Displaced Make Do in Calif. Shelters (washingtonpost.com)

Displaced Make Do in Calif. Shelters (washingtonpost.com)

Just when I thought that I endured a week this side of hell I read an article like this one. Thanks to information over load most people find themselves deluged with more news stories than we have time to read them. More often than not a lot of folks are probably paying attention to what is going on in Iraq instead of paying attention to what is going on right here in our own Nation.

When I read this article it reminded me of how blessed I truly am. By some standards where I live and what we live in probably does not measure up to what some may be comfortable with. Nevertheless my family and I have a safe place to live which provides us with the necessities of life and then some. I was reminded of this again as I read of the displacement and loss of thousands of Califronia residents who have lost everything due to the raging fires. I would encourage you to take the time to read this article and then to pray for those folks. Most of us reading this probably do not have the time or means to make a trip to California to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves. However we can pray and we can make small donations to the American Red Cross via their website so that we can do "our" part to help. When everyone does a small part all of a sudden there is a LOT of help being given to those that need it.

Life is God's gift to us, what we do with it is our gift back to God and those around us. Pay it forward!

God bless

Pictures and more pictures....

The other day I told ya about Justin and his silly hat. I just downloaded some pictures off my digital camera so here are some pictures to share with you. If you run your mouse pointer over the picture itself you will see the caption for each one. Enjoy!

Solar Storm Warning

Solar Storm Warning

Have you ever had anything unusual happen to you ? Have you ever done anything out of character and found the need to say "the devil made me do it?" If that happened to you yesterday you have a valid excuse. You can now say, " I am sorry, that is really out of character for me but I probably did thus and so because of how I was affected by the solor storm that hit us". I am positive that your response to any inquiries about unusual behaviour patterns or bad decisions will be met with much empathy once you give this reason.

If you are in sales or are tethered down by any electronic leashes such as pagers or cell phones then you can always tell your boss that " the incoming solar storm probably kept the signal from reaching me". LOL....

I read through most of the article that this blogette is referring to and it was interesting reading. I was reminded of how LARGE and IMMENSE our universe really is. I was also reminded of how awesome and humbling it is to realize that we are only but a small part of the cosmos that we inhabit. I think that we get so tied up in the daily events of our lives that we fail to see anything higher than the roof of our cars or houses and we forget about those things that we are shielded from in outer space. Some of our friends and family might accuse us of being "lost in space" when we walk around in a daze or do something silly.

This concludes this Solar Storm summary for today. :)

Yeah! Friday is HERE!

They say that time flies when you are having fun. This week ZOOMED past me and I am still trying to figure out IF I really had fun. I had fun last Monday night when I bowled a 141, 156 and 167. That is way over my average for this league which is a 120. I am finally getting used to the synthetic lanes I guess.

On Tuesday of this week I went out to Cottagville and made a sale , BA and Cell backup which equals to two units. I have 8 more units to meet quota for the month and I have 3 more weeks to make that. I spent most of my day at the Convention Center in Charleston and working with a Dental Office on a proposal. At 8 am I was to meet the Dentist at his new location and wound up speaking to him on the phone. Get me a proposal, I am already an ADT customer and this needs to be done yesterday so I can get the sheet rock people to finish their part in this construction. So, with that information in hand I spend some time doing just that. At the end of the day the customer says, wow, I need to think about this and get back with you. I think that the monthly charge was giving him heart burn. I have an 11 am appointment this morning through Telmar which means that someone saw an ADT commercial or heard ABOUT ADT and called in to our call center requesting to speak to a sales rep.

I had to put my Thursday night small group attendance on hold. I am not too happy about that since I had made a committment to do it. I wrote an e-mail to the small group leader and I know he was/is disappointed that I can not make it. Sometimes priorities really stink. I am 9 months past due on all of my financial responsibilities which means that my number one priority for now is to get my business off the ground and profitable. That means some 12 and 16 hour days for a while until I get established. That means working 6 days per week.

I hope you have a great weekend folks!

