Halo Family Picture

We love to play Halo 3 as a family. Here is our newest family picture!!!!

Spring Trip 2008

2007 Review

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone, and thank God for sending Jesus to take our sins away!!! Nothing is more important then giving thanks for God, so we figured we would start there this year; as we have much to be thankful for!!!!

This year started with a simple call to Victaulic in Easton PA, just to say hi and wish some of my ex co-workers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! Then the conversation turned to how things were going with finding a replacement; because what we knew last was they still hadn’t found a suitable person yet!!! We were very shocked to find out that they still had not settled on hiring someone permanent after 2 years from the time we moved to CA. So, we started talking about the possibility of us moving back come summertime, so the kids could finish school, and that was pretty much how things stayed for about a month or two. Then, we decided to call back and see how things were coming along on there end and they wanted to see if we could move the date up to April, so we said we might be able to do that, and it seemed to be really on the move on there end, but not so much on our end. Then end of February came and we got a call from my ex boss at Victaulic, something to the effect of, can I fly out for an interview in 2 weeks…..So, I said yes!! So we kicked things into high gear with packing things and getting things ready, because all things were pointing to the fact of moving back to PA by April!!!!

After setting up the flight out and back from PA a very shocking accident accrued where David Stehly was killed in a car wreck! We still remember & love you Dave!!!
God worked out for me to be able to make his viewing. Thank you, Lord!..........

The interview was the next day, a Friday, which went as best as it could!! We found out that I was the only person they had plans of interviewing, which was another praise to God. Then I stayed the weekend and was back Sunday night in CA. Very happy to see Tina and the kids, and now was the time for waiting.

We had things planned pretty tight, so tight only God could make it work. Mike and April had planned to visit us the week before we were planning on moving, I had to give my letter of resignation to the City of West Sacramento before we found out the new job came through for us, and we had to pack during all this. Crazy time, but God worked it all out, because the day we found out about the job at Victaulic came through for us, was the same day I finally decided to hand in the notice! AMEN…..

I had about a week and a half notice in and then I would be done with work until mid April. Mike and April surprised us with bringing out Mom on there Family vacation to CA. We didn’t cram too much in only 2 road trips taken, on to San Fran, which we got to stop by Sears Point and go in Infineon Raceway; which was Mike’s favorite thing I think!!! Then we spent time at Pier 39 in the Aquarium there for the kids, and walked around the rest of the Pier just checking stuff out!!! Our next trip was to the coast to see a the Point Arena Light House, which was one I had drawn for Tina of her wedding gift! The road trip itself was very exciting, some of the most challenging driving Mike and I have ever done, crossing over the Coastal Mountains!!!! But, a trip well worth it, we even made it to a spot on the beach and got to touch the Pacific Ocean, hopefully something the kids remember for a long time!!!!! Tucker even came for the long ride and romp in the sand!!!!

While they were visiting us the last day they helped us pack everything into the Penske truck to give us a head start on moving. We are very thankful they did because it would have been very hard to do it all on our own!!!!

Photos UP

Sorry All been very, very busy out here with new job, working with Mike, helping Tina with greyhoundgear.com (First State Greyhound Rescues Store - FSGR), working around the house here at Mom's, and sometimes fitting in some fun, and I haven't been able to get on here much at all! It will help out now that we have cable internet @ home, but I still will be somewhat behind on postings and updating our flickr site because of the way Tina and I are trying to follow God's will for us more and more. That means doing all I can so she can stay home from work and take care of the kids. We were able to do this for a while in CA, but found the need (so we thought) to have her go back to work. Well we haven't followed such a "need" here and truly believe we can rely on Gad more and more for meeting that need and he is coming though very, very faithfully! I hope you all enjoy the pictures we have loaded so far, many more will be coming in this week, as we am committed to catching this up!!! We don't stop taking pictures so we will never catch up if we don't just grind it out. I also hope to have a totally new website up and running by the end of the year!!!! We will keep you posted here and through email on the progress, but Jeff (one of my cousins) is being very helpful and generous in this area! He has already helped us with the greyhoundgear.com site, please check it out to see what he does. He totally revamped that site and made it a whole lot more user friendly!!!!

The Peaceful Warrior

The Peaceful Warrior DVD will be released June 26th. The film is an inspiring drama directed by Victor Salva, starring Nick Nolte and Amy Smart.

The Peaceful Warrior DVD is based on Dan Millman's best-selling autobiographical book, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, and is a moving story about the power of the human spirit.

