The offer, a very busy evening

While I was working at the church this afternoon trying to get the pesky auto responder program to cooperate with me I got a call from the gentleman who interviewed me yesterday. He made me a verbal offer and I verbally accepted. With a drug test and the background check I should be cleared to go to work on Monday the 24th of October. The monetary offering was sufficient for Mama and I to make it off of the pay from this job alone - but without much to spare. It is enough. It is welcome news. It is an answer to prayer. 

We had to make a bunch of calls this once Mama got off work to start letting people know - starting with our children; all of whom were very excited. Tomorrow we will let people at church know. Our Pastor will be very excited because this job should not interfere with the many commitments Mama and I have at church, especially leading the music. At this time there is no one to take my place in that one area so I felt contained to make sure I kept that option open…and God did. Now we will see how I can fit in and help my new employer as he and his staff help me.

Mama made most of the calls to the kids as we were traveling to Denton to make the rounds there. We had to stop at Walmart for a friend because there was a rumor that they had some type of shirt on sale for $1. The rumor proved false but we did make the effort and were able to pick up a thermal mug in a color that the Decatur Walmart had run out of. The next stop was Winco Foods where Mama and I managed to clear the checkout line for under $75. That’s doing something with Mama. We grabbed a quick bite at Brahms and headed to Sam’s. All the stops were within a stones throw of one another but it took time. At Sam’s I expect to spend over $100 per shopping trip and we held to that maxim. Why change now?

When we got home and had unloaded all the purchases I worked on the truck to make sure it would make it all the way to Bowie so our mechanic could work on it - again, while Mama took care of the animals for the evening. What I needed to do did not take long so I was finished before Mama. I headed out for Bowie while she finished up at the farm and then headed over to Victoria’s to tend to the chickens there. Needless to say I was at the mechanics a long time before Mama got there to fetch me home. As a consequence Roger and I got to talk for almost half an hour. I learned a great deal about him in that time and got to witness gently to him as he shared part of his past with me. 

After we got through passing the truck off to Roger we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s so Mama could sign off on the title to Grandpa’s truck. It is in West Virginia with Norman and Seth and they are planning on selling it or trading it off some time this month. Several years ago when we bought the truck I insisted that Mama’s name be on the title so that if anything should happen to Grandpa the truck would pass without question to Mama. As simple request to safeguard the money we spent for it. Fortunately, it never came to that. We have gotten our money back out of that truck on the time Grandpa had driven it. No regrets, but it really is time to let it go.

As we passed back through Bowie on our way home we caught up to Victoria. Rather, she caught up to us and then flew past us on the highway as we all headed for the farm. Happy to finally be home.

It was a good evening; a busy one.

The interviews, eaves dropping

I had the pleasure of sitting for a phone interview this morning. The time was originally set for 9 a.m. but I had no sooner arrived at the church to set up my computer when I got the call. That portion of the interview lasted a good half hour. The interviewer, Vincent Spadafora, Head of Sales for Energy World Net, was very pleasant to talk with and he seemed genuinely interested in me so I was not overly surprised when he asked if I had time to meet for a face to face interview later in the day. (I would learn later that the person who had recently left the position I was interviewing for had done so because her husband had been transferred by the company he worked for.)

We set the second interview for 2 pm. I was thinking I would be through in plenty of time to meet Mama as school dismissed at 3 pm. That was not the case. He and I talked until a little before 3 pm and then he called the president of the company to see if he had any further questions for me. That lasted another half hour but the conversation was very engaging so it did not seem that it took that much time. In the end, I was instructed that I will have  profile to complete to identify my strengths and weaknesses and fill out a couple writing assignments for them to evaluate. I should have that done tomorrow - providing I get the assignments early in the day - so we will see where it goes from there. It was encouraging overall.

They are a small company set up here in Decatur that delivers a variety of training services and platforms for the energy sector; electrical companies, oil and gas companies, etc. I really liked what I learned about the company in general and found the people I talked to were easy to converse with. I do not think I will have a problem working with this company if they should hire me. And from what I heard initially, I am a very good fit for multiple areas of need so the job assignment will not be overly focused nor in any way dull. Mama and I are pretty excited about the opportunity. No one has mentioned compensation, but that is not a deal breaker for me. Our immediate needs are pretty small. We have set ourselves up to live off of less than a quarter of what I was making with ConocoPhillips so any amount over that will be a pleasure to have and an answer to prayer.