Check out the Ryze Network

The Ryze Network

I got sucked into the Ryze Network today. I started out this weekend by searching for sales leads and business networking groups on Google. If you dont know what Google is then you need to know that it is one of the best search engines on the Internet. No, it is not the ONLY search engine but I choose to use it because of how simple it is to use and I seem to get the most hits off of it.

The link above will take YOU to MY Ryze home page. I am using this home page to advertise my Information Technology and Business Risk Assesment and Asset Protection services that I offer. They offer a GOLD subscription which is 9.95 per month but I think that I will check this out a bit longer before I make the plunge. I am very interested in all of the different NETWORKS that have been started already and I subscribed to quite a few of them today.

My primary purpose for joining Ryze is to network with other sales and I.T. Professionals here in the lowcountry of SC. My secondary purpose for joining is the network with other christians and folks who have the same interests as me. So, with that in mind, you probably received an e-mail from me today asking you to join. The cost to you is FREE and all it will take is a few moments of your time to fill out the form. I think it took me all of 5 minutes to join this morning before I headed off to church.

Justin and Kristina went to Awana's tonight and apparently they had a contest to see who had the goofiest hat. Gizmo got creative in the last minute and I will be sure to upload the pictures so you can see them soon.

God bless

Dallas Cowboys are BACK!!!

Miracles NEVER cease to happen folks! The Dallas Cowgirls have morphed back into the Dallas Cowboys in my mind. I have been watching this team play (or attempt to play) NFL football since the late 1960's. Yes, I was born in 1961 so that means I have been watching them for most of my life. I am not much of a sports enthusiast but thanks to my dads interest in the team he got me hooked at a tender age.

It appears that Bill Purcell is whipping this franchise into a formidable opponent to reckon with. We shall see how they do when they face Tampa Bay next week down in Tampa Bay Florida.

Go DALLAS !! 5 wins and 1 loss which means that they are NUMBER ONE in the NFC East for the first time in how many years?

RSS Reader Review

You have heard me talk about RSS and RSS readers in the past. So, with that in mind here is a review that I read today on one of the RSS feeds from Lockergnome Technology RSS feed. So, please understand that this is NOT my review but that of Marc Erickson.


"There are many different RSS readers out there, and the choices are growing every day. For this roundup we picked some of the top new choices and even found one for the Pocket PC. FeedDemon - Full featured RSS reader with lots of bells and whistles. The Cadillac of RSS readers right now. Aggreg8 - Mozilla add-on that provides a simple interface and basic RSS functionality. NewsGator - Unique RSS reader that functions as an add-on to Microsoft Outlook. Blends in nicely with the Outlook interface. Feedreader - Basic RSS reader that gets the job done without a lot of bells and whistles. PocketFeed - Basic reader for Pocket PCs. Still at an early stage of development but we found it usable and quite cool. SharpReader - SharpReader requires Microsoft's .NET framework. It provides basic reader functionality and features. Nothing to rave about but quite functional." (Marc Erickson)

Through the pain onward to battle and victory

Today is a new day and the anger of yesterday has abated somewhat. Because of that and other thought processes I will continue with my endeavours at ADT on Monday. I figure that I am working for myself. So, what I have started in the last several weeks is something that I can build on. I know that the business is out there and that all I need to do is find it and cultivate it. I have come to some conclusions that I am not necessarily happy about but then again we all face things in our lives both professionally and personally that we have no control over. If I have no control over something then it would be silly for me to allow that thing to anger me to the point of controlling me. People are going to be who they are and there is nothing that I can do to change them. All I can do is accept others despite their short comings and try to forgive them and get on with life.

