Jill's Birthday

We had a great time for Jill's Birthday.  We ran our first 10k in Shreveport. Jill ran it in 1 hour 5 minutes, while I ran it in 1 hour and 9 minutes. Our friend Jamie Joyce was there too.  I am so proud of Jill, she did awesome!  I got my first real muscle cramp about halfway. Ouch!  It was still a great deal of fun! They served hot rama noodle soup afterwards, and it was good! Later in the day we had chick fil a for lunch. 

We made a stop at the Libbey glass factory.  Jill had told me all about it in the past, but I had never been.  We bought some new glasses, and some small juice cups to go with the new dinner set we had ordered. And to top it off the bowls and plates we ordered for Jill just happened to arive on her birthday just that afternoon.

I learned that Jill's favorite cake is marble cake. After a quick trip to Super 1 Foods I got busy making cake, but you can't put icing on the cake when it is too hot.   We let it cool for a while, but just not enough.... the top layer kept sliding around.  So much for having the cake that looked good and tasted good.  Atleast 1 out of 2 were good.

It was a great day and for a couple of months I get to be married to an "older woman".  I am so thankful for her and I am thrilled I get to celebrate many more of these birthdays with her.

Happy 35th Birthday Jill!

Financial Peace Update #2

Alright the numbers are in!

Sunday Night Class(16 families) total debt (not including mortgage): $478,878.45

Wednesday Night Class (13 families) total debt (not including mortgage): $471,469.00

Total debt not including mortgage for these 29 families:$950,347.45

FPU update

Well, we are leading Financial Peace University again.  This will be the 3rd year we have lead it so far.  Each year we are averaging about 28 families. This year (like last year) we are split up into two classes, a Sunday night and a Wednesday night.  I have some wonderful people helping me lead the classes: Richard Raue, Tracie and Jared Rugg, Becky and Todd Clark, Jennifer Carter, and my brother Chuck and Mary Katherine.  

Every year on the third week of the class we pass out note cards and ask everyone to (anonymously) put how much debt they have NOT including mortgage debt. So credit cards, car loans, student loans, and the like... Every time we do this I find myself getting emotional and I am reminded why I am doing this.  Out of the Sunday night class we had 15 families(of 18 total) turn in a card with their number on it and our Sunday night was: $444,878.45.  Now I know a number of you math geeks are probably dividing and doing the average right now, but that really doesn't give a good picture of the situtation.  There were basically 4 categories of numbers turned in.  A few people had written down a proud ZERO, another group wrote numbers between $4,000 - $8,000, then the next group was in the $35,000 to $45,000, then there was the last group that turned in the big numbers.  Knowing that 15 families combined are only $66,000 short of half a million dollars in debt is my big reminder why I get so passionate about helping people learn to take care of their money.  

The other thing I am excited about is the number of young people that are taking the class this year. I love the idea that I might be helping someone younger avoid some financial mistakes and pitfalls. 

Caleb's 10th Birthday

Well, he has officially crossed over into the double digits.  We had a great time at the swim party.  We walked all the boys over to the pool straight after school on Friday.  Everyone had a great time throwing those spongy wet balls all over the place.  One of the kids accidentally hit the life guard square in the head.  It was funny.  

Jill's mom remembered the camera (thank goodness, because I forgot).I downloaded some of the pictures from shutterfly and here they are above.  If you want to see more... go here:  http://calebs10bday.shutterfly.com  

Free TV adventures

Here is the new resource I found for messing with free digital over the air waves TV.  I am probably having more fun messing with this stuff than anyone else in my house.  But I found TVFOOL this is another great resource to figuring out what antenna, what channels, and all kinds of fun with TV reception.  I am anxious to find out if the PBS station is going to change the power it is broadcasting at, after the Feb 17 switch.  That is the one station I haven't been able to get digital yet that I really want.  I may have to go through some extreme messures if after the 17th I still can't get it.  

Also I found you can download to google earth the broadcast range of each TV station in your area to see a map of what channels should be receivable at your house.  This picture is the signal from KNOE which is the CBS station from Monroe.  

Even with this info I still don't think I have it all figured out yet. There seems to be some channels that I am not getting that I should.  (I am on the fringe of the signal... but still) The only major things I have left to do is add height and an amplifier... 

We shall see.