I have to share the story of a conversation I overheard when I was in iCopy Friday. I had taken my spiral bound hymnal to have it repaired and rebound. I was very impressed by the work that they did. But I had to wait a good bit of time because the computers were acting up so I got to listen to a conversation nearby. A very average older woman - not extremely heavy but definitely not voluptuous - was at the counter talking to an employee behind the counter. From bits of the conversation, I gathered that she knew the employee pretty well. As they talked a much younger woman - quite pretty and dressed in tight fitting jeans and a sweater-type shirt to show off her figure - got up from a desk behind the counter and walked from there to the back of the store. The customer casually remarked to the employee, “I look like that.” The male employee smiled at her and said, “You look like that?”  

“I sure do”, she replied. “I just keep it all wrapped up so it don’t get scratched.”

The funeral, the truck, splitting up

Mama and I spent a good portion of the day yesterday at the funeral for Peggy; both at the church service and at the graveside. It was a really good sending away for Peggy. Lots of very good memories, funny stories and sincere goodbyes. Those of us acting as pallbearers were taken to the gravesite in a very nice limo. It was not the party kind with a circular seat and tv’s but it was a stretch limo that easily seated eight. It was pretty nice to have the police escort to the gravesite - about twenty miles away. We did not have to stop at a traffic light or a stop sign the entire way there. All intersections were blocked for us and TXDOT even stopped all roadwork en route so the procession wound not be interrupted. It was well done on the part of the funeral home. Other motorists were very respectful of the funeral procession. Many pulled over a stopped, removed their hats and waited for the entire motorcade to pass before they continued. You don’t see that everywhere.

I rode home with Mama and the Walker family. It was a much better trip than on the way there. With the funeral over and the proceedings taken care of there was a relaxed spirit in the van on the way back to the church. With the Walkers it is always a relaxed spirit. They were very interested in coming to the farm to see our fainting goats. Mama had told them about the goats on the way to the cemetery. Many people have never heard of such a  thing. The next time they are here for Vacation Bible School  they are definitely planning a trip to the farm to see if they can get any of our poor terrorized goats to fall over. I will have to try to get a video of that.

When we got home Mama and I got changed and started to take the truck to the mechanic in Bowie. I did not make it very far. I only got about half way down our road before I turned around and took the truck back to the house. It was running so rough that I was pretty confident I would not make the thirty mile trip without serious trouble. We thought about calling a tow truck to take the truck over but eventually decided to wait until Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile we headed to the dairy for milk and feed but that also proved to be a less than expected trip. There was no feed to be had so we had to improvise getting food for the chickens at Victoria’s house. It worked out okay but I probably would not have made the trip for milk only. Mama had brought a couple dozen extra eggs we were going to trade for some feed but she ended up selling them to a lady who was there getting eight gallons of milk. Instead of getting her regular price from the lady - who did not have any cash on her - she let the two dozen eggs go for a dollar each. It was all the lady had on her. She was paying for the milk with a check and we did not want her to have to write a check for $2.

Today, Mama and I split up. I dropped her and the mower off at Victoria’s where she was meeting Grandpa and I headed to church to do bus calling - visiting the homes of the children that ride our bus on Sunday mornings. I figured if things worked out as it usually does I would be getting home about the time Mama was getting finished up and I could get changed an go get her and the mower. I was pretty close but they finished up a little bit before I got there.

As I was talking with Grandpa about the problem we were having with the truck he made a suggestion on how to reset the electric controllers in the truck so I tried it when we got home and it worked. It did not take the problem away entirely but it made the truck run much better. At least we will not have to call a tow truck to get us to the mechanic.

I can smile about that.

Mama’s Birthday (Chase’s too), Peggy’s Graduation

Today is Mama’s birthday. The thirty fourth birthday the Lord has allowed us to share. I was not able to buy her a home or a farm as has often happened around her birthday in the past but we at least decided that we should keep this one. That counts for something. Looking back I wish I had started to log - or blog - the events of our lives together many years ago but I was not farsighted enough to do so, and from this vantage point I have forgotten far more than I can remember about those 12,410 days that have led to this one; especially the first 7,300 or so.

I spent the day at the church again today so I was able to eat lunch with Mama and Grandma who came to give her a small birthday gift. I was also able to get her some fruit for the school’s 10:30 fruit break. We have very little fruit at the house so I took the opportunity to get some of the prepackaged cups of fruit that Walmart sells. It was the only gift I had for her this birthday. It was at least a surprise. Maybe next year will be better in the gift department. For that matter, maybe Christmas will be better. Time will tell.

