Today Hal Eads passed from this life into eternity to be with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Hal trusted Christ as his personal saviour and while we will miss Hal we know and trust that we will see him again one day. Hal was one of Katy's older brothers. I believe that he was 48 years old. I only met Hal one or two times in the 13 years that Katy and I have been married but he seemed to be a very quiet and layed back type of person. Hal was very nice towards me and very likeable. On serveral occasions Hal helped our family out when we needed it. I know that Katy misses her brother and we are hoping we can make the trip to Corpus Christi for the memorial service. Hal was born December 19, 1954 and passed on at age 48 August 7, 2003. We love you Hal and miss you!

We spent two hours at the Job fair yesterday at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville. According to the evening news there were over 8000 people who attended. We spent several hours standing in one line after the other to hand out our resume, pick up applications and talk to recruiters. There seemed to be several types of employers present. Health Care, Cellular Retailers, Financial Advisor sales , Restaurant Management, Fast food establishments.

It seems as if Charter Communications (Cable provider) is going to be hiring 38 people for their call center soon. After you go through Man Power Temps and work for Charter for 8 to 12 weeks as a temp then they put you on full time as a Charter employee. Katy and I both have applied for these positions and are doing what we can to follow up with them via phone and email. The boys home Katy applied to is having problems with their phone lines so they have not gotten the reference checks done yet. We are hopeful that once that happens Katy will get a job offer.

Today we went back to the envelope method of budgeting. One envelope for rent, one for gas, one for.... You get the picture. For now we are putting our checking account on hold. Thanks to the account being in RED status there is not much we can do other than go to the envelope method of budeting and paying bills.

Our needs are being met. Food, clothing, roof over our heads are taken care of. Sometimes the needs are being met in the last moment but then again our timing is subjective and Gods timing is perfect. One of the lessons we are learning through all of this is that our perception of what a NEED is vs a WANT has become much clearer. We know that compared to the rest of the worlds population we are probably filthy rich. When you make a five and six figure income you are accustomed to THINGS which take the shape of physical objects as well as activities that cost money to do.

We are learning the hard way how to be more frugal. I am hopeful that we will be able to kill the cell phones and keep the Internet connection so that we can stay in touch with our extended family here on line. Nevertheless if it has to go it will be gone. :(

Signing off for now. Stay tuned for more to come!

Today was spent by beginning a new job search which began at the South Carolina Unemployment Commission. I found out about an entry level quality assurance position with a company in Simpsonville. Hey, didn't we just move from Simpsonville? I filled out the application and got set up for an interview on Wed at 9:15 am. Hopefully my resume wont scare them off and hopefully they will offer me a job. I figure that 9.00 per hour is better than 7.50 on unemployment benefits any day of the week.

I also went by the TATE TEMPORARIES in downtown Greenville and filled out an application. They apparently have some clerical work that I might be able to do on a temporary basis. Ya never know.... I found out this weekend that Walmart also has a phone number you can call and apply for a job online.

I also went by Kinkos by Haywood Mall area and got my resume and cover letter copied onto resume quality paper.

Now, I am going to Mauldin SC to bowl in my Monday night league. I think we are in fourth or fifth place and we have one or two more weeks to bowl and then this league will be over.

Do you have a Web Log? I bet you do and I do not know about it. If you do not have one, why not? Maybe you think that I am a little weird by posting my thoughts and daily/weekly/monthly updates for anyone to read. If you think I am a little weird you are probably not too far off base. My doctor says that I will be fine, he just did not say when. :)

Why do I keep this BLOG rolling you wonder? One reason I do this is so that people that are friends and family can keep up to date with our status. Its pretty easy actually. When I get in the mood to drivel I fire up w.blogger v 3.01 on my computer at home and I start banging at the keyboard. Once I am done I can post and publish to my web log with one click of the mouse. The second reason that I do this is because writing helps me to sort out my thoughts and bring order to my life. I guess that writing helps me to reflect on the events of the day or week and helps me to view my attitudes , focus and journey in such a way that I can learn and hopefully share with other people.

Why is it important to share our innermost thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears and dreams with the common Joe? Have you ever felt as if you were not talented or that even though you enjoyed something immensely you did not think that what you did would benefit someone else? That is how I felt about my writing. I have been writing short stories and ministry related articles online for approximately 9 years. One day I told an editor friend that even though I enjoy writing I felt that no one else would want to read it. I did not feel worthy of anyone else getting something out of my writing. I was reminded that people need to see the essence of who I am EVEN if I am a common Joe. I am a real person living in a real world with real problems just like you. How I perceive those problems , address those problems and solve those problems are unique to me and the life of my family. When I share my life journey and that of my family through my writing I am showing other common Joe's that their life is not that much different than mine and that they too can have hope. My desire is to share the HOPE that lives within me. That HOPE is Jesus Christ. Without Christ there is NO HOPE. Without Christ there is what the world offers and that is helplessness, pain, despair and depression. When Christ is at the center of your world there is HOPE, PEACE, LOVE and JOY. No matter how small of a JOE I or YOU might be the world needs to hear about the HOPE that lives within us and gives us the power to overcome the world in a REAL way.

You might be thinking at this point that you need to be a published author in order to do online journaling or blogging. All you need is the desire to put your thoughts and feelings into words and publish them to your own web log or journal. How well you write is not anywhere near as important as the essence of your journey. Yes, in order to be published and to earn money with your writing there will be 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Being a published writer may or may not happen for you but when that time comes you will know it. Until then just practice writing and get better at it. In the mean time you can just focus on telling the world about the Jesus in you.