Jesus is LOVE

Today I started out by getting my infusion of Tysabri. I figured it out today while I was sitting in the ER getting my Tysabri fix. I did a little math and if they are doing a 24 drip per minute for an hour, each individual drip costs $4.13. THAT IS INSANELY EXPENSIVE!!! Thank goodness my dad has health insurance.

I made it to Arizona and I am currently blogging from my friends house. It is so good to see him and his g/f Kaitlyn. Good people, good house, good state. I think I am going to take a break from blogging for a while. I am going to be journaling and such. Maybe if some amazing things happen in the next couple of days before I go to the camp in Williams then I will update. Otherwise, this may very well be the last one for a while. I will not have any internet connection while I am at the camp, but it's all good.

I feel all orangy today

I promised my sister I would go and check out this car she wants to get today. She had to work and could not go see it her self. Her car is going to die real soon. Like maybe tomorrow even. ALSO, Orange is her favorite color! SWEEEETI packed for Arizona today, as you can see I suck at it and hate doing it. I have to just throw everything I want to take out on the floor and visualize what I want. ha ha ha, I do not enjoy doing this one little bit.But, eventually it looks like this and you let out a simple 'sigh' of relief. I am super excited to see my friend Mike and have an amazing experience at this Young Life camp. Pray that I keep an open heart and mind towards everything I am involved in. Pray that I use my personality towards my advantage and that I make everyone around me welcomed and appreciated. Pray that I am a sponge and that I just soak up so much. I am ready to go! The GPS in my phone says that the camp is 1,781 miles away. That is pretty far, my phone says it can get me there in 24 hours and 21 minutes (maybe with out ever stopping). I think that my phone might possibly be high on crack, but I suppose I don't really know. Seems quick though. I am fully looking forward to everything though. :-)

stay strong in the faith

Today was a very good Sunday. I went to Pathway (my church) and listened to an amazing sermon. I just don't have my journal with me right now and can't give the quoted verses, except maybe for Proverbs 13:20, I remember that one because Pastor Ron had us repeat it like 10 times during the service. The sermon was about the influence of friends. When you really think about it, it is HUGE. Who impacts a teenager more than anyone else in their life? Their friends. Who do they spend the most time with.....their friends. I wish I would have known what I know now about the impact of friends when I was 17, and understood the importance of Proverbs 13:20. BUT, now I can try to teach and exemplify this idea to others. ~HUGE CHALLENGE~

I took this kid Nick to the movies this afternoon. We went to the dollar movies, and saw Drillbit Taylor.......and although Nick liked it, I thought it was pretty stupid. lol. it was funny, but ohh so stupid. Nick & I had a really good time. Can't wait to keep friendship going when I get back from Arizona & Michigan.

THEN, on to Collateral. ANOTHER AMAZING MESSAGE. It was about how you must be in the word ohh so often, constantly feeding yourself. Man does not live on bread alone, but on the word of God. Deuteronomy 8: 2-3 the areas of my life that I stumble in, I do so when I become distanced from the word of God. NOT IN THE WORD=Mikey will fail It is a simple equation really, proven time and time again. I am so excited for my trip to Arizona. So excited for every aspect of it.

G'Night

some family, a bon fire and such

This was created by a girl named Shannon Miller. I know her from a Sunday night church group I go to. These are pictures she has taken and compiled with that amazing music. Gives you the chills, it really does.

So my day at work had a pretty funny moment. I was working out side for most of the day, but I wasn't paying attention to the whole parking lot. It is a fairly good sized parking lot. So, when I am going to the back of the parking lot, the part behind the building (area I was not working in) I noticed a car parked in between the church trailer and the big yellow box truck. Kind of nestled back out of the way. I decide to approach it, the closer I get the more I begin to realize it is an empty car parked back in the far corner of the church parking lot away from everything. I get right up next to it and I see a kid inside. He is laying in the driver side with his seat all the way down. He had this goofy yellow feathered hat thing on. It looked just like the one above, except it was yellow. I pulled up to him and rolled down the window. He reacted first as if to say, "Ohhh shi*." He slowly rolled down his window and I said, what's going on guy, sleeping one off? He replied, "I am actually just waiting here for my friends, ya see they have a Saturday school." I said to him, "how come you're waiting in the church parking lot, why aren't you at home?" He replied rather quickly, "well, my family just moved to warsaw, and so I didn't want to drive all the way home." I said ohhh, I see. I then asked him about his hat, he realized he had the hat on, then quickly said, "I wanted to keep the sun out of my eyes." Even though he told me he got there at 7:30...when the sun isn't bright at all...... So, then I asked him why his eyes were so red. He replied with a defeated tone, "well, (long pause) I dunno." I told him not to fret, and that he was a bad lier. Then I said, why don't you get your barings and drive over the the "High School" and wait for your friends there. He said, ohh yea, okay, I will do that. He said he was sorry about 8 times, and then took off. If he didn't do anything wrong, then why would he be so sorry? LOL. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, that kid wasn't fooling no body.

