Thank God for Sunny Days!

It's been two days in a row that we've had some very nice, sunny, summer weather!  Okay, so I've been stuck inside at work, but I'm not going to be choosy, I will take what I can get and be grateful for it!  It's still summer time so as long as I'm off work before 7 or 8 pm I'll still get to enjoy some good old fashioned sun time!  Time to take of the grill cover, dust off the outside chairs, dig out the citronella candles, find the bug spray and enjoy some good old fashioned vitamin D.  Okay, I didn't really do all of that and I probably never would just to enjoy some nice warm sunshine.  I'm really grateful that we live in a part of the country that has the best weather right now!  Everyone else is in the middle of a heat wave and we get to sleep at night with the temperature outside in the 50's, and at the most during the day the lower 80's.  People think of Washington and they think it rains all of the time.  I think that's really a misconception.  It can be cloudy for days on end and we do see a lot of rain, but it doesn't really seem to bother anyone here.  Most people don't even use umbrellas, but they do have a strange name for them and a festival once a year using the strange name.  Have you ever heard of a bumpershoot?  Apparantly that is what they call an umbrella here.  Maybe that's why nobody carries one, they don't want to have to hear people say "Hey look!  That guys got a bumpershoot!". 

Krazy in Killeen

I could hardly believe it when I heard the news!  Another soldier attempted to wreak havoc and destroy more lives.  Thankfully a very suspicious gun store owner called the police when he left the store after purchasing gun powder.  I heard this soldier was AWOL from his original duty station and had purchased a uniform similar to those on post in Fort Hood.  Even worse there was an interview with this soldier on CNN or some other news channel a couple of years ago where he told the interviewer that he wanted to get out of the army so he wouldn't have to deploy because according to his beliefs he couldn't kill or harm anyone intentionally.  Needless to say they didn't let him out, so he decided to go AWOL.  I would say enough explosive ingredients to make two bombs and child pornography found on his computer would show that his beliefs have become skewed since that day.  I am so glad they caught this guy before he could do any damage.  People in that area are still recovering from the last guy who went crazy and killed a lot of good people.  Being a soldier I would like to say the safest place in the world should be on a military post, there's always plenty of security and a lot of lifelong friendships.  I pray that God opens the eyes of everyone so we can be as aware as the gun store worker and report any suspicious behavior as well.

Renaming bridges and parks for departed rock stars

I live in Washington state, Aberdeen is just a short drive from my home, maybe a little over an hour.  I can hear the Nirvana song playing in my head everytime I drive through Aberdeen on my way to Ocean Shores when I see their welcome sign proclaiming "Come As You Are" just before reaching the stop light in front of the Wal Mart.  It's been on the news lately that they are trying to rename a bridge and a park after Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana who died of a self sustained gunshot wound presumably while he was on heroin.  To me, it just doesn't make sense.  I would be thinking of how he died every time I went over that bridge or passed by the park.  Who would want to be reminded of such a thing?  Maybe they think they're honoring his memory, but to me it would be better to honor someone who did something heroic, or selfless, like maybe that little girl I was talking about yesterday.  Why does our society like to glamorize the deaths, drug abuse, and sometimes outrageous actions of rock stars?  What is this teaching our kids? Amy Winehouse has been all over the news the last few days, her music has sold like never before and her popularity has soared all because she passed away under suspicious circumstances and just happened to be the same age as Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix when they died.  I think its time to celebrate the real heroes, like the missionaries dying to get out God's message of salvation, or the people working everyday to provide for those with no health care, food, or water.  Maybe we could name a few bridges and parks after them.

