Things have been nice in our neck of the woods.  The weather has been sunny, but hot and humid!  It’s funny how we complain that it’s too cold and snowy in the winter months and then we’re too hot and sweaty in the summer.  Make up your minds people!!

Connie’s due date is rapidly approaching (Sept. 2nd).  We’re both pretty excited, yet feeling the pressure!  We still have some things that need to get done before the arrival of our little one…you know…like picking out a name!

Next weekend me and some of the guys are going to a concert in Baltimore at a little place called Sonar.  Headliners are As I Lay Dying and Underoath.  I’m pretty excited for my first metal show!  We’re going to be staying downtown over night and checking out the city the following day. There’s another show at the same venue that I want to go to in August (Scream the Prayer III Tour).  Hopefully I’ll get to check out that show as well.

Connie and I have been doing some home improvements over the last few months – We painted three rooms (although her bathroom still needs another coat), put wall border in Isaacs room (we’ll be putting wall border in Connies bathroom as well), hung cabinets in the laundry, ordered some new blinds for the whole house, planted some landscaping bushes (I have a couple more to plant), etc….Between holiday gatherings and every day life…we’ve been pretty busy!

I was able to raise $125.00 for the NHL Beard-a-thon.  I had fun with it and hopefully I’ll have the chance to participate again next year.  Thanks to everyone who donated!

Tomorrow I get to spend the first part of my work day at the Oakland Golf club by the putting green doing a contest for the United Way.  That should be a lot of fun and it’s for a great cause.  Unfortunately, tomorrow is the first day of rain that we’re supposed to get (it hasn’t rained for probably 2 weeks)!  Hopefully the tournament doesn’t get washed out…

I’m in the middle of reading two great books right now….One is “What in Hell do you want” by Jesse Duplantis and the other is “Unlocking Heaven” by Kevin Dedmon.

‘Til next time….

 A little about the Mario Lemieux foundation:

The Mario Lemieux Foundation was created in 1993 by hockey legend Mario Lemieux. After a successful battle with Hodgkin’s disease, Mario is now cancer-free and devotes much of his time to the Foundation raising funds to support its initiatives.

The objective of the Mario Lemieux Foundation is to fund promising cancer and neonatal research projects. The Foundation’s projects include:
• $5 million gift to the renowned University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, to establish the Mario Lemieux Centers for Patient Care and Research
• $2 million gift to the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh to establish the Lemieux Family Center
• $1.6 million gift Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC to establish the Mario Lemieux Foundation Endowment for Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Research

Additionally, Nathalie Lemieux created Austin’s Playroom Project after the Lemieux’s personal experience while caring for their premature infant son. Austin’s Playroom Project seeks to benefit families and improve the quality of a child’s hospital experience whether as a visitor or patient by establishing cheerful playrooms that are safe, calming and comfortable.

For more information on the Mario Lemieux Foundation, please visit www.mariolemieux.org

With all this being said, many of you folks are likley involvled in giving to charitable organizations.  All I ask is that you consider pledging your support to the Mario Lemieux Foundation with a gift of $10.00 or more.  My goal is to raise $500.00 (that’s just 50 donations of $10.00).  Contributions are 100% tax deductible.

If interested, you can “Pledge a Friend” on the Beard-a-thon website https://www.beardathon.com/penguins.  Just search for my name and make your contribution.

And of course here are some pics of the baby to come.

Easter reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice of His own life to redeem ours (if we make that choice) and of His supernatural resurrection.  You mean it’s not about peanut butter eggs and marshmellow peeps!!?? It truly is a magnificent time for followers of Christ to celebrate.

Isaac turned 2 last Sunday (March 28th).  His party is this weekend (it seems everyones schedule was packed the past few weekends).  I’m looking forward to it!

Connie finally had her ultrasound on Friday afternoon (she’s 18 weeks along now).  I’ll see if I can put up a picture or two in the next few days.  The miracle of life is truly that – a miracle.  It’s an amazing process to say the least.  We’re not going to find out if it’s a boy or girl this time.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want another boy, but we’re just looking for a healthy baby boy or girl.  Either way, come late August/early September we’ll have a new addition to the family.

The teaching was about the roots of worthlessness – The roots of a tree feed the trunk and branches of the tree, so if there are roots of worthlessness in your life, you may have a long list of things that arise simply due to the roots of worthlessness.  For instance the roots may cause self-hatred, escapism, confusion, frustration, etc….So it’s important to know your worth in Christ.

