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.
______________________________

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.

Traveling to Corpus Christi Texas

Our journey started out this last Wednesday at 2pm after dropping off our hairy family members in Easley SC. (Angel and Sammy the Moffitt mutts for those of you that are wondering what in the world I am talking about).

I drove until midnight Wed night which landed us in Vicksburg Mississippi. I spent 45 min between Clinton MS and Vicksburg trying to find a Motel that would honor the coupons you find in the Traveler Lodge publication that is located at Shoney's and other participating retailers. I found out the hard way that those coupons are useless at 11 pm at night and they use the catch phrase "upon availability" to get out of honoring the coupons. I finally found a Motel 8 that let us stay for 44.00 for the night. That was 10.00 cheaper than most places at that time of the night.

We arrived in Garland Texas at approximately 3pm on Thursday afternoon and spent several hours running between Terrell Texas and Quinlan Texas visiting my aunts and uncles before heading over to Garland Texas where Katy's college room mate lives.

My uncle Carl is in a hospital in Terrell Texas. He was in a car accident several months ago which left him with an internal head injury (trauma) which has scrambled what little brain function he had left. Uncle Carl has fallen several times at home, broke a hip and suffered some pretty bad bruises. When I saw him in the hospital they had him restrained so that he can not get out of bed. From what I can tell he needed to be restraied. It was hard for me to see my uncle at th age of 76 years old being in this type of shape. The last memories I had of him he was getting older and not so physically active but atleast he had his mental capacity left. I guess those days are over.

One of my aunts who is married to Uncle Carl is in her 70's and even though I recognize her voice I had a shock to see her physically. I also have an aunt in Quinlan that is 80 years old and she seems to be getting along better than can be expected considering her age.

We spent the night Thursday night at Jack and Paula Bush's residence in Garland and had a wonderful time swimming in their pool and enjoying all around great hospitality. Katy and Paula had a blast talking about their college dormitory memories. Paula has two girls who are close to the ages of Kristina and Justin so they bonded immediatly and had a blast.

We drove from Garland Texas at 2 pm on Friday and stopped by Pleasanton Texas which is just outside of Corpus Christi (by 90 min) and visited with Melody who is one of Katy's Circle of Friends elist members. We spent 45 minutes there so Katy and Melody could bond and then hit the road again. We arrived in Robstown Tx around 11pm Friday night and spent the night there and went to the memorial service at 10 am at a Methodist church called Isle of the Son on South Padre Island.

The memorial service went well and I was pleased to hear that the service was used not only to celebrate the life of Hal Eads and his accomplishments but it was also a time where Hal's relationship with Christ was highlighted in a very positive way. Hal may be absent in body but because of his relationship with his Lord and Saviour Hal is present with Christ in glory.

The memorial service was nice and a full multimedia presentation with a power point slide and accompanying music helped to focus our minds on our own mortality and our final resting place.

The afternoon was spent on Saturday at Pat and Jackie Mosmeyer's home in Port Aransas Texas which is south of South Padre Island and Corpus Christi Texas. Much food and drink was consumed and stories shared about the life and times of Hal Eads.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we will depart Robstown Texas and head to Houston Texas where I will be visiting with my son Jeremy who is now a Senior in High School in the Richmond Rosenburg area just outside of Houston. It is hard to believe that Jeremy is 17 years old and almost out of high school.

The trip thus far has been relatively uneventful other than the miles and miles of endless highway. Our car has held up pretty good other than having some minor tire issues but that can happen to anyone on such a long trip as this one. Thanks to our church family in Goose Creek we were able to make this trip to begin with.




James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
jcmoffitt@charter.net

First there was Will & Grace, now Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Nip & Tuck. Prime Time Television is being invaded by special interest groups in a big way. I just spent 10 minutes reviewing Nip & Tuck and I have to say that I was absolutely amazed at how blatant the portrayal of sexuality and homosexuality.

It is apparent to me that prime time Television is a MAJOR vehicle for brainwashing unsuspecting Americans into believing that ALL of this is something that we should just tolerate. Why in the world IS IT important for me to TOLERATE sin and embrace it to the point that I invite it into my home and teach it to my family? If I sit in front of the television and passively watch the garbage and I do not make a stand for righteousness by turning away from it then I am embracing and endorsing the content. If I am passive and say nothing and allow my family to view this type of garbage then I am teaching them that it is OK to tolerate sin.

