to work with living up there. It is very expensive. But so far we love it up there. We have everything you could possibly want or need within 5 minutes from our apartment. I already found out that I didn't get the first job that I interviewed for in Frisco. So we'll see.

We'll keep you posted.

Kids Eat Free.....

Ok, so Sunday night Stephen and I are hungry so we decide to go out to eat. Lots of choices...I wouldn't have to cook for at least 2 months if we wanted to try a different place every night (which we won't!!!). So, we're in Texas now so we decided to find some good Texas BBQ. We decided to go to Dickey's which is REALLY good!! The one closest to us closed at 6 so we decided to go to Flower Mound...only about 10 minutes from home. We get there and there are children EVERYWHERE! and I do mean EVERYWHERE!!! There is literally even one hanging off of me!! ( and you think I'm kidding!) No, this child is literally hanging on to my rear end!!! The mother is totally embarrassed at this point, but I'm used to it! I'm a teacher!! Anyway, we got our food and sat down. We realized something peculiar....we are the ONLY people there without children. Kids screaming, food and napkins on the floor. If you didn't know any better, it would be like at Roadhouse with the peanut shells all over the place, except in this case it would be rolls, beans, and some other unidentifiable items.

THEN........................................ it all came clear to me. There was a sign on the table. Yep, you guessed it....Kids Eat Free Sunday and Wednesday nights....................enough said.................

Well, needless to say, Dickey's is off the list for a while, especially on Wednesdays and Sundays....

Update...

Today was Stephen's official last day at ATK. Tomorrow he will wrap up things in Florence and watch in his rear view mirror as he leaves for good. There are a few things that we will miss there...our church for one. Highland Baptist Church was our life line there. We will also really miss our duplex, with lots of room for really cheap!! It will definitely not be like that where we're moving to!!

We will also really miss being so close to his mom and dad. I got really sad just thinking about leaving them. They were so very excited when we moved to Alabama. Now my parents are really excited that we will live in Texas. If I had it my way, my whole family and Stephen's whole family would just all live in the same town. We can't have it that way I guess.

Stephen starts his new job on Monday. I have my interview on Monday. Please keep us in your prayers.

Our packers came on Wednesday and picked up today. They will deliver our "STUFF" on Sunday. Just in time for Stephen to start work.

We'll keep you posted.

On the road again.....

Ok, so where do I start? This past weekend was our apartment hunting trip to the Metroplex. Stephen left Florence on Thursday and stayed half way in Little Rock. On Friday he was going to go straight there and I would meet him. My car was going crazy on me so he had to come here first to pick me up, then head for Dallas. We had a good time staying with my sister and brother-in-law, ate some good BBQ at Dickey's BBQ!! Saturday morning we met with a rental agent and she showed us SEVERAL apartments. It came down to 2: 1 across the street from walmart and 1 by the mall. We ended up getting the one by the mall. Yippeeee! We will live in Lewisville, which is right by I35. Our apartment is very nice. We will enjoy living there.

We left Frisco Saturday night and drove back to Nac.; got here about 1 a.m. Well, you know how Stephen is with his tummy issues. He got sick about 2 a.m. It has not been pleasant to say the least!! He is finally getting better, thank goodness!

On a different note, please keep my sister's in-law family in your prayers. They are experiencing difficulty. Richard's grandfather passed away on Friday. They believe that he died from the human form of mad cow disease. It was very awful to see what he had to go through. They are not even able to have a normal funeral. They will not do an autopsy or embalm him. They can only have a graveside funeral. Very sad situation......

We'll keep you posted on the move. It looks like it will happen somewhere around the 8th of April.

Hallelujah...Amen!

FINALLY!!!

I can finally say that it appears the job hunt is over. The latest trip to the Dallas Metroplex has proven fruitful. The interviews on Monday went well and I must say that for a change it was nice to finally feel like I was wanted, and not a back-up plan. I have an offer and have faxed back an acceptance. All that is left is to complete the drug screen, turn in my resignation, and get the ball rolling on getting the movers here to ship my belongings. The clock is ticking, but it appears that I will hit Texas by mid-April.

While it is tough to abandon my childhood dream of being a rocket scientist, I have had to learn some valuable lessons in my career choice and my faith. Sometimes, we have to evaluate our priorities and roll with the circumstances God puts in front of us in order to be in alignment with what He has in store for us. I have no idea where this ultimately will land us, but I remain confident that He will take care of us and bless us with being back under the same roof shortly. Speaking of that, well, it may been soon. Stacey found out that she has an interview at a nearby school next week, so this is coming together quickly.

