Game of the Week - Pacman

Going old school this week with Pacman. This version even carries the original music and sounds.

PACMAN

FPU Week 10 -- Real Estate & Mortgages

Understanding how real estate deals and mortgages is vital to winning at the game of finances. This is another area that we need to destroy some myths that have us beilieving that we wil always have payments. If you want to keep from being normal; do something weird. Here are a few suggestions from the lesson:

1. Consider the 100% down plan for your home!


2. No more than a 15 yr mortgage; if you have a 30 at good rate, pay it like a 30


3. when buying learn to look past the cosmetic flaws and get a deal (you can replace that shag carpect and avacado oven if you get a deal on the home.)


4. NEVER, EVER get a loan that involves an ARM (you better know what that is as well)


5. hiring a GOOD realator is usually worth more than the money they cost

Day off blog

this is late but I need to keep my personal accountability for noting how I used my day off. This week it was Sunday night, which many times makes my busy Mondays go easier but often does not lend itself to a relaxing day off. I also work all 7 days this week. Next day off is next Monday night.

• worship team practice
• taught SS
• graphics for worship
• lunch with Micki and Bethany -- boys were elsewhere
• nap - it was a good one
• watched the end of the race -- Jimmie finished 37th :(
• hung out at home and read, a little time on the internet and had a pretty important talk with one of the boys about life stuff
• Monday AM let kids sleep in and took them to school -- this is cool for all of us
• worked at church office
• cleaned out the van/ did some yardwork
• baseball practice
• taught FPU week 10
• watched 24
• back to the work grind

Even in our weakness

Been mulling this for a couple days now. We often are told how great it is that God has chosen to use us to work out His will and plan. Which is true and which is cool. But I wonder how often it is that God works His plan in spite of us. When He does, it's pretty amazing to watch. Sunday's services were an example, at least from my perspective. Crunch time comes often as schedules fill up; this weekend was major league in that area. This led to a middle of the night session to complete the graphics for worship accompanied by attempts to download some software to assist burning a DVD file. This led into a harried start to a worship team practice that never seemed to quite click. After having previewed about 10 minutes of the DVD I burned and deeming it good I showed it in SS only to have it crash with about 10 minutes left. But God showed up! I finished the lesson from the notes and we had more time than planned for discussion which was definitely needed. I actually had to shut things down because worship was about to begin. If only people would engage in SS that well every week. We went to the sanctuary where the bulk of the service just never seemed to flow. Then Bud preached and God showed up again in a powerful challenge for us to get out of our comfort zones and seek out what it is that God wants us to be doing. You can read about that HERE. My point is that even through distraction, unpreparedness, Satan's opposition, and just a messed up day; God does His thing. That's why I'm glad that I get to be a part. I know that my job is faithfulness and at least putting forth an effort (see the Parable of the Talents for what happens to the servant who does nothing) and God will accomplish His will.

Is it really Sunday already?

Man the week can get away from you in a hurry. I just looked and couldn;t believe it had been that long since I had last posted. It's not like I've been sleeping the time away, that's for sure. Here are the highlights (that's probably too big a term) from my last several days:

• Taxes: I finished our state taxes . Never waited this long before, never again. Also got my parents' done for them on Thursday. Scratch one off the to do list...
• After a vacation week working 6 days at my "real job" seems to be taking it's toll
• Home repair: I am no good at drywall stuff and my patch projects are not coming along as well as I had hoped
• A promised 30-45 minute meeting at the Little League on Thursday evening turned into almost 2 hours... promises, promises.
• I got to eat dinner with my wife and two of our kids here Friday evening. This does not happen enough. And I get the awful feeling that it is only going to become more rare. I already ranted this week about my boys growing up too fast.
• Can I just say Walmart is carzy busy on a Friday evening.
• We got to practice as a baseball team for the first time in two weeks. Looks like almost alle the other teams called off because it was barely 40 degrees. I'm glad we did it. Small progress was made. 11 of 12 kids showed up. I don;t know yet how many games we will win this year but at least my guys seem to love the game.
• We had a funeral/ memorial service for my uncle Saturday afternoon. (more on this in a later post) Good to see family.
• Perry Noble made 2 killer posts this week. Read them here and here
• I am excited about where we are going at CRMC in the area of dicipleship; plenty more to come on this in coming days/ weeks
• A friend has just recently started blogging. You should check it out.
• I am excited about church in the morning. I hope we are ready to listen to what God is trying to tell us right now.
• Nascar is at Texas this week. Three words: GO JIMMIE GO
• my fantasy baseball team is finally starting to hit the ball. Hope I'm not too far behind already.

Now back to your regular programming...

Spring Break getaway pics...

I never followed up with the propmised photos from our getaway to the Great Wolf Lodge. Here are a few. You want a place with plenty of water, 84 constatnt degrees year round, a 1000 gallons of water that can dump on your head every fw minutes, and worn our kids who don't say "I'm bored", this is a great place!

You know you're getting old when...

We have all heard and/ or said that line numerous times. Tonight I had one of those moments that serve to confirm the obvious. I dropped my boys off for Youth Group.

All 6th grader were invited for the first part of the youth service tonight. Yup, my boys will be teens later this summer and sending them to youth group only confirms my oldness. I talked with another dad who had brought his daughter and was in the same boat. Where does the time go? Why does it seem harder and harder to let go, even a little? Times like this force me to remember that almost 13 years ago my wife and I stood in front of the church and gave them over to God. We are just caretakers to help them on their journey. Nostalgia and a splash of reality... has anyone seen my cane????

When doing your taxes is a blessing

OK, our Federal taxes were done long ago, the return deposited into our account. After the preliminary figuring of our state taxes we discovered that we would owe a fairly significant chunk. So procrastination set in. The money ws set aside in our savings to pay it but who wants to sent the government money absolutely before you have to? Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and figured them to be sent. Only this time I realized that on the original run through we failed to take the additional exemptions for our kids (Insert V8 slap to head here). In the end we found out that not only do we NOT owe the state, they owe us! To the tune of enough money to nearly refill our emergency fund. We can not readjust our current money strategy back to debt reduction. Had we just taken the first numbers at face value and cut a check to the state we would have made a negative swing in our finances of roughly $600; YIKES. The moral to the story?

1. Always double check your work! This goes for taxes, math homework, spell-checking and almost everything we do in life.
2. Procrastination will cost you. Was that refund money mine all the time? You betcha. I unfortunately have to wait another 10-14 days to get my hands on it.

I hope those of you who have yet to get your taxes filed find a pleasant surprise at the end of your work as well.

Game of the Week-- Extreme Luge Canyon

How far can you guide the street luger down the mountain before he goes splat?

EXTREME LUGE CANYON

Book #7-- The Mental Game of Baseball by HA Dorfman

As I stated in an earlier post, I really enjoy the mental part of sports. Baseball is a thinking man;s game. The Mental Game of Baseball dives into this part of the game. By using stories, examples, and providing practical steps/ lists the book enables the reader to be a better thinker on the field.
I rushed/ skimmed my way through this book because it was due quickly at the library and I found my self covering sections of the book without really absorbing any new information. This was my problem, not the book. It is well written and is a useful guide for a ballplayer or coach. I'll probably invest in my own copy at some point so I can use it as a reference.