Tolerance and diversity are the catalysts for the diseases of this world that are destroying the moral fabric of our society and damaging the family unit as we know it. Just in case you need a definition for the biblical family unit it exists of hetrosexual MALE and FEMALE united under the laws of nature and Gods word as husband and wife. This type of marriage before God and man is what produces the offspring that we call children.

Two people of the same sex can not have children yet there are same sex partners that insist on the same privileges and protection under our laws. Same sex partners want to adopt children so that they can appear to be the normal family when they are not. When we say things and do things that are the counterfeit of that which is natural or righteous then we are deceiving ourselves and others. The fruit of the spirit does not provide us with examples of deception. Only the fruit of darkness provides us with the counterfeit fruit of sin.

Yes, I am conservative. Yes, I believe that Gods word , written in the bible is truth. No, I do not believe that God approves of SIN. Homosexuality IS SIN just as idolatry, lying, stealing, fornication, adultery and any other sin you can think of is labeled as sin. If we do anything that separates us from a relationship with God that is considered sin. If we love something MORE than we love God that is considered sin. Here is what the book of Galatians has to say about sin.

Gal 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
Gal 5:20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
Gal 5:21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.



I believe that we are to embrace the person and love them just as God would love them. That does NOT mean that I am to embrace , support or encourage sinful habits or addictions.

Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
Gal 6:2 Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.


We would like to believe that our righteousness and our love for God and His word and the world around us is going to effect permanent change. The problem is that the world is going to hell in a hand basket all around us and it is happening because good men remain silent and passive. When that happens evil prevails. We have to identify sin and the effects of that sin on our people and the world they live in. Then we need to draw a line in the sand and call other men and women to stand up for holiness and Gods word. We need to do everything in our power to effect permanent change in our communities through our actions and not just our lip service. We need to quit fooling ourselves into thinking that the church down the street or the clergy is going to get the job done.

If these words are wooing you into an intellectual comfort zone then please do yourself a favor and bang your head on your desk several times until it hurts. If you are a disciple of Christ then what I am saying here really is old news. I am not the first person to sound the alarm and incite people to action. The question is this. Do we believe what we believe to the point that we are willing to sacrifice those things that make up our comfort zones? Are we willing to give up everything that stands in the way of affecting positive and permanent change in our community?

Do you remember the story about the man that was on top of his house during a major flood? As the story progresses the man exhibits great faith at first and then foolishness. On several occasions while the man was praying for help God sent him a way to be rescued. I don't remember all of the story but I know that a boat came by and then lastly a helicopter. The man rejected the help and told them that he had faith that God was going to save him. The man winds up drowning and asked God why his faith failed him and God did not save him. What about the boat filled with rescuers or the helicopter?

I liken our story to the man on top of the house with the flood waters rising and our having faith that while things look bleak that God is going to provide us with the help we need. This weekend a boat came by and I want to thank the Lord for having enough sense to recognize it for what it was.

We spent the weekend in Goose Creek with our former pastor and his family. We went to Grace Fellowship Church on Sunday. The church not only is assisting us with funds for gas money so we can make the trip to Texas but they also are planning on renting a Uhaul truck and sending some of the men to Travelers Rest at the end of this month to pack us up and move us back. Ok, so maybe it is not a boat bur more a Uhaul Truck. I am not picky in the least. :)

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the pastor tell me of his plans to move us back. I asked Pastor Tom WHY they were willing to help us. He looked at me and said, "You are a part of our family aren't you?" Wow, that is incredible. We are a part of that family and have been for the last 3 years. On several occasions Pastor Tom, his family and Grace Fellowship Church helped our family as we were walking through the trials of Jessica's fight with cancer. Without them our situation would have been much worse.

There were several things that had to happen BEFORE this plan was implemented. The church finance committee had to agree to it and I had to find a place to live. Both of those pieces fell in place this weekend. The funds were approved and I spoke to our former landlord and friend in Goose Creek and it just happens that our old residence at 159 Mapleridge Drive is coming available on August 23rd. Imagine that huh? My former landlord understands our situation and is willing to help us in whatever way that he can. Can you say Praise the Lord?? I am....