Local girl's unfortunate death brings life to African villagers

Not far from where I live a tragedy occured a few days ago.  A little 9 year old girl named Rachel Beckwith died in a 13 car pileup.  Not long ago she had a birthday and instead of asking for gifts for herself, she requested people donate to help her raise $300 to give clean water to African villagers.  She fell shy of her goal by about $80, but since her untimely demise the church she attended reopened the web site that she had set up to accept donations and now has donations over $390,000.  Okay, that number is no longer right, I just checked the website that's accepting donations for this charity in her honor and it's almost up to a half of a million dollars!  If anyone is reading this and is interested in helping this cause or just to honor the memory of a very selfless little girl here is the website: http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=16396.  It looks as if they will be accepting donations for another 25 days.  My guess is that the generosity of Americans will push this to over a million dollars!  It saddens me to see that it takes tragedy to bring out the best in people sometimes, but at the same time it also shows me America still has a heart!

Debt Ceiling, Military and Social Security Threatened, and an email from the President

Okay, is anyone else out there getting fed up with our government?  I love our country, I love our freedoms, but I'm sick of it's politics!  It was only a couple of months ago we were worried about some of the same things. Then it was threats of military, social security, an unemployment not getting paid until a budget was agreed upon.  Now it's the same threats over a debt ceiling not being agreed upon!  Back during the first scare I sent an email to the White House asking our President why we (the military) should have to worry about not getting paid when we were still doing our job.  I think I may have even asked if our politicians couldn't agree on a budget then shouldn't it be them whose paycheck would be in danger?  Well, here it is a couple of months later and I just received an email back.  It was actually kind of funny.  It started out saying "Dear Friend, as Michelle and I have travelled across our great country..." and was of course supposedly signed by Barack Obama.  But the really funny part is none of my questions were truly answered.  The email went on to say all of the wonderful things President Obama has done for our military including raising our pay (which I think I recall hearing our "pay raise" was actually the smallest one we've received in years, not even keeping with inflation), expanding programs for taking care of our veterans, and improving housing and hospital care for soldiers.  Not once were any of my concerns about the possibility of not getting paid ever addressed!  It just makes me wonder if that's what's going on in all of these meetings they've been having to discuss our debt ceiling.  They start out asking the right questions, but by the time they've answered all there is to show for it is how well they can start to campaign for their next election.

Judge not....

I know we've all heard that we shouldn't judge others, it is in the Bible after all, but I also know that doesn't keep us from doing it.  Hey being Christians doesn't mean we're perfect right?  My wife and I are currently going through PRIDE classes so we can be licensed for foster care.  Both yesterday and today we were in a class given by Tacoma's Youth For Christ to receive the first half of our PRIDE training.  One of the things they focused on today was that we shouldn't be so quick to judge.  You never know what a child is going through.  The next time you hear a kid screaming in the grocery store you can't really assume that their mom is beating them!  It could be they saw something in the store that reminded them of a traumatic event that just set them off.  We can't assume all birth parents are bad for their kids.  The whole goal of the foster care is to get the children back together with their parents if at all possible.  It's kind of funny that we went to church tonight and got kind of the same message.  Our pastor talked about the pharisee and tax collector who were both praying and the pharisee says to God "I do everything right, not like this tax collector, I fast twice a week, I tithe" and he just goes on and on.  The tax collector just humbly keeps his head down, beats his chest and asks for forgiveness for his sins.  In their times people would judge the tax collector as the bad guy and the pharisee as the good guy, but in reality it was the other way around.  The tax collector knew he had sinned and confessed while the pharisee tried to earn his way through works.  It just goes to show that judging has gone on since the dawn of time, well at least since after the fall of man.  So maybe we should all really think about it and not be so quick to judge when we see something going on.  Our eyes don't always know the whole story.

