I'm a bonehead

As many of you know last week I had an MRI which revealed I had a tumor in my sinus cavity which is at the base of my skull. It is not in or on my brain, but it is right smack between my eyes. The doctor took the tumor out yesterday and he went through my right nostril. He took out 99% of the tumor and said it appeared to him to look like bone and bone marrow. I've always thought I was a bonehead but I guess it's official now. I was in the hospital about 5 hours and came out of surgery with minimal pain. I wanted to share a little of the joy I experienced after surgery. I couldn't believe how big my nostril was so I had Sarah take a picture of it so everyone could see. That is what it looked like before I cleaned it with a hot towel. It hurt too much to pick it with my finger because the blood was stuck to my nose hairs and they were coming out too. I normally tweeze my nose hairs but this hurt worse than tweezing. Enjoy the pic!

I want to say thank you to everyone who was praying for me and my family! I love you all dearly!

Fun with work

Update 12/28/06
I haven't been able to come up with any new or witty responses to the mundane questions I get every day from my customers, but I do have some funny/strange stories/respones I have received.
I delivered a check to a lady who lives off of South School. I have been to her house before and her packages always require a signature. I never looked at the package to see who they were from or tried to figure out why they would require a signature other than the sender paid for it.
So I drive down her steep driveway only to see an empty driveway. I was a little frustrated because I knew I would be coming back the next day to re-attempt her package. I start putting the not available scans on her on package and applying the proper stickers, etc...As I am doing this I hear/see a truck pull into the driveway. The truck parks on the other side of my work truck and I hear the door slam! The lady is jogging toward me yelling, "Don't leave! Don't leave! You have my check. Don't leave!" I guess she didn't see that I wasn't in my truck when she pulled down her driveway. She said, "I felt like I needed to leave. I just felt a sense saying, 'Go home. Go home.' " So I left and came home as I could. I'm glad I did because you are here with my check." The lady opens her check and starts screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and then she blurts out "My $13,000.00 check is her. I can pay off my Harley. You are a God! I feel like kissing you. I would kiss but I don't think you would want me to." I agreed that I didn't want her to kiss me, congratulated her on the check and left.

I deliver lots of paychecks to people and this one girl who works off of Cato Springs always tells me that I am her favorite guy every other Thursday. I smile and say thanks or you should inform my wife of how wonderful I am. Another girl who works at Million Air (Drake Field) always gets excited when I deliver their checks every other Thursday as well. She normally offers me a fountain drink and says, "Thanks buddy! See ya soon."

I just noticed that I deliver paychecks mainly to women. Why is that?

I'm still not loving my job at FedEx but I try to have fun as much as I can. Frequently people will ask me, "What did you bring me?" Sometimes I'll say, "I don't know, I didn't order it or
I brought you that million dollars you ordered." Last week I had the best response to one of my comments. I was on South School delivering an envelope to some people. The lady asked who it was for and I stated the name. She said that's my son, I'll sign for it. What is it? I said, "It's his wildest dreams!" The lady smiled at me and said, "No honey! His wildest dreams couldn't fit in that envelope. Having two women at once is my son's wildest dream. He wouldn't be able to handle it, but at least he would die with a smile on his face!" I never dreamnt I would receive a response like that.

It's a Penis

Sunday morning we were eating breakfast as a family. Sarah put in some of the Sister Schubert's rolls with a sausage in them. As we were eating Max found the sausage in his roll. Upon finding the sausage he said, "Hey! This looks like a penis! Mom! Look! It's a penis!" Naturally we all smirked and tried not to laugh. I told Max he didn't need to say that because it's not appropriate at the dinner table. Once my other son "Repeat" heard Max say penis, he also began saying, "Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis." We also told him that was not appropriate talk at the table. After looking at the sausage I had to agree with Max. If you haven't taken the time to inspect your food latetly you don't know what you're missing out on.

Getting better and funnier.

Last week work was a lot better and easier since I started my current route. I haven't been working 11-12 hour days unless I want to and my route is finally stabilizing to the normal amount of stops.