As soon as I got out of work I went home and tanned, then took my sister Merideth car shopping again. Her car is for real going to die very very very soon, I don't know how it hasn't already. We actually found a Chevy Cavalier that she really liked. I am going to go and look at it and talk with a sales men for her tomorrow. She has to work all day, but she really wants me to go and take a look at it for her. We will see what is up with it.

Later in the day....
I went to my brothers house with my sister Brandy and her finance John. We went to Troy's (Half Brother) house for a bon fire. It was a good night for it too, and although there were many good moments of fun and such, the one that stuck out the most would have to be this video clip that I am going to share. Let me set up the scene for you. Okay, my niece who will go UNNAMED by her request is being pushed on the tire swing, then my nephew Joel who is standing next to me for the majority of the time being calm and well behaved had a little incident. AHHHHH, just wait for it.

Now, even though he did get smashed pretty hard core, he cried for only maybe 3 or 4 minutes and was back to the crazy little guy that he is. He has a lot of energy for such a little dude, always on the go, always into something. :-)

I hung out with John & Brandy for the end of the evening and tried my best to hook them up with all the knowledge of a computer in a very short amount of time. It is their first computer really in forever. They have a lot of catching up to do. :-/

sleepy tired

I took my lunesta tonight because I didn't think I would get to sleep otherwise. But now I am shutting down and wouldn't be able to do very well. i will send some pictures of my day though.

TALKED WITH SOMEONE'S aunt today, it went very well.Today I pounded in posts to hold tree's in place all around at Pathway. These are some of the supplies from Lowe's. It rocked and was pretty fun work. PEACE!

Almost Arizona TIME

DAYS
LEFT!

Yes, it is true I only have 5 days left until I leave for Phoenix. I am pretty pumped and trusting that my friend Mike will have his boat in tip top shape for some good ole tubing and what not. It will be a blast whatever we do. Then on to the summer camp I have a chance to be a part of. WOW, I am so excited to see where God is going to take my spiritual walk. Or maybe I should say, WOW, I am so excited to see where God walks me. Something like that anyways.

Today at work I did quite a varied amount of things. My favorite was spraying for spiders around the perimeter of the church.I don't know why, but it was super fun walking around the church spraying this spider killer stuff. Did you know what this specific "spider spray" does not work on ants, but works amazingly well on spiders? I wonder why that would be. Seems like a spray that would make a spider shrivel up and die would do the same to an ant, but apparently not. It's the little things that always make me wonder........

When I got home I got to pet Casey a bit. Casey is a dog we are taking care of for some friends while they are in St. Louis for their kids graduation from his college. WAY TO GO AUSTIN!!! But on to Casey.

I really like Casey and have a pretty close relationship to her. When I was just a young lad I use to see Casey every day after school. When I first started going to Leo, I would have to ride the bus back to a friends house. Because when I first started going to Leo (my old middle/high school) I didn't live in the district. I would ride the bus home and stay at a friend of the family's house. Well, Casey is old now, I believe 14 human years old, and she has Lung Cancer. It is so sad to hear her get into a coughing fit. Poor pup, but I do have to admit, Casey has lived a good life, and she is a very loved doggy.

I have to share a video that was shared with me. It is about a man from down under who also has M/S, and is a trooper. I highly recommend everyone to watch this brilliant short film. It is super well made, and very touching. It is touching in a very real way. Words of wisdom in this one, just listen and watch with an open heart/mind.

Went to Snider, slight work, IRON MAN

I went to Snider today, as I have been doing for the past many Wednesday's. Today will be my last time at Snider for the year. It is kind of sad, but kind of awesome because I will have all of next year. Also, it means I am that much closer to going to Arizona and then taking our kids to Michigan. I am so totally stoked.

