My, how times flies when you are having fun. It seems as if we just got back from our trip to Texas back on last Tuesday. Now it is Saturday afternoon and I am sitting here writing to you about our trip to Goose Creek SC.

Loading the truck only claimed two victims and a couple of scratches for two people. No major injuries and we only damaged two pieces of furniture. The joys of moving a lot is that ultimately things are going to get torn up no matter how hard you try to keep it from happening.

The trip between Travelers Rest and Goose Creek was uneventful and it was not until we landed in Goose Creek around 9pm that things got fun. I took the UHaul truck to the UHaul center to off load the car carrier. There was not enough space in the main parking lot for me to turn the truck around while pulling the car carrier. What to my wandering eyes appeared but a field behind the main parking lot. At first glance things looked dry and I also found several trailers parked in the field. I deducted that it was safe to drive the 26' truck off into the field so I could turn it around. What I should have done was put the truck in park and walked into the field myself to VERIFY that it was indeed safe to do so. For a fleeting moment my brain told me to question my assumption but you know what folks say about assumptions.

It took me approximately 35 seconds to leave the concrete and come to a complete stop while the truck was still in drive and trying to go forward. I tried and tried to rock the truck forward and backward thinking I could disengage it from the soft mud that I encountered. They say that the road to perdition is paved with good intentions but no matter how many good intentions that I may have had the truck was going no where. By this time I had several on lookers who happened to be at the Goose Creek EMS next door. I think that they probably had bets as to how quickly I would get the truck stuck in the mud. I would also believe that they probably have a wall in their garage that has a mark for every time a Uhaul driver has gotten a truck stuck in that very same field.

It is one thing to make a stupid mistake but something entirely different to have to broadcast it to friends or family when you call for help. They always say "You did what? What in the world were you thinking James?" Thanks be unto good manners the laughter was kept to a minimum and my friend , Paul Bunyon, and several EMS workers used a Chevy 4x4 and a chain and pulled the truck out of the mud. I know that you are wondering about who Paul Bunyon is. I want to give him credit for helping me but in order to finish the next paragraph I have to protect his true identity so that I can finish this story. Paul Bunyon , my tree felling friend, is an integral part of this story.

We spent the night at the Pastors house and got some much needed rest for all of the sore and aching body parts. Thanks to the help of about 10 people from church we had the truck unloaded in approximately 1 hour. I am so thankful for the help and assistance that we have received from our friends and church family.

Daniel Boone was a man he was a BIG Man..... Oh, I am sorry, I wandered a bit. I was supposed to tell you about my friend , Paul Bunyon, the great outdoorsman, a REAL man. Paul Bunyon IS a REAL MAN. I am not kidding. This guy can work from sun up to sun down and there is almost NOTHING that this guy can not do with his bare hands. Ok, ok, maybe I am exagerrating a bit. Sometimes he does need to use tools. Can we say power tools? Tim the tool man would be jealous of Paul's prowess with power tools.

Today is no different than most days with regards to my memory of how talented my friend Paul is with regards to his strength, agility and endurance. Not only did he help unload the 26' truck he also hauled all the trash out of our yard into a large burn pile. Paul Bunyon then proceeds to fire up the chain saw and started cutting down trees out of the neighbors yard in preparation for moving out an older trailer and making room for a more new improved and newer LARGER trailer. I KNOW that the lady in the shoe box across the street will be absolutely thrilled but that is a whole different story.

I know, I chase too many rabbits in my writing but I know that it probably keeps you on your toes. Why make writing dull and boring anyway? Lest I digress lets get back to why the power tools and Paul Bunyon are so important to this story. Just as I did not MEAN to bury the truck in mud my friend Paul did not MEAN to cut down the tree and certainly did not expect the tree to take out the power on our entire street. Did you ever wonder how to get all your neighbors out into the street all at the same time? Try killing the power on your street and you will have more friends than you would ever want.

When the power went off I was under my desk amidst all of the different power cords and connectors that have to be plugged in to get all of my computer toys functional again. There are three things that happen first when it comes to getting the household functional after first moving in. Katy works on the kitchen (food) and food making utensils. The computer network and all the essentials for getting online fast. (Must have access) and the stereo equipment comes next. We must have tunes. If we have food, Internet Access and tunes we can survive anything. Well, anything but friends with a hankering to cut down trees in the middle of the day with their power tools.

