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.

Lazy Day

We didn't go to church today. Past Wright is on vacation and we have been on the road a lot lately and we thought we would take a day and stay home. We have really been lazy today. We stayed in bed until around 12:30 and then the suddenlink tech came to fix our Internet. He only had to replace an ethernet cable, which I could have done myself, but I didn't realize that was the problem. It was hilarious watching him trying to poke around on my IMac though. It was obvious he's never used one before.

I did go out and clean the inside of the car after later this afternoon. I swept it out and shined up the dash with armor-all. I found a set of keys that I thought I lost months ago. They were under the carpet, under the passenger seat. There is only one small vent hole under there that they could have squeezed through and somehow they did. While I was outside, Amanda made us some barbecue sandwiches. I definitely ate too much. But, it was excellent.

Now, I am sitting here watching Barbershop (I love this movie) and tying on here while Amanda watches her soap opera thing. I hate those shows. We are going to watch a movie we rented earlier called "International" as soon as I get offline. I hope to get Netflix again soon. We had Blockbuster's online service, but we didn't seem to use it enough to justify paying for it, but now we watch movies a lot more and I want to get Netflix this time. My friend, Jesse, told me to get it because I get download movies straight to my television with it. I definitely want to do that.

Okay, now it's time to watch the movie. I just reread everything on FDIC coverages. I get asked about them about 10 times daily and I figured it's time I know more about it. It's actually pretty interesting. I can now feel more confident the next time I get the question.

Here We GO!

I've not posted in a while and I am excited to be typing a few thoughts this evening. There is something peaceful about being able to write down what I'm thinking and what's going on in my life. My life has changed a lot in the past 45 days. I've jumped right in to working at the bank and though my hours are so much better than Beneficial, they are also much more hectic and I love it. I feel like I've worked 60 hours a week by the time Friday at 6:00pm rolls around. I am learning so much new and interesting information and I want to learn it all as fast as I can. Every customer that comes in the door has their own personal situation and I love being there "banker" and helping with their needs. It's nice to be able to offer products that customers want and love. I know our customers at Beneficial needed what we offered, but they sure didn't love them.

The other major even in my life right now is that Amanda and I plan on making an offer on our first home tomorrow. We have waited so long and we are finally ready to take the plunge. I am petrified of being a home owner and of course very apprehensive on taking on a larger payment and not having the landlord to call anytime I want, but that won't stop us from doing it anyway. I'll write more about the house and the area after we "hopefully" get to purchase it. It's nice working in the office next to the mortgage loan officer so I can pester him everyday until our loan is finished.

I better go. Amanda has already passed out and I have to work tomorrow from 9-12.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get on here more often and write things, but with work, Amanda's softball games, and all of Carlie's and Katie's different activities going on it's hard to do much of anything else. Until next time......

6 days and counting....

I'm down to six days until I go back to work. :( I have to go to Ashland, Kentucky to the Fifth Third banking center for a week beginning on the 27th. I want to try and enjoy this week as much as I can because I'm certain I won't have many days off once this all gets started. I haven't had a chance to do much this week though. Yesterday, I went to get the mail and to Kroger to pick up a few groceries and was back in the house for the remainder of the day. Today, I haven't left. I watched Twilight again so I could compare and contrast the differences in the book. I hadn't read the book before I watched the movie the first time. Obviously, the book is much better.

American Idol is on tonight. I love cuddling up to my wife and watching it. We always have our favorite and usually our picks are the same. Danny Gokey is our pick this year. We do like Adam Lambert, but he's a little too gay for us. Allison is my second favorite. She seems so natural. I know she will make it to the final 3.


Amanda and I signed up for softball at church. We thought there may be a coed but there wasn't so we have different schedules. Amanda already knows that her first game is this Friday, but I haven't heard anything yet. She keeps trying to back out on me, but I told her it would be good for her. I think once she goes to the first game she will love it and want to play. I am excited to play as well. I hope the coach calls me soon. I'm sure I won't be the best out there, but I hope that I can at least compete. I'm so out of shape right now it's sad.

Amanda and I have been trying to work out a little since I've been out of work. We did an abs video yesterday and I can hardly stretch out my stomach today. It hurts everytime I stand. I lifted a little while she did the wii fit and the tread mill. I've also been stretching out my back daily because it's been sore.

It's time for my love to come home now. I am going to update twitter, which I am addicted to, and then it's time for dinner and the AI tonight. Until next time.

A new beginning

I've not posted in a few weeks so I guess it's that time. I was officially offered the position as Retail Personal Banker for Fifth Third Bank today. The idea of just having a new job definitely lifts a weight off my shoulders. I knew that God would take care of everything, but it is only human to worry. My salary will be more than I made at Beneficial, but the commission is going to be less, at least for now. I suspect that it will get better once the economy picks up. I pray this is where God is leading me because I did have my heart set on teaching, but something tells me this is where I need to be. I am excited to get started and to excel in this position. I know God will have placed me there for a reason too, so it will be exciting to find out why.

Have I mentioned before that I have the greatest wife on the planet? I am super excited for us to finally be able to purchase a home and get out of this small townhouse. We would love to be able to start a family before we are 30. She's so great and understands that we are just living one day at a time and trusting God. She backs me 100% and knows that everything will work out. If i decide tomorrow that I want to teach and not work at 5th 3rd, she would never complain. I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

It's definitely time for bed now. It's been an uneventful yet tiring day. I got the 53 news early and had to call my family and friends and communicate it. Next, I had to clean house, go to the grocery store and mailbox. Finally, I had to cook dinner, which was quite good I might add, and then do the dishes and get ready for Idol. We also watched 2 dvr'd episodes of Howie Do It. Oh yeah, does it kill anyone else that American Idol always goes past their time allotment and the dvr missed the ending? I just wanna scream. Goodnight.