Today we were suppose to have this last Young Life BASH for the ending of the semester. "sigh" It was cancelled because of the nasty weather. Probably a good idea, but a bummer.

I went to work for a few hours.

THEN, I took some of the guys I regularly chill with to the movies to see IRON MAN which was totally rocking!!! The guys loved it, but more importantly I LOVED IT. Just kidding, it is equally important, but I did really love it. You can click the red IRON MAN to see a kicking preview. The movie was quite tantalizing, kind of slow to start, but once it got going.....hold on tight!Maybe they are just a little camera shy. LOL. Or, it could be that they think I am a big dork for always wanting to take pictures of everything. Whatever the issue may be, I am going to go to bed. I am quite tired.

this is nuts

I hope this doesn't gross anyone out, but I would really like it if someone could explain in great detail just how exactly did this guy manager to do this "trick?"

Ohh I had a good day today. Worked nearly 12 hours. I was at work throwing fert @ 6:30AM, and didn't leave until 6:45PM. If it wouldn't have been for that 30 minute lunch, I would have been over the 12 hour mark.I must not have gotten close enough because you can hardly see the little geeselings or whatever they are called. Even though they are cute, they are NOT GOOD TO HAVE AROUND! They make a mess, crap all over everything, always come back, eat grass seed, eat fert, and are loud. There were 2 sets of geese, one couple had 4 little ones, the other had 6. I wonder how many will make it through the summer. I am impressed how well those little guys can swim already.

After work I went home, ate some food, and then went tanning. Stupid me wore a beater at work today and I have the perfect outline of my beater. That was just the thing I was trying to work out of my tan, and now it is back bigger and brighter than ever! AHHHHH! You just can't win sometimes. When I was coming back from the tanning bed, I saw this rocking hot rod!! CHECK IT OUT!Is that thing sweet or what? I can only make assumptions of what kind of brilliant mind thought something up so utterly amazing. ;-)

P.S. 7 DAYS TILL I LEAVE FOR ARIZONA!!!!

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.

I took my lap top back to A+ Computers today. I talked to the person who worked on it last week. I explained to him very specifically (but incredibly polite) what was already wrong and not fixed, as well as what NEW problems had occured after I got it back. We will see what happens, I felt better because of the fact that I got to speak to the computer tech face to face. Now, wheather that means it will be successfully fixed or not, I can not say. :-/

I had an interview today for a child care position for YMCA. "sigh" I really don't know how well it went. I was kind of flustered when I went in, and was thinking more about what and how I was going to act with the computer people than I was thinking about the interview. I forgot my RESUME, and thus didn't have my contact information/previous job information. SO, I told her I could E-Mail her all the proper information as soon as I got back to my computer. I actually found it in an old E-Mail sent out not to long ago to a past job possibility. MAN I LOVE GMAIL!! As soon as I finish writing this BLOG I am going to get that information sent to her. She asked a series of "situational" questions, and I like having to think on the spot like that, so I think I did pretty well. I guess we will see, and if it is meant to be, then I will get it. If it is not meant to be, then He will provide something else. I am not even slightly worried.

Ya know, yesterday and today I was into 2 Peter. There is a lot of incredible wisdom in his letters, I am really enjoying and currently learning the importance of "Godly habits." You can read about these habits and properties in 2 Peter 1:5-8. It gives kind of an outline to building a long lasting faith. "8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." BAM! It doesn't get spelled out any clearer than that. Those words just really jump out to me, as if to say doing this=strong faith. I like it when the words speaks to me in an equation-like format. So often it is not that simple, there is always so many influences and "what ifs" that go through your mind. With 5-8, even with surrounding verses you don't and can't get that. Plain as day it says very clearly what the command is. Then God directed my attention to James 4:6. All too often I get so proud, and almost have this "better than thou" mentalitity. I desire to change this part of me, and must if I am to be an effective solider for Christ.

There is this new t.v. series on the National Geographic channel called America's Port. When I watch this show, I am reminded why this was my passion for so long. I am reminded why I went to school in Michigan for a year at The Great Lakes Maritime Academy. The show gives me a little bit of a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, when I realize that the dream I had is no longer a reality. There were a lot of factors that played a role in why it didn't work out, but when push comes to shove, my health would not allow me to do that job. It is incredibly sad, but at the same time I know who I live for. I know that he has something far greater than my desire to be a captain of a ship. I am going to just keep doing what I am doing and keep my eyes on the prize.