A week or two ago I was driving to a county road called South Lake Wilson Road. The house is in West Fork, but a lot of times this area gets labeled as Fayetteville for some reason. That makes a difference to me as far as commitment times go in my job, but I'm not going to bore you all with that. You need a current 911 map to locate most of my stops in the afternoon. I have a 911 map but it is for 1998, which is a little out of date, but it does help. So I pull out my 911 map once I find the county road, which is called South Lake Wilson Road, to locate house. Shocker, it's not in there. So I look both ways and see a mailbox to my right, so I check it out and decide to go that way. After driving about a mile I notice a mailbox without a name or numbers on it and a long driveway. I decide to take it since I have driven so far and I have never been to this area before. The drive is approximately 3/4-1 mile long and uphill. I finally reach the house and I am backing my truck like I'm supposed to. I grab the box out of my truck and I am doing my thing when I hear a lady yell, "Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?" Of course someone is there, do you think the FedEx fairy drove the truck? So I yell to her and state that I am on way. I ask the lady, are you four thousand four hundred and sixty-one S. Lake Wilson Road? She looks at me bewildered and a little dumbfounded. She replies, "No, I am forty-four, sixty-one." I look at her dumbfounded and then I smile at her. I smile for two reasons, I found the correct house and the lady didn't know the long version of her house number. I don't normally say the long version of house numbers but I do when I am going to West Fork/Winslow area because I am mainly driving on county roads which are 3-4 digits long. This helps me keep from confusing the county road and house number.

It also amazes me how many people don't know their house number. I'll pull up and say, "Are you 3263?" The recipient will say, "I don't know. What's the name?"

One other funny thing that people ask is "Whatcha got there?" A lot of times I say, "A box or an envelope." Lately I started telling people a million dollars. They don't know what to think of that so they quickly sign the sheet and go back to work or whatever they were doing.

It's been a fun ride so far with FedEx but I am ready to find something new. I wish the company had a training position in this area but they don't.

Oh Crappy Days

The past couple of days have sucked! It started yesterday when we found huge wet spots in the boys' rooms. We check out our pipes on the air conditioner which return the water outside and it was leaking. We called the plumber who told us our pipes were probably blocked up, so get a wet/vac and suck out the slime. We go to Lowe's and buy a wet/vac. It sucks out lots of water, but not any slime. The water continues to leak. Sarah inspects it a second time and notices a big crack on one of the pipes. Thus, begins my crappy day.

The second stanza goes like this. Brenden e-mailed me with a paint drawing! Yeah!!! The only bad thing is I can't finish the drawing. I don't know where some of the fine points for detailing the drawing, but I do know how to do some of the work I was unable to finish and I couldn't remember how to do it.

The third stanza happened today. First, I called Shelter Insurance to see where the hiring process was. I had a bad feeling when I didn't receive a phone call yesterday for a second interview. Shelter called back last week saying they were going to continue interviewing the select few this week so I kind of knew this was coming. The third stanza part II goes like this. I was driving through Devils Den Park today to deliver a package in a town called Strickler on a road called Bug Scuffle road. On my way through Devils Den Park I saw about 6 deer, which is always fun. The sad part is one of the deer ran in front of my FedEx truck. This is how the killing occurred. I was driving and see two deer; one to my left and one to my right. The deer on my left goes left and the deer on my right goes right. For whatever reason the deer on my right looks back and decides to go left, which was directly in front of my truck. I slammed on my brakes but it was too late. Since the truck is so big and heavy the deer felt like a little bump in the road. That made me feel horrible and I wanted to go home after that, but I couldn't because I volunteered to work Mon-Wed to make extra money.

I probably wouldn't have volunteered but we need to get rid of debt and lots of things around our house are starting to fall apart. I hope your past two days were better than mine.

Answered prayers

I don't remember if I shared these prayer requests on my blog or not but God has answered most of them. I prayed that God would provide a toilet, vanity/counter top, tub and our deductible. So far we have had a toilet, vanity/counter top tub and $500 donated to us. Our deductible is $1,000, so God has answered almost all of them. It is so exciting to see God answer our prayers and then be able to share the experience with you all.