Through the pain onward to battle and victory is a statement that I heard many years ago. I believe that the pastor of Abundant Life Church in Houston Texas used that as a sermon title one Sunday. That title is a powerful statement that I can identify with. As humans we all experience pain and discomfort whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual or mental. Sometimes we experience it in all of the areas or just a combination of one or two. Pain stinks. There is no other way to put it. No matter what we try to do to mask it or hide it the pain is there , it hurts and there is nothing we can do to run from it. How long do we hide from pain or mask it? Sure, there are times when we can deaden the pain by retreating to using alcohol , drugs or other things in life. The problem with doing this is the pain never goes away until we deal with it directly. Through the pain onward to battle and victory. Some of us deal with pain by lashing out at others and trying to transfer the pain onto them and make them responsible. Somehow we find solace in inflicting pain on others thinking that since we hurt others should hurt too. Sometimes we deal with pain by allowing it to drive us into deep despair and depression. Perhaps there at times that this is a normal response and then sometimes we may not be willing to get beyond that despair and depression because we find comfort there.

Katy and I are both working through the pain of loosing our daughter to cancer two years ago. I said that pain stinks. The pain caused by grief is in the same category. People love to tell you that time heals all wounds. I am not sure where those people got that statement because I am not sure that is a realistic assesment of recovery. Maybe it would be better stated to say that over time the pain is not as intense. Over time you learn how to live with the pain. I dont think that the pain will ever be totally healed and forgotten. For those of you that have never lost a child to cancer you can not even come close to understanding the depth of despair and anguish that a parent goes through. The best thing that you can do for those of us that have lived through this type of pain is not to talk to us but rather just listen. That may be harsh to swallow but somehow words and intentions sometimes do more damage than they do good.

How much pain can one withstand you ask? I asked that question after I moved my family to Simpsonville SC and then one month later the one year contract was prematurely ended. We were 3 hours away from Charleston and knew absolutely no one. No church home to attend, very little reserve capital to fall back on and 278.00 per week from unemployment benefits. Some of you might be saying OH just suck it up and deal with it and quit being a whiney baby about it. I understand that in the grand scheme of things that there are OTHER folks out there that are suffering MORE than we have. Somehow when you are dealing with the pain of YOUR issues it is hard to find solace in the fact that there are others suffering more than you. You have two choices to make ultimately. Face the pain and deal with it or allow it do drive you under and defeat you.

That takes us to the battle. Sometimes the battle affects others that are around you. As we are fighting our personal pain sometimes others become victims of our warfare. No, it is not fair but it happens. Gosh, could that be WHY I have very few friends? LOL.... Maybe I am so deep into the warfare of fighting the pain that I just dont have time to invest in being a friend to others. Could that be? Part of the battle comes in the shape of keeping the marriage and family in one piece. Luckily for me I have the most awesome wife in the world. Katy has always been there for me through thick and thin. The other aspect of battling with the pain is that it sometimes crosses over into our professional lives.

I will probably continue this thought process but not now. I sat down at the computer wondering what I was going to say and how and you see what happened. I have more to say than time allows at the moment. I need to go get Kristina and Justin from the Awana car wash in Goose Creek. I hope you have a good day and a restful weekend.

God bless

Pictures from St. Louis Missouri

Ok gang, here are some pictures from St. Louis Missouri.

Ya got to love it folks!

I spent all week in St. Louis Missouri learning how to be a BETTER sales person. I learned the 7 step sales process. I actually learned a lot from this course. I have stayed at better hotels and eaten better food but all in all the experience was positive.

Today I got my first commission check. When I looked at it I thought that there was something wrong with the amount. So, I pulled out my commission sheet to find out that in fact I should have gotten much more than the amount on my check. After investigating further and talking to my manager I was told that instead of my getting training pay that what I was really getting was a draw on my potential sales. That is NOT what I was told verbally by my manager. I was told that I would receive training pay and that as soon as I started to make sales that the training pay would stop and I would receive the commissions I earned. So, I am in a lose lose scenario with the manager. I guess that when I signed the paperwork at the beginning I should have double checked all the fine print with regards to the so called "garuntee" that he spoke about today. That also means that the next two months if I do not make enough sales that they will deduct my "garuntee" from those commission checks as well.