I am to be at work tomorrow at 6:30, so it is off to bed for me! :-) Good night readers, God bless you on this day! (I mean that too).

loving you, loving me!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, mothers. I gave my mom a "unique" present this year for mum day; a speech. Ya see, I have so much to tell her and I decided I wouldn't be able to do the topic justice if I attempted to write it all out. So, I created a home made card, and in that card is a SPEECH by yours truly. When ever she wants it, all she has to do is present the outline to me and I will deliver to her a speech about why she is so important to me. She can use it whenever she wants, I just wonder when she will decide to have me present it, hummm...

After I got home from church, we (mom, dad, & I) went to see my grandmother (mom's mom) in the hospital. She sure did look pretty beat up.I could have gotten a closer picture and showed how black and blue her face is, but I just didn't feel like being disruptive. She is super down in spirits, and has 2 hair line fractures in her wrists. Even though my grandma is in sad spirits, she is still a clown of a grandma (she is actually a certified clown). She makes the nurses laugh with her vast knowledge of jokes and humorous personality. It sucks to see her in this state, but it is happening for a reason.

It was good for my mom to have me go with her to see my grandma. I love my mom so much, I would be one heck of a mess if I didn't have her in my life. She has instilled so much in me I am forever grateful. She is strong, and a woman of God. She demonstrates how to live a Godly life, and loves me unconditionally. She has stayed so close when I turned away from everything good. I owe my character to her, and love her so much. I am so thankful for my mom on this day. :-)

i'll tell you about my day

I GOT MY PSYCHOLOGY GRADE!! I got a B in my PSYCH class. Here are the results from my Final (last test).

Count:	87
Average:	57.5
Median:	64.0
Maximum:	100.0
Minimum:	0.0
Standard Deviation:	28.98

I ended up getting an 82% on that test, and I was happy to get it. It was pretty challenging, but I studied my butt off for it, so I deserved every bit of it! I can't wait actually for my summer class, I am totally in the "SCHOOL MODE."

So I slept in a bit today because I had not heard from John (boss). I ended up getting a call from him about 9:00, asking me if I had got his Text Message. It seems that sometimes I get his text messages, and other times I don't. Anywhoo, I went in about a quarter after 10 and worked my butt off!!!I worked with Ron today. Ron is a really great guy, and has a super good heart. We prepped the ground, and then threw some seed on it. I then took seven bales of hay and covered it all up. I should have taken a before and after picture, but I didn't. Take my word, I did a good job. I worked and worked until I was so tired I just had to go home. But, before I did, I was approached and spent some time talking to my favorite worker. We talked about life, and some of it's dealings. He told me that he was going to pray for me, I gave him a couple of requests. Then I told him the same. I was about to go on, and he said, "can we do it now?" I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place. I put my arm around him and bowed my head. We prayed, and the sincerity in his voice was very calming. This guy and his wife are very good people.

I went home and all I really wanted to do was update my BLOG on my computer that is suppose to be working in tip top shape. Sadly, this is not the case. I am having all sorts of problems with my computer and it was driving me crazy!!! It is pathetic, but my life revolves around my computer. It just makes everything so much easier, and I enjoy it so much. I really know how to take advantage of my computer as well. You can make a lot happen through the WEB. There is tons of support, and all sorts of stuff. Anyways, the point I am trying to get at is I was about to lose it over something as stupid as a computer. I called my mom and she calmed me down a bit. Then, I went and prayed about it. I was hungry, so I went to Subway to get a meal. I was still kind of in a bad mood. I sat down next to these 2 girls. Well, I ended up talking with them and shooting the breeze. Then talking about life, and finally talking about a little bit of their lives. I explained that they were an answerer to prayer. They were without a doubt what raised my spirits and got my mind off of my stupid computer.They reminded me that everyone hurts. Everyone also has their own story. Everyone needs to be loved, and that a smile is a powerful tool. They reminded me that sometimes a smile can do so much more then words ever could. Their willingness to talk with me and share just a little tiny bit of their story really in deed made my night.

