Free Web Counter My Life: September 2006

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Big News!!!

The last few weeks, eventhough crazy, have probably been the most amazing in my life. I have seen God work out so many things in some amazing ways.

First of all, JR was offered a promotion at work. He was very excited about it, especially because it was a big pay raise. When he went to train for the job, he realized that the job was too dangerous to be doing when he has a family to think about. He realized that there was another job open that seemed to be perfect. Not quite so dangerous. To make a long story short, he ended up taking option number three. A job with weird hours, not so much manual labor (a very good thing because of his back) and it even paid a little more. At the time we thought even though the hours are a little weird, it would allow him to do a lot more relationally with people. Here comes the crazy part. The pastors at church asked JR if he would come on staff as the high school director. When I first heard this, I was a little taken back. JR didn't want to do youth ministry again. We eventually wanted to plant a church, not work with youth again. Well, after praying about it, it seemed that this would be a great thing. It would be a different role for JR - more of a leadership and giving direction role. Something he will be amazing at. The cool thing is that this job that he ended up taking totally gives him freedom to have the time to do this. Very cool. I talked with one of the pastors at church about how they had been praying about who to bring on for this and they felt God telling them it was JR. Hearing how God had been lining up everything before we even knew about this job at church was so amazing. Cool story, huh! Well, it gets better :)

We just signed papers to buy a house!! Very exciting, right! Our first house. The amazing thing is the timing with this one. We bought the house from a pastor in our church. Our lease is up Nov. 1st and we were in a little bit of a time crunch. We had looked at about 10 other houses, and they were either out of our price range or they just wouldn't work for what we wanted. Our pastor and his family have been trying to sell their house for 6 months. They want to build a new one and need to break ground soon to be able to build during the winter months. Well, after first saying we weren't interested in their house, we went and looked at it and realized it could be perfect for us. Everything we had been looking for! We signed papers tonight! The cool thing is that a guy from our church is building the house for them. He didn't have any work lined up for the winter and was wondering what he was going to do. Needless to say, now he has work to carry him through the winter. The timing couldn't be better for us - it coincides perfectly with the end of our year lease and it works perfect timing wise with our friends being able to break ground before winter, and it works great for our other friend who is building the house. Another cool thing is our loan. I had talked with two other lenders and their price and closing costs just seemed too high and I didn't feel comforable with it. I prayed all last weekend that I would find the right lender. My job on Monday was to find this. A pretty big thing in my eyes. The first lender I called Monday morning was amazing. He asked me to come into the office to talk about the loan. He was able to get us an amazing loan and the payments were about $150 cheaper a month. We were able to get a VA loan because JR is a veteran. We also got an amazing deal because JR is a disabled veteran. Praise God!!!

It has just been so amazing to see how God has completely guided our path the last month. So many things came into place in some extraordinary ways. There is no other way to explain all of this. God is so awesome!!!

Sorry for the book! So much has happened and I even left out a lot of the details. I just love to brag on God though - how can you not??!!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Life has continued to be crazy, as usual. Just as I think things will settle down I laugh at how wrong I was. Ethan and Hailey started school about a month ago. They seem to like it - I am a little concerned about how little they seem to be learning, though. Hopefully this will change as the year goes on! I am really enjoying the few hours a day that I have to myself. It's nice just to have some Tricia time. Not Tricia the mom, but Tricia, the 28 year old person. It's been so nice.

We are moving in the next 5 or 6 weeks too! The lady that owns the house we have been renting decided to put it up for sale, so we have to be out of here November 1st. We are actually going to buy a house! Our first house! Kinda hard to believe considering we have been married more than 9 years now! But until now, we've moved around too much to even think about buying a house. I am excited - it will be nice to move this time and know that we won't be moving 12 months down the road. In the 9 years we've been married, this will be our 10th move. Definitely ready for a longer stay in one place!!

A lot more things are changing in our lives in the next month or so, but more about that later (and no, I'm not pregnant :)

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Inspirational Story

My mother-in-law sent me this story. It's amazing. If you have a few minutes, read the story then watch the video in the end.


[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Click here to see the amazing video of them.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Pictures from New York City

Here are some pictures from our time in New York City. We had such an amazing day! It was sunny and about 75 degrees. The kids were great and they had a blast too. My friend Deb and I took the train into the city early to make it to the Today show. We ended up being on TV - in the background behind Lester Holt and Campbell Brown! It was a blast! We then went to the top of the Empire State Building. After that we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Apple Store, Central Park, Ground Zero and then took the Staton Island Ferry and saw the statue of Liberty. It was a packed day but so well worth it!!













Friday, September 01, 2006

New York City, Here We Come!!

Our family is on the way to Connecticuit and New York City! We are in Syracuse, NY right now visiting my brother and his wonderful family. We left the house at 9:30am this morning and pulled into my brother's place around 9:30 tonight. We made a little pit stop in Niagra Falls! It was amazing! JR and I have been there when we were kids, so needless to say, it was a while ago :)

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Yes, we actually got gas for $2.33 today in Ohio!!







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