More pics of our pets

Just when you thought you had had enough of Leo and Belle....we post more pics of them! Ha Ha! We're like those people that show you home slide shows of their childhood vacations. You don't care about our pets, but it's all we have to talk about. So here ya go.....

Guess what - Leo's hair grew back!!! Now he doesn't look so stupid. He feels a lot better about himself now.

Here is Jeremy making Belle attack Leo. And you guys wonder what made her hate the world so much.

I think that Leo looks like the Cottonelle dog in this picture. He's so cute....he makes me happy.

Jeremy's Must List

Ok, I know Justin has the Must Lists, but I just watched a show that I was very impressed with. Jessica and I tivoed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip with Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. The series premiere was probably the best premiere I've ever seen for a dramady. They did an awesome job with the character development and writing. It's just good to see some good tv. I'm sooooo sick of reality shows and horrible sitcoms. Anyways, check it out sometime. It's pretty good. Monday's at 10 on NBC. I'm going to bed now. I'm tired. Good night.

Crazy Animals

I know you guys are probably bored w/all the posts of our pets but let's face it...our life is boring and I'm not creative. If you want a creative blog, check out Amberlee's. If you are Amberlee, sorry about your luck. So here is a pic of Belle being a fashion diva wearing the latest in plastic Bigg's bag attire. She has always been obsessed w/plastic bags. She likes to chew on them, lay on them, and occassionally wear them like a dress. Hey, give her a break, she doesn't get out much. You should also take note of the freaky way the light bounced off of her eyes. I think this proves she either has purple contacts or really is a satan cat, hmmm...

So, Leo, is obsessed w/people food. There isn't much he doesn't like and if he does find something he doesn't care for he usually tries really hard to like it just cause it's people food and he thinks it's better than his usual Purina. So here is a pic of him trying really hard to like cucumbers. He ended up tasting it, leaving it alone, and then coming back later to eat it. Weirdo.

What were we thinking?

This is our foosball table. We bought this with Christmas money right before Christmas. When we first bought it we played it all the time. Now, I can't remember the last time we played it. And now it sits in the middle of our office where the only use it gets is when we need somewhere else to hang wet clothes. How sad is that? Oh well. It was fun when we played. But, when Mike and Amy visited their kids stayed in the office and IT WAS IN THE WAY! How crazy is that. Our foosball table went from being our most used entertainment device to a laundry rack that gets in the way. Maybe you fellow bloggers should come over sometime and make some use of this thing.

Smores...yum!

Well, Jessica and I had a couple logs left over from when Mike and Amy visited. So, we decided to make some smores. This is a picture of the always beautiful Jessica with our puppy. Leo, the big dope, almost caught his nose on fire when I threw a dropped marshmellow into the fire. The big dope went to retrieve it. Everything seemed to go well. I didn't burn the house down, so that's good. Anyways, hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We both have been sick...pretty much laying around and feeling miserable. Fun times. Hopefully, we'll feel better tomorrow for church! Alright, blog at ya later...

Our dog rocks!

This is a great picture of Leo catching popcorn. I'm not sure why I decided to post on Leo, but I guess its cause we got him this really cool collar that helps him to behave while walking him. Actually, we let the dog stay over at a friend's house and the lady that walked him realized that he's hopeless and gave the collar to us. Anyways, he walks really well now. He also does this cool trick where we'll throw the popcorn up in the air and he catches it. I'm pretty sure Leo is addicted to popcorn like his daddy. Anyways, Leo is chewing up our new pillows...gotta run!

A Great Visit

Jessica and I had a great time this weekend as our friends Mike and Amy Kupferer visited. They brought with them their two children Nathan and Wes and their dogs Sadie and Sticky. We had a great time watching their dogs as they visited old friends, grilling out, and making smores around the fire. It was also really good to catch up on life. Mike's been my best friend since jr high school...so we have lots of history.

Here's a pic of Jessica with little Wes around the campfire. He fell asleep on her very quickly which we were told he does not do often. She's going to be such a great mother!!!

This is Sticky (on the left) and Sadie (on the right) after our one mile walk. I think Leo wore them out. He doesn't have very good boundaries.

Here's a pic of Nathan's first smore. I think he liked it, but he was really cautious of creepy Uncle Jeremy :-) who made the smore for him.

It was a great Labor Day Weekend for us. We hope you all enjoyed yours!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

So this is the last un-official weekend of summer and I'm sad. Summer is my favorite time of year and this means that it all has to come to a close. Also, we have enjoyed very hot weather lately and it seems that as soon as September 1st hit, the termperature dropped. It's now 67 degrees out, that may not seem very cold but it certainly feels it when you go from the 80s to that. I like the fall time, but I'm still bummed that summer is over. On the up-side, our friends Mike and Amy Kupferer are coming to visit tomorrow evening until Tuesday morning. They are also bringing their two kids and two dogs so our house will be extra-busy. Maybe that will distract me from the dropping temperature and the signs of summer being over. We are also going to the Honeycutts for a grill-out. I mean, what would a holiday be without a trip to the Honeycutts right? Have a good weekend everyone. I'm sure we'll have some pics to post of our weekend later on.