Hate to cut this short, but I’ve gotta get back to work!!

Unfortunately the snow has caused some damage recently to some folks we know - We know two families whose garages collapsed under the weight of the snow just within recent days. Luckily no one was injured, but clean up and repairs are another issue. I’m going to try and get my roof cleaned off this weekend (hopefully).

Snow Days - I remember the good old days when I was still a young buck…when we’d get so much snow they’d cancel school.  I think that school has been cancelled up here for at least the last 2 weeks.  Why can’t work follow the same type of bad weather policy??

Connie has a baby shower to attend this weekend and I’ll probably just work on the model ’77 Jeep Renegade that I’m trying to get finished by the end of March.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Today is going to be a short day for me - We were on the road yesterday and worked (including travel time) over 12 hours yesterday so I’m going to take a half day today.  Connie and I will be going to the doctors office to see if we can hear the babies heart beat for the first time and then we’re planning on going to Denny’s to get our free Grand Slam, which was advertised during the Super Bowl.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, what a great game.  The refs didn’t play a major part in the outcome….meaning they didn’t screw up!! Overall it was a pretty evenly matched game, but in the end the Saints wound up on top.  Good for them.  Next year I’m hoping the Steelers are back in the mix

Well, hate to cut this short, but I’ve got work to do.  Later….

Thank God for the job I have, but come on!!  I made better money right out of high school slaughering cows and pigs than I do now auditing every aspect of a financial institution.  Frankly, that’s not good enough.  I’m ticked!

My only question is, why did it take so long to figure out that the claim ”a college grad makes more money than a high school grad” was bogus?  I learned that years ago!

Sorry folks, sometimes I just have to let it all out – It’s better that way

Anyways, the snow finally started around 8:30-9:00 this morning.  Last I checked, we were supposed to get 20 inches by tomorrow evening.  That’s really nothing unusual up here in the mountains.  I just can’t seem to figure out why people that have lived here their entire lives still get all worked up over a “big” storm like this.  I say bring it on!  Not that I enjoy the snow (I hate the cold and I hate shoveling), but it doesn’t really phase me if we get a bunch of it either.

So the big game is approaching fast – Sunday is a big day for just lounging around and eating.  Penguins play at 12, PBA charity event with some of the Steelers is at 2, and the SB is at 6:30.  I’m looking forward to “vegging out”.

Then…back to the grind on Monday – as of now, we’ll be on the road, which is always fun.

So it’s back to work today after another weekend that went by too fast!  I’m in a bit of a funk right now – I’ve been working on writing new procedures and what not for different audits…talk about boring! I’d rather be doing field work/testing.  I’ve only been here for an hour and a half today and I’m ready to go home and take an 8 hour nap!!

Later….

I’m finding myself unsatisfied with my job (there’s a real shocker).  You know, I went to college to better myself and of course to someday (not soon enough) collect that big fat paycheck I’ve always dreamed of (that’s just one of my aspirations).  How’s that working out for me?  Praise God I have a job, a roof over my head, and food on my table.  But this isn’t how or where I want to spend the rest of my life.  You know the saying, overworked and underpaid….well budget cuts and reorganization have left my department in a pinch.  The work load has increased a bit, but that’s the only thing that has….I know, I know, just be content with what I have….I hear ya…

For those of you who know me, I really enjoy music.  It doesn’t matter much what type it is (NO COUNTRY!), I’ll listen to classical and soft jazz all the way up to hardcore metal and everything in between.  Heck, I’ve been known to just listen to a rain storm.  But lately, even after downloading about 100+ new songs since Christmas, nothing is really “moving” me.  It’s all crap!  Christian, secular, and whatever label you want to put on it….it’s just not doing it for me. The only time I’m really enjoying music is when I’m playing it or writing it myself (which isn’t often enough)….and trust me, I’m not about to win any artist of the year or grammy’s!

I guess this is all a part of some growing process.

For those of you who haven’t heard (directly or indirectly), Connie and I are expecting our second child – due date 09/02/10.  I can’t wait to see the little guy (or gal) Connie and I are both excited to see the difference in personalities and tempraments.  It should be interesting to say the least.

Hope you folks are doing well…til next time….