While we are happy, okay excited, we are sad, too. Leaving the closeness to my parents is a heart wrenching decision. Leaving Highland Baptist Church in Florence will be another sad point because we will miss our friends and the ministries we are involved with.

For each of you out there who prayed for Stacey and me, I want to express my gratitude for keeping us in your prayers. I cannot express what it has meant to have the prayers especially after the rejections, non-responses, or dropped contacts. Our faith has grown and some day I hope I can express it in a way that truly honors God.

here we go again....

Ok, so here is the latest....Stephen has another job interview on Monday in the DFW area. This job is actually in Grand Prairie. It is actually very close to the job he interviewed at in the middle of Feb. He has actually worked for this company before while in Michigan, so we'll see. We are hopeful; yet, we are trying hard not to get too anxious for yet another let-down. We have been on a roller coaster here lately.

Speaking of interviews, I have an interview in that area as well. What do you know, we might actually get to live in the same household again! Yeah!

Friday after school we will meet in Frisco and stay with Missy and Ryan. My mom, sister, niece, and nephew will come also. It will be fun! On Monday after the interview, I will go back to Alabama with Stephen for the week. It is my SPRING BREAK!! Yipppeee! I am SOOOOOOOO ready for a break!!

We will let you know how the interview comes out!

Hoping for a less stressful weekend...

Last weekend, Stacey and I hooked up again in the Rock (that's Little Rock for the outside world), and I felt like Mr. Murphy chased us up and down the Ozarks.

As a child, Stacey had visited and vacationed in Hot Springs, AR on multiple occasions. For months, she has ranted and raved about wanting to go back, so we decided to take a trip over there this past weekend to see it and decide if we wanted to vacation there this summer. Well, let's just say that the old portions wasn't what she remembered and it was so overcrowded that we didn't stick around to find out much more than what was on the main drag and stop at a place called Crazy Cajun's to get some good Cajun food. With that in mind, we headed back to the Rock to go shopping and find other things to do. When we got back that evening, I started feeling queasy and woke up sick Sunday morning.

Well, let's just say that my cold medicine did too good of a job breaking up my respiratory infection into a massive tummy trauma. Even after I paid homage to porcelein deities, we tried to check out of the hotel and go home, but something else arose. Stacey's car would not start... We left, ate lunch and came back, still no luck. Wasted more time and tried again, and the ignition was locked. By then, I'm getting sick again and finally give in and re-check into the hotel. Being Sunday, we try to get help, but to no avail. I get so sick that Stacey feels bad for me and goes to Wal-Mart to pick up some supplies to settle my stomach and some detergent to wash clothes. While there, the town creep follows Stacey through the Wal-Mart parking lot and she has to return to the store to get an escort. While hiding in the vision center, she finds out that this nut who chased her in the parking lot has done this on multiple occasions, yet no one has done anything about it. Great! So I have the town idiot making my already paranoid wife even more paranoid. Can I send you the bill for the prozac?

On Monday, we finally get a wrecker to get Stacey's car to the local dealership and we get the car fixed just before lunch. New starter/ignition cylinder and the car was up and running again. Meanwhile, my stomach settles down long enough to get drive home.

Surely, this weekend will be better...

Update (My turn)

As Stacey so aptly pronounced, "your turn to update the blog!"

Okay, sloth is no excuse for updating the blog, but the winter olympics, maybe???? Okay, I must confess, I love the Winter Olympics, I stay glued to the TV. Maybe it's because its full of those sports nobody cares about every four years. Maybe it's because I have always wanted to hop a ride on a bobsled and shoot down the track at almost 80 mph. I love watching the ski jumping and once I saw it in person in Salt Lake 2002, you couldn't pay me to do it. I am amazed at how frightening a sport it is (the TV can't do it justice), but as they say, "Fat don't fly!" so I'm pretty safe from being asked to do that anytime soon. Then there is the sport no one in the US gets, curling, all I can say is get CBC on your satellite, you'd finally understand the passion behind it.

