Dishwasher

We've had a lot of high expense problems lately and I've been complaining a lot. But, I just wanted to capture the fact that God is still good and does take care of us. Even though our dishwasher died, it died just in time for the once-a-year event of the tax-free weekend for energy efficient appliances! So, that saved us probably around $30 or so, plus there was a good sale. So, God did provide, even in the breakage and annoyance of all that.
(Not to mention that having a dishwasher is such a first-world frivolous venture that we are thankful for).

Jack Johnson Show

One thing that I always thought would be fun would be to go to a Jack Johnson show with Liz. However, I've never seemed to be able to remember to check his tour schedule in time and its just been a small dream in the back of my mind. A few weeks ago, I randomly thought of this and found that he in fact was touring and would be in DC! I got excited, only to find that it sold out in a lottery a long time ago. So, I started searching Craigslist, but everything was really pricey. Last week, there was an occasional person selling for face value- about $83/each. I appreciate getting a ticket for face value, but that felt like a lot of money for any show, especially for two of us. So, I was somewhat discouraged and mostly wrote off the idea, but clung to it by a thread in the back of my mind. I set up a Craigslist email alert for tickets just in case. There were many for sale, way overpriced, and a very tiny few for face value.
Then, on Tuesday night I got an email from Craigslist with somebody selling two tickets for $50/each. I couldn't believe it. I told Liz and was tempted to jump on it, but since we had already pretty much decided not to go we didn't really jump on it. Also, the person in the ad asked to meet in Warrenton, which would be right on our way to the show. It seemed almost perfect. Anyways, I prayed on it before bed and then slept on it.
Wednesday morning I got up and prayed about it and then after getting ready for the day, checked the ad online. The tickets were still available. So, I went ahead and texted the number and then got a call right back. The guy was super nice and excited to sell his seats and that we could meet close by. So, I went ahead and decided that we should go. I'm just really excited that we did and that it worked out so well!
We were able to leave around 3:30, get the tickets at 5, right off of Rt. 29, got to the Metro easily, zipped right into DC, had a nice dinner, got to the show in time for the opener, had a great show, got to see Jack after the show and then had a smooth and safe ride back to our house by 1:30am! So, a late night, but very fun and all went very well. We thought the seats wouldn't be great as they were side-stage, but it was actually a cool view- Jack was always angled facing us and the piano was set-up across from us, so we could enjoy Zach playing and interacting with Jack. It was a fun show and Liz really enjoyed it also.
All in all, everything worked out so well and so smoothly that I really take it as a blessing from God- one of those little things we didn't need to do, but he provided for our enjoyment. I'm thankful for that.

The Weather

This is the middle of August and the weather this week has been incredible. It has been in the low 70s or high 60s every day, clear and beautiful. Evenings are in the 50s or even high 80s. This is October weather, not mid-August! It is wonderful. I love this weather and wish every day of the year could be like these days. It does my heart good and does make me thankful and more full of praise to God. I've been sitting outside on the work deck most of the week and just soaking it in.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Ps 19:1)

NYC this week

So, for awhile now, I've been planning to go up to NYC in August to see a friend. We settled on dates- going to be there this whole week working and then hanging out in the evenings. However, as the date has gotten closer, the plans have gotten murkier and more up in the air. I wasn't able to get official approval from work until the last minute. Then, over the weekend it was hard to communicate and lay down a final plan for Monday. Finally, Sunday night, Liz and I had no peace about going on Monday and we just decided to wait and plan to come on next Friday to spend a long weekend. Then, I found out why God had given us no peace and made it hard for us to come.
Monday, my friend found out that a mutual friend in NYC had been diagnosed with HIV and Hep C from a needle stabbed into him a couple months ago while handling a crazed heroin addict patient (he's a doctor). That was terrible news and my friend had a lot of stress helping him and dealing with that Monday. Then, on Tuesday, my friend's mom had a partial stroke in northern VA and that really threw everything up in the air as far as whether he would even be staying in NYC or not. So, I think its been horribly stressful the last couple days up there and his plans are greatly in flux and it would have just been complicated and more stress to add to have us there.
I'm not thankful for the things that took place, but I'm thankful that God in His wisdom gave us a non-peace about going and now we see why that was.

