The Last Days

Just a quick post before I unhook the computer...

Sunday was our last day at NSCOC. It was a good day. To close the service the elders had Dixie and I and the kids come up front so they could pray over us and bless us as I enter into ministry. I can't say how blessed I am to have grown up at NSCOC. Your church congregation is always supposed to be your family, but my NSCOC family goes beyond a normal church family. Some of these people have known me since I was 2 and I feel a deep connection to so many people. Still, like a college bound 18 year old, I feel ready and eager to leave home. I know the Lord has even greater things in store for me.

Today was my last day at work. It was a good day. My coworkers took me out to lunch in celebration that they are getting rid of me. It has been great working for SAIC down at Brooks. There have been a lot of challenges on this contract, but overall it was a great experience. I learned a lot, and got to work with some wonderful and smart people. When I walked out of the building for the last time this afternoon, I had the last-day-of-school kind of feeling. Working there was a great season in my life, but I am so eager to get to MCC and start digging into the work there.

The movers show up at 7:00 in the morning. I still have much to do tonight before I can sleep. We'll be intermittenly offline for the next couple of days, but we'll check email when we get a chance. For those of you that have our cell phone numbers, feel free to use them. For those of you that don't have our cell phone numbers...well, let's keep it that way!

P.S. Ice skating/dancing is so lame.

Word Cloud

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Music, anyone?

WOW. Check out Pandora. It is a free unlimited customizable streaming music experience you won't want to miss. You type in a song or artist you like and it plays various music that you will probably like based on your preferences. As you listen you tell it if you like or don't like the songs it is playing and it continues to customize the music it plays to your tastes. It's very cool.

For instance, type in....oh, I don't know, "Michael Buble" and you'll get all kinds of crooners and jazz that is pretty good. Provide a little more feedback and it will really start zeroing in on your musical tastes.

You can also build certain radio stations that are basically customized collections of certain genres that you continue to build as you listen.

If you hear a song you love, you can link directly to amazon to buy the CD or to iTunes to download it to your machine. Very cool!

As I said, it is a free service, although you will see some ads. To eliminate the ads they have a subscription service as well, but I don't really mind the ads.

Enjoy, music lovers.

New Car!

I purchased a new car Sunday night! Ok, it's not really new. It's an 11 year old Chevy Lumina, but it's new to me. It's kind of an old lady car so that's somewhat of a change for me. In fact, an older lady bought it new and has taken really good care of it so I think/hope it is in really good condition. I paid just a little less than what I got for my Mazda so it was basically just a car swap, but now I have 4 doors and more space for the kids. Also, the trunk is big enough that I could just haul the kids around in there! For all you CPS readers out there, I'm kidding of course.

Overall it's a nice car. I don't have any pictures of it, but it's somewhere between this:


and this:


__________________

We're starting to get ready for the movers. They come 1 week from today. We had a garage sale last Saturday and got rid of a lot of junk. It's nice to get rid of stuff that you don't want/need anymore. Now, I need to start taking down the swingset and getting things ready for the packers.

This Sunday will be our last day at NSCOC. We'll be sad to say goodbye to so many people. I'll be sharing some thoughts before the Communion. That's kind of a treat. I rarely get to lead prayers or communion meditation because I'm usually involved in the music portion of the service in some sort of way. It will be nice that on my last day with my NSCOC family, I'll be able to concentrate on the community we share through our communion together.

Mourn with me

Today represents the end of an era. This evening I will hand over the keys to my car to a college kid in New Braunfels. Now, my car isn't worth much. It is a 1995 Mazda MX-6 LS V6 with leather interior and all the options. But, she is mine and I will miss her.



I've had the car about 3 years and I have put more sweat and blood into this car than any other. It is by no means American muscle, but it is kind of sporty and it suits me well. Last week I finally reached the decision it would be best to sell her.

When we get to Jackson, I'll have the wonderful opportunity to take Isaac to school each morning since his preschool is at the church building. I'm really looking forward to having that time with him. Ethan's turn will soon follow. Since I'll be transporting kids more often, I thought it would be best to get something with 4 doors and something that has a real back seat. My car has a back seat but it has about 0.125 inches of leg room back there. It's basically a two seater.

So I have held on as long as possible. My days of cruising in my little leather two seater sports car with the sunroof open and the CD player blasting are over. I am moving on to something more parental. I'll be glad to get something that will be better for the family, but still.....I'll miss my little MX-6.

Poker nights

Dixie and the kids went to visit her grandparents in Beeville, TX on Tuesday. They got back earlier this morning. That means that the last two evenings I've been on my own. As Dixie left, she said, "enjoy the peace and quiet". I did enjoy the peace and quiet, but honestly it gets a little boring without the family around. I can only play so much online poker and watch so much TV before I get pretty sick of it. I'm glad that they will be there when I get home.

Wow it's nice outside today. Sunny and 83 here in San Antonio. Soak it up San Antonians!!!



I may need to go buy some more long sleeved shirts...