Well, I spent most of this weekend camped out at home. Saturday was a double barrel of a bad day. First, the freezing rain and sleet made the roads treacherous, second was the fact that I was sick (sneezing, snorting, ear ache and sore throat) and the clinic was closed due to the weather. So, I stayed at home with the worst case of cabin fever until this morning. Three hours, two tests and a set of X-rays later, the end result was a sinus infection that blew up into a respiratory infection. Now, maybe the shot and the medication will kick in and I'll start feeling better.

As for the news most of you were waiting for, my job interview in Dallas/Grand Prairie, TX. I thought I did pretty well, but they were looking for something else. It came down to not so much my shortcomings, but not the right time. While it was a downer that this did not come to pass, I am not about to throw in the towel. I still believe God is at work doing something we are not able to see with our own eyes. Something similar happened with us coming to ATK and Florence and then again, you never know what job is going to be posted tomorrow or who's going to call out of the blue. And I'll leave it at that...

Just ask that you'll pray for Stacey on Tuesday, her class is taking the TAKS test for reading and it's a very important day. She has worked very hard in preparing her class for this and now it's time for the result. I ask that you'll just pray for her sanity and hopefully the hard work will show with the kids' results.

the dallas trip

Well, I'm about to recuperate from this past weekend now that it is almost the weekend again. This has been an INSANE week!! We had so much fun last weekend in Dallas. We were able to spend some QT with Missy and Ryan. We did tons of shopping and eating. Come to think about it, that's all we did!!! :-) We went to the Rainforest Cafe' which was totally cool but totally expensive! Stephen had his interview Monday. We haven't heard anything yet but as soon as we do, we'll let you know. I drove back to work Monday morning in time to get to my class Valentine party. There's only a few things that teachers hate, and party day is one of them!! Add to that, Stephen is in his interview while my party is going on. One good thing about it, I was definitely too busy to think about it!! Then, I have had workshops yesterday and today. So basically, tomorrow is the first time I have been at school for a full day since last Thursday. My kids are not going to know what hits them because this Tuesday (2/21), we have our state mandated reading test which they must pass in order to go to 4th grade. Whew. That made me tired just thinking about all of that, much less living through it. Keep us in your prayers. We need them. We are both tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally....all that good stuff.

Interview...

Stephen's interview is Monday, February 13th. We will spend the weekend in Dallas. I can't wait!!

A Day at the park.....

Stephen enjoys a day at the park with our niece, Lauren. I'm not sure who is having more fun....

Prayer Request

Hello all! I am asking that you pray for Stephen and me. He has an interview next week for a job in the Dallas area. This is a place that he has always wanted to work at. You know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. When I first moved back to Texas in August, Dallas was out of the question for me. I hated it and didn't want to live there. The traffic is terrible.....Well, I believe the Lord puts you through trials and tests so that you can appreciate all that He has to give to you. And this may not be where He wants us, only He knows. But I am ready to go where He sends me. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The Lord never puts more on us than we can handle.

Can I convert this to frequent flyer miles...

Oh me! In the past two weeks, I have driven 3000 miles. I never imagined doing that; not even with the craziness of our honeymoon (which was 1900). Two weeks ago, after driving to work for a week, I went to Little Rock and back (600+ miles plus driving in town. I returned home, then went to work (another 500+) and then a weekend round trip to Nacogdoches (1220 miles + in town driving) for a surprise anniversary party for Stacey's parents. You know those oil change guys are loving this...

As for the surprise party, it went well. I don't think they had a clue it was coming. I'll save the details for Stacey's next post.

While I was out in Texas, it rained like crazy (4-5" in 40 hours) - which was good since they are in a severe deficit situation (20" below normal). Yet, it was bad in the since that the roads were in awful shape and it delayed my return home. On the other hand, it meant spending an extra day with Stacey and getting some Cowboys gear dirt cheap. It was weird, some areas had grass just as green as spring, after the rains; while other areas were scorched.

Ramblings....

Here it is Friday Eve and I am SOOO excited tomorrow is Friday. I get to see Stephen tomorrow which I am VERY excited about! This has been a stressful week and I'm ready for it to end!! I had a workshop Tuesday and I'm starting to get REALLY stressed about an upcoming state mandated test that my kiddos have to take which they must pass in order to move on to 4th grade. The thought of possibly having some of these kids AGAIN for another year totally exasperates me! I'm not trying to be ugly, but......today was one of those moments though that make me proud to be a teacher. I have a kid who was retained in 3rd grade this year for that very reason (failing that test) and he is really bad and has a terrible home life. He's the one I mentioned just before Christmas about getting the toy from his secret santa. Anyways, we took an old released test from a year or two ago and he made a very high B on it. I was proud of him!! Not to mention he brought ALL of his homework back today for the first time this year. Small miracles.....Praise the Lord!!