In the Peaceful Warrior DVD, Dan Millman (Scott Melchowiz) is a talented, yet arrogant college gymnast who seems to have it all. He gets good grades, has disposable relationships and is trying out for the Olympics. But he still wakes up in cold sweats at night. His (Scott Melchowiz) world is turned upside down after he meets a mysterious stranger he refers to as Socrates (Nick Nolte). Socrates (Nick Nolte) seems to hold the power to tap into new worlds of strength and understanding and becomes Dan's (Scott Melchowiz) mentor who guides him through various avenues of his life.

Dan (Scott Melchowiz) suffers from a serious injury, and with the help of Socrates (Nick Nolte) and a mysterious young woman (Amy Smart), he grows to realize that strength of spirit is what leads a man to his true greatness. He (Scott Melchowiz) learns that he has to let go of the person he thought he was and start living in the moment by appreciating the journey and accepting his lack of control over the future.

What an excellent movie!!!!!! I wasn't too impressed with it to start, because it was a slow starting movie and confusing too. But as you watch it the movie starts piecing itself together and draws you in. This was the first time I've heard of the story and books, but I think I am going to get Dan's first book to start with and go from there! If you would like to find out more about him I added his link to this blog, and as always if you click on the picture above it will take you to the movie site. Enjoy the movie as I did and let us all work towards being our own.... Peaceful Warrior

Dan Millman

Mark Schultz Across America

One of out favorite christian artists is on a mission right now.

Mark's inspiration to make this 3,500-mile trek came from a visit he and his wife, Kate, made to orphanages in Mexico. In the spring of 2006, they went on a mission trip with The James Fund, a non-profit organization founded by Family Christian Stores, to meet the needs of orphans and widows in distress. Mark's own adoption drew him to explore this ministry. Seeing firsthand the harsh realities for many orphans and realizing that he could have easily been one of the boys in the orphanage, Mark wanted to make a difference. He made a decision to reach out to orphans through active support of The James Fund.Everybody's peddling something…but Mark says, "My wheels are turning to actually get somewhere." And that destination is Mark's cause, helping orphans and widows. "With your help we can do more than make the wheels of my bike turn; together, we can make every turn a momentum-building revolution - motivating others to join us and push this cause further down the road."You can be a strong link in the chain of Mark's bike, a mile marker along the road, urging him forward. You can be a gear helping him maximize his efforts. For more details visit www.markacrossamerica.org

Got To PA

We arrived in PA!!!!! We had quite the adventurous trip though! I know everyone was hoping that we would get to PA without any troubles, but that didn't happen!

We started out on Sat. night and only made it to Stockton, CA. I know, why did we leave then!!!! We did the samething on our way to CA 2 yrs ago. But, there was a reason for that, because it turned out to be the last time we saw Pappy alive!!!!! We called out Penske service that morning because our gauge lights didn't work!!!!! Here the breakers were in backwards!

Then Sunday we were truckin, we made it all the way to Needles, CA off of I40!!!! No we didn't stop and see the Giant Sequoias, Tina and I had a bad feeling about it on the way and ended up turning around! We will save that for our trip to CA next year!!!! We would have got into AZ, but we stopped at a rest stop before Needles and the wind was kicking so hard that it pulled the passager door our of MaKayla's hand and wouldn't shut then! So we called Penske service again and they sent out someone to help us!!!! But we had to wait for about 1-2 hrs until they got there and fixed it!

Monday we started off and were ready to truck some more, but about 100 miles into AZ we had our third problem. A trucker honked at me and other cars were driving by looking back I the car I was towing. So I stopped as soon as I could, went back and my driverside rear tire was goone!!!!!! Along with everything to hook another tire on to!!! I will post the pics of the trip as soon as I can get them off the camera. So we called Penske out again and they ended up towing us a trailer and then taking the dolly we had back to Kingman Penske. So that was about a 4 hr delay and that trip wasn't looking too good! So, we decided to stop in Flagstaff and try to make it to see the Grand Canyon to make the day alittle bit brighter! We made it and it was great. We got there at Sunset and stayed until dark. It was great!!!!

Tuesday we were feeling the pressure and decided to not make the detour to see family in El Paso, TX. So we stayed on I40 and made it east of Albuquerque, NM to close Santa Rosa, NM.

And had no problems!!!!

Wednesday we really started moving and made it 537 miles to Shawnee, OK with a 3 hr stop in Amarillo, TX and ate a the Big Texan Steak Ranch http://www.bigtexan.com/ and I had one of the best steak I every had a 16oz. sirloin!!!

