Give us this day...

Danessa and I have been going through some major financial issues for the last....well...since we moved to Roanoke. During those times, we have had our ups and our downs. During the highs, we seem, at least speaking for myself, to become more self-reliant. Paychecks come in, bills go out, and we mix in some stuff for ourselves. No need for prayer because we have everything taken care of, right? And then the lows hit and we struggle from paycheck to paycheck. After all these months, it finally hit me. I was asking for some huge payout so that we could be financially secure but what I should have been praying is for our daily bread.

All we need is to get by today. Don't worry about tomorrow for today has too many problems as it is. Ya know what? It works! It's so great and liberating! Instead of trying to focus on the mountain we have to climb to get out of debt (thanks student loans and car payment), all I need to do is focus on each day as it happens. Not only that, but have faith that God will provide.

When the Israelites had left Egypt, God provided manna each day for the people, with enough for people to have their fill. When people would hoard the food, it would be spoiled the next day. God wanted the Israelites to trust in Him completely...and that is what He is trying to teach me as well.

Exodus 16 Matthew 6:25-34 Provbers 3:5-6

The end of the world

In recent news, Disney has bought Marvel Comics for a whopping $4 Billion. It's hard to think about what might happen to some of the Marvel characters that can be a little "rough" around the edges, but I think it will look something like this...


I can't even imagine what might happen with Punisher or Wolverine. Either way, here is a site that has some Q & A, if you are interested. I hope my beloved heroes and antiheroes can maintain their proper image.

Jealous?

So this post is a little late, but last week a friend talked to me about borrowing my xbox because Batman: Arkham Asylum
came out and he is a HUGE Batman fan. The problem is that he has a Wii and the game only came out on the PS3 and the xbox 360. I had talked to him about borrowing the box and realized he could just come over and we could play it some time. As the weekend rolls near, we plan for him to rent the game and us play it all night on saturday. And that is what we did. We started playing at about 630p and finished at about 530a. The only reason we stopped playing was because my box froze during a load. At that point in the night (day?) we didn't really care and got a couple of hours of sleep...literally. We managed to stay awake during the night with a steady diet of caffeine, double-stuft oreos, and pizza...the necessities of a growing boy! Good times, even though it was hard to stay awake during church the next day.

Since we were so close to the end (we only had 1 boss and then the final boss), Travis let me borrow the game until work the next day. I was able to beat it (yey!) and work on some extra achievements (see early post on achievements and me). It worked out pretty well and the game was sweet! Good times, can't wait to do it again! For those of you keeping track, we earned 580 out of 1000 gs.


Oh, and Danessa was more than excited for this to happen because she knew it would make me happy, so it wasn't a matter of her "letting me." Just throwing that out there.

Roaring down the interstate...

Funny story...

I was driving to work yesterday and was going down a hill when I heard something scraping. I pulled off the side of the road and saw my exhaust pipe dragging underneath my car. I call a friend to arrange a ride from the mechanic to work. After that, I find some twine in my trunk that I use to hold my exhaust off the ground while I drive the 14 miles to the shop. I realized that my car sounds like a WWII fighter plane when the exhaust is not working properly. I also found out that you use more gas when you have an exhaust leak...seeing as how I used 1/4 a tank to go 14 miles. I have gotten my car up to 48mpg on the high way and it took 1/4 a tank to go 14 miles! So I am driving in my grounded fighter, watching my gas gage decrease. Super duper. Luckily I was able to get it to the shop with no problems and they got it back to me by 4. And I only had to miss a team meeting and push a client back 30 min. Not too shabby considering what had happened but it was still a pretty crazy time!

Long Time No See

Wow, it has been a ridiculously long time since my last past. My bad. I lot has been going on this summer so it's been difficult at times. I've tried to pick up some more hours from work since I can see people at any time since no one is in school. Haven't done too much this summer apart from that...and going to Montana with my sister to visit my brother who is a park ranger in Yellowstone. That was awesome! We were there for about 5 or 6 days and got to see a ton of stuff, as well as hiking around and staying in a rangers cabin. Also was the first time I got to chop some wood, which was pretty fun...after the scare of cutting my legs off was controlled.

This past weekend, Danessa went home to help me out. I realized that, when push comes to shove, I am an introvert. When my batteries are completely empty, I need some time by myself to just do whatever. It had been several months since I go to do that last and it was great. I did what I also do, watch movies and play video games. It was great to be able to recharge like that and it was also great that Danessa was so understanding and willing to help me out! Good stuff!

Darius, Nessa's brother, is up right now and will be watching the dog while Danessa and I go to Maryland for Wes' wedding. Darius and Milo have been working together so that Milo can have some transition so it won't be so hard on him and so Milo will listen and not run away.

Good times this summer. I'll try and post more often than never.

One step at a time

Danessa was gone this past weekend so that she could be with her mom on mother's day so I stayed home with the dog so that they could feel free to go where ever for however long without having to worry about the dog doing anything he shouldn't. Usually when Danessa is gone I stay up all hours playing video games, watching movies, and consuming the things that are most unhealthy for me; my diet consists of microwaveable Skyline Chili, chips, Citrus Drop, and some other random things.

I realized that doing that type of thing is all well and good but it really comes back to haunt me during the rest of the week, so I am trying to cut back. This past weekend was the first step back. I still played video games a lot (Guitar Hero 3 and Halo Wars), watched 2 movies (Max Payne and Scarecrow Gone Wild), and didn't eat the best (Chinese buffet, chicken tenders, chips, pop)...but I went to bed no later than 1am both nights. A small victory, but a step in the right direction. My next goal is eat a better by drinking water and having some veggies that haven't been deep fried or baked.

Theme

I know it's been a long time since I've posted and a lot has gone on, but something came to mind tonight and after I talked to Danessa about it, she said I should blog about it...so here I am

At work, I have to videotape some sessions so I can show them at a supervision meeting to show some techniques I've used or to ask questions when dealing with a client. One of the things we have to let the group know is the theme for the family that we are working with. Some of the themes are chaos, kids rule, and lost souls but the theme for Danessa and me is "breaking the mold".

I came to this conclusion because our relationship, and other each other, do not make sense on paper or in any logical sense. Let me start with our relationship.

We have nothing in common and often see things from different points of view. We communicate in completely different ways, making it hard for each other to talk or listen because the other is not making any sense. We have had to fight to stay together and are just now starting to reap some of the fruit we have been sowing for the past 2.5 yrs. In college, we didn't eat together, except for special occasions, because she had her friends and I had mine (which also had nothing in common) and because we were more independent than most. We dated all through college but had little time together because her schedule was during the day and mine was at night. So, we only got to see each other about once a week. Despite that, we knew that we were meant to be with each other...always and forever. We got married and then really got to know each other. After that we went to seminary, even though we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. We left seminary after graduation and moved to a place that had nothing for us except that it was where God was directing us. Our entire relationship has all been based on trusting in each other and having faith that God was directing our paths together.

As for us as individuals...
Danessa looks like a sweet, innocent teenage but drops the hammer when she is keeping kids in line or someone disrespects her. She is good at photography and art and enjoys being in the country, gardening, and music. She also likes the younger kids, ranging from birth-4. She likes her alone time. She likes to be spontaneous. She likes to be the rebel.

I look like a jock but am better suited as a nerd/geek than anything. I am good at cooking and evaluation sitations and enjoy the city, playing videogames, and building models. I also like the older kids, starting in their teens. I like hanging out with people...all the time. I like to have a plan. I follow the rules...all of them.

Well, we break the mold. Nothing about our marriage should work but it does and amazingly! I am sure that when we start a family, we will continue to break those molds as well.