I just don't get it! NFL strikes, NBA strikes, MLB strikes

Okay, I googled it and the average salary for an NFL player is about $770,000 a year!  The average NBA player starts in the millions, and as far as the MLB, well I'm almost over their strike from a few years back so I won't go there.  I know they have a tough job that can involve serious bodily injury that could end their career, but guess what?  So do I!!!!!!!!!!!  Mine could even result in (Lord, please not anytime soon) death!  I would love to trade salaries, benefits, and yes even jobs if I could with one of these guys for just one year! Let them play soldier, go camping, fire a weapon, get up at all hours of the day and night, go train in the mountains and desert, and go to Iraq or Afghanistan for a year while I maybe lift a few weights, toss a ball around for a couple of hours a day, bulk up on big steak dinners, and then soak in a giant hot tub just before turning in on my California King Tempurpedic adjustable mattress in my 15 room mansion overlooking the most gorgeous view in my neighborhood.  My whole house would be paid for, both our cars and all of our bills would be paid off and we'd still have a ton of money in the bank!  I don't see what they're complaining about!  I wasn't even counting the money they make from doing ads, interviews, and motivational speeches!  To me it's just crazy how anybody that earns at minimum close to three quarters of a million dollars a year could go on strike because they feel they are not getting paid enough. With a little investing they could easily retire in just a few years and live very comfortably.  Don't they watch the commercials?  They should invest in gold, it's never been worth zero!  Okay that was really unrelated but back to topic.  Does anyone else feel this is just dumb, or is it just me? 

The End of an Era

It's a bittersweet landing for the returning astronauts who made history today.  It's good that everthing went off without a hitch.  They had a great launch, a successful mission, and a perfect landing, but unfortunately it was the last time NASA would be doing this.  I remember one of my first dates with my wife we drove to Cocoa Beach in Florida to have a picnic lunch in hopes of seeing the shuttle nearby.  I remember one morning driving to college in Daytona and being able to see the big orange flames coming out from behind the shuttle as it roared toward the ozone layer.  There were times in grade school we would gather around a small television set to witness a launch and discuss it in the classroom.  Even the movies loved our space program and made heroes out of our astronauts, which I firmly believe they are.  Who else would be willing to subject themselves to such high speeds, dehydrated food diets, cramped quarters for extended amounts of time, and risk death all in the hope of finding new information about outer space, other planets, or pictures of earth from very far away?  Houston, we have a problem!  I don't want it to end!  Maybe some new invention is on the way that will allow us to explore space cheaply in the very near future and we won't have to wait too long for the next adventure.

And The Times, They Are A Changin'

I remember back when you could turn on the television and not have to worry about anything offensive for the family until after 9 or 10 at night.  And even then it was nothing like what you can see during prime time these days.  I don't remember seeing a lot of sexual overtones, crude humor, racism (unless it was put in to make a point of how wrong it was), cursing, drug use (again unless it was to show it as being something NOT to do), and violence.  What happened?!!!  Where are the good old days of shows like Full House, 21 Jumpstreet, Perfect Strangers (will any of us ever forget Balki Bartokimus?), The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Fall Guy, Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Good Times, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Amen, Highway to Heaven, Touched By an Angel, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King?  Okay my list could go on forever, but my question is still there.  Why aren't these kind of shows popular anymore?  Is it because "the decline of western civilization", are our tastes changing this much so we crave this kind of junk now?  Or is it because this is all Hollywood is offering us right now?  It's almost like the age old question of the chicken and the egg and which came first.  I would like to think as a country our values haven't changed that much over the years.  I know I sound like a bitter old man and I know there are shows out there that still reflect good values, I'm just saddened by the great change of ratio between these shows and the not so good values shows.  Our televisions are overrun by bad examples like Two and A Half Men, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, That Seventies Show, and a ton more.  I wouldn't deny anybody being able to watch what they want, but is this really what we want our children watching?  I hope that in the future Hollywood might actually consider going back to the old style of family entertainment.

What About The Children?