Thursday we went 570 miles to about 40-50 miles west of Nashville, TN. and we started to see the end of our trip being Friday!!!!

Friday we again went 550+ to Lexington, VA and ended up stopping there about 5-6 hrs from being home around 10-11pm! We might have made it, but we didn't want to push it to hard!

Saturday we made it home by 3:30pm and unloaded the most of the truck into the storage unit as well!!!! What a trip, we just thank God for making it home ok and that my brother was able to fix the car on Monday for $115! God is good!

Moving Back to PA

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are 3 weeks away from moving back to PA!!!! I got a job offer from Victaulic, in Easton, and Tina is looking to got to St. Luke's Allentown (She is still in the Application phase)!!! We are excited to see everyone again, not just at family functions, but we plan to visit family and friends throughout the year as well! This all came about through prayer and God working in our lives as we are trying to follow God's will for our lives! We feel we can be used greatly by him in PA, and it is amazing to see him lead the way!

I contacted Victaulic just about 3 months ago to wish the guys there a happy new year and see what was new, and God starting making this happen from there! I let them know that I felt we would be moving back this year and the opportunity grew from there! They created a position for me, asked me to send out my resume, paid my way for a round trip flight out for an interview, and now just yesterday offered me the position! GOD IS GOOD!!!!

Please pray for us as we are looking to sell our 5th wheel trailer out here and use that money to pay for the trip home! It is so amazing stepping out in faith and waiting on God to so you the way! We are still learning to let go of some things and have the patience for his answers. But, he shows us every day that if we just trust him he will not lead wrong!!!!

Check back as I will be updating the news of our move the next few weeks unfold!!!!

Sac Zoo Field Trip!!!!

On Friday the BBC Academy took a trip to the Sacramento Zoo. Mommy went along to help since she had off from work because of her foot surgery! I was in PA with Victaulic interviewing for a job for when we move back in a few weeks! Hope you like all the pics. Just click on the picture above to get to our Flickr site!

Remembering Dave Stehly

Our hearts are with the Shehly family, Carrie's Family, Issabella, and all the friends of Dave as the news of his death got to us! It came as a shock to us all and we will keep you all in prayer as we morn the loss of Dave with you! I knew Dave in his younger years, but I can tell from the pics on his and Carrie's myspace that he was still the fun loving, living life to it's fullest type a guy! I have nothing but good memories of him when we use to get together and play football at his house in slatington, and picnics at each others houses! Our families we close because of the friendship of our mom (jen) and his mom! Again, we will keep you all in prayer, I am deeply sorry!!!! May God comfort us all...

Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

http://myspace.com/davestehly

http://www.myspace.com/carrieannze

mcall Guest book:

http://www.legacy.com/MCall/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=86782494

Quad Time!!!!

WOW what an awesome time we had! Some of Dad's friends (Elias, Jesse, and Elias's daughters) The kids had us going for almost 5 hours straight! MaKayla had to take a nap, but the boys keeped us going. We hope you enjoy the pics!

Ice Skating - Wiped Out!

What a great weekend we had! It started on Friday for us, because MaKayla had a field trip with the Academy (this was the 2nd trip the 1st was to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm in Oct. of 06)! Tina had a Dr. appointment around 9, so I took MaKayla and Christopher to the church to travel down to Roseville on one of the bus with the School, Ant stayed with Tina! Our trip was to an ice arena. This was our 1st time trying ice skating so I was nervous and excited, along with Christopher and MaKayla! I had the kids put on figure skates and I put on hockey skates! We had a lot of fun, Christopher and I headed right out on our own and MaKayla took comfort in using a “walker” type of devise to help her! And she had to stay in a certain part of the arena so the people who were not using those could skate more freely. So I spend time with both her and Christopher going back and forth helping and encouraging them as much as I could! And as it was my first time I needed some as well and one time I fell and MaKayla must of saw it because as I was getting up she was right there to say, “You fell, are you ok!!” Tina met us down there near the end after her appointment and was able to snap some pictures. The kids did so well and by the end of our time there MaKayla was skating around without any help, and Christopher was doing spins on the ice!

Saturday came and it was back to work for Tina, as she has been working every Saturday of Feb. So, the kids and I worked on homework and did a craft project of painting some Zoogles that they have had for a while and we haven’t even opened yet! They did a great job on there’s and will be able to show you in person soon! When Tina came home it was back to work, in the barn that is, because we went out and went through about a 5th of the stuff in the Barn as we try to clean out and get rid of things we don’t need anymore!

