Happy New Year!

It's kind of a tradition on this blog for me to write about what I'm thankful for. The end of the year seems like a good time to look back and remember the good times, and the bad times, but be thankful for where God has left me. Lets move from the beginning of the year on. I don't think there was a better way for my year to start off than in Hawaii. To witness the beauty God created and spend a week with my wife taking in that beauty, was amazing. We were fortunate to meet our neighbors who clued us into a few local things and we enjoyed their company. I can't wait to go back.
Next, I was able to travel to El Paso, TX to once again serve my brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling far more than I could ever imagine. Every time I go, I receive an education that is more valuable than anything I ever learned in school. The people I serve with are amazing servants of God and I draw inspiration from them, each and every year.
The bad came after that and I personally received the scare of my life. I've lost a lot of people in my life, including a 10 year span where I lost a huge percentage of the people I love, but nearly loosing Marcy was scarier than all of that. To think I almost lost the one person I count on anymore. Loosing my parents hurt, but I didn't rely on them for my day to day support, my daily laughter and spiritual growth. The thought of trying to raise our three boys without her was terrifying. The thought of not seeing her everyday broke my heart. I guess you don't know what you have until you loose it, or almost in my case.
I guess the next event was my year topper, and maybe my life topper, when it comes to travel. I've been blessed with the opportunity to travel to a bunch of different places. My trip to Jamaica was incredible. I always loved going to Mexico. I even enjoyed my trip to Canada where my brother and I were nearly eaten alive by biting black gnats. Of all those places, none compare to Africa. I recently looked back at the photos from the trip and the excitement I felt all came back. Just put yourself there. Think of how you would feel to wake up one morning, walk out your door and see a giraffe. Think about what it would be like to do a safari game drive EVERYDAY. Chad and I got up early everyday we were in Africa, determined not to waste this opportunity we had been given. For me, I think we got about as much out of it we could. To be there and serve God and help the orphans that will be living in the village, was a blessing in my life. I can't thank those of you that helped me get there enough. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to change the lives of those kids. I was proud to represent you and share the love of Jesus with those kids, so far away. I could talk about my trip for hours, which I just about did with my friend Nate who I had lunch with recently and I hogged the conversation. Throw in a trip to LA and Chicago, and my travels for the year are all listed.

Other than travel, to see my kids grow, learn and laugh, is a gift all on it's own. I may not be their best resource for their school work, but I know they want to be around me, and I'll take that for now. I know when they become teenagers, that may change, so I'm enjoying it as long as I can. We play the wii and I let them win. OK, maybe "let" is the wrong word, because they win regardless of what I do. Mario kart with Mason is basically to see what place I can come in behind him, and try to stay out of last place so I don't have to watch Mason do his "First place" dance, which I have seen a lot. I'm thinking about coming up with a 12th place dance, but I'm not sure how to incorporate crying into a dance. My kids make me laugh all of the time and I have posted a bunch of the reasons on this blog throughout the year. To see all of the things they can do now that they couldn't do last year is awesome. Max wouldn't sled with us last year, but this year plopped down on the sled and shot down the hill before the rest of us could even get to the top of the hill. Makiah has the same taste in music as I do and he loves for me to open itunes and blast some Black Eyed Peas, some John Reuben or go old school Smash Mouth. Mason amazes me with his computer knowledge and his story telling. He has a fantastic imagination, I think we'll see a book written by him on the shelves a few years down the road, once he figures out how to bring all of his ideas together in a story everyone else can follow. This year Marcy and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. I guess our short courtship didn't have a negative affect on our ability to stay married. With the schedule we keep and all of the kids, it's hard to spend any quality time together, in Iowa. I guess that is why I always look forward to us being able to travel together, we get to spend a lot more one on one time.

