Tropizm Family Website

Its been a couple weeks since my last post, so I figured its time for another.  A lot has been going on but I will keep this brief.

We have pretty much been sticking around the house unpacking and putting stuff away.  It has been overwhelming because as soon as you finish something, there is another stack of boxes to go through.  Faith has been doing most of the work of going through and organizing everything.  I have been helping her out when I get home.  We usually go to bed around 9 or 930, but since we moved in, 1030 is early.  So when the alarm goes off at 4:15, I am not the happiest camper.

The weekends have been somewhat better, but it seems something always gets in the way.  Friends have come over, which is a nice break, but after they leave its back to work.  This last weekend we spent almost entirely in the office.  It seems there is so much going in there it is hard to focus.  It’s finished now.

Enough of that.

Last week Erin turned 4.  We didn’t have a party or anything because we will have one when Dario is here.  Faith’s parents came over and brought her cup cakes, and had dinner with us.  Others have given her gifts when we see them.  Dad and Pat gave her a pool, which is great.  I will get it set up this weekend and I’m sure she will not want to get out.

Like I said, Dario will be here shortly.  It has been so long since I have seen him in person.  Seeing all of the pictures of him when he was last here its hard to believe that in a week I could hug him in person.  We already have a ton of things planned for while he is here.  But you will have to read about them later.

Tropizm

Yesterday we went to church at Faith’s parents church.  They were having a 4th of July celebration, followed by a luncheon.  Congressman Trent Franks was their guest speaker.  Though I have seen and heard him speak many times, this was the longest and best experience.  It wansn’t a political speech, though there were many comments on national issues.  It was a sermon about keeping America on track with the Truth of God. 

I don’t want to go into details, because it would be long, and I would probably mess something up.  But the long and short of it was, I was impressed with his commitment to God and Country.  Old fashioned values, but it was nice to hear.

 After church, there was a luncheon that we attended.  It just happened that Mr. Franks and the Pastor sat at the table next to us.  The people sitting next to me and Jean were really good friends with them.  After everyone had eaten, Mr. Franks was speaking with everyone who came up to him and his wife, saw the couple next to us and we all began talking.  After maybe fifteen minutes, Mr. Franks came over to us and we all spoke for a few minutes.  Jean asked for a picture with Mr. Franks and his wife, and the couple we met who was friends with them.  Faith was already standing with them and when Erin saw the camera she had to jump in.  So here is a link to the picture I took on my helicopter.  It’s not the greatest, but in a pinch it worked out fine.

And so you know, after speaking with his wife, I know they don’t use “religion” to get votes.  They do follow Christ.  Their testimony convinced me of it.  I already respected him and his politics, now I have even more reason to.

Tropizm
Republican

After 6 years of being homeless, we are finally in the new house.

We have been sleeping over here since Wednesday of last week when the air conditioning got turned on.  We have been slowly moving stuff for the last couple weeks, and we did the big move this past Saturday.  We still have little stuff to move, but its mostly pictures and stuff like that.  Most of our clothes we have been wearing are still there, but we have been going through all of our boxes and filtering the clothes we forgot we had, getting rid of some, giving others away.  Slow process.

Erin likes the new house a lot.  She has always called it her castle, and now she has the princess room.  She is sleeping on the futon in her room until we get her a real bed.  The other one was too small but we didn’t have room for anything else.

So for the next couple weeks (hopefully only a couple weeks) we will be going through endless boxes.  There are so many things that we forgot we had, its almost like Christmas.  Then there are other things we are wondering why we kept and took up storage room. 

Oh well, I would rather do that then post another “we’re still waiting” post.

Tropizm

I just received the phone call we have been waiting on for a long, long time.  We just passed our final inspection, and can legally move in.

Though this is definitely a cause for a loud YIPEE!! the work isn’t finished.  As with any new home, custom or track house, there are several minor things that need to be fixed and finished.  The good thing about it is that Faith will be there to make sure everything gets done right the first time.  We won’t have contractors coming back several times to do things they could have done in one trip. 

Also, while I was at the house yesterday checking on things, I found a little trespasser on the front porch.  It was a 2-3 foot rattle snake.  To see the “before” video, click here.  I spared you the “after” video.  It wasn’t pretty.

Tropizm

I was bribed with new pots and pans (thanks David and Cindy) to upload new pictures of the house.  I thought I had some of the kitchen finished but I didn’t.  Faith and I took brand new pictures today, so these are the latest and greatest.

