Well, I got a response back today from our landlady. She rejected our offer and stated that she wants a huge, unreasonable amount for this home. I can't afford what she wants so we are moving on.

"For us there is no Spring, just the winds that smell fresh before the storm"

Thus is our way I guess. However, just like in Memphis we will trust in Christ to guide us. Something else will come along.

I am happy to announce that we made an official offer on the house today. The entire affair is in God's hands now and I am very relieved.

Tonight we went to the local fair. Had a great time and made a name sign for the house. I plan to hang it when we finally purchase the property. My wife got to see Tracy Lawrence in concert. It was sort of a birthday present from her high school girlfriend. I made a pig of myself at the corndog and teriyaki chicken booths. The kids had a great time.

I got the call this morning. I am not getting hired by MCTV. Oh well, I'll keep trying. Sadly, I think they already had someone in mind when they posted the position in the paper. I'll still go down there and volunteer when I can.

Tommorrow I go to sign up for school. Not much to say about that I guess. I do like the classes I selected. Hope they'll all still be open tommorrow. I am signing up a bit late.

We took a trip to the city yesterday and bought two comedy DVDs. Both are by this hilarious british comedian called Eddie Izzard. I love listening to him because alot of his jokes are told from a historical perspective.

Lastly, Bubba gave me a laser sight for my paintball gun. He has signed his own death warrant. :-)

This past weekend, despite the horrors overseas, a bit of joy and happiness crept back into my life. On Saturday had a BBQ for my daughters birthday and invited all our friends. We ate carne asada and drank beer. It was good to have all my friends around. They gave me words of encouragement about the house, which are like jewels to my ears. All in all, it was a good day.

Then yesterday we spent a perfect day at the lake playing water frisbee before coming home and having a pizza feast for Geary on his birthday. We ended up staying up late and watching a couple movies(more on that later). I realized last night that a glimmer of contentment was nesting in my heart. Or maybe it's as my wife puts it, denial. Who knows. But, this week I find out if we can make a offer on this place and it is in that and God that we place our hope.

About the movies, I don't usually go for the sappy love stories. But, Cold Mountain was a great flick. It's portrayal of the "Battle of the Crater" was impressive, and it's overall portrayal of life in the Civil War was excellent. I highly recommend it.

Today I learned that several Orthodox Churches in Iraq were bombed by Muslim fundies. They apparently timed the expolsions to occur during or after Divine Liturgy. My heart goes out to the victims because most Christians living in the Arab world are very repressed people. I've heard first hand accounts of the day to day struggles they endure living amongst people and under a government that despises them. Then to boot, many of them are Armenians who have only come to the Arab world to escape death at the hands of the heartless Turks. I will pray for the martyrs that were made this day and for the faithful who will be displaced.