Work wise, I couldn't be happier with the company I work for. They were able to weather the recession, without any layoffs, and appear poised to make a monster come back in 2010. I have been fortunate to work, previously at CE Software and now Channel Prime Alliance(CPA), for companies that have allowed me to do my mission work and supported me when family issues have arisen. CPA has been very understanding with time off I needed when Marcy was in the hospital and has allowed me to work from home to help care for the kids, and avoid dangerous driving conditions in Iowa's lovely winter fun. I feel very fortunate to have a job, for starters, but to work for a company that in my eyes, gets "it" is awesome. It's nice to put the "Career" section of the paper, right in the recycle bin each week, never even having to open it.

I'm thankful for all of my family that doesn't live under my roof. I never get to see them as much as I would like, but I know they are a phone call away if I need them.
I'm also very thankful for all of my friends and my small group, who have supported me and my family through all of our tough times. They made trips to the hospital, called, texted and just poured out love like I've never seen before. They supported me in my Africa adventure, and one of my best friends decided to join me, and I don't think he has regretted it for a second. I don't have many close friends, Marcy thinks that is a problem, but I don't see it that way. The few I have I know would do anything for me, and I hope they know I would do the same. I don't have the time for tons of friends, it's too exhausting. I don't want drama between me and another person, my personality can't take it, so I limit my friends to a few select suckers, I mean, people, and I'm good with it.

I'm thankful I haven't been in an accident, and neither has Marcy and the boys. I'm thankful that I haven't been arrested, even though I was probably pretty close after the woman's bathroom incident. I'm thankful I wasn't eaten by a lion, or more realistically, gored by a Cape Buffalo. I'm thankful I get to live in the great state of Iowa, even in the winter. I can't wait to see what 2010 brings. I hope I have a few things to share with you, so stay tuned.

I love you all! Happy New Year and may at least one of your dreams come true this year.

There is no denying it.....

it is winter in Iowa. As I write this, we have about 15 inches on the ground, 2 from Monday and 13 from yesterday. That may be low, hard to tell. Plus, it is still coming down. Yesterday it looked like it was raining. They predicted it could come at 1 to 2 inches per hour, I'm guessing that is what it was, if not more. I hadn't seen it snow that hard in a long time. As I was shoveling today, I was working around my mailbox and wondered, is the postal service hanging on to that motto, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." I read it's not an official motto, but you use to hear it all the time, at least I did when I was a kid. I have not received my mail on numerous occasions and I'm guessing today will be one of them. I understand, you just might want to drop the "snow" part. When I use to deliver newspapers, no excuse, you delivered no matter what or you got docked for every paper and had to listen to pissed off customers, who by the way weren't going to work because the weather was so bad, buttheads. We had snow a few years back, that had been plowed by the street plow, and made it so our mail person couldn't lean out and deliver our mail. They would have to get out of the truck, and that wasn't happening, so we got a note in our mailbox that we would no longer get mail until the situation was fixed. This note, as I said, was in my mailbox, so they had to get out of the truck to put the note in, but God forbid they ever did it again. Nice customer service, but like I always say, if there is a monopoly on something, they don't feel the pressure to provide good service. Try arguing with the local energy or water company, if you only have one "choice" and see how much they care. So I'm not holding my breath on mail today, but I saw something else the other day that I never saw when I was a kid. I was headed to work about 6:30 the other morning, and it was brisk, but I wouldn't say cold. Marcy would say it was freezing, but I'll say it was in the 20's. nice. As I passed a school bus stop, there were cars lined up, full of kids, waiting for the bus. When I was a kid, you stood out there, "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these kids from the swift ride to their appointed school". I'm pretty sure if I asked my mom to sit in the car while I stayed warm to wait for the bus, should would have laughed in my face. To be honest, I never would have asked, it never would have occurred to me. I guess the times, they are a changing. I'm guessing there aren't as many latchkey kids these days, but I could be way wrong on that one. In Iowa they have after school programs for kids, they call it kidswest. When I was a kid, the after school program was playing with my friends and trying to stay out of trouble so you didn't get grounded. Man I got grounded a lot.
Question. When bad weather is coming, people stop at the store to pick up a few things. Makes sense, but my question is, why stock up like the city will be shut down for a month? This isn't a nuclear disaster, the stores will be open soon, if they ever close. You might not be able to drive there, but I'm guessing that is for a day, two tops. Most roads are not even noticeable today, looks like the arctic circle out there, but I can tell you with confidence, they will be open at some point tomorrow. So you went to the store and bought 25 cans of cream corn, fine, but why did you need to buy 10 gallons of water? I'm pretty sure the water system will be fine, even with a bunch of snow. It gets a heck of a lot colder in Iowa than it is today, so I don't think the whole system will freeze up. I just don't get people.