As you can imagine I was NOT a happy camper. My motiation to go out and sell went to ZERO..... As it stands right now I am looking for somewhere else to donate my time and talents. On a positive note it appears that Katy might be doing some substitute teaching in about a week for both Berkeley County and Charleston County.

Gosh, all of that training , for what??

Good morning folks! Rise and shine and give God the glory! Today is God's gift to us, what we do with it will depend on what gift we give back to Him.

My trip to St. Louis yesterday was rather uneventful. The weather was wonderful and very little turbulence. I especially enjoyed the slim design of the coach seats on both aircraft. I believe that when Boeing designed the seats they were assuming that only tiny people fly. Why is that anyway?

When I got to St. Louis I spent approximately 30 minutes running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to find the "supposed limo" that would meet me there to pick me up and take me to Holiday Inn. The first thing that should have clued me in was the name HOLIDAY INN. After much investigation I finally figured out which (cough) Limo was supposed to pick me up. The Limo turned out to be a Chevy Van. The important thing is that I met up with my party and rode for about 40 minutes to the other side of St. Louis to the Holiday Inn that I am now trapped in.

For some weird reason I did not get ALL the information with regards to the itinerary here because when I got on the van some of the other sales folks told me that I would have a room mate. I said "No way!" and they said "Yeah WAY!". When I arrived at the hotel, sure enough I received a package at the front door with my room mate's name on it. My "roomie" did not arrive until around midnight when I was just getting ready to dose off. How special was that? I grunted something at him and went back to sleep. When I woke up this morning he had his head buried under his pillow which means that I must have removed the pain on the wall by his bed with my snoring. Poor poor roomie huh? Maybe I will get lucky and he will go get his own private room so he wont have to deal with my snoring.

Here in ST Louis it is 6:15 am, but to my biological clock it is 7:15 am. So, I am up and reading e-mail and scribbling in my blog. Wahoooooo. I love my Internet connection while away from home. It sort of makes me feel like I have not left yet. I can see it now. I am gone and my side of the bed at home has been taken over by the two mutts, Sammy and Angel. Well, atleast the dogs dont snore so maybe Gizmo will get caught up on her sleep huh? When I left yesterday the kids were happily doing their thing and did not seem to mind the fact that daddy was leaving for a week. Gizmo was also smiling when I told her good bye at the airport as well. I guess that 8 months of bonding will do that to ya...

Well, I have been up for over an hour already and have not had my first cup of coffee. So, I suppose that I will leave my cyber seat for now and go find java. Have a wonderful day!!

God bless

Band Competition and Jeremy Moffitt

I received some cool pictures of Jeremy dressed up in his band uniform performing with the rest of his squad. Here is one of them.



I was told that at the end of the session that Jeremy collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. Apparently he is fine and was just dehydrated. I am certainly glad that he is ok. I can remember how hot it gets in Houston Texas so I can only imagine how hard it would be to carry that Tuba around in the heat with those hot uniforms that they have to wear.

Good Job Jeremy !!

Announcing the new Jesus Connect BBS

Introducing Jesus Connect BBS. I invite you to check this out. You will need to register for a user id so that you can post messages. These message bases are Christ and family oriented so, if you choose to visit, play nicely in the sand box.

God bless

My first sale!!

Today was a day for celebration as I was able to complete my very first sale for ADT. Splash N Dash Car Wash on 109 Redbank Rd in Goose Creek. Wahoooo!!



I told you about Paul Bunyon and his family getting a new home but I failed to show you some pictures. Now that our Jesus Connect Domain server is feeling better I uploaded a couple of "select" shots for your viewing pleasure.








Did I tell you that I have a NEW found respect for sales people? LOL.... Now that I ARE ONE I can tell you that the chosen profession is certainly NOT a cake walk. I do have a new found respect for folks that have chosen to do sales for a living. As I have been told in the last 3 weeks, there are those folks that stumble through the day to day activities of being a sales person with no real game plan and then there are those professionals who have studied the ART of selling and have learned to put together a game plan that they can follow which in turn should bring them a measure of success.