Thank you Jesus for working out the details and for friends and a church family that loves us and is willing to reach out and help our family.

I had no idea that the pastor was planning this and thusly it was a very nice surprise. We like Travelers Rest but we do not like the unemployment with no job prospects in sight. I looked at the classifieds this weekend in Charleston and it appears that there are quite a few more options there than here. I also know of several IT positions that are coming available on the AFB there so I am hoping that one of those positions will have my name on it.

Pastor Tom has also approached me about taking lead with regards to the mens ministry at Grace Fellowship. This has also surprised me as well. I am humbled that Pastor Tom would entrust this to me and I am going to look forward to this challenge. Grace Fellowship is a small congregation but I believe that there is a TON of potential there as the congregation grows in size. From what I was told this weekend they now have 18 youth in a very active and growing youth ministry there which is awesome! The church is also undergoing some major building renovations this year and we are hoping that taking out the old and making brand new will help with regards to retaining new members when they come in the doors on Sunday. More importantly though I am hopeful that as people continue to come through the church doors at Grace Fellowship that they will encounter the same love and acceptance that our family experienced and are still being shown.

We are planning to head towards Texas early Thursday morning. We should have just enough gas money and we will be praying that our car does not break down on the trip. It has been 3 years since we have visited friends and family in Texas and Katy wants to make the memorial service in Corpus on Saturday. I miss seeing my 17 year old son Jeremy who lives in Rosenburg which is just outside of Houston so I am hopeful to see him as well.

Thank you, our faithful friends and prayer partners who have lifted us up as a family as we have walked down the road of life in the last two years. Your faithful prayers and support have helped us in ways that you will not understand this side of heaven. We are so grateful for your help. I know that moving AGAIN is going to be a huge hassle but I am looking at this opportunity as a HUGE blessing and a chance to get plugged in to a community of people that we are familiar with and hopefully we will be in a better place to serve God and find full time employment so we can meet financial responsibilities that have had to take a back seat while we have been struggling.

God bless

Good morning folks!

Have you heard of RSS yet? If not, you will be. Maybe this is the first time you have heard of Really Simple Syndication. Thanks to my subscription to Lockergnome I have been learning about it myself.

Do you get published newsletters through e-mail? I get quite a few of them. Thanks to the world of spammers that are filling up our inboxes with a deluge of garbage that we did not ask for ISP's are implementing "filters" that STOP HTML formatted newsletters from being sent through their e-mail servers. The positive aspect of this happening is that it STOPS some SPAM that is in the form of HTML. There are several e-mail formats but one that has become dangerous is the HTML format that allows the e-mail to look and feel like a web page. Advertisers like to use that format because it is pretty and gets our attention with all of the widgets and gizmos that can be coded into the HTML content. The UGLY side to the HTML format is that hackers and virus code writers have found ways to put destructive payloads in the HTML code and therefore use that format to send out viruses.

Lockergnome is beginning to phase out their e-mail newsletter and replace their content with RSS feeds. Here is a link to what I am talking about with regards to Lockergnome.
http://rss.lockergnome.com/

On the right panel you will find links to FREE RSS News Aggregators. If you are familiar with Usenet and the USENET Newsgroups you will find RSS NEWS READERS to be easy to use. Usenet newsreaders allow you to read published usenet newsgroups as well as respond to the posts online. Also on the right panel you will find the new RSS feeds for Lockergnome. Once you have the RSS reader of choice installed on your computer you can click on the RSS feed you are interested in and cut and paste that url into your RSS reader as a NEW FEED that you want to stay updated on. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve here but it is worth it.

I know that some of you are probably rolling your eyes wondering what in the world I am babbling about. :) RSS or Really Simple Syndication provides those that publish content a new and safe environment to do so that is FREE of ISP filters and it provides folks like us an automated way to receive the RSS feeds with the information we DO WANT free of viruses and spam. Does THAT interest you? Who needs or wants more spam? I know I do not.

Using current technology if you do not want to have your inbox polluted with HTML email newletters you opted to go to the website and read at your leisure. If you have multiple newsletters you like to read that could be time consuming. Now , as publishers catch on and start formatting their content in XML and then create RSS feeds you can just plug that content into the RSS reader of choice.