(listening to Babbylon II)
As a society I believe we are a quick fix kind of people. We want to be "all better" as soon as possible. We have a kind of McDonald's type thinking when it comes to our feelings and emotional health. If something horrible happens, it is so much easier to smoke some dope, drink some beer, have sex, lie, cheat, steal, or just be nasty. Emotions aren't something that can be "handled, dealt with, or controlled." They are a deep part of who we are. I learned that or maybe I was just reminded that you must express yourself and how you feel. It is so dangerous to just hold everything inside. SO DANGEROUS! The more you suppress, the more you depress. I want to learn how to teach people in a very clear and precise way that Jesus can help to manage those inner deep pains. He has taken my CRAP and allowed me to move beyond it in huge leaps and bounds. I am going to make my mom a Mothers day card, then do my devotional, and go to sleepy town. I will pray for Brittney & Amanda (girls I talked to).

I updated

I had an appointment in Indianapolis at the Indiana Center for Multiple Sclerosis & Neuroimmunopathological Disorders, you almost need to take a breath after saying that one. But, I got a good bill of health. Well, the neurologist said that my physical exam went really well anyways. Nothing but smiles from this end!!! As soon as the appt. was over, I had to drive right back home and go to Snider (local high school I do some work with kids at). I picked up 3 guys. Daniel, Diarron and Cory. I took them to a little fund raiser so that they could start to build up some money towards Camp this summer!!! I was so stoked that they came out, they worked their butts off too. It was quite a sight to see.

I did a lot of driving again today. DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE. It is a good thing I love to drive so much, the only thing about driving is that it cost so much money. It is insane to pay $3.85 per gallon. When I stop to think about how much money it is going to be for my children to pay for a gallon of ga$, it just blows my mind!

The name of the fund raising game was MULCHING! It is a good thing I am quite familiar with this process. I got down and dirty.

When I got home I took a shower, and wanted nothing more than to eat some din din and lay down and watch some T.V. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I ended up going to pick my computer from A+ Computers (should be called D- Computers) and was not so happy with what they had done. My wireless network still does not work, and several things happened that just don't make any sense. I don't think they did what they told me they did. I will take it back first thing, to make sure they did what they told me they did. I am not paying $90.00 for nothing to be fixed. UGHHHHH, this infuriates me so much!

Then I went tanning, I am out of minutes now, and I am thinking it was a stupid idea to go to Club Tan. I am finding out now that there are so many better places to go to. I didn't get a good deal, and ohh well.

OKAY, so then I get home and get all fresh and clean. Then I get a phone call from my friend Alex Ehle and my other friend Andy Ehle. They want to know if I will join them to a party. It was strange because I had not done anything of the sort in SUCH A LONG TIME. I explained how tired I was and that I just wanted to stay in and get some rest. He thought I was making up excuses and so I told him..."Alex, if you guys come pick me up, i'll go." It ended up being a typical stupid party. Drinking, loud music, and beer pong. I was transformed back into a high school mind set and remembered I am doing a lot bigger and better things with my life now a days. I regretted going, but it was good to see some old time friends....who are all just the same.

OHIO

So I made it safe & sound to good ole Canton Ohio! It was a long drive, and I am an idiot when it comes to any kind of direction finding. If I have to use logic to make my way, I AM SCREWED! I was stubborn, and ran into some driving issues on the way. ughhh, I also ran out of battery on my phone, so my GPS was out! DO'OH!!!! I made it though, dag nabbit I MADE IT!

I got a chance to visit with Sara's roommate Amanda, and her close friend Jena. They seem like really solid friends, I would say she is lucky to have such close friends. Sara, and I went out for some very nice lunch at the Olive Garden. Then I was off to her campus to check out Walsh. It is a super nice University, and the campus is beautiful.
We went and saw the Bucket List at the local dollar theater. It was an extremely good movie, and of course.....I cried. I seem to cry more and more at movies. It wasn't really sappy or even all that sad, but things get to me easier now I suppose. When I say "now" I am not saying that there was a certain time when things like that didn't effect me on a deeper inner level, I just have a higher likelihood of showing that emotion outright these days.

It was really good to finally go see Sara. I have been promising her time and time again that I would make the treck, but because of my schedule and past car problems, I just was not able to make the trip. I AM SO GLAD I DID! Sara seems to be in a really good place, solid, trustworthy friends and a good apartment along with a job at Cheeseburger in Paradise seems to be a pretty good set up for an equally good College time.

The drive home was a lot less brutal. I got some directions that Sara said she would have taken, and followed them. They worked marvelously, and it is not a difficult drive at all. Silly high tech GPS! So because I was in such a good mood driving home, I decided to take some video footage. I just threw on some Techno and head knocked the WHOLE WAY HOME! Check it out...


