Credit Cards, 30 Readers, & Car Damage

Credit Cards
So, I’m sitting in the kitchen right now watching Katie laugh at the credit card lady on the phone. We are transferring some of our higher balanced cards to the 0% offers that we love. The girl on the phone keeps going ON and ON and ON and ON and ON reading her script about the card, the features, and all of that jazz and Katie is laughing because the girl is having a hard time catching her breath! I had no idea it was this hard to open an account with Citi. She has been on the phone 4 EVER!  On top of all of that, this girl has a weird Northern/Indian accent, she had trouble reading, and we can barely understand the girl! After dealing with all these people in the mood to go for a run. Oh, how we can’t wait to be debt free! The last time we used any debt was Jan. 28th, 2006.

30 Readers
Thank you for reading our blog! We have about 30 regular readers and a few random visitors every now and then. Thank you to wordpress to offer Stats to monitor our blog!! That is been extremely helpful. Many of you already “subscribe” to our blog and receive our posts in your email. However, if you would like to receive these updates automatically with in 24 hours of our post, please “Click Here“

Car Damage
Murphy’s Law – If something can go wrong, it will. It did. We haven’t had to use any of our “emergency fund” for over a year now. Well, we are going to have to now. On the way home from school Friday, Katie got side swiped by a deer! We praise the Lord that Katie is OK. However, “White Lightning” a.k.a. our ‘97 Chrystler Concord has about $2,300 worth of repairs. The car’s value is about 3,300. Ouch! I think we will be getting it fixed, but we also may be looking save some cash to buy a used passanger vehicle or SUV sometime in the near future.

Well, that’s the update. I’ll see yall later!

Tennis Pros and Marathoners

Tennis Pros
That’s right. Katie and I are slowly (very slowly) but surely (not so surely) becoming Tennis Pros (probably not so “pro” either).
Some of you may remember that last year one of Katie’s b-day gifts was a Tennis Racket & some Tennis Balls & some lessons at our Gym. Just for future reference, the end of September is a pretty bad time to start Tennis as the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. So we took a few lessons and then quit for the winter. Now we are back in the swing of things and are learning alot about the game. Due to my competitive nature, I’m enjoying it alot more than I thought I would. This game is a real challenge for me. There are so many different mechanics that have to be right just to get the stinking ball over the net! This can be really frustrating at times, but when you get the hang of it, it is a lot of fun! IF I get good enough (notice the “big if”) I may join a team for some tournament play this summer.

Marathoners
Yep! Another thing Katie and I have stepped into is training for a Marathon. Now, when I say “Marathon” what I really mean is running, period. Not necessarily 26.2 miles & not necessarily a “race”. More like a switch in lifestyle that is similar to a marathon in that it takes a long time to really change previous behaviors (and it is going to be pretty grueling)! That is OUR Marathon. We want to Run. We like the process, we like the culture, we like the overall health, we like the challenge, & we like being together. We have started a 10 week plan to run 30 minutes non-stop. That is our first goal. It doesn’t matter the distance. It really doesn’t even matter our pace. We just want to go with out resting. From non-runners to runners.

When we hit that goal, we will evaluate the progression and see where we want to go from there. In the distant future, there may be a Marathon or a Half if the body holds up. There will definitely be a few 5K or 10K’s in the mix just to kick up that “competitive nature”.

So I tell you all of that to tell you this, when you see us… Ask how the running is going!!! More accountability from friends & family will keep us hitting the streets, sidewalks, tracks, tredmills, and trails.

I decided to start an online Run Log. I will post some little “running goodies” that I come across for anyone to use (such as free running music, useful tips from pros, and the like) and I will keep our log on there so you can see how we are doing. The site is http://runlog.wordpress.com

This is going to hurt.

Joey

Well, many of you know that Katie had a little boy (Joey) with cancer in her class this year. He had been battling the cancer since he was 2 and would recover, and then get worse. He only came to school a few days the second semester of the year, but he was there fairly often in the first semester. Katie, being the wonderful woman and compassionate person I am blessed to have married, went and visited him during his treatments in Little Rock two or three times. Well, on Thursday of last week, Joey peacefully passed away at the age of 6. Yesterday day was the funeral and it was a tender, sweet time of remembrance. It sounds funny to say, but anyone near the situation can clearly see the “Fingerprints of God.” Even the way he passed away, you can see how the Lord moved and prepared his parents and family for that moment. The family made it abundantly clear in the funeral that Joey was very aware of the presence of God in his short life here and often asked them to pray. They were grateful that his pain is now completely gone & so sad that he had to leave them.

Today, Joey is with his Lord… in Paradise!

Katie has been truly amazing through out this experience. Her care and compassion for this family is something that can not come from “man”! In her, I see Christ as she pours out and over flows love. She has blessed my life so much as God has worked through her to minister to Joey’s needs.

Please continue to pray for Joey’s family as they deal with the loss (especially his older brother who is in 4th grade). Katie hopes to have his little sister next year in Kindergarten.