I have more prayer requests to share with you all. Sarah won't start working until Jack is able to be in Mother's Day Out and we are on a long waiting list. It would be nice to have her additional income but I would prefer it if she didn't have to work at all. This leads into my next prayer request. There are 2 full-time positions coming open at FedEx and they close this Friday. That means they are not open for anyone to bid on them after this Friday. I have bid on both of them so hopefully I will get one of them. This will be nice so I can see my family and friends at night again and not have to miss Bible study or hanging out friends anymore. I am also praying that I would get more paint drawing jobs, since that is where the most money is made for me. There are multiple options that could work out for me to make enough income so that Sarah won't have to work. If I went full time at FedEx and did 2 paint drawings a month, went part-time (only if I could switch to AM shift) with FedEx and did 3 paint drawings a month or went full time doing paint drawings.

It's nice to know that God's word is true and He does listen to us when we talk to Him. I encourage everyone to talk with God more. He likes to hear from us.

Pictures

Grant and Chloe making sugar cookies.













You can always count on Memaw and Pepaw for a Coke or Sprite.











I forgot what they were eating, but it must have been good. I bet we were coloring cookies or decorating something.









Sometimes the kids get upset if they aren't able to lick the brownie bowl. They look happy to me.

Just Pictures

Grant is a willing object his cousin Chloe as she practices being a beautician.

Grant didn't want to leave the soccer game, not because of the great game. He didn't want to leave the dirt.

There's nothing quite like a birthday at the McGooden household. This is my Dad's birthday in January. Listed from left to right: Adrienne, Chloe, Yoda and Muscleman from Fantastic 4.

Grant loves Aunt Nikki and BJ (her dog). He also enjoys coloring cookies.

Me and the kids cruising in the 'Stang.

Brows

Check out these beautiful brows I made while using one of my Christmas gifts. Pretty hot huh? If Sarah wasn't pregnant already this would have put her in the mood for anything. I wasn't paying while I was using my 6-1 trimmer. I was looking at my brows in the mirror when I leaned forward and forgot to move the trimmer. I hear the noise and see my eye brows falling. So in attempt to make them look equal, I botch the left side as well which ended up looking worse than the right side. The craziest thing about the whole ordeal is that no one noticed! I told everyone that I cut my brows, except for a lady at work. She noticed. I hope the pic isn't too grainy.

Demolition

Dan from Complete Restoration came today with another to take one final survey of the area and set the demo day. Demolition is set for May 1st, so we will most likely be in the hotel on Sunday night. Sarah has said that she would like to build a house and currently that is not a reality. What I have been telling her is that we are building a new house, but we're going about in a slightly unconventional fashion. I'm sure Sarah will put the details together on her blog about what is going on.

After our deductible, $1,000.00 US, we are probably going to be an additional $500-$1,000.00 for a shower pan, $200.00 US roughly, and any other repairs that were caused by the water leakage. I am asking everyone to join us in prayer for God to raise all the money we will need. We don't have $1,000 or any additional money that will be required. Thanks for your prayers and I am looking forward to seeing what God does for us again.

Best Meal Ever

As most of you know people bring food to you after you've had a baby. Thankfully this occured again for the birth of Jack. We have had lots of good meals and I am thankful for those who have brought them. I have to give a special shout out to the Henry's. They called and asked what we wanted to eat and Sarah told them pizza. They brought us a couple of pizzas, salad, drinks and beer. Never before has anyone brought over beer as part of a meal. Also, he had one of the pizzas deep dish because he thought I would like that, which I did.

Carrie said, "I hope you like thick crust because Patrick said that's what Nate
would want." Then PW said, "I know what Nate likes."

PW was right. So I wanted to say a special thank you to PW for thinking of me as well. He even brought light beer to help me watch my figure. Generally I tell people to ask Sarah what she wants since we are receiving these meals because she gave birth. I got to do the fun parts, have sex and watch the birth. Any chump can do that.