I have gone crazy. I have gotten back into scrapbooking, full speed ahead!! In fact, the other night I went on EBay....evil.....I saw something scrapbooking I like. I should have never bid on that thing but I did. Stephen attributed it to me being a desperate housewife....well actually he said desperate heifer.....Well, I won the thing. I kept praying for a sniper to come in a steal it away from me but that never happened. I guess it was because the biggest college football game was on TV....Rose Bowl....Anyway, I am having to control myself about getting onto EBay!! My name is Stacey....and I'm a Scrapbookaholic!!

Buster....the King!!

Well, this is Buster. This is the dog that Stephen and I got for his mom and dad for Christmas. He has already grown quite a bit since this picture was taken. He is the biggest mess. He loves to go outside and play. He has found that if he cannot go outside, he'll show you...he'll mess in the floor!! The other day my mother-in-law was getting ready for work and Buster climbed up on the couch, lay his head on the pillow, and went to sleep. He will also pull the blanket off the couch and go to sleep on it. He will be a really good dog eventually!! :) By the way, this is the chew toy that we got him for Christmas and he has had a time with it!!

Back home again!

Well, at 7AM this morning, Stacey and I parted ways again and headed back on on the journey trying to get this Texas move complete. Thus, just under twelve hours later, I arrived back in Alabama. It's going to be some adjustment since we'd been back under the same roof since the 18th of December. Nice to be able to spend that much time together, just wish it could be permanent.

One good thing about being back here is that I've seen enough UT stuff to drown a longhorn steer (pun intended). I tried like crazy to find some Astros stuff, but every store was inundated with the Horns Rose Bowl Gear. Then again, maybe it's not so bad when you go to the sporting goods stores here and find nothing but hillbilly, hunting orange UT stuff.

We each had good Christmas'. Stacey received tons of scrapbooking tools and gadgets and I got tons of MSU and Astros stuff. I even managed to get some Dallas Cowboys stuff with my Christmas money. We also got a photo printer from my parents, so that will save us one headache with the elimination of the hated trip to Wal Mart for photo processing.

The weather in Texas has been almost unbelieveable. On Christmas Day it was nearly 80 and New Year's Day was 82. I could not believe seeing people in the Lufkin Mall wearing T-shirts, shorts and flip flops on New Year's Day. Unfortunately, the hot weather was contributing to the grass and wildfires in Texas (fortunately, none are near our family, but all areas are under burn bans). So far, there is no end in sight.

The job hunt continues, but things have been picking up. Two companies within an hour of Stacey's job has expressed interest and I have applied for a couple more places. Maybe things will get moving quickly.

And finally, yes, I enjoyed lots of good eating while I was away. My Fat Guys Club friends in Michigan would be jealous (Clear Springs, Cotton Patch, La Carreta, The BBQ House, Butcher Boys). Let's just say the onion rings at Clear Springs were at their finest...

Sniffle, Snort part 2

Well, as luck would have it, I started the sniffles and snorts as soon as I got to Alabama. I have been pretty sick but I have still been able to enjoy myself. We have done plenty of shopping and eating. I haven't been to see Chronicles of Narnia yet but I will soon. Stephen HATES to go to the movies so it usually takes some big convincing on his part!! Tonight we are going to Huntsville to see some hockey. I actually won some tickets yesterday on the TV station here so I surprised Stephen with it last night. Just when he thinks he has me figured out, I surprise him again!!

We are leaving for Texas in the morning. Stephen will be there until January 2nd, when I have to go back to work. I'm sure we will be very busy while there. We never seem to be able to sit for longer than 2 minutes when my sisters are involved! :-)

I smell my banana nut bread. It must be ready. I think I made enough for the whole state of Alabama. I filled everything I could find with the stuff!! I think I made too much......

Multiple ramblings...

As Stacey would say, "Have mercy!"