It appears that when you "change" the settings in your BLOG that you have to POST something NEW before the changes show up. So, here is a little bit of drivel to see if the changes took place.

We landed back in Travelers Rest on Tuesday August 19th fully one day BEFORE we had intended to arrive. When I get the bug to get somewhere I usually do just that. I drag my family kicking and screaming into our automobile , lash them in and put the gas pedal to the floor board. We left Houston Texas at 9 am on Monday and spent the night in Birmingham Alabama. We left Tuesday morning at 8 am and only stopped long enough for breakfast. We dropped out of warp drive at approximately 3 pm when we stopped in our driveway.

There is no rest for the weary (wicked?) so we got a good nights rest in our FAVORITE King sized bed and then the fun began this morning. Our metal shoe box is starting to look like a card board box factory. I will be retrieving the Uhaul truck and car transport Friday morning and then my fun will begin as I transfer our junk from the shoe box to a metal shoe box on wheels. Gosh, you would think that I have a shoe box fetish with as many times as I use that as an allegory to describe where we live. I guess I just hate the sound of trailer or mobile home because I get images of funnel clouds coming out of the sky looking for the nearest "trailer park".

I called Ma Bell today and they are moving our telephone service as of this Friday. I am wondering if those of you who are reading this will KNOW how to find out what our new number is going to be WITHOUT writing me an e-mail and asking me for it. . (That stands for VERY evil Grin). Since MaBell is pushing DSL in our old neighborhood and everything is FREE to try it I said "WHY NOT" we are Happily Addicted to the WEB anyway.... So, by September 4th we should receive our DSL start up package and I will hopefully be able to install the DSL modem and get online with very FEW complications. For those of you on my e-mail distribution list you will get my new e-mail address when it is confirmed.

Oh, yes, I will give you a HINT with regards to finding our new phone number that will be turned on this Friday. Two letters are IM. That is all you will get so happy digging. heheheheheh

I have digital pictures on a digital camera but the serial cable that hooks the camera to my computer is MIA. It does not help that most of our stuff is now in boxes so I guess the picture transfer and www.fototime.com album additions will just have to wait until we get moved an unpacked. I will try to do a blog and add some pictures that we took when we visited with our friends and family.

Ok, enough babbling, hope you have a great day !

I am a subscriber of LOOK Yahoo Group (stands for Loss of our Kids I think). Most of the time I just read but do not participate too much because it seems that mostly the women are doing all of the talking. That could be because we just don't have that many men OR the men that are there are playing the silent game. So, with that in mind I have been posting a little bit more in the hopes of engaging in some conversation about life in general much less our LOOK topics. I wrote the following post just now and thought it was good for me to add it to my blog for a gentle reminder to myself and others that might need to hear it too.
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Prayers can NEVER hurt any of us. Sometimes those prayers are the only thing that holds us up as we are wallowing in the funk of life. When we are weak that is when HE is strong. When we are full of pride and think that we can handle the issues of life all by our little lonesome then perhaps HE is not so near.

I am thankful for God's sustaining grace and for the extended family of Christ that has reached out to my family in the last two years. One of the things that I have been learning as we walk through the valley of the shadow of unemployment and the continuing instability is that God is still alive and He is more faithful to His word and promises than I am. I am also learning the value of living in the meantime and sharpening my ability to be content no matter what position I find myself.

I am not sure that the word "Happy" is one that truly reflects how I "feel". Thanks to our being busy with the trip to Texas and our impending move I have been able to focus on other things than our situation which still remains bleak. I know that I need to focus on those things that I can change and leave the things I can not change to God. One thing that I can change and I always need to work on is my attitude towards life, family and those around me.

We need a safe journey from Travelers Rest to Goose Creek without any major problems. We need to get settled back in our old house and then Katy and I need to find some type of employment before my next 12 weeks of unemployment runs out. I am sure that being in a familiar town with familiar people and being back at our old church home will make the trials of the weeks to come much easier to deal with.