A Brief Message

Well, it has been a while since I have updated so I thought I would take a couple of minutes and give a brief update. The weather here has been positively beautiful this week. The only draw back has been is the havoc it has been playing with my allergies. It is like a bad love/hate relationship. I love this time of year because the temperatures are right at what my wife calls my comfort zone, and I really enjoy being outside. I hate the after affects though. Well other than that though life is going well. I continue to make progress on learning the different systems of the Osprey and I am also getting to spend good time with the family. I especially enjoy our evening walks. Our family dog gets a little hyper on them though. It seems when she spots a squirrel, she feels the need to try everything to greet the furry creature. The only problem is, that she takes my eldest son places he does not really want to go and a couple of times he has gotten scraped up in the process. Now my son blames the squirrels for it. He is quite the loyal friend to his dog. Let's see...what else... I had the windshield on my Cougar replaced on Thursday. The day I bought it, I was driving it home and a semi had cut me off. In the process he hurled a stone at my windshield leaving an impact the same shape of the stone. I didn't worry about it until it started spreading. During that process, the technician installing had pulled off the plastic panels below the windshield. Underneath the panels is a good sized, rectangular area. And in that area, was a little green frog about 2 inches long. I have yet to figure out how he got in there in the first place. On Thursday I picked up our chest freezer from Sears. It was much needed since our house supplied refrigerator's freezer is super small. So small in fact, it seemed like every time you opened it, something was trying to jump out at you. Yesterday was the good family day. I was able to bounce on the trampoline with my wife and youngest son, went for our walk and basically just hung out. I must admit it was pretty nice. Today I watched part of the NFL draft, played Madden with my eldest son, and grilled our dinner. I also actually helped this time with our weekly menu plan and I do believe I picked out some very delicious recipes. My wife started it a while back and I like it a lot for several reasons: It gives you a wide variety of meals, it let's you and your better half decide on something that you both enjoy, it takes away that, "What do you want to eat tonight?", decision(Which my response of whatever gets annoying) and it cuts down on the extra buying at the grocery store because you know what you are going to have when. Well it is way past my bed time (being the old man that I am) so I am going to close this out. Until next time, may the Lord keep you and bless you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Another Weekend Passes

Greetings everyone! Well another weekend has come to an end and an enjoyable one it was. I was able to get off work a little early on Friday and I changed the front brakes on my Cougar. It was a little challenging (especially with no repair manual) but it worked out all right. I was also able to clean up the vehicles this weekend and spend some great time with the family. My F-150 was really in need of a cleaning since it has only been cleaned once before since i got back from Afghanistan in November. I debate many a times if I should sell my truck or not. I do not drive it very often but it has been a faithful vehicle since I bought it in 99. It was my primary vehicle for the longest time, I think right up until 2006. That is when my wife, after numerous problems with her Mystique, had gotten her Taurus. I do not know if it was coincedental or not, once i inherited her car it ceased to have problems. She insists that the car only liked me! After I got back from Afghanistan, we decided to donate the Mystique and i replaced it with the Cougar. The truck though, as my wife like to say, is like part of the family. It has always been very reliable and although it has a couple of glitches, it has been good to our family. I will try to put a picture of it further on.

This morning my eldest son and our dog were playing on the trampoline and it was quite amusing. The dog has been so good for him, it is almost hard to believe. This afternoon we went to K-Mart to pick up a couple of things for the old homeschool and some other things as well. Well I suppose I should wrap this up since it is time for bed time stories with the kids and the rest of our nightly routine. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and protect you and stay on the chosen path.

This is my truck redTyler and Lucy playing is below

Happy Easter Everyone

Happy Easter Everyone! Well I hope you enjoyed your Easter weekend. As for myself, I believe I did. I got off work pretty early on Friday (remember the good old days when nothing was open on Good Friday?). My wife and I watched the movie, "The Gospel of John" and I personally reflected on the greatness of our savior, Jesus. The rest of the day was spent together as a family. As for Easter, I do not know about the rest of you dads, but I enjoy the tradition of hiding the Easter basket for my son. I have been doing it for years. I write out clues that lead to the next clue that eventually leads to his basket. The only stipulation is, the clues have to rhyme (which can be challenging at times). My youngest son, who is low functioning, does not necessarily understand the concept, however it is still important for him to have a basket and I thoroughly believe he enjoys it. As for today, my wife and I took the kids to our homeschool group meeting, which was at Miracle Meadows ( a therapeutic horse riding place). My eldest son was nervous at first but warmed up rather well to the animals. Could not convince nor would he even entertain the thought of riding one. The youngest did really well considering the amount of people that were there. About a month after I got home from Afghanistan my youngest got bit by a spider and ever since then has taken a long time to come around to the idea of going anywhere without becoming very upset. But today he did wonderful and I am so very proud of him. Actually, my eldest did very well to (different context but equally as challenging) and I am very proud of him as well. After we left there, we came home and i took care of some work while my son ate lunch. Then I ordered SkyAngel TV and I am very optimistic about it all. I highly recommend for everyone to give it a glance. It is 100 percent family programing at a reasonable (cheaper than cable) price and it runs of your internet. No need to worry about waiting for the cable guy to show up, more importantly, no need to worry about some whacked out or questionable moral content programming or commercials. I let you know later what I think of it. I have to wait for the box to arrive via UPS. My son is excited though because now he will be able to watch the Dove Awards. After the Sky Angel process, I played my eldest son in a game of Madden08 and he whooped me a good one. As a matter of fact we didn't even play the 4th quarter because: a) his dinner was done and b) I couldn't of caught up if I wanted to. That basically sums up my weekend. I pray that you all had a great Easter, were able to spend time as a family and reflect on the greatest gift anyone has ever known, Jesus. Well until next time, may your life be blessed and may the Son light your paths.