Working

I've been working for about 3 hours I guess by now. I have a lot to learn still, but I really enjoy what I am doing. The work is fun, creative, and entertaining. One of the cool parts of the job is I get to work from home. I feel more connected to my family this way, even though I'm not always in the room with them. I hear most of what's going on so I get a better understanding of what Sarah is going through or what the boys are doing. Another cool part is I get to listen to music while I work, which helps the time pass a little quicker. I also get to check my e-mail, blog, eat with the family, etc...I feel free, which I like a lot. The flexible work schedule is nice also. I should have Sarah take a picture of me while I drawing a plane.

What a Day/Morning

Yesterday and into the morning were a whirlwind. I found out after Bible study that there was another paint drawing for me to do so I was excited about that. I also got paid for my initial paint drawing which is also exciting. I didn't go work for my Dad because I thought I would get my paint drawing in the morning, but I didn't. They had bigger fish to fry to first, but I did receive my new paint drawing. Since I didn't get the drawing when I thought I would I took the boys and myself to get haircuts at Leon's Beauty College. The boys behaved exceptionally well so we went to Sonic for a reward, then we went to Old Navy to do a little Easter shopping. The boys then began to get tired and hungry so their behavior was not good. We bought a shirt, went home, ate lunch and put the boys down. They were behaving worse now than before. Sarah and I watched House, because we have a DVR now, for the first time in a long time. We enjoyed the time together. Then I called Brenden to have him help me set up my AutoCAD program so I can work. That ran me until 3:15ish, which is when I normally leave for FedEx. Thankfully, Sarah remembered that Max lost the keys to the car in the mini-van and began looking for them while I got dressed. We couldn't find them initially, so I told the boys to get ready because they were taking me to work since Max lost the keys. Max was only wearing his underwear at the time. Sarah found the keys as I was putting the boys in the mini-van. So I leave for work and I arrive 2 minutes prior to my starting time. While I was gone the boys were horrible and got paint all over their room. I'll let Sarah tell you about that since she went through it. So I go to work and it was fine, until I got back to the station. While we were doing the re-load, which is putting the boxes in cans so they can be sent to their proper destinations, one of my co-workers recieved a call from his mother who informed him that his Dad just died! Hello!! So he walks by me crying and talking on his cell phone. I ask him what's wrong and he tells me his Dad just died. What do you do when someone tells you that? I did the only thing I knew to do. I gave him a hug, told him I was sorry and he left. So I get home, begin working on my paint drawing a little before I go to bed. Around 1:30ish I hear Grant screaming. It's not his normal scream he has from a bad dream or being scared, this is loud! So I run to get him. After I pick him up he pukes on my shoulder. It was a small amount thankfully so I call to Sarah for some back-up. She is nursing Jack so she has to go back to him to finish his feeding so he won't cry himself! Is anyone else tired yet? I am. So I clean the puke in the boys' room with Grant at my side. He is reading books, playing with toys and being rather chipper considering he was just screaming about 10 minutes ago. I have all the lights on in the room while I am cleaning up and Max slept through everything. He rolled over once but he never knew that I was in there cleaning up puke. So Sarah puts some sheets on the couch for Grant and a trash can for him to puke in. I go back to bed and around 2:00-3:00 Grant is screaming again! This time he puked in the living room on his way to the toilet. I guess he forgot about the trash can. So I clean that up while Sarah tends to Grant. She asks me if I want to sleep on the couch with Grant? I said no, but I guess I will. Grant falls asleep around 3:30-4:00. He wakes up when Sarah is taking Max to Mother's Day Out. Grant sees that Sarah is leaving and he begins to cry because he wants to go with her. I try to explain he can't go because he might make the other children sick, but it doesn't work. So here I am working at Sprint Tax, then going to FedEx, and then coming home to work on my paint drawing. It feels like the insanity will never end, but I know it will. I hope everyone has an exciting day.

I forgot to mention how Grant spits into the toilet. I showed him where to put his hands on the toilet and then told him to spit. So he puts his hands on the toilet, leans his entire upper body into the toilet and then spits. I see the water move! I don't know if is from Grant's spit or if he just dunked his head into the toilet. Fortunately, it was from his spitting and his face was not wet. I'll try to get a picture of that to post later. It is funny business!