Here is a for instance. Have you been following the Moffitt Web Log or BLOG? There are two ways to get our BLOG.

http://jcmoffitt.blogspot.com ------> web browser reads this content

OR

http://jcmoffitt.blogspot.com/rss/jcmoffitt.xml------> requires RSS Reader

OR

I can e-mail you a copy of each new blog as I am sent the copy every time I post.

When you click on the RSS feed above all you see is xml content which looks like gibberish in your web browser. You have to have a RSS Reader that can interpret xml.
Ok, I have given you enough information to either confuse you or peak your interest. I hope it did the latter. Click through the information on Lockergnome. Chris does a much better job of EXPLAINING how RSS works since he knows a lot more about it. :)

Email me at jcmoffitt@charter.net if you have any specific HOW TO questions and I will help you all I can.

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.

With my new found freedom from the flea market I now have the ability to play around with my Web Log format. I have decided that the Yellow needs to GO and something new needs to take its place. I also have an RSS feed that is available for your reading pleasure even though I am not quite sure EXACTLY how that will be a benefit to you. I think that you have to have an RSS compliant reader to view it? I know that Chris Pirillo over at Lockergnome has been pushing out a lot of information about this so maybe I need to revisit what Chris has been publishing about RSS feeds. Hopefully my blog will now show up using my new template and the YeLlOw background will be gone. :)

My, how the time flies when you are having fun. August 2nd is upon us and on Tuesday the two year anniversary of Jessica passing will be here. It seems almost as if it was yesterday that I was pushing her around in her wheel chair.

My business venture ended quite suddenly yesterday afternoon. I decided that I did not need to be a part of the ongoing soap opera that was swirling around and causing more problems than it was worth. It is apparent to me that selling computers (used or new) is not a good way to make ends meet. I was pulling in between 20.00 and 50.00 every weekend after I got involved in this business venture so when you consider all the hours I have to put in to get to the point on the weekend to sell it just is not worth it. I would be better off making minimum wage washing dishes for 8 hours per day.

I got a lead from my friend in Charleston about some positions possibly coming open at the AFB there. My resume is on its way and hopefully I will be contacted for a telephone interview. Katy interviewed twice with a health care provider that specializes in juveniles with criminal records and mental health problems. If they like her references and she passes their background check then hopefully she will get a job offer next week.

Angel , our black lab, is doing much better and can move around more. Just the other day she was out in the yard trying to play with one of her toy balls. Angel is not very tolerant of Sammy, our new puppy though. Sammy seems to think that Angel is his play toy and wont leave her alone. Pumpkin the orange cat made his appearance back into our lives after the rescue party went back to Simpsonville to search for him. So, we have three people, 3 birds, two dogs and one cat in our metal shoe box. Can you tell that I am not fond of living in a single wide trailer? I think that when my parents were in the military that they lived in a trailer when I was younger and maybe I had some bad experiences that have caused this. The important thing for me to remember is that our family DOES have a safe place to live and we are out in the country where it is nice and PEACEFUL.... I do thank God for that every day.

It has rained so much in SC that we are experiencing floods. Most of the floods are in downtown Greenville and areas that have low lying areas with paved roads that cant handle the sudden influx of water that has been dumped on us during the last six weeks. Where we live we just have mud puddles since our drive way is not paved. The saying "you know you must be a red neck if instructions to your house includes turn off the paved road." Actually, it is not quite that bad. We do have a paved road in front of our lot which is something we did not have in Goose Creek (aka duck ditch USA). When it rained buckets there we had a pond by our drive way that we could have stocked with gold fish....

This next week will find me searching for ANY type of job that I can find. I have two weeks left on unemployment benefits and I MIGHT be qualified for an additional 13 weeks after that runs out. Nevertheless we NEED to increase our income past the poverty mark somehow. Maybe I need to just give up on my chosen field and just wash dishes for a while? I cant wash dishes because that would give me dish pan hands and then what would the guys say about me? LOL.... What guys and who cares anyway? My creditors and utility companies care, that is who cares....

Now that I have regained my weekends and I will no longer be hoping for flea market sales we will be able to start going back to church on Sunday. I have decided that we will be searching Travelers Rest for the church of our dreams. hahahahahah Ok, I guess that I dont really dream about churches since we ARE part of THE church. The body of Christ includes you and I IF we are a disciple of Christ. The buildings that we go to in order to gather with other believers is also known as the local church or congregation. Is there such a thing as a perfect church? Of course not, especially if we are a part of it. Nevertheless we need to find a local body of believers that we can become a part of. Maybe that will help us as we go through the tough times of unemployment and being new in this community.