The batteries on the camera died after a few shots, so I took some with my new helicopter.  Now, I need to figure out how to get them out of there so I can post them.

Tropizm

A few days ago I broke down and bought a Blackberry phone.  I didn’t get it because I thought it was cool, or anything like that.  I got it because I needed a way to get my work emails and calendar sent to me wherever I am.  I have missed several meetings because I would get busy and not notice the time.  Now, my phone will warn me before the meetings so I can be sure not miss them. 

The one I got has all kinds of cool features that I could care less about.  Only once I thought it would have been cool to have a camera phone/video.  It was during a sound check before a concert and Darlene Zschech was singing the best version of “Shout to the Lord” I have heard.  Also, I’m not a guy who does text messaging.  On our old phones, I had the feature turned off because people would try texting me and I would have to pay a dime for each one.

So now I have a helicopter, and I’m sure as time goes by I will use most stuff on it.  The one I had with my previous employer had the phone turned off as I only used it for email.  And that was pretty much all I used it for.  But looking up a phone number for a store is pretty handy-dandy when a computer is not around.

 Tropizm

My friend Jon is a photographer and he lives in Denver, CO.  This past week he posted some new pictures on his website, www.pukkaphotos.com .  I was looking at some of his newest pictures and one really stood out to me. 

Some of you may know, that I lived in Denver for about 8 months many years ago.  Though I enjoyed myself while I was there, and I met many good people, I really don’t have a lot of good memories while I was there.  I don’t want to go into it here, but lets just say, it was an educational trip for me and made me realize many things about myself and who really matters in your life.  Anyways, this picture that Jon put on his site sums up (at least for me) how I remember Denver. 

http://www.pukkaphotos.com/gallery/new/Left-Behind 

Tropizm

As I write this, we are so close to having the house finally finished I could almost taste it. 

Pretty much everything is finished.  There are a few minor touch up things that will be finished (hopefully) today, and early next week.  The only BIG thing left is the appliances and carpet.  We only found out a couple days ago that installing them was not in the electricians bid, so he never touched them.  Same with the water softener and RO unit.  I had to go back to the original company we bought the WS from 7 years ago in the old house to install it.

Baring any unforeseen issues, we should have our final code inspection in the middle of next week and we will be moving on Memorial Day weekend.  Carpet will go in next week, but the inspector won’t  care about flooring, so that won’t stop us from passing the inspection.

Its been a long time, but we will finally have a home of our own again real soon.  We are counting days now, before it was weeks, months and years. 

One last thing, who wants to come over Memorial Day for a BBQ?  Bring gloves and be ready to move furniture though.

Tropizm

A few days ago, while I was driving home I saw something really cool.  It’s one of those things you see on the Nature Channel, or Discovery Channel.

I was driving on the Loop 303, on this stretch were there is just desert, and nothing else.  Everything is just normal, when all of a sudden, I see a Red Tail Hawk just drop out of the sky all fluttering.  It took me a couple seconds to realize what it was.  My first thought was that it crashed.  Just before I reached where it had fallen, it took off flying.  In its claws, was a snake.  I witnessed the hawk attacking and grabbing some food.  I have seen this on television, or at a show where the handler will reward a bird with a piece of meat, or whatever.

It was cool to me, and I wanted to share.

Tropizm.

I am no big “Money Advisor”.  I think I am pretty good with my money, though.  After making ALOT of mistakes and going through many, many years of paying off past debts and surviving the “seven years of bad credit” on my record.  I am looking back from the other side of the mess with a whole new respect and attitude towards money.

This being said, some of you may know that the advice I received was from a guy with a radio program named Dave Ramsey.  His site is http://www.daveramsey.com/ and his basic advice is to get out of debt, save money, and pay cash for everything.  Basically, to live on less than you make, then you can do all of these things.

Dave has on occasion talked about a letter that President Lincoln wrote to his brother-in-law.  Out of curiosity, I googled it and read it this morning and thought it was “post worthy”.  http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/sb2/sb2f.htm is the link.

I like the advice of “get a job and don’t go looking for gold”.  I also liked the fact that basic common sense and a desire to want to take care of your family is what Lincoln was trying to get across to his brother-in-law.

If you read this and think Lincoln is being a jerk for not helping him out, then you simply do not get it.  It’s the old saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

Tropizm