Remote Access

I've been trying to set-up Wayne with remote access to his computer. We've talked about it for years, but just recently its finally gotten serious and I've been trying to set it up. I've been running up against a problem that his Verizon router is behind a NAT, so I can't get to his router from the outside world. So, we thought maybe we should go with HughesNet to be able to do this. On Saturday, God prompted me that maybe I should research HughesNet- I did and found out that they have the exact same problem with the NAT. So, that would've been a useless waste of time and money- I'm so thankful God lead me to research that. I did feel frustrated though, so I emailed Wayne on Saturday and told him to buy a static IP from Verizon for $500 since that was our only solution.
On Sunday, God just wouldn't give me a peace about the $500 solution. I was frustrated with it in the afternoon, but didn't know what else to do. Then, he put the thought in my mind to search the internet more generically for getting around NATs rather than just searching for Verizon and HughesNet. Right away, I found that there was something I hadn't even considered- a third-party service that lives on the internet and therefore can work around the NAT. TeamViewer and LogMeIn were the best options. Even better, they offered iPad and iPhone access for free- something I was really wanting to do for Wayne. I was really really excited about this and called Wayne right away to tell him not to get the $500 static IP.
Today, we went over to their house and I set up LogMeIn and it works perfectly on all devices! I'm so excited about it; praise the Lord! I'm so glad that He lead me to a simple and inexpensive solution to this problem that was getting so complicated and discouraging.

Small boat and Wayne

This week has been really hard, work-wise. I've been waiting since April for the small-boat project work to get turned on. I've been really excited about it and each week have been waiting for it. Really, we've been waiting for two years for it, and in a way have been waiting since we first demoed the idea in 2008. Anyways, the project has been what I've really wanted to do. Its fun, interesting, gets me out of the office, and would allow me to lead a project and fulfill many career goals. I've had a lot built on this project, personally and professionally. So, on Wednesday, I found out that it was cancelled completely. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it was hard to believe. I feel like it sort of sent me into some form of shock the last couple days. This project was such a given and such a light for me in the midst of a gloomy work forecast. And now it was suddenly gone. I really didn't know what to do. I have had nothing else in my future except for this. Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday I was just in a spiral of depression concerning this. I didn't want to take it to God or anybody. I just wanted to let it stew and keep me down; to wallow in the misery of it for awhile.
God in his mercy allowed me to finish up Wayne's computer on Thursday night and then Friday afternoon, we went over there and I set it all up for him. Later at night, Wayne & I were sitting out on the back deck talking.  I had this huge weight of this project on my heart, but didn't want to let it go. But, eventually it had to come up- I think God saw to that. I bombarded Wayne with all this emotional information and depression and he took it all in. Then, rather than just agreeing with me, Wayne actually came back and challenged me. He showed me that I was full of pride and that my confidence was in this project and not in God. He exhorted me like a good brother. As soon as he did that, the Spirit in side of me sort of rejoiced. I was filled with comfort from this truth, as I realized that it was truth. I had been blinded to my slow fade from dependence on God to dependence on the small boat project. God, through Wayne, showed me how wrong I was and how he wanted me to be faithful in my work no matter what and to simply trust Him with each thing. He would take care of my career path, help me to find interesting work, etc. That's how I used to approach work- way back when God first gave me this small boat opportunity. I didn't know that I was no longer trusting Him with it, but assuming things and trusting myself. But, Wayne helped me to see clearly that I was there deep in pride and not trusting God. Wayne also showed me that God was gracefully teaching me an important lesson. God still allowed me to keep my job- I was still employed, just not doing what I wanted to do.
I see now that I need to trust God with my future at work. I can see nothing in the future, but that doesn't mean I should be depressed- instead I should approach each day with an optimistic anticipation of what God has in store and what He will provide. He has allowed this seemingly great project to go away, and I must trust that this is for my good and for His glory. I praise God that He allowed me to be with Wayne last night and solve this issue in my heart, before it really got out of control. I feel like maybe God's timing with Wayne's computer issues in combination with the timing of this project cancellation were perfect and He provided perfectly for my spiritual needs through this.

Morning at Greg's

I got to Greg's study a few minutes after 7am this morning. The air was cool and crisp- a small cool wave after many days of 90+ degree temps. It was in the low 60's this morning. I was walking from my car to Greg's shop and noting the coolness and quietness. The sun was just coming over the buildings and lowly lighting the brick. There was a little dew in the air that caused a calm light fogginess around the area. Then, behind me, a rooster started crowing from the houses! Immediately, I was transported to Romania. I stopped for a minute, soaking in the scene and the sound of the rooster. I felt exactly like I feel on those early crisp mornings in Romania, about to go out on prayer walk- anticipating all that was in store for the day and what God was going to do. It was a brief but powerful moment for me that reminded me of good memories and deep times or mountaintop experiences. It brought joy to my heart reflecting on those mornings in Romania.  I miss them greatly, but have to trust where God has me. Why don't I anticipate what God will do during a day here, like I did in Romania? Is there really a difference, or is it just my lack of faith? It's been a very hard week this week, but that brief moment of peace this morning really helped my mindset going into the weekend. Thank You, Lord.

