On Provision

A friend recently wrote a blog post about discovering the ways that God will bless him this year. I read it and wished that I would start to see that in my life.

And then my car broke. And life was paused.

And so my wife and I prayed for miracles, for solutions, for answers. We didn't have 3 grand to fix the car, but we needed a way to get around. We shared our need for cash and our need for rides with our communities, and lo and behold, our needs were met and answered.

Over the space of three weeks, we only took the bus three times. Neither of us needed to miss work or school once - because people blessed us with rides.

After making our needs known, we were gifted with 1500 dollars to help repair our car - with only 300 needing to be paid back.

And then, to top it off, I found an auto-repair shop that would be able to save me about 800 dollars on the repair. I brought the car there to get the repair done (a head-gasket replacement).

They called me about four hours after I brought it in. They couldn't find a leak in the head-gasket. Instead, there was an issue with the fan-cooling relay that would cause the car to leak fluid and look like a head-gasket issue. They repaired that for about 10% of the original estimate. I saved 2800 dollars, and was able to afford to repair the brakes as well.

We'll even be able to give back a majority of the money that was gifted to us.

Sometimes you have to sit back and be thankful. Jess and I have been so thankful for our friends and family that have supported us in this time. Thank you so much.

Thanksgiving Time

This is from last year, but still appropriate - 101 (plus a few bonus!)

1. My beautiful wife.
2. Mountain Dew.
3. Jesus (I feel a responsibility to say that these are not in order).
4. A good job.
5. Dave Morgan Haikus.
6. The color blue.
7. Comfortable shoes.
8. Minesweeper.
9. A beautiful apartment.
10. Clean socks.
11. My freaking awesome wife
12. Letter openers that really work.
13. Stand up comedians.
14. Family.
15. Friends across the country.
16. My time in the "man house."
17. Contact lens.
18. Uncertainty of the plural spelling of lens.
19. Coffee.
20. Cool coffee cups.
21. Lost.
22. The Office.
23. An ability to grow facial hair.
24. Naps.
25. Raspberries. The fruit, not the tongue thing.
26. Raspberries. The tongue thing, not the fruit.
27. Kisses.
28. A good pen.
29. A sense of accomplishment.
30. That I don't go to High School anymore.
31. Rewriting stories to make myself look good.
32. A good shave.
33. The letter "A."
34. A nameplate that looks different than everyone elses.
35. Legos.
35. Eggo waffles.
36. Thanksgiving.
37. The Ballance's opening their home to us.
39. God providing in amazing ways as we moved out west.
40. Staple removers.
41. Zombies, in fiction and in real life.
42. The numbers!!! 4 8 15 16 23 42
43. When people write on my facebook.
44. Scratching a good itch.
45. Sleeping in.
46. Any day I don't receive a stupid text message forward.
47. Stanley cup victories for the Detroit Red Wings.
48. A good hockey fight.
49. Youtube clips of Patrick Roy getting humiliated.
50. The grin I get when noone realizes until now that I skipped #38.
51. Remembering serenading my wedding, and Geoff's wedding.
52. Hitting John Lotterhos's car that one time.
53. Crazy Trinidadians going the wrong way in go-karts.
54. Winning free stuff.
55. John Jurries proclaiming my post = win.
56. Jessica Notenbaum yelling at me for not posting.
57. When I beat the Fantasy Guru's predicted score by 60 points.
58. Spring.
59. Flip flops.
60. Bonfires.
61. New groups of friends who haven't heard my jokes 30 times.
62. Friends that don't know I stole a joke from someone else.
63. Moes Burritos.
64. A good yawn.
65. Coffee. Again.
66. Monday Midnight Prayer.
67. Trendy glasses.
68. Small groups.
69. Not using the word "moist."
70. Ipods.
71. My stunning wife.
72. The Sports Guy.
73. Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
74. Sunflower Seeds.
75. Cholula Sauce.
76. Wolfgangs.
77. DVD's.
78. Youth group memories.
79. Power tools.
80. Growing up.
81. Black olives.
82. Digiornios pizza.
83. Scott Adams.
84. An empty inbox.
85. Days off.
86. Presents.
87. Automatic doors that make me feel like a Jedi.
88. Lord of the Rings being better than Star Wars.
89. Surprises.
90. The time I put jolly ranchers in Jamison's shower.
91. The time I drunk wrestled Steve and won.
92. Proposing.
93. Making our wedding our wedding.
94. My groomsmen.
95. Hookahs.
96. My gorgeous wife.
97. That this list is almost over.
98. That 101 is more catchy than 201.
99. That M&M's melt in your mouth, not in your hand.
100. That's what she said.
101. Your name here!

BONUS TIME!!!

