Thursday, March 21, 2024

When the Military wants to screw you over

They continue to pay you until your contract is up and then demand the money back 3 years later. 

Yeah that is the short version. 

While M was inside he continued to get paid even though he should not have been. We talked to the lawyer, we contacted the Air Force. We talked to everyone we could but he continued to get paid. Once his contract was up, the payments stopped. We threw our hands up and said mkay, we did everything we could to figure it out. We heard nothing. 

Fast forward to M being home for 2 years and off contract for 3 and now they want their money back. And not just the money they paid, but they have tacked on 3% interest for the past 3 years. They have had his contact information for 3 years! And suddenly they expect him to pay a lump sum of 55,000 or 1500 every month for the next 3 years. 

He makes 23,000 a year. After his expenses he has less than $500 left every month. He still lives with us because he can't afford a house or apartment. 

Gotta love the government. When they want to screw you they do it in a big way.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Love is a Verb

 The theme at church the last few weeks have been about servanthood and the GOATs of our church. This past Sunday was a bit different and it hit home for me "Love is a Verb" I love this! 

Rob says I have childlike faith. I guess this is because most normal people question or doubt God at some point in their lives and I have never done that. I have just always believed and always trusted in Him. 

I am a full proponent of the commandments Love God and Love your Neighbor. Not to say that I have never judged people, because I am human after all. But I do believe that EVERYONE deserves/needs Gods love. And that it is not my place to place judgement on others, how they live, how they do things etc. 

Matthew 7:1–5

    "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye."


It is not our place to judge others but to Love others unconditionally. So why do we still feel the need to judge others? Do we think that we are like God? We are a lost people. When we ate the apple at the beginning of known time we opened ourselves up to sin. We are stubborn and we were given free will. It is what we choose to do with that free will that causes so much pain and strife in our lives. We tell people how we think they should be instead of showing them love. We judge them and put them down instead of showing them love. This needs to stop. As Christians we should be showing others how to live in Gods grace by showing them unconditional love. Again it is not our place to judge them, only to love them. 

Romans 5:8

            But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”

Instead of judging others, God tells us to LOVE others. It is the greatest thing that we can do. Show them love! Serve others. By serving others we are loving them. Show our neighbors love in all ways. People do not want to hear how you love them , although that is nice sometimes, they need you to show them how you love them.

1 Cor 8-13

            “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love”

We can try to live sinless lives. But personally I do not think that is possible. I do believe that as Christlike as we try to be, as long as we believe that Christ died for us, that all will be forgiven. He promised us we were forgiven. We live in a sin filled world, we are not and can not be perfect, only He is. But what we can do is to love. Love others.

Love is a Verb

Monday, January 1, 2024

2024

 Another year has come and gone. There were triumphs and scares amidst the daily blessings. 

The largest triumph and scare being Rs aortic aneurism. I hope to never have to live through that again. But then again, seeing the work of God and the true miracle of life was worth it. We have learned a lot since then and we have learned to not take anything for granted. God is Good!

Ms dating hit a roadblock when the girl he was seeing went back to college and home. We knew it could not possibly work out, because of her living so far away and still being in college but we had hope for M because he really liked her. For now the dating apps are closed and he is working hard at his job where he was just made a custom carpenter after less than a year of working there. Things are looking up!

J is holding out on proposing to his girlfriend for now after a slight falling out with her parents. It really would not change much. LOL! We already consider her a daughter and she thinks of us as in-laws. He is starting to be disillusioned with his job after seeing how well M is treated at his job. Js Christmas bonus was pretty small and he does not feel like he is making enough money. I think the sheet metal apprenticeship will be a good thing but he is not very patient! 

RJ and A are making things work. Their marriage is certainly not what we would have wanted for him, but he is making is work. The new baby is absolutely adorable and C is as spoiled as ever. We took C to the Creation museum and the Ark over the Holiday's and he loved them both. At the Ark he started asking questions about God and Jesus, which surprised us since RJ has renounced his belief and is very vocal about it, but it was great to see and hear Cs excitement about Jesus. So there is hope. 

I am looking forward to seeing what the year ahead has for in store for us. Praying for good things! I know there are a few people who read my rambles here and I appreciate the support! I want to wish you a Happy and Blessed New Year! 

Monday, November 13, 2023

Small Miracles

 M has been seeing a girl he met online. He really likes her. Told us she is the coolest person he has ever met! His biggest worry (And ours) was what would happen when he tells her. He had thought he might wait because she is only in the area until Thanksgiving before heading home 4 states away and going back to college in another state. J suggested though that if M was going to have a long distance relationship it would be better that he told her now instead of waiting until they were too far away to talk in person. 

Smart boy that J. 

He was right of course. Thinking about it, it made sense. M really likes her and would like to continue to talk to her and potentially date. 

They spent the day together yesterday and when they came back to her car, he told her. Telling her that he would totally understand if she wanted him to leave and never see him again and offering to answer any questions she had. Surprisingly she told him she did not want him to leave and that she wanted to keep dating! 

M was terrified to tell her. This was the best possible outcome! 

He made sure he told her in a public place where she could leave if she wanted to and she decided to stay. she really is a cool girl. I look forward to meeting her! 

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Life as we know it

 It seems our lives revolve around doctors now. Have we hit the target age? LOL 

Monday was spend seeing a specialist for Rs substernal thyroid goiter. Good news, I guess. No cancer but the surgeon said he has a second heart! The goiter is so large. We got to see images of it and it is huge. It has pushed his trachea completely over to the other side instead of being straight up and down. Fortunately it does not have to be completely removed. Only one side is massive, so no extra meds and it can all be done in one day! Since it is not cancer we just need to pick a day/week for it to be removed. 

Tuesday was spend at a cancer center for me. My mammogram had a couple of areas that looked enlarged. Good news again! No cancer and just a mammography fault. 

My stress level has greatly reduced today. I really had no idea how scared I was about both. I broke down a little bit when they gave us the ultrasound results for me. 

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Dating

 He met a girl! M signed up for a dating app and they have been chatting and have had a few dates now. He was so nervous the first date. He just left for their 4th date. She does not live locally though. She is from Wisconsin and is in town for a few months on an internship before going hone for Thanksgiving and then back to college in another state. 

He likes her a lot. 

He has not told her yet. And we have advised him not to yet. Since she is leaving town in a few weeks there is really no reason to bring all of that into the mix. Obviously if it extends beyond just dating then there will need to be a conversation. It is not like he can easily move to another state to be with her if she does not want to move here. 

So we will wait and see if anything comes of this. Or if it is just a diversion for him. It is great to see him so happy right now. 

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Stress and shutting up

 He has decided he is ok to change his meds when he wants to to try to diagnose side effects. His mother apparently approves and I get shut down when I disagree. I am so tired. I can't say anything anymore. He knows better than the doctors. He Googles it and finds something that agrees with him and that is what he goes with. He rants to his mother constantly because I am sick of it and attempt to shut him down. He just does not get it. I know he wants to be in control of his own body, his own healing, meds etc. But he won't trust the doctors. He just keeps going rouge and I can't say anything without getting accused of micro-managing and not understanding. I can't seem to say anything right anymore. So I shut up and he thinks I am angry with him. I am really not, I am just tired. I can't go through that again. I can't wait to find out if he is going to live again. He will never understand.