My Automotive History

So, I stole this idea from www.15q.net, which is a cool website about mostly license plates across the nation. However, one section, the author put down all of his cars, beginning with his first. So, I'm stealing the idea! I wonder who else might do this with me? :D (Btw, I don't have pictures for all the cars scanned, so I'll put in some pictures from the internet as fill-in.)


My first car of my own - 1982 Buick Electra Limited

(By the way, not my car, but pretty darn close. I'll see if I can change the picture with a scan of my Buick later)

 This was a grandma car, literally. The original owners had bought it new in 1982 as a closeout special. They had had the engine rebuilt two years before I bought it, had the interior redone a year before. In other words, I was getting a car that was nearly brand new for $1200. The downside was that we had to immediately put it into the shop for $1200 worth of transmission repairs and the seat transmission (to move it forwards and backwards) went out in 2001, necessitating me to drive from nearly the back seat for the last year I owned it. When gas got to $1.75 a gallon, I couldn't afford the 14 miles to the gallon that I was getting. We sold it for $1 to a family that needed good transportation and a reliable one at that. A good first car.

Particulars:
Owned: June, 2002-July, 2002
Miles Driven: Approximately 50,000 - the speedometer broke shortly after we bought it b/c of a faulty wire. Disposition: Sold to another family in Mableton, GA

2nd Car - 1992 Mercury Tracer

Again, not the real car, but close.

I HATED this car. Dad found it for me from one of his friends at NAMB and we bought it for around $1500. The engine was underpowered, the steering horrible, and, as you can see from the above picture,  everything was plastic. It was not a car that was built for a 6'1'' person, and was often in danger of being blown off the interstate by crickets and grasshoppers. Most of the time, it was running on three cylinders because it would burn through spark plug wires, and most important...IT WOULDN'T DIE. I tried many times to kill the engine in this thing. Give it to Ford for finally building the indestructible engine. Even though it would burn oil, I wouldn't put any in and hardly ever took it to get an oil change. It would finally ping when it would be ready for another quart. What finally killed it was getting rear-ended by another person in Carrollton who was going around 35 and didn't hit her brakes. The whole rear end of the car was crushed, the trunk deck was lifted around an inch, and the rearview mirror popped off with so much force that it took an entire piece of glass from the outside with it.


Particulars:
Owned: July 2002 - September 2004
Miles Driven: No idea, but too many for my tastes.
Disposition: Totaled and sent to a junk yard in Ranburne, AL

3rd Car - 1978 Mercedes-Benz 300D


The most amazing car known to mankind.

This was and still is my all-time favorite car. I still talk about it at least once a week and still have a heart and longing for another one. We had a 1982 300D as a family car in the mid-90s that Nathan had a wreck in and was totaled. We had another 2 D-model Mercedes from 1996-2002, one of which was another 300, and the other was a 240. When the opportunity to have whatever car I could find for $1500 came up, I began to look for another 300D for myself. This beauty was what I found. A perfect body, but needed some light work underneath the hood and in the suspension. It had the Euro headlights, plether blue interior, and the original radio was still in it. I was hoping that this would be my long-term project car, but unfortunately, the original engine gave out at 340,000 miles, cracking two of the five cylinders while I was driving to work one day in Carrollton. We tried to sell it for a while, but it just sat. Sadly, in late 2006 I sold it for a parts car. Even more sad, I never registered it with Mercedes or wrote down the VIN number, so I won't ever be able to come across the chassis if I wanted to.


Particulars:
Owned: October 2004 - September 2006 (ran until April 2005)
Miles Driven: close to 100,000.
Disposition: Engine busted, sold to a junk dealer in Western North Carolina


4th Car - 1995 Mazda Millenia 

For a while, I didn't have any car to drive consistently. I drove a 1995 Dodge Spirit that had been my Mamaw's, then Dad's. However, Dad gave it to BJ without telling me or letting me have a say! I drove Dad's 1995 Toyota Paseo convertible for a while, all the time trying to save up enough money to buy a car. This one was not a bad car overall, but not a great one, either. Bought this through Craigslist in Blairsville for $1200. I only owned this for a short while because it spat smoke like it was a chimney. Apparently, the V6 model of this car had a problem with the scrubbers that were installed, but it cost quite a bit to get down to them so you could fix it. Instead of dealing with that, we sold it so that we could get something a little better and more dependable. Funny enough, I made money on the sale of it, selling it for $1500!