Another question

I have a question about Marcus' case. Why do you guys think this has not received national media coverage? In light of Jon-Benet Ramsey, Lacey Peterson, and Natalie Holloway it makes you wonder if the media is obsessed w/pretty white girls from affluent neighborhoods. Maybe I'm over-analyzing it. I just think it's important to get this story out there specifically b/c Marcus had autism. People need to understand that children w/autism are very loveable, awesome kids. However, they have very special needs b/c of a misunderstood disease. People need to know thier limitations and I think that if foster parents are going to take kids like this in, special trainings should be required. Any thoughts???

Senseless

I have to blog about this Marcus Fiesel issue. For those of you that are out of town readers, here is the story...Marcus Fiesel was a 3yr. old boy in foster care. A few weeks ago Marcus' foster parents claimed that Marcus went missing from a park after the foster mom fainted from a heart condition. This evoked a very long extensive search for this little boy (by the way, Marcus had autism). It turns out that Marcus' foster parents faked the whole park thing and three weeks ago, they went to a family reunion in Kentucky for two days. They didn't want to take Marcus w/them so they chose to lock him in a closet where he was wrapped in a blanket and bound w/tape w/his arms behind his back. Upon their return they discovered that Marcus had died so they took his body and burned it in the woods. I can't imagine what Marcus last little bit of time on this earth was like and how scared he must have been. How did these people become foster parents???? I've been trying to think of a suitable punishment and can't even come up with one. I can't even wrap my mind around it b/c it's so heartbreaking. My Christian co-worker put it well by saying that Marcus is now dancing in heaven and is suffering no more. I guess that's the solace to be found in this.

What's better then NFL Football?

That's right...EA Sports presents Madden '07! This means that through the pretend world that is my Gamecube, I can see how my Indianapolis Colts will fare this year. Or better yet, they have a mode in which I can create a player...let's say Jeremy Cox the running back...and enter him into the draft and follow his progress as he works his way up the depth charts. Right now I'm playing for the Cowboys second in the depth chart behind Julius Jones...making 1.5 million a year. Fun times. Ok, this blog stinks in comparison to Jess' yesterday...but I just got the game yesterday thanks to UPS and it's what's going on right now in my world :-). The only thing Jess hates worse then football is football on the Gamecube. Hope you all have a great weekend...you know I will!

Memories of a Forgotten People

This is going to be a long blog so prepare youselves...Yesterday when Rick and Jane McKinney were talking about their walk across America, they spoke a lot about their experiences walking across the desert and encountering a lot of Native Americans. They had a lot of stories that touched my heart, this one in particular I would like to share with you. They had a picture of a momument in New Mexico that was two steel beams and an American Flag in between them. They came across this monument and there was a Native American gentleman standing in the midst of this thing (I believe he was Navajo). When they approached this man there were tears streaming down his face and they proceeded to ask him what was wrong. He said that he was just remembering...you see the two steel beams were from the Twin Towers and when 9/11 happened they rounded up a lot of Native Americans to do the dirty jobs that no one else wanted to do - as in searching for dead bodies and body parts. This man was a part of that mission and happened to be paying his resepects at this particular monument. Rick and Jane proceeded to share the Gospel with him and he was greatly moved. This is a big accomplishment b/c Native Americans are generally not receptive to White Christians. They went on to ask if there was anything else they can do and he went on to tell them that he was homeless, and quite hungry. There was a truck stop buffet across the street and Rick walked him across to get him a meal. The man stopped outside of the restaurant and said they won't let me eat inside b/c I am homeless and an Indian. Rick persuaded him to go in anyway. At the cash register, Rick told the casheir that his friend would be eating at the buffet and the cashier then reached under the table and pulled out a styrofoam to go container and said "He will be needing this". Rick politely explained that this would most certainly not be the case and that he would be dining w/everyone else until he was full and that is exactly what happened.
This story touches my heart for so many different reasons. It puts so many things in perspective for me about my own predjudices and selfishness. Some of you may not know (by the way this is Jessica typing, not Jeremy) that when I was in college I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to the Zuni Indian reservation in New Mexico. This is why this blog is long, I feel compelled to write about this so suck it up. In New Mexico we worked with a Christian school to do a VBS for kids whose parents allowed them to come. During the day we did a lot of manual labor on a ranch for the minister of that school. His name is Will and he was kicked out of the reservation for becoming a Christian. Will had a foster son and they lived in what was literally a shack in the middle of the dessert. He had 7 gallons of running water a day, an outhouse, and a generator for electricity that could only be used in the evening. We slept outside, inside of make-shift partitions to keep wild animals out. Sleeping under the stars in the desert certainly shows you how awesome our God truly is. Anyways, what I am getting at is that I saw so much poverty and discrimination and this was all inside our very own country. I was telling Jeremy earlier that this was third-world country conditions. While we were there we met so many brave people that risked so much by becoming a Christian, they would be shut out of their families and their communities, which to them is a very big deal. I also learned a lot about certain rituals that their reservation has - like a certain man whose only role is to dress like a monster on a daily basis to scare children. This man is also what they called the Audoshlay. If a parent felt that their young child (often 7-8 yrs. old) was being defiant, this man would kidnap them from their homes in the middle of the night and they would then become his slave for a few long months. And all of this is legal there! They have their own governmental system. The reason I wanted to write all of this was to communicate how often I forget how blessed I am and that I forget that thier are people w/true need in the world and people who do not know the love of Jesus Christ. This trip did so much for me and it breaks my heart that I don't have more opportunities to do things like this that often. If you ever get the chance to do something like this I encourage you to go for yourself and for others. It's truly amazing.

