Well here it is a snowy Sunday night. Time for a quick update and pictures before I go beat my wife in a game of Skip Bo.

This first photo is a praise item. I am so glad that if I was going to fall through the ice on my pond that it was where it was only 4 feet deep! The worst thing was that I was holding Erin when it happened and we were out there by ourselves! So so scary. I was able to hold her up and put her on the ice....she never got a bit wet, but I sure was. I had knee boots on so it was a bit hard for me to get out, but thankfully the ice did not give way again and we were able to make it back to the house. It was an event that just kind've froze JoElla and I with the realization that this hole in the ice could just as easily be a symbol of a tragedy rather than a near one. I do not think I will ever understand why sometimes we are spared against the odds...and then the next time death strikes in seemingly fateful ways! Thank-you God for sparing us again.



JoElla made a trip to Oregon at the end of January to see our friends in Oregon. She traveled with her friend Joanna Schlabach, so that meant that Erin and I had the weekend together...of course Mom watched her while I was at work. Here is a picture of the Strubhars:



And crazy things happen while mom is gone:

Making up for lost time when Daddy says I can't have my binky:


Being crazy and cute at the same time:








Work has been a bit slow for RJL construction the past two weeks, but that is OK because I've been finishing up the remodeling project in our bathroom and repainting the living room. Oh and I almost forgot that I screwed my wifes sweeper up because I tried to work on it without unplugging it. Note:...I didn't get shocked, but the sparks flew and the electrolux guy said it looked like the computer in the sweeper was burned...I said..."ya think???" Well...the cost to fix it was only $450 so I thought...not to bad it could have been worse. Like I could have unplugged the thing first and then I wouldn't have even known about the computer board and more important I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know Henry the "closest" electrolux repairman who lives in Youngstown OH. Needless to say....the days of the electrolux salesman coming to your door might be over, but they are STILL very expensive sweepers, yet I must add that I still agree with my wife that they are a very GOOD and dependable sweeper. I wanted to be the hero and fix her sweeper...bad idea...it really "sucked." What would/could YOU do with $450??? if you send me another sweeper you can have the cash:)




Here's a picture of the bathtub area after I had replaced the old tub and laid tile around the new one. I'll post pictures soon of the finished project. I have to put the shower doors on yet and it's done!




Glad you stopped by to take a look. Please comment if you have any questions...and I promise to reply. Anything so I don't have to break down and get a facebook profile You know how facebookers are always trying to start these religious movements like...Don has joined the "I don't care about the price of gas group" well I wonder when someone is gonna start one that says "Don has joined the "I'm going to try going without facebook for a week...pray for me that I might now wither and die as doth the flower in the desert at high noon."

I know that you are all worried very much about this.  Just recently I got some mail from the social security service and they tell me that both me and my wife have upwards of $30,000 waiting for us when we are ready to draw it out...but only on the condition that we are over 65 which means that by then we will NOT be reinvesting this into the current economy but rather we will take all of that 30,000 to pay for a first night in the hospital when they make me stay overnight after my first colonoscopy!  Can't wait!  Boy it feels good to be rich, but I will have to say that the colonoscopy doesn't feel so great.

I say all that mainly to say I don't give a(n) %#^*   (Depends which expletive you put in there whether it should be a or an) about the social security business...Oh ooops I'm sorry yes I DO give something for it...it looks like about $3-4000 per year!  And behold the time drew near when they should go up onto TaxAct and pay that which was due unto Caesar!  And when the days were accomplished....namely April 15th...that they should deliver...they went into the post office at 12:00 midnight and did make a great deposit unto Caesar's acting governor their venerable "Uncle"...Sammy.  And Sammy was not pleased with their gift, in fact he was roth and and did send them a summons mentioning that should they fail to pay the $2 organ donor awareness fee their entire submission of $5500 would be considered insufficient and they would be counted as dung.  And being counted as dung they considered it noteworthy to cast out and trodden under the feet of man.

What's really been going on Shannon?

 

Well.

I am teaching Sunday School this year so it would behoove (KJV) me to eschew (KJV) myself unto study and doctrine and the edification (KJV) of the youth sunday school book.  However I have chosen to take a reprieve from such and update my weblog.

What issues are you thinking about right these days?

Well I have many issues the lease of which is NOT the fact that I have been remodelling my/our/her bathroom for the past 7months.  It's not always ours because I tell her that I can function fine without one.  She tells me that I'm full of c--p.  And I say UH-huh!  So last weekend when JoElla went to see her sister and her new baby in Indiana I stayed home and got a lot done on the project.  I am hoping to finish it over Thanksgiving.  I know JoElla is past ready to have it done. 

I'm reading a book called "Do or Die" right now.  It's about gang violence and it is written by a woman who did a lot of hanging out and interviews with various members of the Crips and Bloods out in California in the early 1990s.   It's really quite mind boggling to begin to journey into their existence (as only you can in a book) and try to fathom the vicious cycles of violence that result from the insensical demand for two eyes for one!  The cycle of violence will NOT stop and it appears that the average person takes some position like this:  As long as the violence stays in the ghettos and doesn't harm me or my family let them keep killing each other.  I wonder if it might not be the only sensible thing to say and do...but how can I?  THE VIOLENCE IS NOT GOING TO STAY IN THE GHETTOS IF WE DO NOT DO SOMETHING!  AND BY THE WAY...WHY ARE THERE GHETTOS ANYWAY???  Hint:  land of opportunity/equal rights/F-R-E-E-D-O-M/.............got it yet?  Answers on page 552

I have journeyed through a few marathons this year which is a feeling of accomplishment since I had set a goal about 3 years ago to run in the Boston Marathon.  Getting to the point where I was ready to attempt the first sub-goal of simply entering and completing a marathon was a big step.  I did my first one in Coudersport pa on June 6th and finished with a time of 3:47.  I did another one in Akron OH in Sept and finished in 3:33.  I am gaining on the goal of finishing in 3:10 because that is the time I need to qualify to run the Boston Marathon.  There have been and still are many obstacles to this goal and many times when I think that it is pointless let alone the fact that it looks impossible.  I accept the fact that it really might be impossible but if it is then I'm gonna find out.  It takes more energy and discipline to get out there and do my practice runs than I have ever applied to anything yet in life.

Erin continues to grow and I spend countless hours playing with her to her delight.  She always loves when she hears me yell "Daddy's home" as I come careening up the porch steps.  So far I have hidden the fact from Joella that playing with Erin is not really something I have to take time to do because in reality I am very much in my element.  So long as JoElla thinks that I am sacrificing much masculine time and activities for fatherhood it results in high marks for me which I do not intend to bring down "pre-maturely."  They will fall to their realistic places when it is their time to fall. 

I tell you that most of the questions I have asked God/Jesus and friends this year are still just as big of questions as they ever were.  NOBODY can answer them.  Jesus doesn't even seem interested in giving me the answers...I think that he just says "Follow me."  I pray for trust because this life really is most treacherous at times.  The pinnacles of joy while enjoyed always seem a bit "hollow" or limited because there is this sorrow that I will always carry because of the absence of Jahna in my life.  While I admit to this pain, I also have come to believe that we have walked the way of HOPE in the story...a place where God is present and at work and where there may or may not be comfort and visible joy but there will always be HOPE!  This is working faith in my life.

Signing off to romp with my little girl who is getting into the markers.  Xanga is fun, but it's really not very important!  Drop me a line.

SKL