I've seen some horrible stories in the news lately that have been very disturbing.  There are people out there that just don't know what to do with their children.  I don't know if it's just because they're confused, selfish, scared, or any or all of the above.  I do know they have other options.  Just within this week I've heard three different news stories with mothers giving up their babies and unfortunately I do not mean to adoption.  One story was about a woman who tried to sell her baby at a Taco Bell for $500.  Fortunately the woman she tried to sell the baby to call the authorities and they showed up and arrested the mother.  Another woman went to the hospital, delivered her baby when nobody else was in the room, and then proceeded to throw her baby in the trash.  Fortunately the baby was found in time to save.  The last story I heard did not have any kind of happy ending unfortunately.  There was another woman who went to the hospital claiming she had some sort of ailment.  The doctors discovered she had recently given birth and by the time the police got to her residence the baby was already dead.  I just don't understand it!  To me a child is one of the greatest gifts God will ever give you and to just throw it away, sell it, or leave it to die makes no sense to me.  There are so many options for these women.  They could have put their babies by a hospital, fire station, or police station with no consequences.  They could have placed their babies up for adoption to loving families that would be so glad to raise them and give them a chance at life here on earth.  It's just so heartbreaking to me that anybody could do that. 

Thoughts on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette

I've been watching The Bachelorette these past couple of months with my wife, and I've also watched previous Bachelors and Bachelorettes as well. Now that the confession is out of the way I thought I would share what I think about it:  I don't know how anybody could be comfortable in either position!  I can't imagine having 20 or 30 or however many different people it is vying for my attention all the time, "stealing me away" for a minute, or talking psychotically like we are already married before we even go on a date.  On the other end of that, I would hate to be one of those 20 or 30 or whatever number and be competing for the attention of that one person.  (Unless of course that one person was my wife, because I would be willing to go through that to have her in my life!) Then seeing everyone else kiss, hug, snuggle, share secret smiles, whispers, and hugs would drive me crazy!  I don't know how they do it, but it seems they always seem to have plenty of volunteers to fill the roles.  Sometimes they recycle a bachelor or bachelorette to give them another shot at love.  I don't know for sure what the success rate is for these relationships, but I think it's got to be hard going from dating in paradise, living in a mansion, getting driven around in limousines, and flown around in helicopters to going back to the normal day to day part of life.  It's like leaving Disneyland and walking right into a mugging!  

What's Up With The Remakes?

I've noticed a lot of remakes out there lately.  The Smurfs are in a new movie, Scooby Doo has been in the box office more than he's been on television, and Charlie's Angels are coming back to tv.  It seems that Hollywood is always trying to bring something back.  Sometimes it turns out pretty good, I can't say I was disappointed by the A-Team, but most of these remakes just end up being kind of cheesy, look at the old gimmick type of stuff or they change so much stuff that it's nothing like the original.  Is Hollywood running out of new ideas?  Will the next movie to hit the big screen be a remake of  "Alf", or what about "Who's The Boss?", or even "The Fall Guy"?  I could see potential in all of those, but I am holding out a lot of hope for the new Muppets movie coming out pretty soon.  It sounds like they're going back to their roots!  At least with the Muppets it will be a new story line using the good old characters we already know with a few new ones added in. 

What next? Our government is actually considering this crazy stuff some professor came up with!

I was listening to the news the other day and was shocked to hear that our government is considering taking kids into custody if they are severely obese.  I have some major problems with this!  What's going to be next?  What if they decide next that your kid's failing algebra and whoops!, it looks like little Max needs to go live with some other people who are better at math! I don't know what you think, but I know what I think, and I think this is a crock!  We should be trying to save families, not tear them apart.  Maybe they can't afford healthy choices when it comes to food.  A lot of food that's bad for us is so much cheaper than what's good for us!  You don't see a produce section in the dollar store do you?  If they really wanted to do something it should be that they try to educate people about nutritional choices, or come up with a food stamp system that allows and tracks healthy choices while also allowing  people to monitor their own progress.  I don't think government needs to mess with this.

It's summertime! You know what that means?