So it was a good trip, well worth the craziness on the way up. Which by the way, I got so frustrated on the way up I took out a little anger out on my poor horn. I just hit it super hard until some of that inner frustration was let out. (it was late and I just wanted to stop driving) So I just beat the horn......now my horn doesn't work anymore. :-(

I drove, and drove, and drove, and drove

I hung out at Snider for lunch today, then after I went over to my friends house to make sure my COMM final was sent. It was a video final actually, pretty simple stuff. I just hope it was sent okay. eeesh. I hung out with Ryan a bit after and we tried to think of some lyrics to an upcoming song.

Then I played Tennis with my friend Zach. It was raining all day today, but that didn't stop us. It should have, but we played Tennis in the rain. It created a new type of challenge, you don't usually run into with the sport. It was fun, we were soaked.

Today was the last regular Young Life of the semester. We have one more on the 14th, but it is at the Wizzards game (Fort Wayne's baseball team). Immideatly following the game we are having a HUGE watter balloon fight. It is going to be amazing, I just hope we have good weather. I had much fun at the last club, and dipped out a little bit early so that I could make it to my friends house without being too incredibly late.

Sara is the one in the middle

So I drove, and drove, and drove. I listened to my GPS system in my phone, and well, let's just say that Verizon's system may be a little bit flawed. It works really good when you are in a city situation, but other than that, roads need to be updated and things of that sort. It took me like 5 1/2 hours to get there, and it shouldn't be more than a 3hr45min drive. What ev though. I made it happen. :-/

I took a test, tanned, and watched a bat

This morning I took my last Psychology exam. I know one thing, I felt confident on it. I finished it in under 30 minutes, which is about 15-30 minutes than usual. That could be a really good thing, or not so good. I guess I will find out when the test is graded. I do know this though, last night I didn't sleep a wink. And if I actually did get some sleep, that is all it was....a wink. I think because I am constantly thinking about the Arizona trip and my final, I just had too much going on in my brain, and it just kind of raises my stress level. When the stress level raises, I function differently. M/S does not like stress. I am so super tired tonight though, I think I should sleep. This post is coming from my parents computer because mine is in the computer hospital. But I assure anyone that I can post just as successfully on their computer as mine. :-)

I went tanning again today. That would make it tanning experience # 3, and it was for sure a "special one." I sure didn't have a chance of falling asleep in this tanning bed, or closet whatever you wanna call it.

This is the top of the tanning bed/closet/whatever machine. I know it is a little unclear, but there was really low light in there. So, this thing is pretty cool, and maybe not uncommon, but it was new to me. You get in there, close yourself in, and crank up the lights. You just stand there, and get your tan on. LOL. it was kind of awkyard, but cool at the same time. I am fairly PINK but, Abby (girl at tanning salon) assured me it would turn into a nice base tan. ;-)

My friend took me out to eat today at Applebee's. It was good to talk with him, and I got to hear from his heart a little bit. His father is a good man, and lives in my neighborhood. As I was driving home, he yelled at me and I turned around. He gave me a lot of encouragement, and a nice reminder in who I really serve. Mark 9:23 and Mark 11:24.

Good NIGHT, it really was too. I watched Bat Man Begins, and remembered how sweet of a movie it is. NIGHT, for real.

I Went to work, studied, and changed oil

Yes, I was up at work 6:30 this morning. I threw some Fert on the grass and booked out of there at 10:30 on the dot to go to school and finish studying for the Final Exam in Psychology. I feel prepared and ready to go.

When I got done studying I went and got some Oil and a filter and waited for Tony (friend) to get home from work. When he did, he helped me change my oil and we ran into some problems. urghhh, the screw/bolt whatever was on the oil pan so tightly, it wouldn't come lose. Well, it got stripped and I had to run it to the last place that did my oil for me. I was kind of short with this guy on the phone, and when I went in, I said right away, "hey man, I am so sorry I got an attitude with you. That was wrong of me, and I was just frustrated and decided to take it out on you." He thanked me and assured me it was okay, then he worked on getting that BOLT off for 43 minutes. As soon as my car got jacked up, this lady and 3 gentlemen came in. We talked and enjoyed each other for a long time. It was neat.If you have ever seen the Jack Nicholson movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" well, these guys reminded me of some of the characters in that movie. They were all very sweet hearted and high functioning, but all had different degrees of personality disorders. The guy with the red and white striped shirt reminded me of Martini played by Danny DeVito. He was a sweet sounding man who always had a smile on his face. You can see a great clip HERE just go to the part playing at 2:38 (he steals a cigg) and; "if you have not seen the movie," you will understand what I am talking about. Anyways, it was so nice to hang out with those guys, and I felt blessed. I forgot all of their names, and where the lady was from. She goes to IPFW though, I think maybe it starts with a K...but I suck at remembering.

