Tagged - Huh?

Well, it appears I've been tagged. It's altogether a new concept for me. From what was posted by The Mom with Brownies (Story of Us)... it looks like I have to give you the following:

• Talk about 4 new things that happened in my life in the past 4 years
• Talk about 4 things that I hope happen in the next 4 years

So, it's some kind of 4x4 thing....

Well, lets start with the most significant...

1. We had two more kids.... Aaron and Kara. Both are unique and cool in their own ways. Aaron is tons of fun and always wants to help, however, at the same time, he's a little rascal. I think he's stuck in the terrible two's, rolled into the troublesome three's and here's looking forward to the friendly four's! ;-)

Kara @ 1 year old is the sweetest bundle of joy, full of smiles and now toddling into everything she can, at full speed... the experience most memerable with her was going without pain medication for a day and a half, just so I could get Heather to the hospital while she was in labor and then both of us being brought up to L&D in wheelchairs and the nurses asking which of us was having the baby. It doesn't seem right to say anything about pain, considering my beautiful wife was going through labor at the time, but a pain pill was never so welcome. I thank God for our very cool friends, Fabrizio and Santy who came and took me and my car home that next day, they truly were a blessing to us during that time.

2. Learning how to walk again and in the course of it, gaining a whole new appreciation for my family. They are truly precious treasures that showed a lot of love to their fiercely independent, workaholic father in a time when he was truly unable to care for himself the way he thought he should be able too. My pregnant wife and oldest son and daughter really poured themselves out for our family during that time. I have a new love and appreciation for them for their strength, courage and self sacrifice during that time.

And, during that time, just before what happened to my ankle, our house had water damage and we went through a couple of the coldest months with cold freezing air blowing through our house, while the insurance company somehow overlooked us. We learned the hard way that you sometimes have to fight tooth and nail, to get what you paid for. And then, in the midst and end of that we experienced the kindness of companies and strangers that came in and went above and beyond, on their own time, to try and make things better than they were, even before all that drama started. They were truly blessings and angels in disguise, so much so that their kindness to our family throughout all those struggle still brings tears of gratefulness to my eyes, even as I type this now. Those people know who they are, and I only hope that in some small way, my life can be lived in daily gratitude and for their kindness.

3. Watching the blessing and courage of my brother-in-law fighting cancer and winning. While he will probably still battle some the aftermath for the rest of his life, his joy, his sharing of his faith and his families unabashed leaning on God throughout that time, again make me want to be a better and more selfless person every day.

4. Filing for unemployment. To me, it's a strange thing that I've never done. I've been working full time or going to school full time and working part time since around 16 or 17 years old and have been blessed to never have been out of a job for more than two weeks at a time. While I initially thought some things would work towards fruition when I was first told I was going to be laid off, they weren't able to happen and I ended up having to file. But, "che sara sara", what will be, shall be... God is bigger and we shall move on to better things.... :-)

And now on to things I hope will happen in the next 4 years...

1. I hope that we will get a bigger house... not a ton bigger, just a little bit, probably with a basement and a decent sized back yard for the kids to play safely in.

2. I hope that our business will kick off, survive and thrive. I would like to create an IT services/specialty company that is different, that people like to work for, creates jobs, helps make customers successful and gives back to the community.

3. Someone asked us tonight if we wanted another kid... my wife said something about number 6?!!!? Umm, lets, see how about finishing college or something like that? That would be cool.

4. Find a way to help out with Habitat for Humanity and stay active living Christianity, not just playing church and staying in a safe little building in the burbs, but really giving back to the community, living it for real and teaching my kids how they can too...

5. I love to write, so writing more too. Maybe add a voice of some type of randomness to the air. :-)

Anywho, to quote someone I heard recently at a LBN meeting, "America is the greatest country in the world and opportunity is there, waiting for us to take it"

My personal goals:
1.) To live with honesty and integrity
2.) To give back to the community, remembering that I can't out give God, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try ;-)
3.) To help make people's dreams come true
4.) To look for something wonderful, every day
5.) To value people

Anywho, since I'm being long-winded today, my last personal thought is this, "It is better to try and fail, than to never try at all"

How are things today

Things are going much better. The doctor has declared me the epitome of health. We are just waiting for the aches and pains in my body to catch up. Better living through Advil. Ugghh.

Well, seems two surgeries in two years and all the sickness, time off work, etc managed to move me to the top of the "eliminate that job" - "we are only hiring for our group overseas" - "the company is downsizing" list. (Coincidentally, three or four working days after my last note saying the doctor couldn't find anything else wrong with me.)

However, I think it was all the right timing. It was getting very tough working for a company that appeared to be deliberately de-skilling their workers for the sole purpose of sending jobs overseas to cut costs. It really makes one wonder... when are companies going to realize that they sold their own economic and intellectual stability out of the country? Probably when it's too late, and Wall Street punishes them for no longer having any intrinsic value. Especially technology based companies that are dependent on skilled workers. Brainpower and people-power is their asset.

Ouch. But, I guess they are doing what they think they need to do to survive. Maybe Wall Street won't realize the brain trust is gone before the people doing it have cashed in their assets?

All that's ok though. In spite of an economy that is in flux, there is still a lot of opportunity out there. We are trying for different things and hope to see good things soon. I know that God watches over us and is faithful. Our family has been very blessed over the years and I've had opportunity to work in good jobs, with good people and learned a lot, from them and the job. For that I'm very grateful and am very excited about the next opportunity around the corner.