Particulars:
Owned: March 2007 - September 2007
Miles Driven: About 10,000.
Disposition: Sold to a guy in the Atlanta area.

5th Car - 2007 Hyundai Accent GLS 

This was my first brand new car ever. We bought it at Cartersville Hyundai (which, sadly, is out of business) for around $10,000. It was a fun little car, but that was the problem: little. When Tasha and I found out that we were having twins, we realized that we needed something much larger pronto. Thankfully, the resale value had stood up rather well and we were able to get more than we owed for it when we traded it in for our first van (see 7th car).



Particulars:
Owned: September 2007 - September 2011
Miles Driven: Slightly more than 40,000.
Disposition: Traded in at Capital BGC in Marietta, GA.

6th Car - 2008 Hyundai Sonata GLS 

(unfortunately, we don't have a good picture of our Sonata, but it looked exactly like this)


The infamous 'trim piece' car...we bought this car when gas went over $4 a gallon. Tasha had a 2004 Honda CR-V (a car we should have kept) that was killing us on gas at the time. We traded that in for this car, and were pleased with it while we drove it. A good and roomy car, it did lack a bit under the hood, but it was a sedan and a new one at that. The problem for us was that right before we traded it in for our second van (see car 8), the back window exploded on us because of the heat. While all of us have heard of this before, I don't think any of us have ever seen it happen. When we took it to the dealership (because we were still well under the 50,000 mile warranty), we were told that the back window was only covered in the 10,000 mile warranty because it was a TRIM PIECE. I was seeing red. Needless to say, we quickly decided that since Hyundai couldn't actually stand behind what they stated their warranty was, we couldn't own any of their vehicles. We traded this car in after about a month of getting it fixed.


Particulars:
Owned: November 2007 - October 2011
Miles Driven: 48,000
Disposition: Traded in at Capital BGC in Marietta, GA

7th Car - 2004 Honda Odyssey EX-L

This is one of our current vehicles. We bought this because we needed something to bring the boys home in, and this really fit our needs. I told Tasha that if we were going to get a van, the only kind that I wanted was a Honda. She found this one at Capital for a song, and on top of it, it has all of the bells and whistles that one could ask for. It was just at 103,000 when we bought it (we've put on around 11,000 going between Blue Ridge and other places in it), and runs very smooth. Leather seats, heated seats, CD player, DVD player, 2-zone AC/Heat, side and front airbags, 4 captain chairs, and a tape deck. :D


Particulars:
Owned: September 2011 - Present
Miles Driven: 11,000 so far
Disposition: Still own

8th car - 2005 Honda Odyssey EX

(no new pics of the van yet - will edit soon)

We got this van after the Sonata fiasco, but also because we realized that we needed another vehicle that Tasha could get into the back of if the boys needed us. Since Joshua came home from NICU and on an apnea monitor, we had to be sure he was breathing. This is pretty much a bottom-of-the-line Odyssey, but it still has cruise control, a CD player (which we had to replace immediately after buying because the laser didn't work. Thankfully the dealership we bought it from paid for the Pioneer system we have in it now), and also room for 8. It's got a bit more pep than the 04, but it does sometimes ride a bit rougher than the other van. This is likely because it needs better tires than what came on it when we first bought it.


Particulars:
Owned: October 2011 - present
Miles Driven: Around 8,000
Disposition: Still own


Hopefully this will be the last vehicles for a while! More later!