I FINALLY got everything taken care of, and got a new rim for only 20 buck$! I was pumped, because now my car doesn't vibrate like crazy when you get up to speed. YESSSS!!!!

I have my last/final exam in Psychology tomorrow 8:00AM, I feel ready for it.

NIGHT!

Go with the flow, let the music make you-You gotta go where the music takes you ~Ari Gold

~Important Prayer request~
Not that a "humble" prayer request can be more or less important to the Big Guy, but to my mother and aunts and uncles this may be (as well as me, i'm just not as closely connected to it). On Saturday morning (yesterday) my grandmother (mom's mom) fell out of her bed at night and hit her face/neck on her night stand. My grandma has an early stage of parkinson's disease and because of that disorder, she is on several medications to help with the tremors as well as other nasty effects. Well, these drugs cause her to have very real and vibrant dreams. In this one she said she remembered running and had to take a corner very quickly, when she took the corner in the dream, she did it physically in her bed. This caused her to fall right off her bed and into her night stand. She is in the hospital because the fall jarred her neck so much it caused swelling in her upper spinal cord. Her hands and wrists have locked up, and she can not walk right now. She is in the hospital, and the doctors have decided to wait until Wednesday to see if the swelling will go down. If it has not subsided by Wednesday, they will go in for a surgery to try to relieve some of it manually. The her prognosis is unclear and it is very frightening to my Grandpa and her children. My grandpa is really struggling right now, and my prayer request is that he is calmed by the Holy Spirit. For my grandma of course God's will is of utmost importance. My request is that she be healed and return to her health before this incident. I will post her updates as they come.

What a great sermon today at Pathway. The new segment we are getting to is called Extreme Makeover Family Edition and we had a guest speaker come and give the sermon today. A lot of the talk was directed towards couples and parents in families, but still a lot of good information to walk away with. He gave this one example that really stuck out in my mind. He told a story about when he was younger and his sister-in-law called and he picked up. She asked to talk to his dad, and continued to inform of some very devastating information. She called to say that his brother (his fathers son, her husband) had died in a plane crash. This speaker said one thing that really stuck out in my mind. He said he remembered his father saying on the phone to his sister-in-law, "well now is the time to really show our faith." This man was not a pastor, he was an engineer. BUT, he was a man of God, and a great father figure. That is what I seek, and strive for. I hope that story wasn't confusing with all the sister's brother mother, father's in-law (non-sense) what have you. :-) It was a great story and example of a Godly creating an opportunity to show the deep seeded love and trust of Christ we (believers) must all reach for.

I went back for tan time # 2 @ Club Tan. I am burnt......... I went for 8 minutes in the level 4 tanning bed. I think I should have stuck to the level 3 bed a little longer. BUT OHH WELL.

God is good, good is God. I want to leave this POST with a funny picture that my friend Scott sent me. I really got a crack out of it, hopefully along with all the others I forwarded it to.These men are installing bollards to stop cars parking on the pavement
outside an Irish sports bar. They are cleaning up at the end of the day.

How long do you think it will be before they realize?

Collateral was also very good tonight. NIGHT!

'm about to lose control and I think I like it

I am not about to lose control, but I have been listening to a new station on the radio called VIBE 106.3 which wouldn't typically be a radio station that I would listen to. BUT, for some reason or another I find myself on that station more and more often. Michael Jackson, Prince, Will Smith (old school), Madonna and others are regulars on the station. I just get to jamming, and my head starts bobbing and I just really enjoy myself singing stupid songs.

