Rusty

On August 22, 2006 I married my wife on the island of Oahu in Hawaii in a private ceremony.  It was one of the best days of my life.  The sun was high in the sky with a slight breeze.  It was around 3:00 pacific time. I don't remember there being a cloud in the sky.  I was a nervous wreck despite the fact that they only people there were Amanda, the preacher, videographer, photographer, and me.  The ceremony lasted approximately 15 minutes, but I'll never forget them.  I remember in detail the entire ceremony.  Now, lets fast forward 4 years later.....

August 22, 2010

I always try to do exciting things for Amanda for her birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, etc.  This year I thought it would be a great idea to make a scavenger hunt, but instead of leading her around the house like I have before, I thought it would be a good idea to lead her around Charleston.  I hid clues behind stop signs, on top of an atm machine at a bank.  I actually gave a clue to a clerk at a convenience store.  I think Amanda really enjoyed running around town trying to find her clues.  One clue in particular though turned out to be an unexpected surprise for Amanda and I both and will continue to delight us for years to come.

I hid a clue across a bridge under some rocks.  I should have never been there, but it was starting to rain and it was getting late.  It was August 21 around 10:00 pm.  I had one clue left and I wanted to get home to hang out with Amanda for a while before bed. We usually go to bed fairly early on Saturday nights because we go to the early service at our church, Maranatha, (mfctoday.org) and the service starts at 9:00.  The bridge that I crossed and the rocks that I hid the slip of paper under was at the Kanawha County animal shelter.  It never entered my mind what would happen the next day when she found the clue.

You see, Amanda has never been much of an animal lover.  She never had animals growing up and just never really cared about them.  She always assumed that dogs were dirty and barked all the time.  On Sunday afternoon, our anniversary, Carlie and Katie came to stay with us for the day.  Amanda loves Carlie and Katie like they are our own children and honestly they are :).  Amanda found the clue fairly easily and thought it was clever of me to hide it at the animal shelter.  ( I have been lobbying for a dog for the last 4 years).  Anyway, when we got home Amanda was telling Carlie and Katie about the scavenger hunt and where all the clues were hidden.  Of course the animal shelter came up.  We decided to go take a look at all the animals just for fun.  We have done this a few times over the years, but always just looked and left.   This time was different.  

Rusty is a Golden Retriever mix.  He looks just like a full bread Golden Retriever, but smaller and he has a white paw.  He was lying in his cage all curled up like a cat.  I didn't even notice him to be honest, but Amanda did and for some reason unbeknownst to be liked him.  She never really said much about it until I asked if I could take a Dachshund for a walk.  I took her out and she was a nice pleasant dog, but didn't really show a lot of interest in us.  She was just smelling around and minding her own business.  I took her back in and Amanda totally shocked me when she asked if we could take the Golden Retriever for a walk.  We did and the rest is, as they say, history.  Rusty jumped all over us and ran between our legs.  He sat on command and shook hands.  He was completely trained.  I didn't even have to beg and Amanda let me adopt him.  I am not sure if the girls had her heart soft by getting to stay with us, they barely get to, or if it was an act of God, but we paid our $70 and were proud owners of a Golden Retriever mix, Rusty. 

I am very eager to write about our many adventures with Rusty during the last 2 months, but I don't have the time right now.  I will save those stories for another day.  However, Rusty is like our child.  We love him very much and look forward to many years with this dog.  He is truly our Marlee.  Here are some pictures until next time.....

Vacation is over :(

I always have the best of intentions on writing on here, but I never find the time.  My wife has been on a cleaning spree lately and she was cleaning out one of our spare rooms today and I was outside mowing grass and I got really thirsty so I came in to get a bottle of water and saw tears running down her eyes and I saw her reading a journal I used to actually write in instead of type.  I told her she needed to quit reading my private journal. haha.  Anyway, that's why I am on here now. 

We just got home from Myrtle Beach and just like all vacations, I am sad to be back home.  We were there for 6 days and 5 nights and didn't do much but lie on the beach, but I had a blast.  I was able to play in the ocean for a while and then come back to my chair and read.  I love love love to read a good book.  Thanks to Erin Crouch for recommending one of the books I read there, "The Maze Runner" which started out a little slow I thought, but surprised me.  I also found out that book 2 of the trilogy is already out and I'll be picking it up at the library as soon as possible. 



We went to the Dixie Stampede while we were at the beach of course the chicken was excellent.  We also ate at Nakato Japanese restaurant and the River City Cafe and a few others places, but these are the ones that stand out.  We also played a put-put, which is predictable, and walked around barefoot landing and Broadway at the Beach.  We watched Toy Story 3 in the IMAX theater and not only was the screen amazing, the movie was even better and it brought tears to my eyes. 

Well, it's time to watch our newest Netflix delivery.  It's another one that Amanda picked out so I am not that excited about it, but it might be okay.  I think the name of it is "Leap Year."

I'll post a few pics of our beach trip below.

2010

It's been sometime since I have made the time to write down a few thoughts. I love reading my friends blogs and wish I had more time to do the same, but I find that their writings are more interesting and flow better than mine. I have been considering doing a video blog and seeing how that would turn out, but I haven't gotten around to that yet either. I hope to be a little more diligent about it in the future.

If you haven't heard already, Amanda and I bought our first house on October 31st this year. We were so excited to get in here. I was a little scared of having so much debt hanging over our heads, but the longer I am here the more I forget that I owe $130k. It feels like we are still renting... well except for the fact that I can't call my landlord every time we have a problem. I am quickly turning into a plumbing and heating expert. I'll post a few pictures later in the blog.

I think I have written on here since I started my new job at Fifth Third Bank, but if not then I should tell you that I am a personal banker there. I work in Kanawha City and it is the best job I've

had so far. I definitely want to stay in banking for a while. I enjoy talking to people about their money and helping them when I can.

I have been able to get a lot more involved in church over the past few months, too. It all started last year when Amanda signed up to play on the women's softball team. I helped coach the team and ever since then we have been involved a lot more. I now coach a team for Upward basketball and volunteer to help run the league each Saturday. It has sure been a sacrifice, but I love every minute of it. I just started on the church bowling league and am enjoying it. I hope to start getting more involved in prayer groups and even get a Bible study at my house once a week; at least that is what I hope for. Our church is AWESOME. If you have never been to Maranatha then I strongly encourage you to check it out. God has definitely blessed 2910 Kanawha Terrace.