What A WEEK!!!

Wow folks!
This has been an action packed week!

Ryan, Jess & Kaitlin have been out this past few days, Sarah has been up and down feelings-wise... and our apartment situation is still unresolved.

Ry, Jess & Kaity flew in on Thanksgiving Day. I went to pick them up, but half way to Denver, I got a call that their plane had turned around in St. Louis and went back to Chicago for repairs. They were going to be about 2 hours late. So I decided that instead of going directly to the airport, which is East of the city a bit... I would go downtown. I haven't been there since '99, when I went with my roommates from college. So I drove into town, and since it was a holiday, nothing was open, but parking on the street was easy to find, and free... so I drove to the 16th street mall and parked. (The 16th St. mall is THE place to be in Denver, and very neat. It's an entire street of stores with two free trolleys that go up and down it all day. There's no actual traffic on it, so it's really nice.) I walked around, and got some coffee at a Starbucks that was open, and sat with the homeless and talked to them for awhile. It was really eye opening, and I heard some sad stories, and some happy stories... it was a great way to focus on the things that God has blessed us with. When it was time, I hopped back in the car and drove to the airport to pick everybody up, and head back. We took our time, and drove through Garden of the gods when we got to Colorado Springs. Everybody was really happy to see Sarah, and be done traveling. I cooked dinner, which was a nice roast with potatoes and carrots. There was green bean casserole, and dinner rolls, and sweet potatoes made from scratch. Everything turned out great!

The past several days have been spent hanging out and having fun. We have enjoyed having the company, and the help around the house. It's been nice for me to have Ryan, and Sarah to have the girls for emotional support. Sometimes it's hard to share your feelings with your spouse when you're feeling something you've said before. Or a dozen times before. It's hard to say, "This really has been getting me down... again..." without annoying them, or frustrating yourself. Sometimes, having someone who truly cares to listen to your common issues, can go a long way.

Ryan's "cow" (Gateway laptop) died on him early in the trip, so he's had issues with that, but otherwise, things went really well.

Oh... the apartment. Well folks, I don't know how many of you will understand this, but we are coming down to the wire and we're not worried. Well... we're worried to a point. But we know that God is going to provide in an amazing way, and I can't wait to blog what that was! As we stand, we have found an apartment we can afford payments on ($515 per month) even though we're single income now... and we will be able to pay off the fee for breaking our lease in payments to Tanglewood. (How appropriately named is this place?) And the really cool thing is that it is across the street, so it's easy to move to, and there is a first month free special on it. It would be a two bedroom, one bath. It isn't stinky, or old, and it has new carpet and vinyl. There are of course, problems. The main one is that they have a policy that requires you to have all money owed your last apartment paid in full. This is not possible at this point, so we are asking that they look at this situation differently. The second issue is that we may not make enough at this point to pass the application. The third, is that my next paycheck is ON the day we need to be out of here, and it's not going to be as high because I wasn't able to work my full 40 hours this last week! So it's gonna be tight no matter what! I really haven't a clue as to what's going to happen, but I am eager to find out. We have done everything we could, and we are at the end of ourselves... so we step out on faith that Jesus won't let us fall. For those of you praying, the amount we're praying for is about $1,000. That would allow us to get out of Tanglewood, into Summer Grove, and would provide for Sarah's medical expenses. Thank you for your prayers.

In conclusion, please continue to pray for Sarah as her health continues to give her problems. Her stomach is very delicate, and she continues to have morn-afternoo-nigh-twiligh-daw-brunchtime sickness. She has been holding up valiently, but needs rest from her bodies problems. Thank you.

Well, I need to head to bed.

Love yall.
Jim

Return

Wow folks... Sorry about the absence.

Updates include a scare for Sarah and I, kind donations, another move, a visit from back home, and new music.

