Finally, a neighbor I can appreciate

Hi guys,
Here's a quick one. Last week, we had the pleasure of rescuing (at least it felt like a rescue) this turtle from the road here by the apartments.

He's a pretty good sized turtle. The girls had a great time checking him out.

That's the road in the background. Cars come through there about 20-30 mph, and he could have easily been squashed.




So it felt good to help out a neighbor. At least we can appreciate this one - since our other neighbor seems to be possessed by some sort of nastiness.


Al

P.S. the girls washed their hands afterwards. Christy tells me turtles can carry salmonella, so I made sure they cleaned up.

Always a Dreamer

Hello,

It's strange for me to write this.

Have you ever had a lifelong dream, or goal, you wanted to achieve?
One that you laid aside as impossible?

Maybe touring Europe?
Maybe hiking across the Himalayas?
Maybe owning a Harley?
Or how about graduating from college?

Who knows...

Some dreams seem too big. Too improbable.

Maybe you have one inside of you?


I have been out of work for almost 6 months - Nov. 15 or so will be 6 months. Like so many people across America, we could be in a completely painful place. To be honest... it does hurt.

But - there is one thing this move has done for me.


It has birthed a dream I once had, that was totally and completely dead.


When I was a junior in high school, I took a class from Ms. Stribling. In that class, an idea was born inside of me to become a teacher. After college, I tried to take more classes and get back into teaching, but the timing and life circumstances just laid that idea to the side.

I thought... forever.


Amazingly...

NO

Miraculously...

About the only positive experience that has come out of Florida, for me, is a rebirth of that dream. I am saying this now, on the front side of teaching. I am NOT a teacher yet. I may not become one. But, I can truthfully say, if I am able to become a teacher through all of this -- that alone could be the entire reason we feel God has sent us here.

Strange? Yes! Miraculous? Maybe - depending on who you ask.

I can tell you one thing... if I become a teacher, it will be through absolutely ZERO planning and forethought by me coming here. It will come through purely outer circumstances that I had no idea were there.

I leave you with this...

My good friend - Rob Goodwin - wrote a song that embraces everything I've just said. I'm listening to it right now. I love it!

The song says it like this...

But unless the dream you're holding falls to the ground,
and it dies.
And gets buried up, just like a seed...
and you walk away forever.
You'll never know the wonder that this new life can be...

Listen to this song here:

Say You Will

I've travelled all over the U.S. now, and I've been to hundreds of churches. BUT I've still never met anyone who captures the spirit of worship, in music, like Rob does. Live performance - no one can touch him compared to what I've experienced during Rob's worship time.

Learn more about Rob here.


More to come...

Halloween

We took the girls to our first outdoor Harvest Party. The first time that we have ever been able to go to a Harvest party outdoors and it was great! It has been warm but cloudy here for the last several days but yesterday was finally sunny.
Kaitlyn decided to be a Cowgirl.


And Keeley was a Snow Princess. Kinda crazy considering we moved to Florida!

Here are a few shots of the action. Kait taking aim...
The girls getting their faces painted...



And last but not least picking out the loot!

This Sunday Al And I are going out on a date. For his Birthday I got tickets to a Buccaneers game here in Tampa. So we get to spend the day together at a football game! My first and I think Al's too. I am really looking forward to going and checking it all out. And as always taking photos!! So be on the look out for them!
Have a good day all and don't let yourselves get too cold!

A New Neighbor Checks Out.

We were out running around town the other day, and came home around noon. Coming up to the apartment... people are standing around - freaked out about a new neighbor:


A Water Moccasin.

This is right outside our apartment - right at the foot of our stairs.

This is only the second snake we've seen since we've been here.
Unfortunately, this snake greets the same treatment as the first snake we saw... which is now flattened on Florida Avenue up near Memorial right here in town.

Here is how this water moccasin snake checked out of the apartment complex.



Not exactly the most humane way to go. Considering there's a huge natural habitat right behind the apartments that probably houses tens or hundreds more of these snakes, I would figure they could just relocate it back over there...

But I guess folks around here don't really like that idea?

Al

It has been a while

It has been a long time since we updated this blog. There really has not been much going on. In the last few days the Humidity has finally gone down so we are starting to dream about playing outside again. We got the chance to do that yesterday. Al had an interview in Tampa. The girls adn I went with him so that we could spend the rest of the day at the beach. We went to Clearwater. It seems to be out favorite beach so far.It was an overcast day but still plenty warm to go swimming and play!There were thousands and thousands of jellyfish in the water. They had lost thier tenticals so they did could not sting. We were told by the on duty lifeguard that there was no problem and we could swim all we wanted to. He also told ud that they would only be there for a couple of days because of the tides. It was a very strange feeling to have all these jellyfish brushing up against you in the water. Infact it was so yucky that I only stood in the water and did not ever swim because I could not get past the feeling of the jelly fish hitting my hand and feet. The girls had so much fun picking them up and collecting them. Here are some of the ones that Kait collected.Pirate Jellyfish!
And here are Keeley's. After collecting Jellyfish the girls decided that they would try and catch the Seagulls! Here is Kait giving it her best try.
In other news Al had his Birthday on the 15th. So a couple of days before we met up with our friends and went to Chuckie Cheese. Al and Dan went for a head to head compitition with the dancing game! How could I resist getting photos of that!?!


