From the dining room this morning, my wife started screaming YES!!!

I was trying to wake up the boys and ran to see what was going on. She was on the internet checking our bank account. Today we close on our house and she was trying to figure out if we had the money we needed for the cashier’s check. She was smiling ear to ear as she swirled the chrome neck of the old school iMac around to show me the balance in our account. It was $1,800 more than she had expected. Our Federal Government Stimulus Package arrived sometime during the wee hours of the morning. We have two boys and qualified for the $1,800 amount. The timing on this is so incredible! We now have more than enough to close on our house and buy the paint and supplies we were planning on getting. I know some people have been against the stimulus payments, but we’re certainly glad to get this – especially at this time.

We are excited to see what God has in store for us as we continue to put down roots and settle in to the work He has for us here in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

This has already been quite a stimulating morning and it’s only 7 a.m.

I had a great time tonight in Oklahoma City celebrating with Thomas and friends. He is off to Arizona to begin a new chapter in his life. We will definitely miss him. Our evening started around 6:30pm at Irma’s Burger Shack II on Classen in OKC. There, Marley the Marvelous Methodist waitress served up some great “NoName” range-fed beef burgers and homemade onion rings with several gallons of sweet tea (that was just my order).

After the burgers and photo-op, some of us journeyed on to Bricktown for dessert at Nonna’s. We had our tasty treats in the Purple Bar upstairs where we were all enthralled by the ever-changing fiber-optic-lit decor.

A sort of sad night but definitely fun and memorable. Bye Thomas! We’ll miss you bro!