Chase’s birthday was today also. I remember when we were starting to get all the adoption papers together for our children that I noticed his birthday. Mama was so excited about it. That and the fact that Chase is also left handed - like Mama - has been a fond similarity between the two of them over the years. Chase will tell you that only left handed people are in their right brain. There the similarities between mother and son end…but, that is as it should be. I have not heard about what kind of birthday he had.

Tonight was Peggy Calvert’s visitation service. She died early Tuesday morning but the visitation and funeral were delayed a bit in order to give family time to get to Decatur, TX to pay their final respects; and there was a lot of family. From Idaho and California and Colorado to far-flung parts of Texas and New Mexico. It was a big gathering. Far more memories passing over many more years than we had with Peggy. But if any of them were as deeply affected by her as we have been in the few years we have known her then it is safe to assume that she profoundly affected a lot of lives. Soon we will hear that account given in Heaven. She will have nothing to be ashamed of.

Tomorrow the old shell she left here will be laid to rest. She has no further need of it now. There will be a big crowd for the service tomorrow. School at the church school has been cancelled tomorrow so Bro Zach and Mama can attend the service. I have been asked to be a pall bearer for the service and at the graveside. It has been many years since I have done that so it will be interesting to have that role to play in her final farewell. So much life lived, so few words to recount it.

Joe Walker told me Heaven will never be the same. I have a feeling he is spot on.

Job interview, a good evening, leaving, coaching

I got a call as Nate and I worked at the church yesterday from a company I have been referred to several times by our financial planner. It is an education/training provider officed here is Decatur. The first referral was shortly after I was laid off - almost a year ago. Thought Mama and I were quite excited about the prospect nothing came of it at that time. However, yesterday they called me to set up a phone interview for a job that I had not applied for; a far better one than I had applied for. 

The interview is set up for Monday morning. It is a phone interview only so I am assuming I will have to score pretty high marks on that interview to progress to a face to face interview - should that happen. It is interesting that almost a year later, I have a chance at a job with a company I would really like to work for and a position that I would really love to have. I told the secretary, when she called, that I would love to opportunity to interview for the job but it would be very helpful if she could send me the job posting so I could better prepare for the conversation with the hiring manager. She laughed and sent it over before we finished talking.

Last night was such a pleasant evening that we kindled a nice sized fire and made smores. It did not work out well for me because something I ate really worked me over for the next several hours. Maybe I should have spit out the 85% cocoa Mama gave me to try. She did but I did not think it manly to show any disgust. I chewed it and swallowed it; disgusting or not. The kids all played ladder ball in the back yard but they had a hard time keeping Savanna from climbing the “ladders” and interrupting their game. The dogs,on the other hand, were pretty quick to learn that the two balls attached by a string were not being tossed back and forth for their pleasure. We kept the fire going well into the evening because it was just cool enough to make it a good warmth and just smokey enough to keep the bugs at bay.

Nate, Cori and the kids left this morning. Mama called the school and asked to come in a little later than normal so she could see them off. It was not necessarily a slow, lazy morning, but it was not a mad rush either. They were in no hurry to get on the road. The kids were in no hurry to get back into the vehicle and leave the farm and Mama and I were not going to rush them at all. So, it turned into a steady morning of loading their vehicle, double checking the house for forgotten items and getting everyone into the proper attire for the trip ahead. We prayed with them, said our long goodbyes and Mama and I headed to the church; her to work at the school and me to work on the internet at the church. (I blew through my monthly allowance trying to download a program on my Mac.) They arrived safely at their destination a couple hours later and were excited about the mission’s house they will be staying in for the remainder of the week.

I had another coaching session this morning - another reason to have good internet access. It went well. I got a few more needed insights to further fine tune my business. Little by little I feel I am gaining a grounded understanding of what exactly I need to be doing to make this work. And little by little I actually see it working. Now if I could conquer the autoresponder program I will have all the basics working in tandem. 

It is one of those ready-fire-aim ventures.

More contacts, still getting things set up, nice weather

I have gone from little to no activity in my internet business over the past few weeks to having eight sales meetings on the calendar for this week. Likewise, I have gone from no interest on the part of any employer to having been asked to put in applications at two separate jobs the last two weeks. It is an interesting turn of events that can only be attributed to the Lord. It also puts me in one of those situations where I will carefully and prayerfully move forward with my heart tuned to the leading of the Lord. I have been praying for direction and an income, not necessarily for a full time job, but I will not turn down a good job should one be offered. I will also not turn down any contacts generated by the video I have set up to generate those sales meetings. Things may be looking up but it is too early to tell. There is at least a glimmer of hope and the evidence of divine leading.