I'm having the worst case of ADD I've had in a long time. I guess when you couple the excitement of Stacey coming home, needing to do laundry, wrapping Christmas presents, and straightening up the apartment; I just bounce from one project to the other in 20 minute intervals. This has been going on since 7PM and you'd think it would eventually slow down. Naah! Unfortunately, it is a reminder of how much I hate wrapping Christmas presents. I am terrible at it, especially when they come in odd shapes and we have plenty of them this year. I've gotten 6 done, and 1 more to go. Maybe it'll get done before Stacey arrives...

So, I guess you'd ask, how's the hunt going? Well, after a pretty slow couple of months, things are starting to pick up again and not a moment too soon. It's been 4 1/2 months since we started the dual household situation and it's grown beyond old. Yet, I have patience and faith that God will provide in His time, and if I can be patient, the reward will be worth the wait. I've really spent most of my time searching close to Stacey's job, but I'm not sure that it's going to pan out. Thus, I have expanded my search in hopes that something will pan out locally while searching near and far.

As for Labs R Us. Well, they have made buddies in their new homes. Puppy, the yellow mixed lab we got for my dad, is having his romp at my parents' home. I gave him to my dad on the 10th and dad's proud of him. Unfortunately, while Puppy was here with me, the remainder of his litter was sent packing, but not to doggy heaven, just New York to a rescue who provides pets to the inner city. Anyway, he's settling in pretty good, just trying to chew everything that is not nailed down. Hopefully, the little fella will get a name this weekend. Chester, the black lab at Stacey's parents' home is settling in just fine. He's turning into the shadow of his counterpart, Magnum. Oh the adventures just waiting to happen...

Yet, as Stacey mentioned, we'll be together for the next two weeks and I'm chomping at the bits for it to get here. I can't wait! A week here and a week of vacation in East Texas. Will the eyes of Texas be upon me...who knows?

Out for the holidays!

One of the things I love about teaching is the holidays. The other 3 reasons I love teaching are June, July, and August! :) Just kidding! I love the children also. I am off for 2 weeks and I am so excited to be with Stephen for those 2 weeks. I am leaving in the morning to go to Florence until next Friday. Then, we are traveling back to Texas to spend Christmas with my family.

One of the neatest things happened today that just made my heart smile. I have a child in my class that is very much not wanted by neither mother nor father. He lives with grandma. It's a really bad situation. He is pretty poor. He is also the worst student in my class but I understand him. He has a very hard life. Anyway, another teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous, decided to get him one of the 2 things that he wanted for Christmas. He wanted more than anything a new remote control car. She bought it for him. You should have seen his eyes light up. It was priceless. That very much made my day. Even though he is a little stinker, he still deserves to be loved. To be honest with you, if I could, I would bring him home with me. He just needs attention. He craves it and unfortunately, gets the wrong kind of attention. I will never understand how some people can become "parents". I guess that is the one question I will ask God when I get to heaven.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday Stephen. It was on Wednesday. I have been SOOOO busy with school that I nearly forgot it! Shame on me!!

Awwww......

look at us! Are we ready for Christmas or what???

Labs R Us

Well, it looks as though our families are lab exclusive. Stephen and I bought his mom and dad a yellow lab puppy for Christmas. Then, my dad came home with a new black lab puppy today. We already have a grown black lab. Isn't he adorable! I don't have any pictures of the yellow lab yet.

the new child in the house....

Stephen and I decided to get his dad a new puppy for Christmas since he is retiring in a few weeks. Stephen found the cutest little yellow lab mix puppy yesterday at Pet Depot and adopted him. He doesn't have a name yet. Stephen is keeping him until Christmas. Some of the stories I have heard so far are hilarious. I only wish I could be a fly on the wall to witness this some of his antics in person. Stephen got about 2 hours of sleep last night. The poor little fellow cried all night. (both of them! :) ). This afternoon both the puppy and Stephen took a nap. Stephen thought he put the puppy in the kennel. He went to the bed to take a nap. He called me and told me how good the puppy was being. I told him he might want to go and check on him! Sure enough, the puppy had gotten out of the kennel. Lucky for Stephen, the puppy found a towel and curled up and went to sleep.

I do not have any pictures yet of the little thing but as soon as I do, I'll post them.

Stephen is finally feeling better. We hope he keeps his good health through the holidays.

I have been SO busy with school. I have been coaching an academic spelling team and tutoring quite a bit. Plus, I had my appraisal last week with the principal. This week we have a field trip. I am ready for the holiday!!