I need to go get started on school with the girls. Later this week, On Friday, We will be going to Cypress Gardens for the homeschool day!! We are all really excited to spend the day there and go on all the rides! So I will post next time with photos from there!!

Where are the jobs in Florida?

Well, it's been awhile. And I feel like I need to say something.

First of all...

I still feel like, inside of my heart and my head, that this move is something that God wanted us to do. I can't explain the feeling really, I just know it's there. There is NO DOUBT in my mind, that all of us needed to get out of where we were stuck back home. But the biggest question for me has been... where to then?

And there are several reasons we chose Florida.

That being said...

Our being here has NOT gone without troubles and hitches. In fact, it has been so bad for me that I have seriously questioned my decision. And I was the most acceptable, of all of us, about the choice to come here.

But you know where that leaves me?

Ultimately, if I decide that Florida was the wrong place for us right now, then the things I thought I heard God saying to me were wrong. To some of you... BIG DEAL! Who cares. But to me... it matters! If the things I think I'm understanding are all a bunch of bad gas, then I've got a serious problem in what I believe.

Anyhow...

The job factor is huge for me.

Thank goodness we are doing okay with money. I have my websites which bring in a few hundred, and Christy has her job which brings in more, plus we have left over savings.

However...

What I'm having trouble understanding, is how some of the yokels here can be chosen, over me, for some of these jobs. If you spend any amount of time in some of these places, you'll see the service is WAY LESS than spectacular. I mean... Saturday Night Live's 'Teerget' skit -- on steroids! Sometimes... you can imagine a monkey showing more caring on their face than some of these folks. And maybe a sloth's pace is a bit fast for some of these employees. Literally!

But, for some reason, none of these employers are deciding I'm right for their jobs. HMMM?

I certainly haven't exhausted all of my possibilities -- I haven't applied at any of the restaurants around town yet. But, the jobs I've actually done, and I know what I'm doing, and I'm good at...

nobody is picking me up for those jobs yet.

To be honest... it sucks. And I'm not sure why. Three of the interviews I went on, I thought, went very good.

And then I had some crazy sickness over the last couple days.

It was almost like adding a slap right upside my face.

Never-the-less, I can't give up yet. I can't do it! I refuse to lose all that we've tried to accomplish here, over some morons who wouldn't know how caring and intelligence could help their business, even if it reached out and slapped 'em. (Man, I better chill out here, I'm getting a little angry)


Finally,

Thank goodness, Fall is finally approaching. Today was a lowly - 90 degrees. But with a very low humidity, and a lovely breeze -- it was actually almost heavenly. The girls and I walked around the apartment complex after 8 tonight, just enjoying the wonder of cool night air -- believe me, almost no air in Florida, in the summer, is cool. Cool air is something I haven't experienced here since our first trips.

Also, we took a trip up to Crystal River a week ago, and did a bit of canoeing. It was also a slightly overcast, mid-80's temperature day, so it turned out to be spectacular for us.

I'm sure Christy will add more, but I wanted to put up this wonderful shot of me... doing what I do best... looking all freaky.


Love,
Al

Random stuff from our life...

So here are a few photos form our life here in Florida.
First up the girls doing school at the dining table!
Pool photos. We go swimming everyday. And the girls are turning into fish.



This is one of the alagators that live in the water here at our apartment. We have seen many in here and the girls have given them names. I think that this one is Crock-a-nator.It is hard to tell from the photo but this is a big one! he is longer than I am tall. And we walk by them every day to go to the pool! Crazy!!

This is a fountian in the water where some of the Alagators live. The sky does not look to good here because it is getting ready to storm. That happens nearly every afternoon here. Unfortunatly it does not cool down with the thunder storms. It just gets steamy and nasty.

Here are a few flowers around our place.


And this is one of the many nasty little guys that like to run around and freak me out. Thankfully we have not had any in our house. But there is one that we squished in our door frame that was trying to get in. YUCK!


And this is a funky band and dancer from the Lakeland Farmers Curb Market. They have nothing on Hillsboro Farmers market. Unfortunatly it was very small and nothing much worth going for, I am hoping that it will get better but we will have to see.

So that is all for now. Nothing much new going on. Just still trying to figure out our time here.