Oooops!

In this blog, I've made fun of people for a lot of things, bad driving, bad customer service and a lot of dumb things people have said or done. I've made fun of myself alot, which is only fair if you are going to make fun of someone else. I have to be able to take it if I can dish it out. That being said, I need to confess what is probably the stupidest thing I have ever done. Marcy and I had the great pleasure of a date night last night, thanks to Michelle for watching the boys for us to make that happen. We decided to see a movie, which we hadn't done in over a year. We saw Blindside, which was excellent. I thought I was going to have a severe allergy attack throughout the movie, but luckily, there was only one. Seeing as how this movie is based on a true story, I was a bit more interested than if it had been a chick flick. I must say, for the two of us to see the movie, have a popcorn and each a drink, we paid over $30, seems a bit outrageous. At least we didn't have a babysitter to pay, so it was worth it. After the movie, in which I had consumed a very large drink, I needed to pee. Seeing as how my assumption was that we were heading home, I figured I'd wait until we got there to go. On our way out to the car, Marcy asked if I wanted to head to Kohl's to get me a pair of snow boots. Winter in Iowa is upon us and snow if predicted for tonight. My boots pulled apart years ago and I have been getting by because we never seem to have money to purchase me a new pair of boots due to the fact that we are constantly buying new boots/shoes/pants/socks/underwear/food for the boys. That's what a dad and mom do right, sacrifice for their kids. The thought of me getting a new pair of boots, just before the first shovelable snow of the winter, had me excited, still had to pee. We get to Kohl's and I ask Marcy where the bathrooms are so I can relieve the pressure and shop a bit more relaxed. This is a new Kohl's, so I don't know my way around. I was pointed in the right direction, by the customer service counter, and I'm off. I find the area, see the men's room and head on in. As I enter, I noticed a few things about this new bathroom. One, very clean, in fact, maybe too clean. Second, no smell. I'm guessing because it is so new, but maybe because they have a good cleaning crew. I head down the row of stalls, when something else strikes me as odd, no urinals. I don't think I have ever been in a men's room without urinals, unless it's a one seater. I choose my stall from one that is still open and begin to do my business. Then, a thought occurred to me, am I in the women's room? No, I read the name on the door, it said men's room, but things were starting to make sense. Why was this bathroom so clean? Why didn't it smell like hundreds of men had pissed all over the floor? Why were there no urinals? Panic set in, there are occupied stalls that I passed and I'm standing, pissing into the toilet and it sounds like a race horse pissing, not some woman. I passed the customer service desk with a guy working, to get in here. Was security on its way? Maybe I'm OK, maybe this is all a coincidence. I decided to start peeing on the toilet bowl, not the water, to silence the waterfall, because stopping isn't an option. I finish and I feel my face and head flush red as I unlock the stall door. I peek out and I don't see anyone by the sinks, so I make a run for it. There are probably 10 stalls and 3 are occupied. I bypass the hand washing and bolt for the door, which happens to be frosted glass. What do I see, painted in reverse on the frosted glass, Women's. Shit, now what. I can make it out of the restroom without being seen, but I'm getting ready to open the door into the customer service area, where surely I would be spotted, cuffed and hauled to the station for being a pervert. I opened the door, and there was a guy standing at the CS desk, but looking down. I walked as fast and as innocently as I could and as I rounded the corner, a woman was coming at me, but I was far enough away from the door that it looked like I could have come out of the actual men's room. I walked to find Marcy, still expecting security to find me for a few questions, seeing as how there are security cameras all over the place. They never came. I decided not to tell Marcy about the whole incident until we got out of the store, so if security was watching me, and I'm guessing laughing their asses off, it would appear I was totally oblivious to what I had done and I could play dumb when questioned. Never had to act that out, security never bothered to show. I'm not sure that is a good thing, in general, when a man can walk into the ladies room, whether he is a pervert or just a dumbass, and then walk out unnoticed. A few things that may have helped me on this. One, it was after 10pm, so there weren't a lot of people in the store. This helped me the most, I'm guessing, because there weren't any women coming out of the stalls to see me, or any at the door as I was coming out. Two, due to the legalization of gay marriage in Iowa, there are a few more lesbians here than there were, say 3 years ago. This is a guess, but with my hat on, long coat and confident demeanor (I walked in like it said Men's, and only Men's, on the door), that maybe security thought I was a very tall lesbian. I'm not sure why I was so lucky, that I wasn't spotted, slapped or maced, but the only injury I sustained was the shot to the pride, which I could have avoided by not speaking a word of it to anyone. But doing that would deprive all three of my readers of a laugh and confirmation of just how stupid I can be. Marcy thought it was hilarious, though I'm not sure she will be sharing the story with the girls at church. Next time I go to Kohl's, I will check to see if a "Wanted" poster is up with a sketch of a very tall, ugly, lesbian.