102. Cooking Turkey - I really enjoy it!

103. Snow days at the age of 24.
104. Fantasy football being based on luck, not strategy.

105. New cars.

106. Post-it notes.

107. Movie Theaters.

108. Fun board games.

109. A job that is challenging and rewarding.

110. Microsoft Word's "Search and Replace" feature.

111. Detroit Lions playing the part of Turkey every year.

112. The ability to make people laugh.

113. Arrested Development!!! Maybe the funniest show in history?

114. Tuna steaks.

115. Portabella mushrooms.

116. Strategy games.

117. Ordo Ludus.

118. Sabbath Group

119. The Baergens

120. Quelf.

121. New Music.

122. A new laptop!

123. Starcraft. What a great game.

124. Flashbang - an amazing book.

125. Relient K's Christmas albums - making Christmas music bearable.

126. Phone calls from friends.

127. Emails from friends.

128. Pageviews or comments on my blog.

129. My friends Rick and Natalie.

130. A great supervisor at work.

131. Facial hair.

132. The potential of a new house in February.

133. Smartphones. So neat.

134. Angry Birds finally coming to Palm Pre.

135. That one time I got to play a little of Starcraft 2.

136. Having hobbies I enjoy.

137. The Wii my wife gave me for my Birthday.

138. Football season.

139. Haircuts.

140.Eggnog latte's.

141.Sarcasm.

142. Converse All Star Shoes.

143. Funny bumper stickers (on other peoples cars).

144. My coworkers.

145. Secret Santa gift exchanges.

146. A working car heater this winter!

147. New sweaters.

148. Aprons, for cooking.

149. My amazing and thoughtful wife.

150. You!

Turkey Update

I kicked that turkey's butt.
Juiciest, tastiest, turkey ever to live.
Boo ya.

Quote of the day:
"It's probably north of the breast, where you've been for the last twenty minutes."

101 Things I'm Thankful For

1. My beautiful wife.
2. Mountain Dew.
3. Jesus (I feel a responsibility to say that these are not in order).
4. A good job.
5. Dave Morgan Haikus.
6. The color blue.
7. Comfortable shoes.
8. Minesweeper.
9. A beautiful apartment.
10. Clean socks.
11. My freaking awesome wife
12. Letter openers that really work.
13. Stand up comedians.
14. Family.
15. Friends across the country.
16. My time in the "man house."
17. Contact lens.
18. Uncertainty of the plural spelling of lens.
19. Coffee.
20. Cool coffee cups.
21. Lost.
22. The Office.
23. An ability to grow facial hair.
24. Naps.
25. Raspberries. The fruit, not the tongue thing.
26. Raspberries. The tongue thing, not the fruit.
27. Kisses.
28. A good pen.
29. A sense of accomplishment.
30. That I don't go to High School anymore.
31. Rewriting stories to make myself look good.
32. A good shave.
33. The letter "A."
34. A nameplate that looks different than everyone elses.
35. Legos.
35. Eggo waffles.
36. Thanksgiving.
37. The Ballance's opening their home to us.
39. God providing in amazing ways as we moved out west.
40. Staple removers.
41. Zombies, in fiction and in real life.
42. The numbers!!! 4 8 15 16 23 42
43. When people write on my facebook.
44. Scratching a good itch.
45. Sleeping in.
46. Any day I don't receive a stupid text message forward.
47. Stanley cup victories for the Detroit Red Wings.
48. A good hockey fight.
49. Youtube clips of Patrick Roy getting humiliated.
50. The grin I get when noone realizes until now that I skipped #38.
51. Remembering serenading my wedding, and Geoff's wedding.
52. Hitting John Lotterhos's car that one time.
53. Crazy Trinidadians going the wrong way in go-karts.
54. Winning free stuff.
55. John Jurries proclaiming my post = win.
56. Jessica Notenbaum yelling at me for not posting.
57. When I beat the Fantasy Guru's predicted score by 60 points.
58. Spring.
59. Flip flops.
60. Bonfires.
61. New groups of friends who haven't heard my jokes 30 times.
62. Friends that don't know I stole a joke from someone else.
63. Moes Burritos.
64. A good yawn.
65. Coffee. Again.
66. Monday Midnight Prayer.
67. Trendy glasses.
68. Small groups.
69. Not using the word "moist."
70. Ipods.
71. My stunning wife.
72. The Sports Guy.
73. Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
74. Sunflower Seeds.
75. Cholula Sauce.
76. Wolfgangs.
77. DVD's.
78. Youth group memories.
79. Power tools.
80. Growing up.
81. Black olives.
82. Digiornios pizza.
83. Scott Adams.
84. An empty inbox.
85. Days off.
86. Presents.
87. Automatic doors that make me feel like a Jedi.
88. Lord of the Rings being better than Star Wars.
89. Surprises.
90. The time I put jolly ranchers in Jamison's shower.
91. The time I drunk wrestled Steve and won.
92. Proposing.
93. Making our wedding our wedding.
94. My groomsmen.
95. Hookahs.
96. My gorgeous wife.
97. That this list is almost over.
98. That 101 is more catchy than 201.
99. That M&M's melt in your mouth, not in your hand.
100. That's what she said.
101. Your name here!