First up, and to asuage your fears... Sarah and I had a scare concerning the baby about a week ago. I was just getting off work, and I got a call from Sar who had some bleeding, and was scared that something was wrong with the baby. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I got a call from one of the guys from church. He was wondering how we were doing, and wanted to know if we needed prayer for anything... how's that for timing? So after I got off the phone with him, I called my parents so they could be praying too. I got home and comforted Sarah for a couple minutes, and then called the doctor on duty. Since it was a Saturday, it was a few minutes after the page before he called back. The doc on duty wasn't Sarah's, but he was able to assess the sitch pretty quickly, and let us know that a little "Spotting" isn't normal, but it isn't unusual either, so unless it got worse, we were ok. He said to have Sarah stay resting, and keep excercise to a minimum for a couple days. The fact that we had just had the sonagram two days prior, and everything was great when we did, was also a good sign. Since then, Sarah has experienced a bit more spotting, but after checking with another doctor on Friday, we are feeling alot better about things. I don't think I'll be totally confident that everything's ok until I see the baby again, and have a doctor right there observing what it looks like... but I have faith that no matter what happens, God is in control, and He will get us through.

On to brighter things. I don't know that I updated you all regarding our apartment situation... ok, so I did... I just checked. Yeah... nothing new to report. We're still looking, and we have till the second. So please keep our housing in your prayers.

On to even brighter things... Today at church, a lady that always says hi and asks how we're doing every Sunday came up and asked if we wanted a crib and a stroller. Pretty cool, so we went over to her house to see them, and they look great! They're used, but in great shape, and she had a portable playpen area too! So we took the playpen and stroller, and we'll get the crib after we move again. The crib is about 4 years old, and is cherry. Gorgeous. God provides in so many ways! We were looking through a Target baby book to see what we wanted to register, and the crib and stroller were both such expensive items. Necessary, but expensive... and now those are out of the way, so we can focus our registry a little differently! Pretty awesome. The portable playpen was an extra, but I'm sure it'll be a welcome one.

To the really exciting news!
Kaitlin, Jessica and Ryan are coming out for Thanksgiving this week!
Kait & Jess are Sarah's sisters, and Ryan is my best friend and their cousin. So we'll be with family this holiday. So nice. Sarah has been pining for family these past few weeks, and will probably attempt to kidnap them. Don't worry though, we'll call them in sick for work for the next few months. (Jessica's work might actually believe us...) They'll be here for a few days, and then head back to Chicago. My manager gave me Thurs. and Fri. off, and since I don't work Sundays, I'll be able to be home for 3 out of the 4 days. I'm planning a roast, since Sarah can't stand any sort of poultry being cooked, eaten, stored or served in any way since her pregnancy began. So one turkey can breathe easier this year. Well... I'm sure it'll get killed anyway. Subway has to make it's money some way...

In new music. I found the 2002 Tom Waits release Blood Money at the library, along with a newer MXPX album called Before Everything & After. I also picked up an album by the Datsuns, a punk band I'm roughly familiar with. Finishing up the pack, and Jim... I refuse to let you read the next sentence. Turn away now!!! Seriously! If you read this, you will disown me... man... I can't bring myself to say it. If you want to know the last album I picked up, and your last name does not start with "Van" email me, and I'll tell you. I have to keep what dignity I still have with Jim alive.

At work, I finally had the opportunity to make nametags for my fellow workers. I love em, and I brought them in yesterday to overwhelming appreciation. Everybody loved them, and so I'll post a few here for your amusement. These tags are not seen by the customer, but instead mark who is on which register... for my fellow Starbuckians, you'll recognize the idea, as you were my first store to make these for. It's hard to find a thing to encapsulate your friends' personalities with... one defining feature that will amuse and not offend... but they seem to be cool with these.






















So there are a few... hope you enjoyed them. I love that pic of Debbie Harry on Tim's card.
I can't believe that CBGB's is closing. I've barely been to NY city... and that was one of the locations on my list... oh well.

Alright everyone. In the future, I'll try to stick to smaller, more frequent posting, instead of binges like this one.

Peace and thank you,
Jim

$2.29

Gas is down to $2.29 where we are, and I am happy. Not that I use all that much anymore, but it's a relief to not have to chuck out the same money for gas as we do our APARTMENT any more!