   The dust has settled and we have been in our metal shoe box for three weeks. As far as shoe boxes go this one is nice compared to the one we lived in when we lived in Acworth Georgia. We lived in Red Barn Mobile Park and boy that was a dump and a half. We were one of the few folks that had two cars with shiny paint and a telephone line with Internet connectivity. You could here the people now. Hey mister, what is that funny looking box in yer living room??

I wonder if the street names or towns that you live on have any reflection on your past or future? When we lived in Simpsonville we lived on "Broken Past" street. Now we live in Travelers Rest. I have to say that WE certainly could use some REST and we fully qualify as TRAVELERS since we have moved over 20 times in the last 14 years. Katy keeps saying that we are gypsies for Jesus. I told someone the other day that we moved to Travelers Rest and they told me that we are in the dead center of "rednecksville". Oh well, what else is new in the deep south?

Our lives seem to have stabilized somewhat. We managed to get our utility bills paid up so that we could transfer our power and cable utilities to our new home. We even managed to pay off MaBell and get our home phone turned back on. Our rent is cheap enough now that we can manage it with my unemployment benefits. We live in a very quiet and secluded neighborhood with one house and three trailers. I hardly hear a peep out of any of the surrounding folks so that suits me just fine. Peace and quiet is just what the doctor ordered for us.

July of 2003 finds me in a business partnership with a local business owner who has agreed to finance a new computer business venture. Primarily we are focusing on the sale and repair/upgrades of used and refurbished systems. We are opening a cellular and computer store in the Fiesta Mexicana by the Civic Center on Cedar Lane in Greenville. I will be at the new store in the afternoon and evenings and still selling computers at the flea market on White Horse Road on Sat and Sunday. Katy may be learning how to sell cellular phones and accessories so we may be partners at the three tables at Whitehorse soon.

I am still looking for an IT job but thus far nothing has surfaced. Katy is taking a small break but I am sure that sometime in July or August after the kids go back to school (public) that she will renew her job search. Katy is fighting a staff infection and had a cyst that needed to be removed.

Our Angel (black lab) who got run over by a truck seems to have stabilized some. Angel will never be the dog she once was. She can barely walk because her right rear leg is messed up. I miss being able to rough house with her and play. Now it seems that all she can do is just lay around and watch everything going on around her. In some ways this incident has sent us through flash backs of how Jessica changed as a child when she was diagnosed with cancer. One day Jessica was a normal 8 year old girl and then before you know it she has blinding headaches and dizzy spells and winds up being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Over 14 months we watched her change from being a healthy vibrant girl to being so sick she could not even hold up her head to eat. Sigh.....

Sammy , our new resident puppy is quite the character. Sammy is approximately 4 inches long, 3 inches high and weighs in at about half a pound. You can not believe the energy this puppy has and how much noise he can generate. Sammy is the gift that keeps on giving now that I think about it since we are trying to teach him how to go outside to do his business. We should have named Sammy "Kujo" since he thinks he is a big dog and wants to attack anything that slightly resembles something bigger than himself. A puppy with an attitude.

I am hoping that I can find someone that knows computers well enough that can work for me at the flea market on Sundays so that we can find a church to attend here in Travelers Rest. It has been almost 3 months since we attended a church service or had regular fellowship with other believers. We have our friends and extended family on the Internet but that just does not replace face to face contact with brothers and sisters in real life. Katy and I have struggled on and off with the idea of trying to maintain some sort of relationship with other couples in real life but it seems that we keep failing miserably in that department. I think that the biggest factor for this is that most folks are just not inclined to be outgoing people persons. Most folks tend to want to stay to themselves and do not encourage much more than a superficial relationship at best. People are willing to socialize for 10 or 15 minutes at church and maybe go out to eat afterwards but anything past that seems to be a huge struggle. Maybe everyone is just too busy to develop relationships outside of their immediate families. Sometimes Katy and I wonder if we are just so messed up that no one wants to have anything to do with us outside of the church atmosphere. My doctor said I would be fine, he just did not say when. :) For those of you that DO know me you know what I just said and how I mean it.