Not again.

Another day, another broken household appliance. This time, it's the dryer. I worked on laundry all day Sunday and was down to the last two loads I was going to do that day, when I found the second to last load wasn't dry when the dryer had shut off. This isn't completely abnormal, especially for a load of towels, we have to run the load a bit longer than the original time. After the second time, the towels weren't damp, they were still pretty wet. It seems I had been giving my towels a ride in the merry-go-round, but without heat, they aren't going to make it to the dry stage. I knew this day was coming. The dryer had been making sounds like it was ready to die for months now, but you pray it will hold on until you might actually have the money to buy a new one, like 2015. No such luck. I tried to find the least expensive dryer, with the largest tub and best reviews. I wanted to spend $20 and have the thing last for 10 years, I'm knew that wasn't going to happen. I will be starting the "Buy Mark a new household appliance fund," if you want to contribute. I picked up my selection last night and installed it. We ran one load of towels and it dried them in one shot, good news. This year, we have purchased a new air conditioner for the house, a new dishwasher and now, a dryer. I'm knocking on wood right now, because we are the only house on our street with its original water heater, so it's only a matter of time.

We spent last Friday and Saturday in Mt. Pleasant visiting Marcy's family. Along with catching up and messing up Grandma's house, we got to visit a horse ranch that the family knows the owners. There were hundreds of horses there, it was pretty impressive. We toured a few of the barns that held some of the studs and new baby horses. The boys like petting the horses and we learned a little about the horse business, very little, but what do you expect for a couple of hours. One of the horses we were told was a bit rambunctious, so we were advised to stand back while the guy put him back in his stall. As soon as he did, all hell broke loose and this horse started kicking the wall and appeared to be trying to climb over the wall into the next stall. I've never seen a horse act like that, in all of my 3 trips to a horse barn, so take that for what it's worth. This horse was nuts, and the guy just laughed and said he always did that. Might want to check into some horsey Prozac. The day ended with tractor rides with uncle Rob, the boys loved that. They got to drive with Rob on the back, hard to get the grin off their faces after that. The weather was fantastic, in the upper 50's, so the outdoor activities were even better.

We got the tree up and I finished the outdoor inflatables yesterday, I think we are ready for Christmas. We are all done shopping for the boys, and I think Marcy and I got a dryer for Christmas, so a few more things for others and we are done. This has been a challenging year financially, so lets hope that 2010 is better. Lets try no major appliance, or vehicle, bills. No collapsing of the roof or flooding of the basement. No medical issues and no job loss. As long as all of this stays away, maybe we can save up and buy a new can opener in 2010, that broke this year to:)