A productive day and it's only.....

I must say that I am having a productive day and it's only 10 am. What gives? Actually I have had a fairly productive week. I think this happens when I am able to keep myself busy. How have I been doing this you ask. Well, let me tell you. I have been looking into going back to school, starting a business, leading the youth on Sunday mornings, leading a small group and co-leading a men's group with my good friend.

First things first, school. As you all probably know, I recieved my Associates in Arts: Liberal Arts from Upper Iowa University in December. I am looking at 3 options to continue my education. Upper Iowa, Malone, and U of Akron. I am weighing the options of all 3. I desire to finish up my bachelors in Public Administration or in Finance, both of which I enjoy.

I am looking into starting my own home based business cleaning out foreclosed homes. I need to develop some contacts with banks and realtors who hande the foreclosed homes and would need purchase a truck and trailer so I am able to haul stuff to the landfill. I would try to save anything I could to resell or donate. I would also need to have a partner working with me because I'm sure I would need help moving larger items.

I have taken on an active role at church. It started with co-leading a men's group which meets at our house. I am currently leading a small group which also meets at our house and am in the process of planning the next series of study. Starting this Sunday I will be leading youth during the Sunday morning service. I am a little rusting at leading youth but I am confident it won't take long to get back into the flow of things.

So I/we have been busy with multiple items. When I resume working outside of the house I may have to curtain a few items but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. As far as being productive today............
So far:

• the kids have had their bath (usually done at night)
• balanced out accounts
• filed our receipts
• fed the kids breakfast (Elise ate a ton... 2 eggs, cereal, and a bunch of cheese)
• wrote a post on the blog

Well, now that I actually look what I have accomplished so far it really doesn't seem like that much. I do have alot more on my agenda to finish today. Such as......final prep for men's groups tommorrow and sunday morning, complete 2 apps for jobs, call several banks and realtors.

And here I goooooooooooooo

Speechless

I have been pretty much speechless the last two days. On Thursday I lost my voice and I am still very hoarse today. It has been an interesting week for me. Between having my emotional up and downs regarding employment and fighting off this sickness that is trying to get at me it has me well, pretty much speechless. What else can I say.......

Often times I get frustrated at situations around me and feel that I am letting my family down. I so much desire to be able to provide for my family financially. We have been able to keep our heads above the water the last 11 months but it wouldn't take much to change. I guess I am tired of just barely making it. I realize that things could be much worse for us. Am I growing inpatient waiting on God? I think I might be. I realize that God has a plan and he has brought us through this far. I am often reminded of this from Delilah. Specially during my times of frustration.

We have been blessed with a great church. They have been supportive of us during this time. I have also been able to be more involved with our church. I have been involved with a men's group that is called MENtality that meets at our house twice a month and I have also been leading a small group that is studying "Experiencing God". I have recently decided (with a little nudge) to do some work with the youth on Sunday mornings.

I was speaking with a guy from church the other week about Great Danes. They have one and are looking at getting a second. I have never paid much attention to Great Danes. I've always been partial to Chocolate Labs. Well, I started researching Great Danes, they are very good dogs. The kids and I were watching You Tube videos of Great Danes the other night. They are HUGE. I think I have convinced Delilah that we should eventually buy a Great Dane (we are in no hurry to buy another pet). Now only if I can convince Jude, he wants a Chihuahua or a Poodle. What is wrong with that kid?

I guess I really wasn't very speechless after all.

Attack of the Avery Girl

Avery has a thing for getting into the cereal cabinet. She loves to grab a box a cereal and grab a handful out of it and then walk around the house eating it. In an attempt to break this little habit of grabbing a handful of cereal I decided to pour some of it into a bowl for her. It worked well for about 45 seconds until Jude ran into the kitchen to tell me that Avery was making a mess with her cereal. This is what I found........

Avery also has a thing for getting into the onions and peeling the skin off. As soon as I put one back she is back into the onions. Don't turn your back when she has a onion because this may happen..........

Such fun advertures with Avery. Everyone things that she is such a good little girl. She has you all fooled. She is the most determined of the 3. She is set in her ways and will let you know how she feels about it. Last night after her bath I was putting her pj's on her and she was just screaming away at me. She is my Avery Girl.

Attack of the Avery Girl

UPDATE: I originally wrote this way back when. I'm not sure why I didn't post it.

Avery has a thing for getting into the cereal cabinet. She loves to grab a box a cereal and grab a handful out of it and then walk around the house eating it. In an attempt to break this little habit of grabbing a handful of cereal I decided to pour some of it into a bowl for her. It worked well for about 45 seconds until Jude ran into the kitchen to tell me that Avery was making a mess with her cereal. This is what I found........

Jobs and Education.

I noticed it had been a while since I last posted anything on my blog. The job hunt is still moving forward. I have been submitting my resume to an open position about once a day. Sometimes it is difficult to send it out for a job when you don't know what they salary is. There is a certian amount I need to take home to break even, other wise there are probably a lot of jobs that don't much that I would be content with working.

I am in the process of appying for a degree completetion program through Malone University. It is possible to complete your degree in as a little as 14 months. I would have a bachelor's of art in management. You meet once a week for about 4 hours over the course of 14 months to complete the program. According to my calculation I will be about 9 credits short of the graduation credits required to complete the degree which means I would need to take 3 classes somehow to complete the degree. One good thing that has come out from being unemployed is that the expected financial contribution for education decreased by about $10,000 from the previous year. The degree completion program will cost about $15,000.

Another option I am looking at is returning the University of Akron to complete my course work their. If I went the Akron diet pills route it would probably be a little more difficult to schedule that classes at the time I could take them and it seems according to my calculations I would need to take take 4 semester of 15 credits to graduate in 2 years. As of this point I am leaning towards to Malone but I have to wait to see what develops.