This week will be spent putting together our new space that will be used as a computer warehouse for parts and a staging area where they will be worked on. We have to move some steel shelving from one storage area to another and then I have to set up four computers in our new store front so we can begin to try and sell them there. I will be there from 4pm until 9 pm Tuesday Wed and Thursday. Katy will probably be there on Monday and Friday while my bowling leagues are going on. The interesting and challenging thing about where we are going to sell the computers is that the area is predominantly Hispanic. That means that I will be learning some Spanish so that I can communicate more effectively with the customers. That ought to be fun....

As the old saying goes "When it rains it pours". We have been experiencing a torrential down pour at our house with regards to the garbage that has been happening.

Tuesday afternoon Katy received a call from her work telling her that they were terminating her employment. Katy lasted two weeks at this job and we both feel as if they did not give her a fair opportunity to address the "supposed" issues. Katy did the same type of work at MUSC in Charleston without any problems. We just paid the deposit on a single wide trailer that is 10 minutes from her job and now that job is gone. Maybe we would not have found the trailer if it had not been for the job?

Yesterday, after we were done with the flea market Katy and the kids took the station wagon over to the new location in Travelers Rest to verify the power had been turned on and the turn on the AC. Angel, our lab , got loose and was run over by a truck. Angel is alive but she is not doing that great. Katy and Kristina were pretty upset about the whole thing. Angel is like one of the children and is very special to us.
I believe that Angel probably wont play "chicken" with anymore vehicles for some time to come.

Today is the day we take our children to Camp Happy Days for a one week stay. Justin and Kristina have been counting the days and hours until this week. I am glad they are actually going to get to go. While they are gone we will be moving our stuff from Simpsonville out to Travelers Rest. One positive about this new location is that it is out in the country and is in a very quiet location.

Seven days and counting before we have to be out of Simpsonville.
We made arrangements to move within 10 minutes of Katy's job and she found out that they let her go yesterday. The excuse for letting her go was that she was afraid of the patients and she was not taking the blood pressure readings to their liking. Katy thinks that she was doing just fine and that one of the certified nursing assistants was talking trash about her to the boss. Maybe the job just was not to be? Atleast we have an almost full paycheck coming out of this fiasco on July 3rd which will help us tremendously.

On the positive side of things we will be living in cheaper accomodations and I will be able to afford them on what I get with unemployment and what I make at the flea market on the weekend.
Things will be extremely tight but that is better than being homeless or living in a motel for weeks on end.

When it rains it pours. I wonder what is in store for us next??

Ten days and counting. That is how long it will be before we are moved out of Simpsonville SC to Travelers Rest SC. We found a single wide trailer with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths to move into. The landlord there was willing to work with us with regards to paying rent by the week and the deposit was low enough so that we could afford it. We were starting to think that we would have to stay in a motel for 4 to 8 weeks while we found something that was affordable. Now we dont have to worry about getting a storage place for our stuff. Wahooooo!

We will be taking Justin and Kristina to Camp Happy Days on Sunday and then picking them back up the following Saturday. We will be moved into our new location by the time we pick them up.
The kids decided that they liked the new digs which is cool.

We have twelve days to move. Our landlord informed us that his soon to be ex wife owns the rental property that we are in and that she needs to move in since they are separated now. We cant really afford the house anyway and knew that we needed to move to something cheaper. This is forcing us to do the move now instead of in October. The search for a place to stay is in full swing. Thus far everyone wants first and last month rent to move in. My money tree is bare so that is not going to work for us.

We are having a moving sale and listing things on Iwanna.com to see if we can generate some extra income and lighten our moving load. In August of 1997 we sold everything we owned and moved to Douglasville Georgia. It took us almost 7 years to reaquire everything we sold. I told Katy that this was the last time I am doing this. No more working to acquire stuff that I am just going to have to sell anyway.

Our home phone is off and the cell phone and Internet connection will go next unless we can find the funds to pay the bills soon. If that happens we should be back online within 4 to 6 weeks. If you are reading this and we have your home phone number we will be in contact during that time to let you know how we are doing.

On the bright side of things Katy does have a job and I do have unemployment coming in until Feb of 2004. Those two things keep us from being totally indigent. PTL for that aye?