God's Provision

Many of you know our story either through reading our blog or by knowing us, so most of you know our struggles. As I posted prior to Jack's birth, I need and want to make money so Sarah doesn't have to work again unless she chooses. The couple in our Bible study who I am working for part-time are giving me another job to do tomorrow morning. I am very exicted. I also received my first check from them, which is also exciting. I wanted to say thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray. As my father often says, "I need the prayer and you need the practice."

I also wanted to let everyone know that Shelli Jones' blog is definitely worth your time. I don't know the woman but she ranks in my top 3 favorite blogs. I have played cards with her husband at the men's retreat and he is cool also. His name is Justin.

New Computer

As many of you know we have a new computer. Yea!!!! It is nice to be able to check e-mail, news, sports, etc...from home again. The computer has some features on it that we are not used to having on a computer. We are able to watch and record TV. It's pretty amazing! Now I know how all of you Tivo and DVR folks feel. I fast forwarded through 7-8 hours of TV in about 2 minutes. I hope it revolutionizes our television watching as many of my friends state it will and has for them. It has a sub-woofer, remote control, flat panel, and it's pretty! I told John Nelson it's the prettiest computer I have ever owned. As Max would say, "It's beauuutifulll!". I might post a pic of it later if I'm feeling crazy.

Funk

Sarah doesn't think anyone wants to read about my funk. I told her I disagree, it will be funny. Isn't that why we blog? That's why I blog. Sarah takes care of the serious side of our lives, mainly, and I generally take care of the humor. I'm not saying that Sarah's blogs aren't funny, because some of them are.

After I got home from work I noticed my toe nails were hurting. So I took off my sock to find that my toe nails were too long, so I decided to cut them. I cut my big toe nail last and I wanted to show Sarah because it was so long. I showed Sarah my toe nail and she thought it was disgusting, but it wasn't. I continued to look at it for a few minutes in amazement that I cut it off in one piece and at its size. After all of this I smelled something on my fingers. Initially I thought it was from Jack's diaper I just changed but I didn't see any mook on my hands. I continued to search the smell when I saw my toe nails. My feet were sweaty from work and but I never dreamed that to be the smell. My feet can get funky, but they've never smelled like this before. I do have one pair of sandals that I will not take my feet out of until I go to bed or wash my feet but I wasn't wearing them last night, obviously, since I came from work. So I pick my the long toe nail and smell it. Bingo! I never would have guessed that my toe nail would stink so bad, but it did. Now I wish I had taken a picture of it for everyone to see.

Prayer Requests

As many of you know Sarah is going to be induced Tuesday morning. This brings about quite a few prayer requests for us. The first prayer request is for the safety of Sarah/Jack during and prior to the delivery. The second request is that I am able to make enough money to support our family so Sarah doesn't have to go back to work unless she really wants to. That would be a first in our family. The third request would be the mold removal in our house. I don't know what mold does to you or exactly how it affects you, but apparently it's not good. We need provision for that if our insurance company doesn't pay for it or most of the cleaning. The fourth request would be for a smooth transition for our family to the addition of Jack.

Many of you know our story the past couple of years. God has been faithful all the way through and I predict He will continue to be faithful. He has already brought about a new part-time job working with the Blanchette's doing paint drawings for airplanes. The work is exciting and frustrating as I am learning to identify differnt parts of planes, learn autocad, etc...Fortunately Brenden is very patient and willing to work with me. I am reminded of how faithful God was to Israel as they wandered for forty years in the wilderness. Many times they forgot God or sinned against his Chosen leaders. One of the awesome things about God is that He loves us 24/7. I think of how frustrated and mad I get at my kids for disobedience, I can't imagine what God thinks or feels as He sees us chasing mute items.

Thanks for all of your prayers, support and love; for past, present and future, that you, our friends, have shown us. You all are proof that God is everything the Bible says He is.

Since I am random in my thinking and being, I wanted to say that I would be remiss if I didn't say God bless you all and America. I thought about that statement and why I wanted to say it. I think I wanted to say it because I like to use the word remiss. I guess it wouldn't be my blog if it wasn't a little off kilter.