I spent 1.5 weeks in the office learning what I needed to learn to get started in my training process. I spent last Thursday and Friday cold calling and wound up with 45 contacts to follow up on. I was rewarded with 4 proposals to submit and one of them has already turned into a sale. I may have another one tomorrow and I have a promise for a Burglar Alarm sale next week. The hardest part of the whole process is learning the paperwork and the work flow process. Getting into the office , doing what has to be done and getting the heck out of Dodge to do the FUN stuff which is finding those ever elusive customers.

Did I mention my Trainer/Mentor/friend who's name we will leave anonymous to protect him from any laughter that might spawn from my comments ABOUT him. Lets see, we have Paul Bunyon, the lady in the shoe and now we need to come up with an alias for my mentor/trainer/friend. For now lets just call my mentor and trainer "AWANA MAN". Some of you might be wondering what Awana stands for and WHY I am calling him this. Here is a link to educate you on WHAT the Awana program is for.

This link will tell you ABOUT the AWANA program

I know Awana Man because of my friendship to Paul Bunyon across the street. Paul Bunyon and his children and my children all attend the same Awana program and Paul Bunyon and Awana man attend the same church where this program is being held. Therefore I know and work with this mentor/trainer/friend. Lest I forget, let me also tell you that both of these men are Awana LEADERS in their church.

The first thing that I noticed about Awana Man is that he is about 6' 6" tall. That means that I have to look up at his slightly balding head and receding hair line. I also noticed that when I am around Awana man that I do not feel as if I am the largest man on the planet with regards to my girth. Awana man and I share this endearing quality. I had to laugh when I first saw Awana Man's work badge which was hung from his rear view mirror in the FORD truck that he loves dearly. Gosh, I proclaimed to my friend, you look like a CONVICT in that picture. It is no wonder he does not ever put the ID on when he is going to visit a new customer.

The most important thing about my relationship to Awana man other than our girth is that he shares my ability to be shy, mild mannered and meek. I really have to prod and poke and shove on Awana man to get him to share what is on his mind. It is a wonder he is successful at being in sales. (Pausing for the laughter....)

It is a GOOD thing that my new found friend/mentor/trainer at work does not go online and read my BLOG.... Excuse me for a second. I can see the Lady in the shoe pointing her mouse at the PRINT icon on her desktop. HEY stop that..... Dont ruin my fun, ok?? hahahahahaha

I hear my slightly worn but ever so comfortable recliner calling my name. I will have to shooo that animal farm away or out of the chair , heck, I might have to coax Gizmo out of it as well. Hummmmm the couch does look appealing too. Maybe I could curl up there for a long winters nap.....

Sweet dreams one and all! You can stick a fork in me, I am done!

Jesus Connect Domain is down

What that means to you is while the domain is down all of my blog pictures are missing. Our ministry server located at Jesus Connect.net had a crash this weekend and my friend in Houston Texas is in the process of reloading everything. I hope that he had a good backup and that in a matter of days everything will be back online as it was.

Domino Pizza delivers McDonalds Does not.....

I went over to a friends house over off of Amy road and Hollywood. No, not Hollywood California but rather Hollywood Street in Duck Ditch USA. I can assure you I live no where near Hollywood. I ate part of the new philly cheesesteak pizza that they are advertising. I ate it and then about 45 min later it drug me to the bathroom at my friends house. Need I say more about THAT picture? All I can say is that I almost needed to have oxygen pumped in to that part of the house.

So, I guess you could say that I got my moneys worth out of the FREE dominos pizza that I consumed. The meal that just kept on giving and giving and giving. What does that have to do with McDonalds? Go to McDonalds and order anything. Be sure to order a small drink. After your meal you will probably be thirsty and will find yourself wandering back to the counter in the hopes of finding an intelligent person to greet you. I dare you to ask them for a cup for a drink of water. Heck, skip asking for the cup, just ask for some water. They will tell you that they do not serve FREE water but rather have decided to sell you a 32 ounce bottle of water. Spring water that is, not just any sulfer water that you might find gurggling from one of the many wells here in Duck Ditch.

