Busy, Busy...

We are very busy at the Music Co. working on getting out royalty statements & payments. I printed the labels today & started stuffing envelopes. We had gone over & over our payable's list last week finding & fixing errors, updating the mailing list & printing statements. They only pay out royalties twice a year, so this is a big job when it is done.

There is just over two weeks left of the tax season, so we are beginning to get busy at Go Figure! with last minute people. I will probably be working late each day to get things done. Today, I addressed postcards of people that had not been in to do their taxes yet. It's frustrating because some of the people are complicated & will require more work than others.

Vision from God?...

I was awakened by a very startling dream last night. I was getting ready for church & trying to get there on time. I was arguing with this dark headed guy to get out of bed & get ready for us to get to church Sunday AM. Then, it was like God showed me - you don't have to deal with that anymore. But the enemy was trying to discourage me again & I saw an even different man not wanting to go to church & seeking things of the world. In the dream I was crying out to God, no - I want a Godly man. I was so startled that I shook & it was like God shined a bright light & opened my eyes and showed me Steve. There was a peace from God & a vision of us standing in church worshiping God together. It was like we were standing in awe in the presence of God & sharing the experience together. My heart was calmed & I was able to sleep peacefully again.

Who is he?...

Well someone special has captured my heart. His name is Steve and he is originally from Arizona. He has only been in Texas about 2 years & came to Austin this year. This is a pic of him just being himself & loving life! He is funny (entertaining!), very down to earth, loves animals, thinks my dad hung the moon, very sincere & caring! He's positive, always smiling & willing to help others - even a stranger. He also has been to every church service with me & LOVES God & church. He prays, reads his Bible & worships at church.

Saying Goodbye...

This morning Benji was hit by a car out in front of our driveway, almost on our drive. He had been going across the street to visit the neighbor's dog lately and I guess that was what he was doing this AM. We are very saddened by the loss of our dear friend. Benji was probably the coolest dog we have ever had. He would go to Mom & Dad's & stay while I was at work. He usually stayed in my Mom's bedroom with her all day & would go to the barn with my Dad when he would go to feed. Steve buried Benji near the spot he liked to lay at the barn.

A little later, Steve & I went to town to drive around & see things. We went for a nice walk on the riverwalk along the Colorado River & watched the ducks swim as the sun was setting. We hung out & watched a movie later.

Wednesday Already...

I just thought I would share a quick note with you. Nick & I didn't make it to work yesterday AM (well he didn't go at all). I did make it to Go Figure in the afternoon. The pipe repair is still good. We left the hole uncovered just in case there was a situation again. I'm hoping to get more done today. I did go home & clean a little on my house but then I was hot & tired... LOL. So I turned on the a/c & sat down to rest.

Another Good Deed...

Monday afternoon we had a water line burst. It was the connection where Scott tied into my parent's water coming into the house. He had probably cut the line too short & had it in a bind so it gave. My mom had been wondering why the water bill had been so high & now we think it might have been leaking all along but burst after all the rain. I tried to call my friend that is the plumber but he was unavailable until the next morning. Well this meant we had NO water! But my dad buys plenty of bottled water so we figured we would be ok for one night (no shower - yuk! but I've lived in worse during floods & hurricanes back home). So over an hour or more like two or so went by & I was thinking about what to do because my parents were upset & my dad was really sweating it. It hit me... call Nick! He's always been the bestest friend ever. Sure enough - he came after work (tired but ready to work). We were outside until 1AM fixing the line... but it's fixed. Thanks again to Nick!

Catch Up...

Wow ~ It's been a busy week! I was gone a couple of days last week to the Ladies Conference in Sugar Land & was wiped out when I got home. We have been working on an audit for 2 months at work for a business that has suspicion of theft & sloppy bookkeeping. We FINALLY finished it yesterday & my boss was supposed to be at the Board Meeting last night & missed it trying to get everything together. She went to drop off the information anyway to get it out of our hair. There was SO much work go into the audit b/c we would start working on one part, find an error, go to track down the error & find another one in the process. It was amazing how much of a mess it all was. I'm trying to get back on track now & get things done. I need a cleaning angel to sweep through my house too. =) I've been gone so much that it's been neglected. I didn't leave work until 8PM last night & have to be back at the office at 9AM today. Hopefully I will be able to do a little each day to get things done.

Worries...

I hope you are having a blessed week. Mine started out bumpy & I wasn't feeling very friendly towards others, but I'm doing better. God is so AWESOME & takes good care of us... I had to share this with you from my Bible reading.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

With God ALL things are possible! He's a gracious & wonderful God... have a great rest of the week.

Alum Creek Fire...

This is an on the scene report from my friend Lenel, who is with the Smithville Fire Department.

I can’t tell you how horrible it was and still is. This fire reminded me of a disaster movie. I didn't have any business trying to help at that fire because I haven't fought a fire in about a year. I'm still part of the dept. and do alot with them, but not actual fires. We had no idea how bad this "brush" fire was going to be, but when we drove up Cottletown Rd., I knew I was in way over my head.

Of course, just about everyone in Smithville knows at least one person who lost a home or business – 28 homes, 12 businesses and more than 1,500 acres. It was tough to see all the devastation on Sunday when we were driving all over the place putting out hot spots. Saturday the smoke was so thick you couldn’t see anything, but Sunday the devastation was clear. We worked on it from 7:30AM ‘til 8:30PM Sunday. I didn’t get emotional until Monday morning when I had to drive thru it (Hwy. 71) on the way to work. The exec. vice pres. of the bank called me about an hour after I got to work and told me to take the day off and rest. That was so thoughtful. I went home and slept for about three hours. At least 20 volunteer fire departments came in to help and the incident command center was set up in a field next to Duke's Convenience Store. It was a beehive of activity thru yesterday. This morning, passing it on the way to work, I saw that most of the TV trucks and people are now gone, but there are still a few people manning the mobile command center.

The response and support of the community was overwhelming. Citizens started showing up at the Smithville Fire Station Saturday afternoon and just took it over while we were all gone. They set up a command center there and started getting water and food from all the local businesses, making sandwiches for all the firefighters, etc. They brought coolers of ice and water, candy bars and sandwiches to everyone. They stayed at the station all night answering phone calls from worried family members of firefighters and victims. They were wonderful. Every day our Chamber of Commerce gets call after call from people wanting to donate money, furniture, clothing, food, etc. to the victims that were left with nothing. And, I have to say that of all the homes I saw that were burned, I did not see a single home that was only partially burned. It was either all or nothing in every instance.

Encouragement...

We all have an online friend that we have never met in person but email & talk to on the phone once in a while. Well, my online friend was going through a really hard time this week and talked to me a lot. After spending time talking this week, my online friend had some very strong words of encouragement for me and I just had to share them with you too... Even though the storm seems long & hard now, there is great things in store for you because you are a terrific lady. God has someone very special for you & you just need to ride out this storm. Why we go through rough times & have to go through bad storms, God only knows. You are a really special lady, with a really big heart!

Now why does it take someone that we only somewhat know to encourage us?! Where are our friends during the good times?... they seem to want to pop up during the bad times but where are they when things are just rocking along?! Do we really encourage each other enough in our day to day walk?