I go to work this morning at 6:30AM on the dot. I open up the building and deactivate the alarm system. Then I got to work, putting edges on the mulch beds and things of that sort. John (facility manager) and I got everything around for the volunteers that were suppose to show up at 8:00. Well some did in fact show up, but hardly in hoards like I was hoping. The good news was that one super nice and attractive chicka showed up, I was in a small group with her a long time ago. It was nice to get to work near her when I had the chance, she is a real sweet heart, a teacher too, not that-that does or doesn't have anything to do with the sweetness of her heart (does that make sense?).I loaded many wheel barrels of mulch and spread it and evened it and tossed it and and pretty much swam in mulch all day. It was a nice reminder of when I use to work for Vision Scapes (Lawn & Landscaping company I use to work for). Man, I worked my butt off for that company, and loved it. They do a really good job too.

Tonight was Dave Church, and it was very nice and encouraging. It was an evening of prayer, for the people there. It was nice because we got to talk through our current struggles and prayer requests. Then, as a group we prayed for each other. Very humbling to have other people pray for you right in front of you. Especially when they connect to you in prayer. I have felt this happen many times when the person praying for you is sincerely caring about you and your struggle. Rachel (daves daughter) and Gavin (another couples son) took a very cute picture for me tonight.Gavin is such a little cutie. He is super smart for just hardly being 2 years old. I always love Dave Church. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us as a body of believers and people who believe in a common goal. LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE!

I am so excited, I just can't hide it

I had a good day today. I worked at Pathway & then worked a little bit more, and then went home and decided I needed to get a "base tan" in the white areas of my body before I go off to Arizona, the land of much sun. So when I went to the bank to get some ca$h I asked my friend Lydia who just so happens to be a teller at my bank where a good place to go tanning would be. She said I needed to go to CLUB TAN, so I went.Club tan was a pretty HIP place. I had to have the girl at the front desk explain in great detail what exactly I needed to do to get a good base tan before I went off to Arizona. She explained it to me and I spent entirely too much money on a tan plan, and some tanning oil...which is apparently extremely important to the tanning process now a days. ;-) Then, I climbed into this thing that looked like it was out of the future. I use to go tanning when I was in High School, but I swear it never looked like this.I thought it was going to maybe rotate me and put me on a broil while I was in there. And besides the main stream Hip Hop music blairing in my ears, it was a pretty relaxing time. I look forward to it again on Sunday.

OK, so I get home and talk to my budy Mike who lives in Phoenix. He said he would pick me up from the camp and take me to the airport when I have to leave on the 13th, but he said that he wishes I could have come early so I could have stayed with him and Kaitlyn for a while. So I thought about it, and then made a phone call to American Air Lines. Budda Bing, Budda Boom! I am now leaving on the 20th instead of the 23rd so I can spend some time with Mike before I go off to the camp. It is going to be so sweet! We are going to go fishing on his boat, and just do cool hanging out stuff. The last time I got to see him was on New Years of 2007. Man, I love this guy, and I miss him like crazy too. It will be such a good time for me to get to see him.Mike is all the way to the left, and this picture was taken at the Hoover Dam. We always have so much fun when we are together. I can't wait till the 20th now. I mean I was already super duper pumped to go to this camp, and now I am super duper pumped to go see mike, then go to this amazing heart changing camp. This is going to be a supreme month. I am going to try to BLOG every amazing moment of it too. To have a hard copy of my memories is such a nice thing to have. Okie Dokie, I am off to beddy because tomorrow I have an early start and a long day of work. ohh SNAP, I am totally stoked!

my pledge: Learn to throw a frisbee better.

Today, I got a chance to hang out/babysit two of my little cousins. I got quite a chuckle out of them. So much life, energy, and giggles. I fit right in, like always.

So, I did my group speech in my COMM class today. I think we did a really good job. I of course, made most of what I said up right at the moment. This seems to be a reoccurring event with my speeches. But, like I said, I think we did a really good job "comparatively anyways."

I learned something very important today, you can totally run off a painful side ache. It is painful for a while, but it eventually goes away. I took Reggie and Umar to play Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of the other guys from Young Life. It was super fun, and once we got the hang of it, it only got better. It is seriously fun as heck. I am not usually a real physical person, ya know, not too competitive, but this brought out a new side to me. I wanted to do good, which drove me to run hard and ignore the pain jolting from an intense side ache. Like I said though, you can totally run it off. The guys had a good time though, and that made me have a good time.

There was one thing that was kind of sketchy though. I kept pushing it to the limit, like I said I am not super physical anymore, well nothing more than working at Pathway. I kept seeing stars though, and getting a little bit light headed. I just brushed it off, and it went away. I remember it happening 3 times though. And I am just going to be aware of it.

I am going to sleep real good tonight. YESSSS!