I hope to see you all in the hospital. You don't have to worry about not getting to hold Jack. We will let everyone have a turn. You might have to fight Max and Grant to hold him, but I will gladly share my turn.

Funny Boys

This will be a blog that I update regularly. I will put funny statements or stories about Max and Grant.

This past weekend the Loibners visited us. None of the boys showered all weekend and they were pretty stinky at the end of the weekend. I'll start with Saturday morning. I was on the couch when I saw Max run into the living room. He spotted me and asked if he could watch cartoons? He laid down with me and I noticed an odor. I asked Max if he passed gas? He said no. I asked him several times because I kept smelling something. He denied passing gas every time. The Loibners left but not before discussing how bad our children stunk. Max put his Buzz Lightyear costume on once he woke up. My parents called so we decided to go to Siloam. When Max was taking off his costume he said, "Dad. Did something die in here?". We all laughed then I took a shower with the boys. There's always a good time brewing at our house.

Update 04/03/06
This isn't funny, but it sure is sweet. The Rowley's brought us dinner tonight and it was great. We had manicotti, salad, cookies, bread sticks...I liked it a lot. I was a little disappointed there wasn't any sweet tea, but I still love them. Sarah told me after they that Max asked, "Why aren't they staying for dinner?". So if you're bringing us food you might as well make some extra and sit down for dinner.

Update 04/10/06

How scary can a vampire be with a smile like that?




















Here are the boys loving Mom and Jack!
















This was called Rocket. It was one of the few ways I could keep Grant from going crazy!









These guys loving taking baths. Max has been asking when Baby Jack can join them. His cord and circumsion ring fell off in the same day! Now Jack can shower or bathe with his brothers. He'll probably need an oxygen tank, floaties, and a knife to stay alive, but I'm sure it will be fun.





Update 04/22/06
Today Max spilled some water on his shorts as he was helping clean the house. He just put a cup in the sink and then he starts to take off his shorts. So I ask him,
"Max. What are you doing?"
"My penis is wet. I'm taking off my shorts."
"How did your penise get wet?"
"I spilled water on it."
"From what?"
"Water. From that cup."
"Oh. I don't see any wet spots on your shorts."
"Dad! My shorts are wet and I'm taking them off."
"Make sure you put new shorts on."
"Why?"
"Because Memaw and Nikki are coming over."
"Oh."

Sarah told me I would do the same thing if my penis was wet. Maybe I would. I do prefer to be naked. Do you think my joy for nakedness led to our 3 kids? Pssst...me either.

Squirrels 2

I haven't posted about those blasted squirrels in a while so I thought I should give an update. Earlier this year I finished cleaning out our attic. It was a mess with loads of crap and rat poison spread all over. I think that is why I keep losing weight...the poison is slowly rotting/eating away my insides. Anyway, I cleaned out everything except for some wood so I can crawl around the attic if it becomes necessary. After cleaning out the attic and throwing new blocks of rat poison around I haven't heard the squirrels in about a month. I don't know if they died, on vacation, decided to be quiet, or left the attic. I prefer the death scenario myself. I need to climb back up there and take a lookski. If anyone wants to join me that would be great. We can get BB guns, flashlights, ladder, etc...and have a gay old time.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that March Madness started today. I hope everyone picked their brackets and I pray the Hogs are bracket busters this year. It's good to be back in the tourney. God bless America!

Sprint Tax

Let the good times roll. As many of you know I am working at Sprint Tax again this tax season. Never would I have dreamed to be back here again but I am. I actually enjoy it this time and appreciate the common man's tax problems. Since I know just enough to be dangerous about taxes I felt good when I knew I would be getting my taxes done for free. Just one of the many perks you get working here. I am either bored or busy. There's not a lot of in between. This is what leads to my latest post.