What a Weekend

Greetings and salutations! Well another weekend has past and tomorrow begins another week of work. Actually, for myself I am actually in training to become a MV-22 Osprey Mechanic. For the last 15 years or so, I worked on what is affectionately known as the Phrog, otherwise known as a CH-46E (I will try to put pictures of both). Well after 40+ years of service the Phrog is being phased out and the Osprey is alive and kicking. The Osprey is a "pretty smart" aircraft with some amazing capabilities but I just have grown really fond of the Phrog. There I go rambling again.... Now back to the weekend. I had taken my laptop in to get fixed at Staples on Friday because it was having some serious issues ever since I returned from Afghanistan (November). I picked it up yesterday and it works like a champ. I highly recommend Staples to anyone having computer glitches as I think they are very reasonable, efficient and polite. As for today, I woke up not feeling very well and it all went down hill from there. I feel slightly better and I am praying I feel better before work tomorrow. One thing that doesn't help is that it is allergy season and my eldest son and I suffer terribly. I want to say the best part of the weekend was our family walk on Saturday evening. My eldest walks our dog, Lucy, while I push our youngest son in his stroller (special needs stroller) while I talk with the wife. It is relaxing and everyone enjoys the fresh air. There is something about going for a walk that just seems to release all the hectic and craziness from your life for at least a few minutes. The best part of today was that my wife (whom is probably the best baker in the world) baked some delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. She asked me if I was feeling well enough to try one. Let's be honest, I know few men who turn down any kind of baked goodie! Well I tried three, probably was not the smartest thing but they were so yummy! That is enough for now, until next time, I wish everyone out there I wish you a blessed week and may all your steps be guided on the narrow path.

Greetings to All

My user name is a mix of a Toby Mac song and a reflection on a lot of different life experiences that have helped me grow and help others through similar situations. I can be pretty hyper sometimes and my wife often accuses me of being ADD. Other than that I see myself as a pretty normal dad who is trying to raise children with Godly Christian character in a world that seems to scream otherwise. Being in the military makes it a little more challenging as it demands as much as of time (probably more) as my family deserves. So that fine balancing act does get a little crazy! With that brief introduction, let's move on to the real reason we are all here! The Kids! I have two boys (both of whom are autistic) and both are wonderful. The strange thing is they have probably already taught me more than I could have ever hoped to instruct them. They have taught me so much about patience, forgiveness and unconditional love it is almost unfathomable. It is amazing what God will use to shape us as He desires. My wife actually does the homeschooling work while I get the easy way out and get to go to work! My oldest son is high fuctioning and my youngest is low functioning autistic. The eldest is quite the intelligent person although he does struggle with social skills and some other things. The youngest one is more challenging to teach as he is non verbal and needs to take things really steady and consistent. I am thankful I have a wife with the patience of Job, because I do not think I could ever do it as well as she does and with as much patience. I do not help very much as far as hands on, but I do believe in fully supporting the curriculm needs. I hear of many stories of dads who try to spend bare minimum on curriculm needs. If this applies to my reader please reconsider. You only have one opportunity to teach and instruct your child. There are tons of money saving solutions without having to buy all the high dollar items. I have also learned that if we spend quality (not so much quantity, but the time we give is from our heart), our children will easily surrender their material needs for that quality time. Well I have rambled enough. Maybe I really am ADD! I just wanted to give a brief introduction. I think it is important for dads to really be there for their children(or somebody else will) and we need to support our wives who do the real heavy lifting around the household. And after a hard day at work it can be difficult to come home and listen to the excitement of the kids and simultaneously the concerns of our wives. I think this is an excellent venue for us to encourage one another that have walked the same trail and understand the obstacles along the way.