I will never forget how rediculous this was. I was so stunned by the idiocy of the whole concept that I found msyelf stumbling away from the counter mumbling under my breath.
Me, at loss for words, how can THAT be? Trust me, it happened.

Last night Katy and I watched the movie HOT CHICK.... The movie was probably not appropriate for an 8 year old son nor my 12 year old daughter. Kristina, the 12 year old daughter was not really bothered by anything in the movie. In retrospect I guess that means that she knows more about the birds and the bees that either of her parents realize at this point. How scary is that boys and girls?? I almost forgot. Our 8 year old son, Justin, just giggled through 90% of the movie and kept his head hidden in his favorite "blankie". I guess that means that he is not damaged just yet. PTL for that.

This evening while consuming the man eating pizza I watched 2Fast and 2Furious as well as Dream Catcher. Mark it on the calendar folks. I watched two movies that I have NEVER seen before. What is even scarier is that my friend allowed is baby boy to watch Dream Catcher. How is the baby you ask? Can you say 2 or 3 ?? There were scenes in this movie that would give most grown adults nightmares for a week. There was this child sitting in daddies lap firmly grasping his "nook nook" between his lips and taking it all in. I looked at Dad and asked him about the wisdom of letting his boy watch such things at a tender age and he told me " oh we let our children watch anything and everything....".

For those of you waiting for an update on my latest career endeavour here goes. I spent last Thursday and Friday wearing my tie and ADT "official" name tag and visited 45 different businesses. I did 35 on Thursday and 10 on Friday. Out of all those contacts I wound up with 3 proposals. One add on proposal for a camera system (add on not new sale) a BA proposal (Burglar Alarm) and another camera system ADD ON for Dollar General in Duck Ditch USA. I also ran across two residential sales leads that I passed on to my manager. Just yesterday I was at Splash N Dash INC which is a brand spanking new car wash in (you guessed it) Quack Quack USA and wound up giving a tri fold hand out to the business owner who was on site. It turns out that the owner is interested in one color camera to watch her spiffy new Laser "touchless" car wash bay via our camera and a high speed Internet connection. So, she wants a proposal for that tomorrow. She told me that if she gets the system and likes it she will duplicate that in her Summerville store.

I guess that you could say that my first two days on the job pounding the pavement was a smashing sucess. Half the battle is over, I have their interest, now to do the proposals and complete the actual sale which in turn will net me a nice little bonus prize at the end of the week.

The Exemplary Husband small group is moving right along. Last week I spent 4 hours studying chapter 4 and when I was done I thought to myself. Gosh, I am glad that I disciplined myself to get that out of the way all in one sitting. Then I picked up the check list to find out that Chapter 5 and 6 were the two chapters required for Thursdays group meeting. Those chapters cost me another 2.5 hours over the next two days. So, all in all I spent about 8 hours in three chapters and wrote about 5 pages worth of notes. We are going to cover chapter 7 this week and we have until chapter 15 of the book which is at the end. That means another 8 fun filled weeks of learning how to be a BETTER more Christ like husband. My hope is that I will be a better husband. On occasion I have engaged Katy in the process by reading to her definitions and principles to verify those areas that I am a big dope in as well as those areas where I do ok. Katy is reduced to fits of laughter at some of the things that I read her which ultimately means that I have hit a hot spot with those topics. GULP.....

Lest I forget, the lady in the shoe across the street has a new BOOT to move into next to us. I say "boot" because this place is 2 times bigger than what she is in now. I actually got a semi guided tour of the new home yesterday and this place is very NICE. I know that the family across the street (Paul Bunyon and his wife and 7 children) will absolutely LOVE the new digs.....

Well, I guess that is all for now. That should update ya until next time. Have a great week and enjoy Life to its fullest.

God bless

You probably noticed that I did NOT say anything about my bowling scores last night. Oh my gosh. I think that Justin , my 8 year old son would have done much better. It is a good thing I bowl for fun and not for the money because I would be a starving bowler about right now.

