It’s been slow lately, as Summer in Texas turns to a greatly anticipated fall. It was too hot for a bit there to do anything other than go outside and melt. Granted I enjoyed the heat but not when the van was down with a busted radiator. It’s fixed now, but we had to put a dent in rent to do it. Fortunately Warren is tremendously patient. But Even he has limits. And I fear we have pushed them as far as they will go.

That means all the progress we thought we would be making for October has to be put off for November. Add to that a financial blunder in our past is coming back to haunt us. We bought a car in 2006, and we gave it back realizing we couldn’t afford it in California. When I was laid off in 2007 there was no money to give them. Now during out attempt to rebuild from literally nothing I get a letter in the mail declaring me a garnishee. I worry that we may end up homeless again if they take too much. Is there no defense for people in our situation? This has me feeling like my Back is against the wall and my only reaction to this kind of threat is going to be an aggressive one. There has *GOT* to be defenses for people like us. It would suck to have to quit this job and move *again* because we couldn’t afford a place to live. I am really enjoying working where I am. On the bright side, if they don’t take too much we can at least get that cleaned off our credit report. On the bad side, Texas will be getting too cold to live in tents soon. Keep your fingers crossed and pray please. It’s disgusting though, that you can work your butt off doing the right thing and end up just as broke as when you started. Yet someone gets a bit of coffee spilled in their laps and they go home with millions. without leaning on the judicial system like the rest of country we we are going to forego the regular holidays this year, and try and focus entirely on Christmas. We have plans to produce our own Christmas music CD, and sell that for funds to help buy presents this year. We will make links available when we have something. It’s a shame though, we had hoped we had this crap behind us. It means it’s going to be even longer before we can get money to the people that really deserve it.

Regarding Facebook, I have surprisingly been getting into touch with family members I haven’t seen in years. It’s a good thing for certain, something I hope to continue regardless of what happens to the rest of my paycheck. I also have more pix of the kidz and everyone that will be added to the gallery soon.

Anyone have any comments or suggestions on how to fix this without winning the lottery?

Peace and God Bless.
- Dan.

Evac!

If you been watching the news today you might know about this:

Cnn: Texas Fire
KHOU: Fertilizer Fire

Basically a chemical plant that produces explosive products caught fire and the evac zone is 100 feet from where we live. Can’t give much more info on our location though *Wink*. I am sure you get the idea why. Whether I will be allowed to go to work tomorrow is entirely unknown. So far we haven’t been affected any more than that.

Other than that the home front is kind of Quiet. Megan has the kidz homeschooling again with the help of some friends we met at church., and we are slowly trudging our way on top of finances. I estimate we will be able to start paying people back around the middle of September.

Keep the prayers going it’s been working!

Peace and God Bless.
- Dan.

The last two years we have been surviving. Managing to stay together and in one mental piece despite the variety of quality and consistency our living arrangements have been. At present, things appear to be stabilizing. But there’s a hell of a mess to clean up too. We owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude as well as money. We have a couple months before we are comfortably stable. I don’t mean big screens and 5 a bedroom house. I mean making the bills once we know what they are going to be.

A few things happened when we got everyone to Texas that helped us and hurt us. Benny let us sublet his apartment, then the ex-wife started getting her payments again then we couldn’t afford that apt anymore and had to move on short order. That’s one mess we have to pay off. As much as I hate to say it, we finally got some public assistance with the food too. In Florida the church had been feeding us. Now it’s the state. We don’t like to, but we don’t abuse it either. It’s allowed us to keep a roof over our heads. As previously, we had been eating the money that was supposed to be going to Benny for Rent.

That’s when God worked a miracle for us. A nice Muslim couple had posted their much more affordable apartment on craigslist, which was practically given to us, as well as $400 to help with the first two months rent. This money helped us move from the old apt to this one, and get a few critical things like a shower curtain, and other similar amenities. We had practically new beds and dishes given to us by a friend form the church as well as help getting them upstairs to our new abode.

We have been in this nice apartment for less than a month, and have yet to see what power is going to be though, so I am still a bit nervous. The Ac runs a lot because it’s too small, but it keeps the place cool. And of course we have our computers. They run less than a tv, and most families have more than one of those too, but not like we do. My last paycheck was only $208 due an error the previous pay period, or we would have some money set aside already to offset rent this paycheck. That has me nervous too.

We had a friend and her family visit from Washington recently. Tamri and her crew of 6 came over two weeks ago and we all went to Lake Bryan. I took 9 children by myself into the shallows and had a blast throwing kidz into the water and other general mayhem.

At the end of the day we enjoyed a nice meal prepared by Tamri and family, then went home exhausted not too long afterward. Cost for the day? $5 admission per car. For our family that’s 63 cents per person!

We are looking forward to gaining stability in the home department. The last two years have been traumatizing and testimony building. The church here has just as good and timely messages as Florida did, so I know we are in the right place. God has been visibly working for us right and left, and we are ever grateful for it. No question.

We have a bit of a ways to go to get back everything we lost, and even then alot I think we never will get back. We have debts to friends in Florida, Keith, we haven’t forgotten you. Clyde, we owe you a lot for renting to our huge family when we needed so badly, thanks for your patience on the Van payments. Freedom and family, thank you for you for opening your home to us when everything good but God went away. We still owe you a family website. There’s a few more, and we certainly aren’t done with Florida, or our friends in California. We may even get a set of Christmas cards out this year. So please pray for us as we continue to pick up after our two year disaster.

That’s all for now. The photo album is being put back together to include a photo documentary. It’s going to be several weeks before it’s ready. pictures are scattered everywhere.

Until Later.
Peace and God Bless.
- Dan.

Greetings Family and Friends.

I am happy to report the exodus flight to Texas went off fairly painlessly. We left late, and were making good time until we hit the traffic and rain. between the two I ran out of steam and had to start a chain of naps. this combined with more bad traffic we totally missed my ETA of being back to work by Monday morning. Tuesday should be a much better start. I am ever so grateful to the lord for getting here in one piece and with no major events.

We need prayer now for a home to call our own. We find out tonight if we will have a pad to crash at for the next few days or if we will need to camp it in the van until we can get a home secured. I would have kept Megan and the kids in Florida if I had been able to secure funds for it, but considering how Sick Megan was getting I think bringing her and the family with me was the wisest thing we could have done.

I will keep everyone informed how things develop. keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

- Dan.

Just a note, We spent much more time cleaning and packing the van than we thought we would have, so we delayed our departure one day to get a full nights rest before hitting the road.

We will buzz ppl when we roll into Bryan.

Peace and God Bless
- Dan.