Work

So I obviously haven't updated in quite a while. No small wonder with two boys needing bottles, changing, and trying to be in a routine. In any case, it has been a bit crazy over the last few months. I have been working at Blue Ridge UMC coming up on three months now and things seem to be humming along. I've got around 10 kids that show up regularly, and we are starting to show signs of maybe growing just a little bit. Considering my first night I was here we had five kids, I think that this is a bit of an accomplishment. I also feel like we are making an impact within the church itself. While it isn't part of my job description to read scripture, greet people, or to sing in the choir, I have always done this in whatever church we have been at. I just feel more complete as a churchgoer to do this. Honestly, I don't feel that it takes away from the youth, either. Pretty much I feel like this is one of those great examples of follow my lead. It most certainly falls into our new slogan of "Seeking Jesus, Serving Jesus, Giving Jesus" within our own church.

In any case, I have been reading some blogs about different aspects of church ministry, and I find it funny sometimes how some ministers try to put a blanket idea over all churches because that is what they feel comfortable in. I recently read a particular post about an evaluation of a church in Oklahoma where a pastor from here in Georgia had gone out. Knowing how this particular minister is and what kind of church he has had, I found it a little amusing that essentially he was telling this church that they needed to make a church just like his out in Oklahoma. One major thing that he did not address, though, was how people would connect more deeply with God through the church. It was all surface stuff rather than anything deeper than just the aesthetics of the church or the flow of the worship service. This, of course, was the major flaw at his church and was one of the reasons why he ended up leaving his ministry. While extraordinarily talented at creating an atmosphere that was inviting and new, he lacked the skill to move new Christians away from the baby food and onto the meat of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps what is saddest, though, is that he does not realize that he is lacking badly in this.

I guess what I am trying to say for myself and those who read this who are in ministry is that we must always strive to be inclusive towards others, but also that we must address the deeper needs of those that we are trying to reach. I might have a ministry that is overwhelmingly attractive towards youth in Blue Ridge, but if I am not meeting their spiritual needs, then what am I doing in the first place?

Oh well, rant over. :D More later!

Changed the background

As some of you may have noticed, I changed the background of my blog here. One of the reasons that I had it the way that it was was a defense mechanism. When we lost our two children the last time that we did IVF, needless to say I was pretty depressed. Finding that template that had the birds flying just seemed to be symbolic for me to know that it was ok. However, I didn't want to have the colors other than black for mourning on here...just somehow it all made me feel somewhat better about the whole situation.

In any case, the new template is of the world. I can't wait until the boys are here and can explore their new world. I know that it will be limited to their cribs, the house, and church for a while, but I know in all too little time, they will be able to go anywhere they want to go in the world. Only 7 1/2 more weeks until they are here (hopefully no less).

Ok, got to get to bed. More later!

New post...only 2 months late...

It seems that when I am working on school things that I don't blog quite as often as I would like to. I suppose that's because I'm already writing so much during the week that I don't really want to write too much otherwise. Anywho...in the previous two months, I've been ordained and had a job interview with a company a friend works at. Needless to say, one went much better than the other. :D

The ordination service was really great because it truly felt like I am doing exactly what God wants me to be doing in my life. I don't know if I'll end up in a church or not, but I know that being a pastor is truly what I am called to do.

As for the interview, it was not with a Christian company or church. It just didn't go as well as I thought it would. We'll see what happens over the next few days. I'll post something here when I know something. :D

For now, that's it. More later.

Finally updating.

It's been quite a while since I have written in here because I have not had a ton of time to write at all. Let's start back with Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving - We had a great trip up to the mountains and had nearly everyone from the family up at Bonnie and Jim's house. What the real surprise was, though, was when we went to TubaChristmas. Tasha had been acting strange most of that day, and I just figured that she was trying to be squirrelly. I really kind of got irritated with her because I was hungry and nobody would give me an answer on where we were going to eat. Well, what Tasha was up to was a surprise party for me at Mercier's Orchards. It was truly a great surprise, considering that I haven't had that kind of party for me I think ever. :D

Christmas - we went up to the mountains while Tasha's family went down to Florida. What was supposed to be a fun Christmas day ended up being quite scary, frankly. Tasha and I had gone to her parent's house with our cats and to take care of the two dogs up there. We knew that there was going to be a bit of snow. Most reporters and websites were saying at worst, we'd have three inches. Well, we had that when we got the Accent stuck into the snow and mud on the side of the road at Deep Gap in Fannin County. Luckily, we caught a ride from a good Samaritan that let us hitch over to Home Depot. Dad came down from the house to pick us up there.