Hey it's summer in the Pacific Northwest and you know what that means... yup you guessed it, it means longer waits for the ferries, more traffic no matter what time of day you drive somewhere, and everywhere you look there are more construction sites than there are apps available for your iphone!  You can hardly turn a corner without seeing the orange cones, giant cranes and ditch diggers, and two people who look like they're having the time of their lives holding the STOP and SLOW signs at opposite ends of the construction area holding walkie talkies and looking SO thrilled to be directing traffic for everyone!  What's up with those walkie talkies anyway?  Most of the sites I've seen they can clearly see one another, and are usually close enough they could just give a holler "Hey Joe, you can let your side go now, the blue car's the last one!"  Which is even crazier because Joe can plainly see that for himself anyway!  And just when you think it's safe, the project is over, I can get back to going the way I'm used to, another one pops up causing you to change routes again!  I wonder if those guys holding the signs ever get tempted to mess with people every once in a while?  Can you see it?  You're coming up on the guy holding the slow sign and right as your about to get to the point of no return he quickly twirls the sign in front of you to STOP! Or to make it even more fun he just messes with you and turns it sideways so all you see is a thin line and have the anticipation of "On no! What if he turns it now?"  I usually feel so bad for those guys because it seems like one of the most thankless jobs, so I want to take this time to personally thank all of the sign holders anywhere, but especially those working the construction sites!  This ones for you, sign holders, you do your job with a bored, resigned look on your face, you use your walkie talkies fearlessly while gazing at drivers who are talking on their cell phones while driving, you fearlessly stand there for hours switching faithfully between SLOW and STOP to keep the traffic moving, and you do it all not for glory, nor for fame, nor for the recognition of your peers, no sign holders, you do this for a  much more noble reason, you do it for a paycheck!  In all sincerity guys, thank you, you really do a wonderful job!

Washington state

I live in a beautiful state that is filled with wonderful things to do, places to go, and things to see!  I live in Washington, the state, not D.C.  Here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest we enjoy lush green vegetation year round.  We save a lot on our water bill because we hardly ever have to water the lawn!  We're always just a couple of hours or less drive away from the wonderful rocky coastline and beaches, as well as the majestic mountain landscapes that are beautiful to look at or visit year round.  There are numerous quaint mountain towns that all have their own unique character.  You can drive down the coast and see the rugged rocky coasts of Oregon, or drive up the coast and take a visit to Canada!  There are tons of fresh fish markets, and if you love seafood it is available in abundance here!  Pirates invade the coastline once a year with old fashioned pirate ships, there's a little mountain town that tries it's best to replicate Germany, and plenty of hunting, fishing, and camping.  There are tons of trails to walk and explore!  If you get bored in Washington you're just not trying hard enough!

Another Chapter in the Foster Care Process

My wife and I attended Youth For Christ's foster care orientation meeting tonight!  It was an exciting first step in the process.  The meeting actually started with a dinner that was for people with foster children already and for those just getting started. Once a month YFC host's a support dinner for those involved and offer training classes that count toward the annual requirements of all foster families.  It was really encouraging to see so many families attend with their children.  During this time they are offered free child care so they can attend the training.  The orientation only lasted about an hour and a half, they were doing their best to keep to the time line they put out.  My wife and I have been through PRIDE training before, but we were never able to complete it due to my job, so a lot of this was familiar ground.  They basically went over how to fill out the application, what some of the main regulations are concerning these children, and they emphasized that the main goal of foster care is to replace the children with their family.  But that didn't discourage us because not a few minutes later they acknowledged that even though that is their main goal a lot of these children end up getting adopted because their family is unable to maintain a good lifestyle to take care of these kids.  I'm not wishing that on any kid no matter how much I would like children in my home, I really believe if they can go back to their family that's great and I would be happy for them, but if they can't live in a safe environment with love and permanency, then I am happy to offer that to them.  We both are really excited and looking forward to this whole adventure!