Wayne's computer fan

So, I've been working hard for two weeks on getting Wayne's office computer all set back up and functioning better than ever for him. I was almost done this week when it occurred to me that the computer fans were blowing really high and really loud- all the time. The more I thought about it, the more annoying it was. There was no way Wayne would like this. I started googling for information and found that there were fan problems with this model of Dell and most of them were caused by people trying to do BIOS upgrades, which I had attempted to do. I quickly fell into a swamp of depression as I mulled over hundreds of forum posts that basically say that nothing can be done but replace the motherboard. I spent three evenings this week reading forums and attempting various things to stop the fans from blowing so hard; I even pulled apart the computer and re-seated the processor. Nothing worked. I was so depressed. The computer was so fast, and so perfect, except that it sounded like a hair dryer. Tonight, in frustration, I finally just gave up and was resigned to buying a new motherboard and pulling apart the whole computer to replace it. It would be a terrible task, but would have to be done. I closed up the computer case and then walked away. Then, I decided to fire it up one more time to see what the fans sounded like with the case closed. I booted up and it was quiet. That had happened before, but then quickly went away. So, I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing...silent fans. I monitored SpeedFan and everything was fine- speeds were constant or even lowering. I waited an hour and nothing changed. It was fixed!!! I couldn't believe it. Is it possible that the fan sensors are sensitive to conditions caused by having the case open? Possibly. Is it possible that every person complaining online was in the middle of computer work like I was and had their case open? Possibly. I was floored, relieved, and totally thankful. I praise God for this unexpected turn of events in a really frustrating week, and I'm so glad that I can return a nicely functioning and quiet machine to Wayne.

Knock Sensor

Tonight, Liz and I got her knock sensor replaced successfully! I've been so stressed about doing this all week. Everything I've read described it as a royal pain. I've been optimistic though because I figure with two of us, it will be easier to do. We tried Wednesday night and failed miserably. It was hot, humid, buggy, dark and we made many mistakes and dropped a 10mm socket down into the engine depths. We gave up in frustration. Today, we went to Lowe's and bought 3 critical tools for a grand total of $8 and they came in VERY handy. With the little magnetic picker tool I was able to pull out the 10mm socket in about 30 seconds. That was very encouraging and then I was pumped up to do the knock sensor. It was a bit of a pain, but I think we got it done in about an hour with a bit of fiddling. God was so good! It was a about to storm, but didn't, so the weather was actually quite cooler, not as humid, it was earlier so we could see better, and we had better tools. I'm just so thankful that we're done with the task and that God saw us through it. We drove the car around and the check engine light went off and it had better acceleration than before. This is a big relief to have it done. We found a $45 new OEM knock sensor on Ebay and did our own labor. I saw the parts quoted other places for $150-$200 plus $400-$800 labor depending on the mechanic. So, I'd say, we saved i the neighborhood of $300-$500 on this job! Thank the Lord for that!

Wayne's computer

Today, Wayne's computer hard drive died on his main invoice & work machine. It was quite stressful as it was, but I praise God that we had just backed up that hard drive one week prior! He had never backed it up before, and we were there the previous weekend and talking about it, so I set up a backup for that computer. I was able to restore all his data tonight and get him working temporarily on a laptop with the files he needed. I just praise God in his timing and allowing us to get that backup made last week and allowing us to be there last weekend, especially with all the other 4th of July weekend plans we were weighing out. This crash would have been really catastrophic without that backup, and God's timing was perfect.

Mousies in Liz's car

We were cleaning cars this afternoon and I was vacuuming out Liz's. She has been having problems with mice getting in for a long time now and it seems impossible to trap them all. I haven't replaced her air filter in a few years, so I just felt this urge to look at it and see how it was doing. I opened up the compartment and found tons and tons of mouse evidence in the area under the filter. This area also leads through some pipes directly into the interior of the car! I pulled out as much piping as I could and found mouse evidence the whole way through. We cleaned it up and then went to Lowes to get ideas for how to cover the air intake with a mesh so that mice don't get in. I was able to do it. My praise is just that God showed me this obvious way that mice were directly getting into the car and gave me a way to block it. I am hopeful that this will solve the interior problem at least. We will still have to figure out the trunk, but that's not as big or gross of an issue.

Not dropping Liz's car

I was working on Liz's car to unplug the A/C drain (which I was able to do- praise the Lord!). When I was done, I was lowering the car from the jack stands. I had taken the wheel off the passenger side so I could get under more easily. I had forgotten to put the wheel back on and had jacked up the car and was just about to pull the jack stand off when I noticed the wheel was off! God stopped me just short of dropping the car onto the ground! I felt like an idiot at such a huge oversight with dire consequences, but I'm so thankful that He stopped me and put that thought in my head at the perfect time. Shew!

Lightning Strike

We had a huge lightning strike this afternoon while Liz was home and I was at work. She said it was extremely loud and then there was a fizzing sound and a burning smell from the kitchen. I got home and found that the GFCI outlet in the kitchen was fried. I think the lighting struck our house, or very close and the power surge went to the GFCI and it took the brunt of it. This is what should happen, but doesn't always. I just praise God for one that Liz was safe and for two that the house wiring did what is was supposed to and that the surge didn't go and fry a TV, computer, or anything else. Replacing the GFCI was a quick and relatively inexpensive fix to what could have been a huge problem!