The sad thing is, this should have been the end of the day at that point. There was around six inches of snow on the ground already. Well, we realized that the dogs (both Tasha's parents and grandparent's dogs were at the house across the county at this point), and they weren't going to 1) have enough food for two days, and 2) weren't going to make it for the bathroom for those two days either. We got a break from the snow for a while, and so BJ, Dad, and I piled into Dad's van to go down to the Bonnie and Jim's house. Well, we were doing well until we got out of the one set of tracks that went down to the house. We ended up in a ditch that was just low enough to put one tire up from the ground. While BJ and I hiked down to the house in the snow, Dad waited on a tow truck. We were able to let the dogs out, put out food and for the dogs and put out enough food and water for our cats as well. I got enough clothes for a couple of days, my computer, and our toiletries. Dad had come down and as we started to walk back, a person picked us up and took us to the van. We luckily got someone to stop with his Toyota Tacoma, and actually pulled us out of the ditch! When we got the van out, we realized that if we had gone off the road another 30-60 feet further, we would have dropped around 30 feet, and if we had gone off the road about 40 feet earlier, we would have been into heavier trees than we did hit. We finally pulled Tasha and I's car out two days later. We ended up with a full foot of snow! Needless to say, if we think there's going to be snow for Christmas, we may not go out.. :D

January - Started out the New Year at our friend's house, Kerri and Michael. We ended up getting home around 2:30. Who'd have thought that, right?! :) We began to do shots in secret for another round of IVF. Both Tasha and I felt bad about keeping everything secret from everyone, but we didn't want to have the same thing to have happen like last time and everyone be disappointed. We didn't take a trip like we usually did on MLK weekend because poor Tasha was getting progesterone shots. We did get to travel a bit, though. We also did have another major snowstorm that knocked Tasha out of school for a whole week. This made things a bit dicey because we knew we were going to have to do a transfer on the 18th of February, and that was originally a day off for her. Well, we did lose that day, but Tasha was able to take the day off later.

Also what happened in January were two important events for me. First of all, I was licensed for the ministry by Morganton Baptist Church on the first Sunday of the month. This was the first major step towards ordination for me, and made it where I could marry my first couple. That happened over MLK weekend! Kara Vick and Robert Boyer asked me to marry them at Seney-Stovall Chapel in Athens on that weekend. We nearly didn't make it because of all the ice that was still on the road after five days of it being on the roads and trees. Even when we were driving over, we still hit ice patches, especially when we picked up some of Tasha's medicine at our doctors in Sandy Springs. We ended up going sideways for a while until I could get us stopped spinning. It ended up taking us five hours to get to Athens from Emerson, a trip that usually takes only at most 2. We stayed at the Holiday Inn right next to campus and had just a wonderful time while we were there. I even danced quite a bit while we were there! :) (Btw, one of the cool things that I just found out about Seney-Stoval is that REM filmed there before. I was on the same stage as REM...just not at the same time. :D )

On a sadder note, Papaw passed away after his long battle with Alzheimer's. We ended up having a gorgeous set of funerals down in Milledgeville and up in the mountains. It was of course hard on the family, but it was definitely a release since Papaw had been sick for so long.

February-now - The last couple of months have been sort of a blur because they have gone by so quick. Why not just combine them, right?! I started classes again just before February, and just ended them this last weekend. I took a leadership class, Old Testament (which I hated because of the teacher) and a New Testament class (which was interesting, but hard b/c of the teacher's hard grading). I also changed majors to Master's of Religious Education. I finished my degree for Christian Leadership, so when I do graduate from Liberty, I'll have two Master's degrees.