Christian Music Genres

Today I was asked to help a friend find some Christian bands that their family may relate to. At first I thought this is great, I can't wait to start the list!  But as I started filling out this list I kept thinking of all the different styles of music there are.  My preference is rock, but that includes so many different subcategories it could get ridiculous.  There's southern rock, classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, soft rock, eighties rock, and on and on and on, well you get the picture.  Some of these are pretty easy to put a label on with certain bands, but some bands have so many different styles it's hard to put them under one label. One of my favorite Christian rock bands, Third Day, could fit under quite a few different descriptions.  Most of the time I would say they fall under southern rock, but they also do really well with praise and worship songs, and a few ot their songs border on pop.  Kutless is also another great Christian rock band, but it's very hard to put a label on them.  They've had some songs that border on death metal style and some songs that can instantly become praise and worship classics.  They've even done classic worship songs with their own twist, just try Strong Tower and you'll see what I mean!  The most important part though, no matter what their style, there are so many Christian musicians out there now that no matter what your preference for listening you can find music with a message that you can enjoy!  There's musician's out there for every genre!  I think one time I was looking around on the internet and found a site that allowed you to type in your favorite styles of music or artists and then would suggest Christian artists that performed that same style of music.  All I can say is no matter what your preference, there is a band or musician out there that will meet your likes! 

Garage Sale Fever!

It's that time of year, and everybody's got it, it can be contagious and a lot of fun!  Yup, you guessed it, I'm talking about Garage sale fever!  Now, this has never of course been really diagnosed officially and that's probably because it's a lot like allergies, it really only affects you during a certain part of the year.  But this is better than allergies, better than any "fever" you could get, because you get used, new, used in good condition, and several other varieties of deals that you won't see anywhere else but in people's yards and garages!  Where else can you find Veggie Tales books in great shape for a buck and a half each?  Or what about Gymboree clothes for your kids that normally sell in the store for outrageous prices for just a dollar or two each?  Or what about setting up that home gym you've always dreamed about?  I've seen perfectly good exercise bikes and stair climbers for free!  Not to mention a ton of good gym equipment that would usually cost hundreds of dollars go for under twenty!  Tired of paying top prices for used videos at the store, try a yard sale where the average going price for a dvd is about two bucks and most of the time you can talk them down to one!  You'll also find all kinds of things you won't see in any stores! We found a collapsable doggie tent for just two dollars!  Little kids trying their best to earn some money at lemonade/snack stands will do whatever they can to convince you to buy their product, and of course be willing to explain in detail why their stand is better than the one across the street at their neighbors yard sale.  Just like any fever, not everybody will catch it, but if you do this will be one that you will be glad you got!

Got lost in the eighties, looking for my way back!

I took my wife to Arby's for lunch today and they had a radio station on that was playing hits from the 80's. It took me back to a simpler time, a time before cell phones were common and if you did have one you had to carry it around in a giant briefcase, a time when you could understand the words to most of the songs you heard, a time when New Coke flopped and Pepsi Clear was just as short lived as some of the dot coms from the early 2000's.  I remembered how the Police would hand us baseball cards if we ran up to them in their cruiser and asked for one.  I remembered nothing was better than a summer day, your parents would let you stay out until dark, and even then it would be so warm they would be outside in the front yard talking with the neighbors (that's right, actually talking with the neighbors, not just a quick "hi" as they were getting home if they happened to see you) and we would stay outside and try to catch fireflies and eat watermelon and drink a lot of lemonade.  The world felt safer then, maybe a little crazier with all the parachute pants, headbands, and wrist bands (what was up with those anyway?), but definitely safer.  Your friends were like family, your siblings were like enemies, but stood up for you when it counted, and school was out for three solid months in the summer.  MTV was just beginning and seemed so innocent with all the videos from Van Halen, ZZ Top, and a few more of the great oldies.  I'm not saying the world now is worse than it was then because everything is different when you're a kid, and I would never want to do it all over again, but it was definitely fun while it lasted.  Maybe thirty years from now somebody else will be taking their spouse out to eat at the Floating Diner on Cloud 9 (Over 1 billion cloud burgers served!) and they will be broadcasting songs from the 10's into their high priced fancy hidden earpieces and they will have a quick flashback to a brilliant part of their past as well and think the words for their blog to automatically appear on the UWW(Universal Wide Web!). 