I was released out of my cage for the day to ride along with my mentor/trainer. I can not tell if this person is corrupting me or actually trying to train me. LOL... No , actually this person is good at what they do and they are doing their best to teach me something. Hopefully my business cards will come to me either tomorrow or Wed and they will set me free to try and go sell some security products and services in the greater Charleston area.   

The weather here in Duck Ditch is absolutely wonderful. It got up to 73 degrees today with clear skies. What a huge blessing that has been. The dog days of summer are over and FALL is in the air.

You have got to love training. Here I sit at the office wondering what to do next. I think that perhaps my mind works just a tad faster than they are used to here. I want to run out of the building, get into my car and drive down to Office Depot and get my own business cards and start making calls on small businesses. I understand that I am not completely ready to answer every single question that someone might want to ask but then again I wont be ready to do that for quite a few months from now. So, here I sit, waiting on the slow, tedious process of training to take place while I make a whopping 6.25 per hour. I know that I have to be patient and play the game. So, here I am sitting here in my monkey suit wondering if my boss will show back up at the office this afternoon to review my work. I finished that an hour ago. Yeah me!! Go team. Show me the money. LOL...

It is sort of weird being on the end user side of technology vs being the one responsible for making it work. I am listening to all of the old hands here whine about ADT going to using Outlook Web Access vs the users utilizing Outlook Express to get their email. I am sitting here just listening to them thinking about how wonderful it is that I dont have to try to console them or explain to them WHY the company chose to go this route or whatever. I can act like the dumb and ignorant and no one is the wiser. Yahooooo!

The lady in the shoe is getting her new shoe today. They are going to come back on Wed with the giant shoe laces to put her larger, more roomier shoe together. I asked my neighbor if she was packed yet and she laughed at that. I asked her if she was going to use the AIR FLOW method of moving where you get a LARGE fan and start throwing stuff in front of it and point it in the general direction of where you want it to land. Something was said about the dump and burn method of moving. I hope she does not do that with all of the critters that she has fenced in behind her current home. Poor ducks and chickens will NOT be happy about that.

When I get home later this evening I will let you know how good I did at bowling or how poorly I did. If I do not say anything and ignore the subject alltogether you know that I really had a bad night. However, if I break 100 every game and atleast get a 130 or above I will be pretty happy since I have a whopping 114 average right now. How sad is that boys and girls? I had a 157 average over at Golden Lanes in Greenville SC last year. Then again I bowled on 4 different leagues. They say practice makes perfect and whoever they are they are correct.

Okie dokie, the boss called me on the cell while I was beating this out on my keyboard telling me that he wont see me until the AM. That means that this mousie is outta here.

Have a great evening folks.

Fly Baby Reunions in Mt Pleasant South Carolina

The highlight of this week for Katy and I was on Saturday evening when we were able to make a Fly Baby and Blogger enthusiast connection. Patty met up with us over in Mt. Pleasant SC which is about 35 min from Duck Ditch USA.



Patty and Katy together



James , Patty & Katy

The Fly Baby group (Katy and Patty) and I had a good time eating at Outback Steak House and talking about our interests. This was the first time for Patty to have met someone that she knew online. This will be our fifth or sixth time over the last 10 years. Patty told me via IM yesterday and today that after meeting us that she has been encouraged to do some of those Fly Lady "tasks" that really needed to get done. Its nice to know that I have had some kind of positive influence but I dont think I can take credit for it.



Patty showed us her bright yellow VW Bug and when you look inside you find the following fuzzy creatures. They are SO CUTE!!




The LARGE yellow Sun Flower was special to Katy and I because our Jessica was fond of them.





This is a recent picture of Kristina (on left) and Tanda on the right. These two are very cloes and go to the same school together.


Well, I would like to say more BUT it seems as if all the online IM critters are surfacing and since I have not been online much they are hopping all over for my attention. So, with that in mind I will leave you with this pictorial update and wish you a blessed, safe and productive week.