Just kidding.

Today was a nice, long day at work, but tomorrow and Saturday I open, so while waking up and leaving home while it's dark will not be fun... getting off work by noon is priceless.

I really can't remember why it was I wanted to blog, but I remember saying to myself "Self... you should say something about that." But I guess it wasn't that important.

No apartment news yet, but we're working on it.

Alright. I give up. Talk to you all later.

Jim

Skype

Hi guys... I know... two posts in one day!!!

This last week or so, I've been using a program called Skype, and it's been awesome!

It is free to download and use, and it works on Windows or Mac machines. What it does is it allows you to use your internet connection to carry on phone-like conversations over your computer. You "Call", "Hang up" and "Connect" like a phone, but using your mic and speakers on your computer. (although, with some connections, headphones keep nasty echo away.)

It's also neat because it's international. I had a conversation tonight with a Chinese college student, who was in China. Pretty cool.

Here's a link to the windows app.

And the mac app.

If you decide to download and use this program, let me know, and I'll hook you up with my screenname.

Peace.

First Pics!!!!

Alright Everybody!!! Here's the first pic of our little booger that we got at the doctor's office today!

I know it sounds crazy, but I think we can tell a little about the baby's personality, even though it's so early in the pregnancy... but honestly... take a look.

"... and I'm BACK IN THE GAME!!!"

Alright!!!

We are now officially ONLINE!

I am so excited. We had the internet hooked up last night, and spent the better part of the last day catching up. I updated all our programs and checked my emails... wow... I missed a few, because, holy shnikies... there were alot.


Sar fiddled around today, and I think she said she had around 150 emails to go through. Amazing how much contact we have nowadays.

Well, now that I am on a personal computer, I can better blog out surroundings to you. Here are several photos of my ride to work every day. The mountain you see in the distance that is bigger than the others is Pikes Peak.






I am working on the western side of town, almost to the Garden of the Gods... speaking of which. Here is a pic I took the other night of my store. Forgive my crappy camera.


So anyway... last Sunday, Sarah and I went to church at the Vinyard that we've been visiting, (and have decided to attend regularly) and then we helped out at a fall/costume party that the church had for the local community. Lots of candy... enough to last us awhile. And that, my friends, is saying something... actually, before the party, Sarah and I went to lunch at the Cracker Barrel (mmm... chicken & dumplins... mmm) and I got this cool picture below of a cloud enveloping a nearby mountain. It was really cool to watch. We're such newbies.


Well, after that, we went over to a friend from church's apartment, and decided that we could do better than where we were. Our apartment, while spacious, is stinky. And not just to super-pregnant-smelling-a-chicken-fry-in-the-
next-county-Sarah... to me too. Several times a day, the place is filled with the smells of cooking (if you want to call it that) and cigarette smoke. But like, nasty, cheap, left-in-your-cup-of-coffee cigarette smoke smell.

Ugh.

And there are alot of issues with the quality of the place. Our lights, and water have had issues... the doorknob sort of came loose and had to be repaired, and it is super noisy because we're right next to the street.

So for all of those reasons, we've decided to... wait for it... wait for it... yup, move.

But this time to a nicer apartment, and with friends who live here, and the ability to actually see the apartment before we move in, I am confident that we will be able to find something much nicer, and possibly considerably cheaper from what I hear. The apartment complex was moved by my "you guys suck" speech, and will not be hitting us up with any crazy fees. So we are looking again.

Lemme see.

Oh, yeah. Note to all Starbucks partners reading this. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT attach a "Grounds for your garden" sticker to your lower lip. This causes one to lose said skin, and bleed profusely all over your environment. Even if one is busy, and your hands are dirty, and you may be "just" looking for a place to keep the sticker, even if only for a second... do not give in. It hurts alot. And you try to figure out a way to get your lip to stop spurting blood from six different open wounds. It ain't easy mister!

Everyone else, ignore the above comment that my uhhh.... friend did.

Peace.
Jim