Rick and Jane at Family Night

Tonight Jess and I were very blessed to hear the testimony of Rick and Jane McKinney. This couple walked across America earlier this year and shared the Gospel with a lot of people. It was neat to hear about all the people they talked to and encouraged and prayed with. They started in Los Angeles, CA and ended in Washington D.C. on July 4th. Their message through song and testimony was an encouragement to Jess and I and really put into perspective how little we do on a daily basis for others. I don't know about you, but compared to Jesus I'm a pretty selfish person. But anyways...

On a very sad note, Jess and I were very discouraged at our turn out. There were only six of us in all who gathered together. It's just not very encouraging when I put something together and invite a couple who work hard in ministry only to be told by my congregation that they really don't care. I know there are a lot of folks who had some other things going on and please don't read this and feel like I'm speaking to you, but we even had folks sign up to bring food and not show. Our dinner consisted of spaghetti and leftover chips from VBS. We also had a ton of cookies and a cake...needless to say the ladies signed up to bring desserts all showed. One person who forgot came later and brought chicken...that was nice. I mean, maybe they weren't the most exciting act or the latest trend, but these folks gave their lives to ministry and what they did by walking across America is much more important then sports, family time, and the latest TV show. Ok, I'm off my soap box. I'm just really really mad tonight and I'm going to bed.

King's Island Fun

Today Jeremy and I got to tag along w/Christ's Church at Harrison's staff for a staff day at King's Island. There were five of us and we had a good time. For me, any day as a day off of work is a good day. It wasn't too crowded since a lot of schools have already started. It was hot but not blazing hot so the weather was nice too. I decided that my now favorite ride at King's Island is Delirium. I just think it's very fun. I still love The Beast but I think I now have bruises from it! The Son of Beast was shut down b/c a couple of months ago some people got really hurt on it and now they are suing. I think a lady actually broke her sternum. We were not disappointed b/c that one seems to hurt more than The Beast. It was also fun to watch Jeremy try to win me a giant stuffed turtle. Don't feel bad babe - I think those things are rigged. It was also good to come home and take a nice shower after feeling like I was covered in a sticky King's Island film all day.

Blogger stinks...but here's the stupid blog anyways

Ok, so I've been trying to upload pictures for the past three days WITH NO LUCK! Either my computer stinks or Blogger stinks...I think it might be both. So, no pics today...just Jeremy and a few words.

I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code. I know, I'm a little behind and that was yesterday's news...but I haven't read anything for fun in a really long time and since I'm taking a semester break from school, I decided to see what all the hype was about. Very good. I enjoyed the book very much. I used to read Sue Grafton novels and I rate this book up there with some of her best. Jess and I will probably see the movie this weekend...I didn't want to see it till I read the book.

So, honestly, the book is very preachy. Dan Brown is a whacko! I'm preaching a sermon series on the Da Vinci Code because I really don't think most people know anything about the history of the church nor do I think most people can refute Brown's claims. I really believe that if the average church goer read the book they would say, "That's not right...it can't be!" But couldn't really say much beyond that. So, hopefully the series goes well. Love to hear some input on Dan Brown or this sermon series. Talk to y'all later!

Frisbee Golf and Rascal Flatts

Jessica and I spent the afternoon playing frisbee golf. We played at Heritage Park. It was Jess' first time. She really enjoyed it and she did very well for her first time. I think we might start doing this on a regular basis. Tonight we are going to the Rascal Flatts concert with AJ and Mindy. Jess is pretty pumped. It should be loads of fun. We're going like an hour early so that we can get a good spot on the lawn. I'm just really glad its nice out, cause its at Riverbend. Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.

