Visit was too short!!

Tom is well on his was back to Iraq now. He let me know he was in Dubia (sp?) earlier today. He said he will post as soon as he gets the chance and put pics on again. I already miss him more then I could ever say! We will survive though, we have this long. We really enjoyed our time with him home and spent alot of time as a family. We were able to get together with friends and look forward to meeting up with those we missed on his next RR. When will that be you ask?? We don't have exact dates yet but it will be in Feb. The only thing planned for sure is (once again no definite date, will let you know when we have it) baptizing Colbi who will turn 8 in Jan.

Watch for Tom to add to this with pics and I will post again soon. WE LOVE AND MISS YOU BABE!!

Tom's coming home!!

Well, Tom should have been flying in at 12:17 today but due to airlines problems as usual, well, he will now be getting in hopefully at 4:10 instead. We are all looking forward to him being home!! We have a few things planned with and without the children that will be fun to do as a family. The 2 weeks he will be home is going to go by too fast but we will enjoy every minute of it.

First, I am posting two photos of my son Camronn's artwork from school. I promised that he would be a posted artist and so I am posting here or him. Way to go Camronn!!!!! I am proud of you son!!

Now, to continue, I have good news and bad news. The good (actually great) news is that I am going to be seeing my family very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can hardly contain myself!!!!

A bit of bad news came into the picture of my life today, actually it is minor but, it is inconvenient and I want to share it so that you can also avoid becoming a victim. I was informed by my credit card company today that there were charges on my card that raised red flags to them and so they put a hold on my card. about a week ago, I noticed a pending charge of $1.00 on my credit card from a company called APL*ITUNES and it raised a red flag to me because I have never dealt with Apple or itunes and I emailed my CC company about it. they responded that it was standard procedure for some companies to post a $1.00 charge to my account to verify that the account was active before allowing a purchase. I responded back and told them that I have never made a purchase through this company nor had I made any purchases anywhere in the last two weeks. They told me that if the transaction is paid, then I can dispute it but there is nothing I can do while it is pending. Well, I am a firm believer in prevention vs. cure so this did not sit well with me but, what can you do.

Two days later, there is another $1.00 pending charge on my account and this time, I raised the roof with my CC company which apparently caused them to place a monitor on my card. Today, they call me and want to confirm whether I authorized three separate charges to my card and all apparently from the same company. one was for $286, one for $787, and the third was for $1501 and of course I told them that I had done no such thing! They told me that they had denied all three charges and placed the $2.00 back on my account but, felt I should close the account and they would issue me a new card which will take about 10 days to get. I didn't actually lose any money but, I am sure getting tired of this happening. One interesting side note here. I had this sort of thing happen to me a couple years ago and after getting my new card my CC company talked me into purchasing an Identity Protection Plan for $10.00 per month and for two plus years nothing happens to me in the CC area. After discussing with the Identity folks and learning that they don't do anything more than what I already do, I cancelled the plan. I did that one month ago and this happens. It reminds me of the days when the Mob used to go to a store owner and make them pay for protection. If you didn't pay them, they would break up your store and run off your business. You were required to pay the Mob to protect you from the Mob and that is what I believe is happening here. Okay, so I am long winded but, after googling the company APL*ITUNES, I found that they are stealing thousands of dollars all over the nation from credit and debit cards so, watch your wallet people and check your accounts regularly.

I will close my rambling with one last word (or a few words) from the greatest man I know. "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Honey, I will see you soon and it is okay about the flattering picture you posted of me that Shawn has now posted on his blog as well. Thanks bro.

Message from Idaho

Now that I have finally figured out how to log on to the blog site, I will see if I can also put a couple of pics on. If this works the second pic is of all of us in our glory at Jim and Janna's house before Tom left again. The first is of 2 of my boys goofing of as usual and looking silly. It is starting to cool down a bit here in Idaho. They are saying it will snow in higher elevations in the next couple of days. We are on count down to Tom coming home next week and are looking forward to seeing him. We miss him terribly!!! As far as the count down we are at 9 days! We miss and LOVE you Babe!!

Motivational thoughts from Dad

You know, there are times in our lives when we start to relize that we are no longer the spring chicken we used to be. For me, I think it is starting to sink in that I am no longer "10 feet tall and bulletproof". I am now about 9 feet tall and Bullet Resistant. I had a very good, although short, conversation with my 19 year old daughter today and it sank in as I was talking to her that she truly was my daughter. She sits almost exactly where I sat when I was her age. Still living at home and not really holding a good steady job. I only hope and pray that the words I gave to her will stick with her as I tried to advise her to make the decision as to which path she will take and just follow it. Too many times we find ourselves at a crossroad in life and we stop and try to see into the future to help us decide which way to go. Suddenly, as we stand there trying so hard to decide on a path, we realize that the forks have changed and the choices are no longer there because we stood there too long. I hope that whoever reads this will take a little something from this father's advice and the next time you come to that fork in the road, stop for a moment, then move out on the chosen path and try to enjoy the journey. Remember that if the road gets hard, He will carry us over the rough spots if we ask Him to. If you don't know who I refer to when I say Him, then you and I need to talk my friend.

I will close with one of my favorite sayings told to me by a freind many years ago.

"Don't sweat the small stuff and guess what... It's all small stuff."

Lastly, a few pictures to motivate and inspire that I look at on a daily basis.