God bless

What is in your hand?

In Exodus Chapter 4 verse 2 it says " Then the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?" In this chapter we see that God is calling Moses to fulfill His purpose with regards to bringing the children of Israel out of captivity. Moses knew that he was supposed to approach the Pharaoh and represent God and demand that he let His people go. You know the story, we have all read it in Sunday School.

Our pastor is out of town at a Chaplains convention in Chicago IL. Our visiting speaker used the scripture reading out of Exodus Chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 for his sermon topic. The following points were made and I feel that they speak powerfully to our lives if we will only let them.

Sermon points by Doug Dickerson at Grace Fellowship Church September 21, 2003

Moses doubted his ability to do what God asked of him. He doubted because of "doubt and fear" and "low self esteem".


God will help you work out your fear but will NOT work with your fear.

God desires for us to rise above our circumstances and inadequacies so that He can use us to fulfill His purposes.

God is not interested in "what ifs" but rather what is in your hands.

God empowers us through our obedience

Who God IS, is more important than what our circumstances or problems

What is in your hand?

What can God use in your life to touch others?

The very thing that keeps us from using what is in our hand is in our hearts. Doubt, fear, low self esteem, low self confidence etc.....

What is in your hand is the very evidence of God

What is in your hand is an extension of God

God works through His people to accomplish His purposes

In obedience we bring our gifts to God, no matter how big or small, then God takes those gifts and he multiplies them so that he can use us to accomplish his purposes

We can be blessed with the gift God brings us or we can choose to bless others with that gift

What I do not have is not what matters, it is what I do have and what I do with it

What is in your hand is an expression of God. Love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness etc...

God takes our gift , multiplies it, then uses our hands to distribute the blessings to others that need them

If we dont use the talents God gave us we will loose them

God gives us gifts and talents so that they can be used not so that we can horde them and keep them to ourselves and become stagnant.

We need to invest in the lives of other people with these gifts

Examine what is in your hand and ask yourself how long you will keep hanging on to it

We should pray that God will show us how to let our hands be an extension of who He is to the community of people we are in.

Here are a few thoughts of my own as I reflect on what I got out of todays message and challenge.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

When we read the word of God we need to count the cost and realize that God's word is not designed to make us feel comfortable but rather to reveal Gods glory, majesty, holiness, righteousness and purpose for our lives.


Jam 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Jam 1:23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
Jam 1:24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Jam 1:25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.


The Holy Spirit takes the scriptures and brings relevance to our lives by speaking to our spirit about where we are at and where we have come from. We are admonished to do what is right with regards to our relationship with God and we are encouraged to be all that we can be for the kingdom. We have a choice to either get with the program and become the men and women of God or we can choose to ignore what the Holy Spirit is teaching us about our character and purpose.

I am thankful that in the past I have been blessed to both receive a gift or talent and to use that gift or talent to bless others. Like Moses I too have had to wrestle with fear, doubt and low self esteem. My confidence level was not where I wanted it to be when God has chosen to use me in whatever endeavour that He chose for me at those times in my life. I can remember several occasions where the task at hand was very daunting and I doubted my ability to make the grade. Do you really want to use me Lord? Then after the doubt comes all of the "but what ifs?" What if they perceive me as inadequate Lord?
What if they think thus and so? What about my looks Lord, I am too fat, thin, tall, short etc.?? How many times do we compare ourselves to our neighbors and feel so inadequate next to them?

So, the question that I leave you with is the same one that I was asked today. What IS in your hand? What has God given you? What talent or gift has God given you and are you still holding on to the gift and have not let it go ? Is your talent or gift blessing the life of someone else today? Yes, it is good that I have been blessed in the past and that God has used me back then. Those days are in the history book so I must not revel in what happened in the past and look to the future to see HOW God is going to use me today. How will we invest in the lives of our fellow man and bless them? We have the power of life and death in our tongue. How will we motivate others into love and good deeds?

Heb 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.