Office Space

So this is the latest and greatest in the latest adventures of my (Jessica) job. I would like you guys to tell me if I am being a baby here or if I have just cause to be peeved. As most of you know, I have my own office, I have had this office since I started working there a year and three months ago. I heard from a co-worker who assumed that I already knew that my other co-worker Andy (who used to be my boss and then stepped down from any authority position) is being forced to move in and share my office with me. This kinda sucks cause I like my own space. However, what really "Grinds My Gears" - that's for you Justin- is that my new boss does not respect me enough to tell me to my face. This move is supposed to happen this week and she has not told me, nor does she know that I know. I guess I was just supposed to walk in one day and see Andy all moved in. Is this disrespectful or should I just be thankful that I have an office, and a job for that matter? To me, it is one more thing that upsets me about my corporate, disrespectful job. One more question for you guys - should therapy be a corporate business or should it be focused on people?? Call me crazy, but last I checked, it should be about people. I feel like my worksplace has totally lost sight of that. Just some thoughts, tell me what ya think.

VBS Party

Jess and I spent Sunday afternoon at the Oberkorn's house for a VBS Party. We ate some great food (including a fantastic banana pudding and banana split cake), went swimming, rode some ATV's, and rode some horses. It was a great time. We had a lot of folks on vacation and not able to come...so we had a small turn out. But, that's ok...we still had a great time.

Here's a picture of me on Lucky. He was a little stubborn at times...but still a great horse to ride. Don't I look like a cowboy?

Here's a picture of Jenna on Riley. She got to put Riley back in the stable and give him a treat for being so good. She's so lucky!

Here's a picture of Reagan and Leo. Leo kept barking at the horses. I think Reagan is here trying to calm him down. He's so cool!

The Inevitable Plastic Fork

Well, I'm back from camp. We had a great time and I think everything went well. The only bad thing was the weather. It was sooo hot! The heat index was in the 100's all week except for Friday when everyone went home. So, besides that...it was great! In case you were wondering, the theme for the week was called "The Inevitable Plastic Fork" in which we studied forks that we might face in the road of life. Here are some pics...

Here's a picture of me playing dodgeball with some campers. I look like a dork!

Here's a pic of Jordan feeding Leo what looks like a snow cone, but we didn't give the kids any snow cones...so it must be drugs...or water....

Here a pic of Justin, Bethany, Jess, and I. Bethany was our nurse for the week. She did a wonderful job!

The Wild

With Jeremy gone I am left to the blogging so I thought I would write about a movie I saw yesterday with some kids from work. It's called The Wild. I bet you've seen it....if you saw either Madagascar or The Lion King then you've seen it. The entire first half is about animals from Central Park Zoo escaping into New York and then being sent into the wild. The entire second half is about a dad lion saving his son lion complete with wilderbeasts that take the exact place of the hyenas in Lion King. There is even a scene where the dad lion is hanging off of a cliff and the lead bad guy smashes his paw while he is hanging on....hmm.....sounds a bit like Scar and Mufassa to me. The only good part of the entire 1 hour and 10 minute film is a character that is a Koala...he's pretty cool, except that he is from Australia and talks w/an English accent the entire time. Keifer Sutherland is the voice of the dad lion which was weird b/c to me, Keifer Sutherland will always be Jack Bauer; not a big fluffy lion. So in case you get the urge to watch The Wild, save yourself a trip and pop in Madagascar or Lion King, both of which are far better films.

Look Alikes

Jeremy and Leo are at camp this week so I am without a husband and a dog! It's really quiet around here now....gee I wonder why. This week I discovered a new sight, www.myheritage.com You upload a picture of yourself and it tells you what celebrity you look like. It said that I look like Katie Holmes and it said that Jeremy looks like, get this, L.L. Cool J!!! Ha! I think that's funny.
Here is me....Here is Katie. Resemblance?? Maybe, now if I only had her body!

Here is Jeremy and his look alike. Hmmm...I don't know

Go to the site and upload you pic and let me know who you look like. I would love to know!

No it wasn't Big Ben

Ok, I have to tell all you a crazy kats a crazy story. I was on my way to our treasurer's house on Marvin Road. I was at the intersection of Carolina Trace and Marvin waiting to turn left and I glanced out my rearview mirror and I saw a motorcycle heading my way. He was going pretty fast and I thought, "Man, I hope this guys slows down." Well, he didn't and I heard him slam on his brakes, so I stepped on the gas to get out of his way. He started to slide along the pavement and I was like "oh my gosh!" So, I pulled over and ran over to make sure he was ok. He was bleeding from his mouth where he evidently bit through his lip. Other then that he was fine, but he was very lucky. If I didn't move, he would have slid up under my Jeep. AND, if he didn't slide, he could have slammed into my rear and gone through my back windshield. He apologized and said he didn't see that I was turning. I guess he just wasn't paying attention. Anyways, I apologize to those who come to Church...I'll probably use this for a sermon illustration some time soon. Have a good weekend and drive safe! - Jeremy

VBS Pics

Sorry these are so late. Hope you enjoy!

The Human Taco

In case you haven't seen it Chrissy has a great pic on her blog. Check it out! The kids from VBS gave over 200 dollars towards missions and AJ and I became human tacos...salsa, refried beans, and chips!