On February 18th, we had two embryos implanted into Tasha. Obviously we were very nervous about going through this process again, but we trusted in God completely. We honestly felt that God led us to do IVF one more time. Well, after two weeks, we went back for our pregnancy test and were confirmed pregnant! After a couple more weeks, we actually had our first ultrasound and were able to hear our babies heartbeats. Yes, we are having TWINS! :D It was absolutely amazing to be able to hear the heartbeats, see their little bodies already growing, and know that God had blessed us so greatly. We have since heard the heartbeats grow steadily stronger, seen some of their facial features begin, and hopefully in a few weeks we'll know if we're having boys, girls, or one of each. We are also in high-speed planning mode. We already have quite a few outfits, the crib that all of Heather's kids used, a brand new crib for later for our second baby, and a list of things that I have to get done before the babies get here. :P

One other major thing that we did last weekend was to trade in the Accent for a 2004 Honda Odyssey van. I have officially joined the daddy van club. :P But at least it's the EX-L model van from that year - it has all leather, DVD system, cruise control, heated front seats, and tons of other stuff. It's a really sweet vehicle. :D

Also, I have been preaching quite a bit over the last couple of months at New Vision Baptist and Trinity Baptist here in Cartersville and once back up at Morganton. It's been amazing to be able to hone my skills as a preacher and feel much more confident while in front of lots of people. I still haven't really had a bite on a job, but I feel that one is coming very soon.

Hope that fills everyone in on all that's happened since I last posted. :D I'll try to post more often, but for now, all I have to say is that I will write more later...:D

Crazy

It's been a crazy couple of weeks since I last posted and it's not letting up. First of all, it's a week to Thanksgiving now. We are only 46 days until a new decade (I suppose we'll call them the Teens). It's hard to believe that this year is nearly done, though. I know that God's going to continue to bless us next year.

It looks like we are going to be back up at Morganton Baptist for a while starting the last weekend of December. Not sure what all I'm going to get involved in yet, but I know it'll be good. :D One thing that I know will happen is that I'm going to try to start a young married and soon to be married class up there. I feel that this is something that God wants me to do.

In any case, got to run for now. Clothes are waiting to be folded and washed. More later!

It's been a while...

So, you see the title, no real reason to re-write it. :D In any case, I finished this semester of classes, and it looks like I'm going to have 2 A's in these classes. They weren't as easy as I thought they were going to be. The first was Discipleship 500, which is basically an introduction class to discipleship. The final project is what kicked my butt. Talk about practical learning; we had to come up with a complete discipleship curriculum for a particular group within the church. Mine ended up being youth, and I think that I did a decent job on it. However, I also think that it would have been much better had I not waited until Thursday night to really get working on it. I had worked on it some on Wednesday, but I realized on Thursday that I was doing everything wrong and had to basically scrap everything. In any case, I finished it, got it turned in, and will be reworking it sometime in the near future so that it more represents the kind of youth group that I want. :D

The second class was Team Leadership and Conflict Resolution. Talk about hitting home. What this class did was remind me that even small conflicts can result in separation from God. Not exactly a pretty picture. We had to do a paper on a book called "The Peacemaker", and it was tough. There was some conflict in my life that I liked to hold onto rather than letting God take care of it, but I was able to realize my mistake and correct it.

I could have graduated this semester, but I wanted to take two more classes. I was thinking that I was going to take Prep of the Sermon, but I realized that it was not that practical for me to do so. This is not to say that I don't need it; I just feel that I need help in other areas more so. Also, I have access to the course syllabi if I ever want to find more books to read. So, the first class that I chose was Intro to World Missions. I have long felt that I want to work in home missions more than world, so this may end up being more of a challenge than I anticipate. The kind of cool thing about this class is that there is a 15 page paper that is about people groups and how to reach them. This sort of ties into home missions because there are so many people from all different places in the world right here in the US, so it's important to know where they come from, who has been working with them to know Christ, and how to culturally meet their needs in the name of Christ. I know that I'm probably the only nerd who gets excited for things like that. :D

The other class is sort of a repeat of one of my earlier classes, but I feel that I need more work in it. It is New Testament Introduction, which is similar to New Testament I. The difference is that it is more historical in view, thus quenching my thirst for historical classes. :D That, and I think that it will help me again to focus on the reasons why God chose to send Jesus at that time rather than another.

In any case, I'll be finished with classes sometime in March this coming year. I think that I'm going to enjoy these classes. Y'all keep praying that God leads me to the church that I need to be at and to the place in both Tasha and my lives that he wants us to be in! :D

More later...