Sometime last week I was speaking with another LaTour employee about the benefits of working at Sprint Tax. I am able to check my e-mail and get paid for minimal work. I know checking your e-mail is not a big deal to some of you, but when your computer breaks and you don't have the money to get a new one, it is a perk. Trust me. Sometimes I call Sarah and give her an update on her e-mail and send e-mails for her. I know, what a loving and thoughtful husband. God was really good to her when he matched us up. After finishing my conversation with the other LaTour employee John LaTour calls me. He called about 1 min. after I hung up the phone. It was as if he was listening to us or knew that I was not busy at all. I don't blame him at all for giving me research projects to do each day I work. He is a business man and wants to get a ROI. The other LaTour employee calls me back when John leaves the office and promised they did not tell John I was bored or needed something to do while sitting on my butt.

For those of you who keep up with my blog, you will notice an unusual trend. I have at least one blog for the past three months. Eat your heart blogger world!

On a side note, the NCAA tournament is starting this week so the Hogs need extra prayers from their faithful.

Fun times in the shower

I know that I have shared this story with some of you, but not everyone. I hope that each male out there has a child as thoughtful as Max so you too can have your ego boosted as I did.

About a month ago Max and I were in the shower together. In the midst of showering I noticed Max is checking me out. Actually, he's checking out my package, so I start watching Max. A few seconds later Max looks up at me and says:
"Dad. You have a big penis."
Nate: "What? What did you just say?".
Max: "You have a big penis. How did it get so big?"
Nate: "I don't know. It's just that size. I guess God wanted my penis this big."
Max: "Oh! Will my penis ever get that big?"
Nate: "For your sake, I hope so."
Max: "Me too Dad, because your penis is really big!"

After the penis conversation we finished showering and went about our every day business. Kids are funny! There isn't a topic that is off limits for them. So enjoy your kids, nephews, nieces, etc...

More blogging

I hope to be blogging more often for my dedicated fan base. I have a bunch of blogs in my head, or at least they were at one time. Since our computer is down we have very limited access to the internet. I use it when I am working at Sprint Tax on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Happy reading to all.

48 Days

I realize I haven't blogged in over 4 months so if anyone is looking to me for a daily, weekly or monthly blog you're probably out of luck. I will try to blog more but I normally forget what I intended to blog about when I have time or remember I had something I wanted to blog about. My kids load me up with blogging material but they also keep me busy which is why I often forget my stories.

I am reading this book called 48 days to the work you love by Dan Miller. I recommend the book to anyone who is struggling like I am to find a job that they enjoy and pays you appropriately. After reading the first chapter there were some questions for you to answer. I thought I would put them on the laptop so I wouldn't have to keep up with a notebook. The very last question is: "If nothing changed in your life in the next 5 years, would that be OK?" I'm not real good with the quoting and citing sources so if I'm doing something illegal let me know...I might change it.

I was talking to one of my frat brothers who just graduated from law the other night and I brought up this very statement to him. In the past 5 years of my life not much has changed at all. I have 2 more mouths to feed and a third on the way and more debt than I did 5 years. I'm not exactly living the American dream! This thought blew me away. I am worse off financially, by a long shot, than I was 5 years when I was working part-time at Sprint Tax and going to school. How pathetic is that? This isn't a poor Nate or cry for pity but a realization I hadn't noticed or thought about it recently. I realize that I have made some poor decisions that are the direct result of my current situation and I can't change that. If I could turn back time I never would have quit Wal-Mart, but hindsight and second-guessing is easy to do. Right now I'm smiling thinking about the trials and things I have gone through personally and with my family. I have seen God work in mighty ways through friends and family. God has poured his grace upon me during this time by opening hearts and check books to pay my bills. I have two friends who gave a total of $1,800.00 to us. Unreal! One friend gave anonomously after reading one of my first blogs. I didn't put that blog up there in order for people to give us money. It's my job to provide for my family, not my friends/family. I'm not saying it's bad for others to help out those in need, that's what being a Christian is all about. I'm praying that God will help me find a meaningful job that allows me to provide for my family also. I think I want to do something that involves an aspect of ministry or do full-time ministry work. I really don't know which is why I'm in my current position. I have a lack of focus and direction in my life in what I think God is calling me to do professionally. I am trying to change that with God's help and leading.