Jess is in West Virginia this weekend visiting her family, AND I'M ALREADY BORED! Actually, I have a ton of stuff to do: cleaning, laundry, and school work...but I don't want to do any of it. Oh well. What's up with Fox Sports not showing any Reds games this weekend? Do they not know I don't have anything else to do? What in the world?!?!

Anyways, I'm going to get back to watching sportscenter. You all have a fabulous weekend.

What did I do?

Ok, don't freak out, let me finish the story first. I RAN OVER LEO!!!! Jess and I give Leo a rawhide stick when we leave the house so that he can be preoccupied in the yard while we back up the vehicles. Well, I handed Leo his stick and watched him walk into the yard. I got into the car and backed it up and heard a yelp. Evidently, Leo decided to chew on his stick behind the car. So, I pulled forward, heard more yelping, and felt a bump. I was freaking out by now! I got out of the car and Leo was running around and yelping. So, I was trying to catch him so I could see if he was ok. He jumped in the car and I took his shock collar off. I then proceeded to run into the house to get his leash...still thinking I really hurt my dog. I grab his leash and Leo runs around the house like he's about to go for a ride. I call him outside and he jumps up into the car and wags his tail excited to go for a ride and I'm like, "What are you doing? I just ran you over! What the crap???" I call Jess and he runs out and pees and then jumps back in the car. (He knows he can't go for a ride unless he pees first) So, I called him out of the car and felt his hips, chest, face, and legs and he had no tenderness. He just had black marks all over him. I checked under the car and there was a patch of hair. So, evidently I only scraped him and scared him. There is a bump leading into the garage that I must have ran over thinking it was him. I called the vet, they gave me some instructions and he was back to normal within the hour. Boy was I relieved. However, we no longer will be giving him rawhide sticks to preoccupy. Now, we keep him in the house and then let him out after we have backed up. You never know how good you have it, till you almost lose it. I'm so grateful that it wasn't any worse. I love my dog...he's my boy...and I won't take that for granted any more.

It's all about the benjamins

Ok, so Amberlee offered me 5 bucks to update my blog. So, here I go...

Jess and I went over to the Oberkorn's after the carnival on Saturday. We chilled in the pool, ate some grub, and went fishing. Here are some of the pictures...

Here's a picture of leo swimming in the Oberkorn pond. He enjoy chasing the ducks and the kittens. He's not a very nice dog mind you. He also enjoyed jumping in the pool with us. I didn't enjoy that so much...he's stinks and splashes a lot!

Here's a picture of the large mouth bass I caught. It's probably the biggest fish I've ever caught. I was sooo proud of myself and bragging to everyone till...

Jess caught this one! You can't tell in the picture, because I'm up close in the other picture, but Jess' bass is like two inches bigger than mine! I was so embarrassed. There goes my bragging rights. But, I come from the city and Jess is country...so its all good.

Finally, here's a picture of the bass Chrissy caught. Quite a bit smaller then our fish, but she tried. We sure did have a great time.

We didn't get pictures, but my family came to visit yesterday. My grandpa, grandma, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, and mom all drove down from Bluffton, IN to hear me preach. It was a joy to see them and I was so glad they got to visit my Church.

VBS is going well. We'll update later about that. Speaking of...I need to get going...I gots some games to plan!

Say it aint so!!!

I would like to take this moment to mourn the loss of my favorite Cincinnati Red. Felipe Lopez is now a Washington National. The Reds traded him and Austin Kearns for some bullpen help. I know their bullpen stinks...but not Flopez! Now, I can't chant Flooooowpezzzz whenever he's at bat. Now who do I root for? The drunk Ryan Freel, the beat up Griffey, or Swing and Miss Dunn? Maybe, I'll become a Red Sox fan. Then I can bring my curse to Boston. Sorry Justin...

Exciting Weekend

Hello everyone! I'm very excited about this weekend. And I'm going to tell you all about it...whether you like it or not. HAHAHAHA! Friday night is Crosby Night at the Movies and "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit" is playing. How fun is that? Saturday is our Church Carnival. I get to man a game called ladder golf. Basically, you toss golf balls tied together at a ladder contraption. It should be fun times. AND THEN...my family is visiting us Sunday. My Uncle Larry, Aunt Penny, Grandparents, and mom are all coming to Church and then hanging out for a while at the house. AND THEN...VBS starts!!!! That's right folks, there is no rest in the Cox household. That's just the start of the next six weeks of non stop fun. So, hopefully we can take some time to download some photos and keep you updated on what's going on. Have a great weekend!!!

Old Friends and Good Times

Our friends Matt and April and their two kids were able to stop by for a visit on their way through town for a wedding. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. The last time we saw them their oldest daughter was only a year old and their new baby wasn't even born yet. Now Bethany is almost three and Alaythia is about a year old. Bethany and Leo had a great time chasing each other and playing. They were sad to see each other go. We are the world's worst at keeping in touch with our friends and it was neat to be able to pick up like we never left off. Here are some pics of their vist.