Casey Anthony Carnival

I feel so bad for the little girl, Caley Anthony.  I don't know if her mom did it or not, or how involved she was with covering it up, but I know that this country's interest in this case has grown phenomally since it started getting media coverage.  I think it's crazy that the juror's are already receiving death threats, along with Casey Anthony's parents as well as herself.  I don't blame the juror's for their verdict, our law states if there is reasonable doubt you need to give a not guilty verdict.  If anything I blame the prosecution, I think they shouldn't have tried for the death penalty and just went for a life sentence instead.  I think had they of done this the jury may have come back with a guilty verdict.  But without absolute proof that you are 100 percent sure of guilt, how could you with a good conscience basically sentence someone to death?  I truly believe the jury did the right thing and death threats against them are totally uncalled for.  This is America!  We're supposed to abide by our country's laws and not try to mess with anyone else's freedom.  To me that jury was free to decide which way they wanted to vote, they came to a unanimous decision, and that should be the end of the story.  Our justice system may have a few kinks in it, but being found not guilty by a jury of your peers in this country means you get to go on living in pursuit of the American dream, life, liberty, and taxes!

Emergency Room Nightmare!

Okay, so hopefully I haven't bored anyone to death yet with my few blogs I've posted.  I never promised they would be good, just practice so I can get better!  Let me tell you a story about a long, boring, wasted Friday night!  My wife and I host a married's group from church and that part of the evening was definitely not wasted, but after everybody left I was feeling a lot of pain in my wrist from a recent carpal tunnel surgery.  After some convincing my wife talked me into going to the emergency room since that is what my discharge paperwork from surgery suggested if my pain medication stopped working of if any complications arose.  So we drove the 30 minutes to JBLM to go to Madigan. ( I only recently found out I could have gone to Good Sam Hospital ER here in Puyallup).  After checking in and getting my vitals checked out we went to the waiting room to patiently wait our turn to be seen.  We figured it's Friday night, a four day weekend for most soldiers and that the ER would probably not be very busy, boy were we wrong!  After watching Toy Story 1 and 2 we were still waiting.  We overheard a lady next to us saying she had been there waiting to be called back since about 6pm.  We had arrived around 9:30pm and by the time we heard her talking it was well after midnight.  I believe she finally made it back around 12:30 or so.  I tried to check out to leave around 11 when we realized how long the wait might get, but I was informed by the desk staff that active duty personnel couldn't leave once they had checked in.  After witnessing about a half dozen people leave I and the desk staff leave at midnight, I checked with the back desk staff to see if I could check out and just see if I could ride my pain out at home.  It was around 1:30 am and they said if I waited it would probably be ONLY another couple of hours.  I told them I'd rather go home in pain since I'd already been waiting over 4 hours.  So they finally let me check out and I was able to leave the hospital.  I was still in pain, but I wasn't ready to sacrifice even more time when it was unsure when I would be seen.  I thought being recently discharged from surgery and having a pain level of 10 would ensure I was seen quickly, but apparantly it's not that important.  I remained in a lot of pain all day Saturday and my wife convinced me on Sunday morning to try again.  This time it went really quick.  I was prescreened and my vitals were taken within five minutes of arriving.  A physician's assistant saw me within 15 minutes of that and I was sent to x-ray.  Almost immediately my x-rays were taken and I was sent back to ER where I was seen again by the PA within just a few minutes.  He then proceeded to call the surgeon on call to see what they could do for me.  The surgeon arrived a few minutes later, checked out my wrist, told me I needed a wrist brace and prescribed me new meds for the pain.  I was so amazed!  What would have taken all night on Friday was done within less than two hours including getting the prescription filled!  I guess God knows what is best, but I do feel bad we ended up going on a Sunday and missing church.  We did at least listen to a cd teaching on the way back home and finished it when we got in the house.  Thank God they were able to do something for the pain and I thank my lovely wife for being so patient with me while I was such a pain in the behind!

I need a vacation just from trying to take a vacation!