Sunday we had a pretty normal day of church and more cleaning up of stuff in the trailer! Tina did an excellent job of cleaning Sunday night as she stayed home because MaKayla wasn’t feeling good and had a fever!

Monday it was back to work for Tina as she didn’t get the holiday off! And for me it was another trip to Roseville, this time to get the Van in for its 15,000 mile check up! Amazing to think we got the KIA with only 4,000 miles on it and we’ve put 11,000 on it already! But, now that I am driving the VW Fox to work we have really slowed down the miles we have been adding! After the appointment we ate lunch with Tina and played games until I had to pick Tina up and head to our “Dinner for 8” at the Pastors house! Tina and I are so happy we decided to be apart of the “Dinner for 8”. We had a great time of fellowship with everyone in our group!

Cool I Can Post Again!

I haven't been able to post anything in a while because of updating to the new blogger! Not much has changed on the site that you can see other then our Flickr Badges are gone and the colors have changed. Most of the changes are behind the scense with the dashboard and how to move things around on the site. Hope you all have enjoyed us putting our lives here for you! It truely helps us feel more connected to you all! We might be changing our website soon. So we will keep you posted on what is going to happen with it if we do change to another site!

Gridiron Gang

We bought our 1st movie of the year and the 1st on in about 3-4 months! We've been really good at watching what we buy as we are still paying things off this year too! Tina & I really liked this movie. We watched it with the kids and there is a little language in it, but other then that it is a super great movie. I feel it is The Rocks greatest proformance yet. It's good to see that this is based on a true story as well! A keeper in our book we hope you get a chance to see the movie as well!

Facing The Giants

I saw this and felt it I should post it here on our site. What an amazing story of the power of the Almighty GOD. Here is still making miracles happen and this is surely one of them! Please check this out and look into buying this movie for your families and to help out this church! May God bless them with continued success in there ministry!

ALBANY, Ga. (BP)--In Hollywood, $10 million is mere change. In Albany, Ga., it’s a sign of God’s blessing.

“Facing the Giants,” the inspirational movie made by the staff and members of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., on a shoestring budget, passed the $10 million gross mark the week before Christmas. Not bad for a movie that cost only $100,000 to make. It is still showing in a handful of theaters nationwide and is set to be released on DVD Jan. 30.

Churches, though, can go ahead and purchase the DVD, along with the required license, to show it to their congregation. More than 900 churches have done so thus far. (Information is available at www.facingthegiants.com.)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

Hope you all have and great Christmas and New Year! We are looking forward to next year to see what God has instore for us! Travel safely to all your locations over the Christmas season and we hope you enjoy the pictures from here in CA. Look for them to be posted over this week.

Jimmy is gone!

Yesterday we had someone come buy our Jimmy. It was kinda sad to see it go. It got us out here to CA and we had it a long time. About 5 years it think, and we got a wopping $400 for it. It needed a new transmission among other things and it was a headache from day one! So, it was nice to get something for it! The guy won't get much of a profit out of selling it, because it has to get registered in CA yet and that might require more work on the exhaust system!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Christopher!!!

Wow he is 9 already, half way to an adult and ready for taking on the world! We gave him his gifts on Sat. night, Sunday we went to Hometown Buffet, and tonight we are going caroling at nursing homes with the church. So, we made it a 3 day event this year and we will get pictures up later in the week of this weekend for you all to see what he got! Enjoy!!!

Cars

We got this For MaKayla's Birthday I just forgot to put a review up here for it! A very good movie for kids and adults. Has a great lesson about responsibility and respecting those around you that have helped you in your life. The kids have watched it a bunch of times already. Would highly recommend it for your families. I've said this before, Pixar and Disney really know how to deliver when it comes to family entertainment. Good Christmas gift if you need a last minute filler for someone!!!

Hands

A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.
In Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it's in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
In Roger Clemens’ hands is worth $4.75 million.
It depends on whose hands it's in.
A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
In Andre Agassi’s hands is worth millions.
It depends whose hands it's in.
A rod in my hands will keep away an angry dog.
In Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it's in.
A slingshot in my hands is a kid's toy.
In David's hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it's in.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.
In Jesus’ hands they will feed thousands.
It depends whose hands it's in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
In Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it's in.
As you see now, it depends whose hands it's in.
So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God's hands because...
It depends whose hands it's in.
This message is now in YOUR hands.
What will YOU do with it?
It Depends on WHOSE Hands it's in!