Here is Matt, April, Bethany, and Alaythia. I hope I spelled her name right! (It means Grace in Greek.)

Here is Bethany and Leo. They loved each other very much and played hard to say the least.

Here is Leo after they left, he was pretty tired after his workout with Bethany.

VBS

Well, sorry we haven't posted in a while. Jess and I have been busy getting stuff ready for VBS. This year we are doing Group's Fiesta! We have been so blessed to get so many donations from surrounding churches. Hopefully, we'll remember to bring the camera with us tonight so that we can post some of the decorations and pics of our messy Church. I'm just so excited for VBS this year, because it's going to be all done in a Mexican theme. And we all know that I love Mexico!

I went to the doctor today. And just so everyone knows, my fissure is healing. YEAH! That means I can stop complaining about my butt and no more gross pictures. YEAH! The doctor kept me on some nitro-glycerine and told me to watch my diet and that I should be fine.

Anyways, that's all for now. I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for taking time to read our blog. Have a great week!

The Curse of the Unity Candle

I (Jeremy) had my second wedding this weekend. It went very well given the circumstances. The groom's grandmother had a heart attack as their family prepared to come to the wedding. She's ok now, but it set a somber mood for a very joyous occasion.

Now, this was my second wedding and I can't believe it but, I've already been cursed! I call it the curse of the unity candle. For those who joined Mindy and AJ for their wedding, you might remember the grandma's trying to light the outside candles. They didn't know how to work the lighter and stood up front for what seemed like an hour trying to figure it out. So, I made sure that the mom's at the wedding last night knew what they were doing with the lighter. However, I failed to make sure the unity candles were set up. Yep, that's right, we were all lined up to start the processional and no candles! I had to go and get them out of the car, unwrap them, and set them up. Very embarrassing. Oh well. Other then that, the wedding went great. The reception was awesome. They had a chocolate fountain to dip strawberries, cherries, etc in! That rocked. I had way too much chocolate dipped stuff. I tried to dip my ham sandwich and sausage, but the guy working the fountain was not about that. By the way, I've decided that when I retire I'm going to be the guy who watches over the chocolate fountain. Unless they have robots doing that by then. That's all I got right now. I didn't get home till 1am and I had an early breakfast meeting this morning for camp. So, I'm going to take a nap. Have a great weekend. Happy 4th!

Thanks Jerry Johnson

Hello blogging world. Click on this link to witness the funniest forward I have ever received. I think you'll enjoy it even if you don't know who Sir Mix-a-Lot is. And please don't see this blog as permission to send me forwards. This was a rare occasion where I actually read the forward. Have a great week.

Back from vacation

We got back from vacation yesterday. We had a really great time in Florida and I miss the beach already. We basically laid out on the beach all day, or at least I did, Jeremy gets bored easily so he would join me on the beach periodically when he was ready to play in the ocean. We ate great fresh seafood every day, that was awesome. We also took a dolphin watching tour in Tampa Bay and the batteries in the camera died while we were on the boat! There were dolphins jumping and flipping right beside my seat! While on the tour we also saw the house of the guy who invented the plasma T.V. and the former house of Al Capone. There were million dollar houses all over the place, one guy had these giant palm trees lining his back yard and the guide said that it costs $5,000 to have one of those put up in your yard and this guy had 13! You do the math, all that just for giant palm trees. In the beach where we stayed, Hulk Hogan used to live there and filmed his reality show. He just put his house on the market for $25MILLION! We drove around trying to find it but we couldn't figure out which one it was. We also went to a really crappy aquarium in Clearwater Beach. I think it was more of a rescue preserve for dolphins and sea turtles that can't survive in the wild but it was really small and the areas that they had the dolphins and turtles was really dirty. I felt sad for them, and for us for wasting money on such a crappy aquarium! The last day we were there we went out on a sailing cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. It was cool, we had never been sailing before. The captain was kind of a jerk but it was cool to go sailing in the ocean. We went put-putting and drove around the different beaches and besides that, we pretty much hung out at the condo. It was great cause the sun set over the ocean right in front of where we were staying so we got to watch gorgeous sunsets everyday. We had never been to the Gulf of Mexico, it was kind of weird cause there aren't very many waves most of the time, Jeremy was disappointed, I liked it. Also, the water is incredibly warm in the Gulf so that was nice. Even the pool at the condo was warm, it always felt like warm bath water. It was very relaxing and much needed. Here are some pics, I aplogize for the length of the blog, if you find this to be incredibly boring, you don't have to read it all!

This is one of the sunsets on our beach. Isn't it pretty? The sunset that is, not Jeremy in the foreground.

Here is the dolphin at the aquarium.
The green colored water is how all of the tanks really looked.

This is Jeremy's hole in one. He only beat me by five strokes and he would not let me live it down!
This is us on our sailing adventure. Sadly, this is the only time we could get someone to take our picture!