I know that we are not alone and that there are other folks that are in a pickle just like us. All we know is that we need a rest from this constant barrage of life changing events. We are weary since everything seems to be happening all at the same time. We need a break.

Come soon Lord Jesus come soon. I think that this family is more than ready....

I am starting to think that we live in a rain forrest and that we skipped summer and went straight into winter. This weekend was spent at the flea market and the temperature was 53 and it rained more than not. If you would have asked me on Saturday morning if I thought we would be able to make enough money to be profitable for the weekend I would have said no. Nevertheless going to the flea market is something we can do for ourselves to better our unemployment blues. We owe we owe so off to work we go is our motto. Some of you work Monday through Friday from 8 until 5 and we work Wed, Saturday and Sunday. We do not necessarily like it but for now it is helping us to stay afloat. My prayer on Saturday morning was two fold. I prayed that the Lord would turn the water spigot off and that he would send people with disposable income. God answered both of my prayers but not necessarily in the order or timing that I would have expected. Saturday morning the water spigot was turned off for about an hour which gave us time to unload our cars and get set up. Then the water was turned back on. We needed to rake together 293.00 to cover a rent check and the light bill that needs to clear our checking account this week. Thanks to our being able to sell Katy's computer we were able to get almost twice that amount which means the immediate emergency is taken care of. Thank you Jesus for providing for us in this way. Did I have the faith that God would provide this weekend? I guess that in some small way that I did because I did go out there even though I thought in my flesh and spirit that there was NO way that people would come to the flea market in the cold and rain.

I did not sell Katy's computer until 2:00 pm on Sunday when this guy walked up and was slightly interested in the deal. This person told me that they had been looking for a long time for a good deal and a good deal he certainly got. I told him that I thought God probably sent him by my table that day and that I was extremely thankful for his purchase. I also found out that this person also sells and works on computers and buys them in bulk which means that I may have made another local contact with someone that could provide me with consignment machines.

If I were to have it my way I would have a full time job making what I am used to make and we would not have to worry about bills and when they get paid. I believe that God has other ideas about providing for our family. Gods word says that we will never beg for bread and that our basic needs will be taken care of. Even though I have been under employed and over appreciated for over 95 days now we have not had to loose anything with regards to utilities and service. We have had to choose to sell off some of the extra STUFF that we have which are not required for every day life. Thusly Katy's computer has a new home. Are we happy about our belongings becoming a savings account for the flea market? No, we are not happy. The important thought here is that our happiness does not necessarily equate to our needs being met. Wants and temporary happiness do add up though. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy or experiencing happiness. What causes us problems though is when we prioritize our lives in such a way that we make decisions based on what makes us happy and fulfilled. We can not live our lives according to our emotional feelings but rather according to those priorities and purpose that God has for us at the moment.

I would rather that my needs be supplied abundantly and in advance so that my faith would not have to be tested on a daily basis. I would rather be happy and not have to experience stress and anxiety because of the bills that are piling up. The million dollar question is this. If everything is taken care of and there are no needs or dependency upon me to trust in Christ how much faith do I have and how much glory is given to Christ? When we are weak He is strong. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
If all of my needs are provided for and I do not have to strain or struggle with regards to hearing God then what will get my attention? When I am happy and everything is going my way will I choose to HEAR God or will I fill my days with the activities of life that will drown Him out? How will others see God working in my life? How will I grow in grace and spiritual maturity if my happiness is continually determined by temporary events and stuff that just clutters up my life?

We are not alone in this struggle. There are a lot of people who are unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps we are going through this so that we can learn how to live with less and how to maintain our faith and JOY despite of our external circumstances. Someone reminded me of Job recently. What we are experiencing is a JOKE compared to that. Compared to Job and how HE reacted to what HE experienced I have been reduced into a sniveling clot of whimpering whining. The ouch factor on that is pretty severe but sometimes we need to be yanked out of our pity parties aye?

I am hopeful that out of the whining, wailing and knashing of teeth that I will learn what I am supposed to learn and that I will be able to share what I am learning in such a way as to impact the lives of others and produce spiritual fruit and life and restoration in the way that God would have me to.

Blessings to you our friends. May God bless you and keep you as you walk out your walk of faith this day and week.

In His service
James Moffitt