I am still struggling to get my auto responder set up. I understand what is being asked of me but I have no idea where to go to get the task done. It has to do with inserting code into the Java script of a web page but I do not know how to find the script for a particular web page to get the code properly inserted. I am waiting for help now but I cannot move forward until I get the proper directions. I have a feeling it will be a very simple task once I understand the process. The providers of the service seem to think it is simple based on the instructions they have given to accomplish it, but you cannot know what you do not know; so I wait in more information. It is a small thing.

Mama had to go to work today. The assistant pastor who normally heads up the school is off to take time to visit with his parents who are here from Illinois. There is a lady who used to help in the school filling the administrative spot, but Mama is needed for backup. Having a second person in authority is a good rule to follow - especially in our day and age. So Mama went in today even though it was hard for her to leave the house this morning with Savanna wanting her attention. Don’t get me wrong, Mykenzie, Grant and Blake are still a draw to her but the baby trumps  everyone (me included) when it comes to grabbing her attention.

She, Savanna, finally rested after a week of being passed around from person to person at non-stop meetings for the conference. Nate and Cori put her to bed a little after 7 pm and she did not get up until nearly 8 a.m. this morning. We had said out goodbyes last night before going to our Bible class so Mama did not get a lot of Grammy time last night or this morning. That is one of the hardships of working a job. Although, I must admit it still feels weird that it is her going to work rather than me. But I am getting used to it - maybe a little too used to it.

It was such a pleasant evening yesterday that we ate dinner outside. In a strange turn of events the dogs were put inside the house so that we could eat on the patio; at least, that certainly seemed strange to them. I had made soup so there were some challenges to the picnic style meal but we all managed - and it was a pleasant time. 

Tonight, if nothing changes, we will have a small fire in the pit we have on the patio and roast hot dogs and marshmallows - while the dogs are made to stay inside.

If you did not see my link to Hope Coffee yesterday I am sharing it again.

hopecoffee.com

It is worth checking out.

Good friends, false starts, good coffee recommendation

I met with three of my friends (my old work buddies) from ConocoPhillips for lunch this afternoon. After the most recent layoff - the second of two in twelve months - one of the three is going to be relocated to another COP location and since the four of us were pretty close when we worked in the some office it was good to get together so I could have a chance to say goodbye and good luck. We used to spend time every day visiting with each other; encouraging each other when we had a boss that was very difficult to understand. I was the sounding board for many of the interesting decisions we were all having to make to keep up with the flow of work as it changed to accommodate a new leadership style. It was interesting times. I really miss those conversations.

We visited for a couple of hours and I got caught up on all the office gossip. All of the ladies that used to report to me are still at the jobs I lined up for them before my job was eliminated. That was good news. Now, since the disbandment of my group the offices are less networked than before but some of the functions still overlap enough that people stay in touch across the geographical divide. I used to daydream about being rehired by COP - in a different capacity - but I have given up that far fetched hope. Still, it is always good to stay close to old friends. Which reminds me, I need to call my friend in the Ukraine. It ha been too long since the two of us have talked.

I had an appointment this afternoon to talk to someone about my little internet business but it turned out to be a false alarm. The number I got was for the brother of the man whose name I had, so it was a difficult discussion to begin with and probably did not generate a sale on my part, but it was good practice in handling an unexpected situation and making the best of it. I do expect that there will be those times but I am praying that they will be few and far between. As I looked at my calendar this evening I had gotten four more requests for contact. That’s encouraging. The profits are in the numbers of exposure and I am finally getting a chance at generating those numbers. 

While Cori and Nate and the kids were at the Mission’s Conference last week they were hosted by a family, the matron of which had grown up in Honduras to missionary parents. It proved to be a wonderful opportunity for her to share some of her life experiences with Cori and Nate. One of the things that was learned is that there is a coffee import company headed by an architect who was called to Honduras some years ago to help local families build houses, shops, etc. with profits provided by the sale of locally grown coffee. That company uses all profits to build homes and shelters in Honduras among the poor and needy. The company is called Hope Coffee Company.

They have a website; hopecoffee.com 

If you are a coffee enthusiast you can purchase Honduran  grown coffee and know that the purchase will actually go for a good cause.

Sounds like a win-win to me.