Florida Bound

It's 5:40 in the morning and we didn't get home from softball last night until midnight. (But the guys finally won - yeah!!!) so needless to say, we are a little tired right now. We are on our way to Florida in about 20 min. and Jeremy is probably gonna be irritated when he finds out I am blogging instead of helping him pack up the car. Oh Well!!! We will miss you guys and checking your blogs like fifteen times a day to see if you have updated yet. We'll have lots to post when we return. Have a great week!!

Prayers Please

Hey everyone. I have a prayer request, I just have to tell a flippin long story to get there, so bear with me please. For those of you that don't know, Jeremy and I will be leaving for Florida on Monday for a week to go on vacation. And for those of you that know me well you know that I worry about everything and drive myself nuts. Well, I don't want to do this on vacation cause I need some peacefulness next week. So yesterday, my boss decided to drop a bomb on me 4 hours before the actual beginning of my time off. On Monday I am missing one of our team meetings and it is being brought up at this meeting that someone from our team is needed to help with another program for the entire month of July. (They are only choosing our team b/c we have the lowest productivity in the agency - we also have the smallest team). This program would entail spending the entire day at an alternative school doing group therapy with rough, adolescent boys who are TICKED off b/c they have to spend their summer at the alternative school. These aren't like the other groups where we get to go fun places, they stay there and I'm not really sure what else they do. I feel totally unqualified to do this job. They are hoping that someone on our team will volunteer to do this, but no one is going to do that, and with me being at the bottom of the totem pole, they are probably gonna chose me. The problem with this is that it won't leave any time to continue with the two groups that I am currently doing that I posted about earlier, and it won't leave time for me to continue working with the families and kids that I am working with. Potentially these kids won't be receiving counseling for a month. I would also not be able to have Fridays off like I do now. I feel like the well-being of our kids and families gets lost in all of the nonsense of productivity. I was really angry about this as I was driving home and then it hit me. My attitude is terrible. Where is my faith? Do I really want to drive myself crazy about this while on vacation? So I decided that God is gonna have to decide what is best. So I asked God that he would guide this program and the decision that will be made by the administrators at work. This has the potential to turn out to be something awesome, and maybe I am being selfish b/c I don't want to do it. I just want whatever will uplift me, and more importantly will benefit whichever group of kids the most. I am asking that you guys pray about this so that these things can happen and I can have some peace about it while I'm in Florida. Sometimes I need to let go and trust that God's ways truly are higher than my own. Isaiah Ch.55 is my favorite, I need to put that into practice right now and I think I can do that knowing that the people I love are rallying behind me for the same thing. I am sorry this has been a long, complicated, boring blog. Forgive me. I'm sure Jeremy will make up for it with more sports stuff later. Thanks guys.

Ben you big dope

In case you missed the news yesterday, Ben Roethlisberger (Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers) was injured in a motorcycle accident this week. This got me thinking about bad choices that some athletes make. I'm not about to tell Big Ben whether he can or cannot ride a motorcycle. However, he was driving a motorcycle without a license AND without a helmet. Granted it is legal to drive without a helmet in PA, but come on. I don't understand why people do that. Even if you're going 5 miles per hour, it just takes one car to knock you off that thing and whammy...your head is on the pavement. Then to be stupid enough to not get a license. He had an expired learners permit. Come on! Do these people think they are above the law. If he gets a lower fine than Jessica did for "following to close" than I'm going to be really hacked off. It's one thing to follow to close, it's another to drive without a license. Come on! This is just one of many poor choices that athletes make. It's not as big as our Cincinnati Bengal players who wave guns in parking lots and drive drunk, but it's another example of stupidity among our young rich athletes. Maybe if Jessica played a professional sport, we wouldn't be paying a stupid fine because some stupid officer was having a bad day. That's my rant and rave for the day.

Real live fun times at work

Today was actually a fun day at work for me (Jessica). It was the first day of summer groups. I'll be involved with two of these each week, the same kids come back each week. Today was 7-8 year olds. We take the kids out into the community to work on goals and skill sets. Today's goals were anger control, following directions, and not arguing. The kids actually did great and their manners were the best I have seen out of a group ever! Granted, these are the cute younger ones and it was only the first day. We took them to Burger King, the park, and Dairy Queen. These are some of the funny comments of the day that I'm allowed to tell you. 1.) Kid - "Is that your car?" Me-"Yes, it is." Kid-"That's a sweet car, you should put flames on it and spinners. Then it would be pimping." Me-"Oh, and what does pimping mean?" Kid-"I don't know." 2.)After another staff member asking if anyone has asthma problems while on a nature trail this kid starts covering his nose and mouth. Me-"Are you o.k.?" Kid (in a panic type voice, try to picture the giraffe from Madagascar)-"Is there asthma in the air?!?! Can I catch it?!?!" The day actually went by fast and it was fun. Tomorrow we have some older, more intense kids so we'll see how it goes.

