Lessons

This past year has been one of roller coaster like extremes. Yet the one thing that has been constant in all of this has been the never ending unwavering love of G_d. Over the past year just about everything has been stripped out from under us. From the death of our son to the loss of my job right when we needed it the most, totally devastated us. It shook us to our foundations. The funny thing is that when you are shook to your foundation you find out just what that foundation is. For us it was Yeshua's love and grace. When the entire world was falling down around us He held us, comforted us, and sustained us. The one thing that I have found the hardest in all of this is writing about it all. I am normally a quiet reserved man, not given to discussing my personal pain. I would like to share what I have learned in all of the pain.

I have learned how to persevere through unimaginable pain. I once thought that the loss of one of my children would be the end of me. I have learned it is not. Has it changed me? Yes it has, but not in the ways I would have expected. I have learned to have more empathy for one thing, that has aways been hard for me. I have also learned that there are people out there ready to love regardless of your circumstance. I think that the most important thing I have learned is that He is more real than I could have ever imagined. Losing Samuel was the singularly hardest thing I have ever been through. When I was brought to my knees and laid lower than I could have thought possible Yeshua picked me up, dusted me off, and just held me in His arms. No words were ever needed. I wish I could adequately explain the experience, but I know that I could not do it justice. Life goes on and we still face struggles but we have learned to simply trust Him in all things He has a plan and it is perfect, that is assured. When things get bad I can always climb back up in my Daddy's lap and let Him take care of it.

Your Love Oh Lord

The Beast

We now have "new" transportation. It is large, ungainly, and hard to park. It needs new paint and new tires (what used vehicle doesn't). The inside is very well kept for an 18 yo van, the engine is in good shape, and there is more than enough room for the entire family.

While driving around last night I kept saying this thing is a beast. Now the van has a name "The Beast"

Vehicle Needs

As most of you know Birdie and I have been without a car of our own for about 6 months. This may all come to an end next week. Between a generous bonus from my employer and returning an expensive part for the van that has given up the ghost we now have enough money to purchase a well worn used car. Please be praying that G_d helps us find the right one to fit our family needs.

Still Alive and Kicking

Well life has taken over here. I seem to have allot to say at the wrong times. When I am near the computer I am tired and not thinking straight or I only have a couple of minutes before I have to leave.

I do have a little rant about being who you really are. We have a major "Christian" radio station here in Dallas. They play all of the current songs plus some of the older ones in the Contemporary Christian genre, but only bill themselves as a "family friendly" station. This annoys me to no end. What really gets me is the DJ that plays at night has people calling in and telling their stories based upon that weeks particular subject, but she carefully avoids all mention of G_d, church, or faith. All I have to say is, be who you are, don't hide behind some market plan or desire not to offend. If you have faith in G_d let the light shine for all to see.

New Wheels

I will be joining the two wheel crowd here soon. This is just the first step in getting a motorcycle for myself. My brother is selling me his scooter that will give me a great advantage on gas mileage. I think I will cut my gas bill from $30 -$40 per week to $10 that is quite a savings.


The extended time in NM is going to net me quite a bit of overtime. I am looking forward to it. As I should be able to get the van fixed with some of that money. Then Birdie will have transportation again. My car is DOA. The engine is blown. Birdie and I are looking into our options right now.

I am Back

Well, I have returned from the Panhandle of TX and I am suffering from Internet withdrawal. I took the company laptop with me in hopes of being able to check on my blog and e-mail while i was gone, but i will not have a user name and password for the company computers until I have been with the company for 90 days. The tech I went with refused to allow me access to the computer. I really need to get my laptop fixed.

If there was anything I have against this company is their trust issues. It appears the only thing I will be trusted with before my probationary period is over is my tools and the company truck. I will not have a company credit card or access to the company computers without asking someone to log on the computer for me. I can tell this is going to get real old before my 90 days are up. I am not sure what has prompted this policy, but it is aggravating.

Questioning my expertise is going to get old, too. We came upon a difficult problem while we were at this job site and only after looking for what appeared to be one problem, I realized we were just chasing our tails and realized the issue was a totally different one that would have the same effects. This was knowledge carried over from past experience working in this type of industry and one they will not have a lot of problems with due to the fact they do not use much of this in their analyzers. My boss would not believe the problem was not a leak. I know leaks; leaks are easy to detect and fix. There was no leak. On the other hand the type of tubing being used will permeate over time and create some of the same effects in this analyzer as a leak would. The only problem was that the parts kits did not contain any of this tubing. An oversight I will correct. Well my family needs me and I need to quit venting

The New Job

Well I started my new job today and to say the least like most first days it was boring. I spent most of my day reading manuals, signing paperwork, asking questions, and trying to not get in the way. Tomorrow I will get my hands on an actual analyzer and get into the real learning. It will probably be a month before I get started traveling and that is when the real work begins. I am quite confident that I will catch on quickly and be their #1 tech. Not too difficult a feat considering there are only two of us and the other guy is green.

The only concerns were the background check and drug test and it appears that I have come through that gauntlet as I received an e-mail from the Texas Workforce Commission (where I found the job posted) congratulating me on getting the job and deactivating my account. Is that cool or what? One thing I will lament is the lack of ability to get on-line while I am traveling. My lap-top is down right now and it is looking like I won't get it fixed before the beginning of the new year. The only problem is that the CD/DVD drive crapped out and I tried restoring some stuff that took out the operating system. If I can get the drive fixed I can reload the software and then take it with me when I travel.

OH-HAPPY DAY!

After feeling the desperation of underemployment for almost two months and two weeks of thinking that Del-Mar is not going to hire me they asked today when I could come in for the pre-employment drug screening test. This is just a formality with me as I have never done drugs in my life.

Now all that is left is getting caught up on bills and rent. Once we have that done we will be looking into getting our emergency fund redone. This job is really a God-send. I will be getting back into the industry that I know and have opportunity for advancement as well. I want to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes. Hopefully I will get back on track with my usual posts on the Word and Yeshua, maybe even answer a few questions.