Okay now for the sudden topic change!  I told you it wouldn't be all connected.  Due to my job and the laws governing me on said job I have to be careful with my phrasing for the next part.  There was this guy who had this job that made him sign out anytime he wanted to go on vacation.  As part of this process there was a lot of accompanying paperwork that would need to be completed prior to being able to take his vacation.  This guy turned in all of his paperwork well ahead of time and on the day he was supposed to sign out for vacation his boss told him he had to follow up on a medical condition that this guy has already taken care of but was told by the medical professionals that he could do nothing until after a certain date in the future.  But in order to take vacation this HAD to be completed according to his boss.  He tried going to the medical professionals and again they told him he had to wait, but they would be willing to sign a paper or call his boss if necessary to back up his story.  So when the guy went to tell his boss he did all he could his boss was gone, so he turned in the paperwork to his boss's secretary who then told this guy he should be good to go.  When the guy went to sign out on vacation later that evening, his paperwork was at the desk, but he was told he could not get a copy because the copy machine was broke.  This guy thought, okay no big deal, i've signed out on vacation before with no copy and it's never been a problem.  With two days left to go on his vacation the guy gets a call from his work saying they don't know where he's been, "are you on vacation or something?"  The guy found this very funny that they would wait until his vacation is almost over and then act as if there were a problem.  So the guy calls back his work and lets them know that he signed out on vacation almost two weeks ago only to hear a response "that's funny because the boss says that paperwork requesting vacation is still on her desk".  So the guy makes a few calls and finally gets it straightened out, but is really puzzled because even though the big boss didn't seem to be tracking he knew that his immediate supervisor should at least know.  Now here's where it gets even more entertaining.  This guy was due for surgery the day before his vacation was to end, and the doctors saw fit to give him two more weeks of vacation to start the day after his surgery.  The guy got all of this paperwork saying this about a week before his surgery so he gathered all of the necessary documents again to turn in for vacation so he could turn it in as soon as possible to hopefully avoid any further screw ups.  He spends hours putting together this packet and turns it in on the very same day the doctors gave him the paperwork he needed to file for this vacation, one full week ahead of when he would need to sign out for vacation.  When the guy shows up to sign out the day after his surgery he finds his paperwork has not been signed by the big boss yet, whom he just so happens to run into after that.  She tells him "oh yeah it's still on my desk, it still needs the signature of your other boss".  What should have taken a few minutes so the guy could go home and rest and not be in pain ended up taking hours with several arguements and threats to call authorities to fix the problem.  There is much more to this story, but I'm honestly tired of typing and it's getting to be bed time, so maybe I'll finish it later or maybe you can figure out what happened after that.  I'm just glad the whole mess is over and soon this guy will be getting a new job!

A New Adventure is Beginning!

I'm still working out how this whole blog thing is supposed to work, so bear with me.  It's probably going to be a lot of random thoughts, ideas, or things that just pop into my head as I'm writing.  Plus another thing that will make it interesting is that I've recently had carpal tunnel surgery so it's a little hard to type with both hands.  We are about to embark on an amazing adventure/journey.  My lovely wife and I will be going through the foster care process.  I call it a process because we have tried a few times before only to get caught up with a snag preventing us from completing the necessary steps to complete the process.  Usually it's my job keeping me from completing the required PRIDE classes.  These classes last about forty hours and provide some insight and a little training to prepare you for what kind of children you may be having in your home.  They don't paint the bright sunny picture that you see in television or movies.  They talk about the real deal, kids whose parents are struggling with drug addictions, alcoholism, poverty, teenage pregnancy, abuse, and so much more.  These kids aren't just going to automatically fit into your home, the hope is that with some love, understanding, a solid support system, and a lot more love and understanding on top of that, that these children will stop just barely surviving and start actually thriving.  It's a great challenge and I believe God has placed this on both of our hearts for some time.  Nothing is going to stop us this time, I know we will complete whatever is necessary this time to complete the whole process and start letting these children into a loving home environment and get them involved with the church and community outreach.