RED'S GAME

Jess and I had a great time last night at the Red's game. Thanks BJ and Jessie for the tickets. The Reds lost, which makes me think that I am bad luck. Every team I root for seems to lose. The Colts, the Spartans, etc. always seems to lose in the crunch because I root for them. Maybe I should start rooting for the Cardinals or the Yankees. That would make some people happy!

They had an awesome fireworks show afterwards. Jess and I really enjoyed that. It lasted like 30 minutes. Almost as good as Boomsday in Knoxville. Those were fun times.

Jess has calmed down since the ticket. We're thinking about framing it and sending it to Lawrenceburg with a nasty note. Any ideas of what we could say? Anyways, that's been the exciting weekend of Jeremy and Jessica. Talk to you later.

So much for peacefulness

In the last post I talked about happiness and peacefulness, well let's just say that I can't find either of those things today. I had a very frustrating meeting for work this morning and on my way from that office to my own I got a dang ticket!!!!! This guy who turned out to be a cop, was on a motorcycle and I came up behind him and he slammed on his brakes and started swerving all over the road. So I was talking on the phone with Jeremy at the time (I know what you're thinking - Get off the flippin phone and drive- I don't want to hear it O.K.) and I said "Geez, people don't know how to drive!" I had to go into the other lane and go around him cause he was pulling over/still swerving everywhere. So I look in my rear view mirror and it turns out that it was a cop and he was pulling me over. He said that he was pulling me over for following too closely and walked away- No discussion about the situation possible!!!! My ticket doesn't even have the amount I have to pay, I have to call a number for it. Jerk. I am so mad, and when I am mad I cry, so I cried all the way to my office and now I look stupid with no makeup and a blotchy face. AAAARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!! Did I mention I was angry???

Thoughts from Jess

So Jeremy has been complaining that I never write on the blog so here I am but I don't know what to write about. I posted these pictures of the flowers from the garden cause they make me happy....and I need some of that lately. The top one reminds me of Hawaii which is where I try to imagine myself when I can't sleep. I'm not sure what the bottom reminds me of; maybe my dumb dog who eventually destroyed it. Maybe just peacefulness. I seem to be caught in this cycle of hating my job and then being o.k. with my job. This week I guess I am o.k. with it but I'm so tired of the rollercoaster that my job can be. I want my mind to be more peaceful so maybe that's why I like these flowers so much. Whatever it is, I hope they bring you something positive today. Whether it is peacefulness, happiness, or just bringing a smile to your face thinking of Leo digging them up like he is a treasure hunter. Enjoy.

U-G-L-Y You aint got no alibi

I really don't have much to write about today. I'm just sick of checking my blog and reading about my anal fissure. I much rather look at what our neighbor's daughter calls a "cute" puppy. That's right, someone like's his summertime hair cut.

Anyways, our propane grill went out today. I guess every once in a while I should change the propane tank. However, it did last a full year of grilling out. I guess I should go to walmart and get it exchanged. Meanwhile, I tried panfrying our JTM boneless ribs. That worked great! Now, there's smoke all in our house. But, the ribs were delicious.

Well, I've got like 25 meetings tonight at Church, so I'm outta here. I'll try to update more often. Have a great week!

Phosphosoda is not soda pop....trust me

Hey guys. I want to thank everyone who prayed for my colonoscopy today. The results came back and I have an anal fissure. The actual procedure was fine. I felt nothing and barely remember even leaving. I did find out I'm allergic to demerol and threw up everywhere. That part of the procedure I remember...it was not fun. But after that, I remember watching the beginning part of the procedure on their 42in plasma tv. Yes, live and in HDTV...seriously! Jess said afterwards all I could talk about was that cool plasma tv. HA!

The night before the procedure was awful! It actually started Wed night. I had to take two dulcolax pills and was up off and on all night. Then yesterday evening I had to drink 3 ounces of phosphosoda with a two liter of ginger ale. That, my friends, was horrible. Then two more dulcolax and I "went to bed." HA, really I was up all night. But, it was part of the cleansing process.

Now, I'm still a little drowsy from the sedatives. But, no pain! I'm actually very comfortable, just woosy and weak. Thanks again for your prayers. They are treating the fissure with medication and if that doesn't work they will do surgery. But, the doctor seems certain this will work. Give me a call when you are 40 and have to have one of these. I'll help you through it :-)

What have we done?!?!?!

As most of you know, Leo the dog has massive emounts of hair b/c of the Great Pyranese that is in him. It has been incredibly hot here lately so Leo has been miserable. How would you like to hang out in 80+ degree temps in a thick fur coat?? So we decided that we should get him shaved. I don't think he's too happy about it. I don't think I'm too happy about it. To put it mildly he looks....um....like a freak.

This is our beautiful dog before...

And this is him after........

I don't think I'll be taking him to get shaved anymore. Sorry Leo.