the adventures of red the dog

so, at our house red pretty much has laid claim to the study. he has a big brown rug that he thinks he owns. red will usually bring things on to the rug that he thinks he should own too. i stopped at home at about ten o'clock because i forgot to grab a pen on the way out the door. today red owns two of my running shoes, a sweatshirt of haley's, a blanket ron used two nights ago, and a pillowcase, a toy duck, a toy goose, and a tennis ball. he also decided the rug would go better 5 feet from where we like to keep it and halfway up the wall. silly dog. mind you he did all of this in less than an hour.

work, wOrK, WORK!!!

Im not gunna get fancy.

BUT

I GOTTA A JOB!! YAY!!

I started working on Monday at Biomat USA in downtown Kalamazoo. It is Kalamazoos local Plasma donation center. It is a pretty great job! Its a Health care facility, really fast paced and provides benefits for BOTH michael AND I... like I said... SO GREAT! I really enjoy it thus far! Like I said earlier, I just started on Monday so I havent gotten really into the nitty gritty but I like whats going on so far. My job or title is Donor Processor. I will be checking the donors in, answering phones, registering the donors, doing vital signs and generally just screening the donors before they go in and get hooked up on the machines and do the actual donating part. I really really enjoy it... YAY! I especially cant wait until I get my first check... we all know that michael and I could REALLY use the money!

well, like I said... not getting too fancy, so I think this is it for now!

Haley Hogoboom

ps. COME IN AND VISIT ME AT WORK!!! WE PAY YOU TO DONATE!!! I WOULD LOOOVE TO SEE A FAMILIAR FACE!

Mediocrity

I've been feeling depressed lately. Generally dissatisfied with my day to day routine. I think that's the problem though, I don't want a routine. I get up in the morning dreading the day ahead, knowing that I will be working alone, with no one to talk to except a paint brush, or a mini-blind. Once in a while I'll get a phone call; those seem to be the highlight of my day lately. I usually pretend like I'm busy and don't have time to talk. I guess it's just wishful thinking. Then at the end of the day after making every attempt to make plans for the night with friends, only to find out they are all busy, inevitably I end up back at home. If you could call it that. I hate it. The broken blinds in front of the slider, the thought of bugs possibly being in our house. Every once in a while I'll help a cricket find it's way outside. I hate coming home and seeing people other that my wife standing by the front door, smoking a cigarette, expecting me to ask them if they need any help fixing something. Because that's all I am, a maintenance guy, why would anyone want to talk to me about anything besides that? Then I come inside to find my wife, dinner prepared, happy to see me. She tells me about our plans for the night, I usually have something negative to say about them. So then we fight about whether I'm being mean or she's over sensitive. Every once in a while I'll be in a good mood and Haley will mention it. I deny that I'm acting different that I normally act; if I admit that I'm in a good mood, I am also admitting that that isn't the norm, which is depressing in itself. Building up to the wedding I had something to look forward to, a set goal. Now I just exist. Just is existing is mediocre. I hate mediocrity.

Super Strong Crickets!

I got home today and found this on our bathroom floor. Apparently Haley saw it when she got out of the shower, got scared, ran into the kitchen and put the tupperware over it. Then left it there until I got home. It must have been a super strong cricket though because it was necessary to put a candle on top just in case the cricket lifted the tupperware and walked out of it.

This is it!

Michael and I are getting married today. 

I am so excited! 

Michael and I have been together for what seems like forever.. and this is it, today is the day we are crossing the line into wedded bliss. Im so happy for more then just that one reason right now...

Im ecstatic that all my family is around, it truly is a beautiful thing! 

Im happy... and amazed, that I can just sit in my big comfy recliner and blog on the day of my wedding (thanks Mandi for making this possible for me... you are an AMAZING MOH!!)

Im glad that Angie is here to be with me to celebrate this time with me and keep me calm cool and collected. 

I seem to be happy about alot of things...

yet,

I still managed, somehow to stress out enough about SOMETHING that I have hives. 

yes, I Haley Elizabeth Elkins have hives on my wedding day...

I almost find it kind of funny... the only part thats not funny is that they itch like MAD!

I think this is it for now. Next time I will appear on here(which we know isnt too often...) I will no longer be Haley Elkins, I will be Haley Hogoboom. 

weird.... 

xoxo - Haley

ps. Thank you too everyone who has helped michael and I this past nine months... you have been a true blessing and we are so happy to have all of you in our lives!! 

Commitment

Chris:  "So, your wedding is coming up."

Mike:  "Yup."

Chris:  "You know, I think I know exactly how you feel."

Mike:  "Oh really, Chris?"

Chris:  "Yeah... Sprint just asked me to sign another two year contract."

I feel like this belongs in the funny pages.

What a slow morning.

Well, Michael and I are getting married in 23 days! Whoa! 

We are also renting a new apartment, together.. :o) Starting in mid july. We have a great opportunity to start moving our things in early(early as in now!) I really want to get in there and actually paint for once and get things rolling(haha no pun intended! ok... maybe) BUT with the wedding coming up so stinkin' quick I feel that I need to put more focus on that.... I feel like this whole apt thing is a distraction, but a really good distraction? I would like to get the majority of both mine and Michaels stuff moved in before the wedding... but that just seems impossible. If I look at my schedule of events starting with, well today then I see absolutely no free time to do any such apartment things. 

I have lots of people asking me.. and "lots" is a HUGE understatement, "How are the wedding plans coming?"  I hate being asked this, I feel like things are going really well... I know they cant be! I know I still have tons of things that need to be done... I need to get this stuff wrapped up. I just cant wait to be married and be on vacation!! oh my.... the thought of vacation... how great. I think I will end with that, vacation... vacation... vacation... *sigh* 

I need to take a shower now. 

Time with Dad

Haley had one of her showers today. So I watched TV with my dad. One of my favorite things to do with my dad is make fun of things.

First, we flipped back and forth between the Tigers' game and CNN's coverage of Obama's speech at Notre Dame. So we made fun of the Liberal Media. That was fun.

After that, we watched the Red Wings and switched coverage to FOX for the speech. We did not want to get carried away with making fun and miss any of the game.

Then, we saw a UFC fight that lasted 36 seconds. We made fun of the fact that FS Detroit had to think of what to do with the other 29 minutes and 24 seconds of the allotted time slot. They showed a lot of commercials. Guess they expected the fight to last longer.

After that, we made fun of alien hunters. This was my favorite making fun of the day. It's just way to easy to make fun of someone using a psychic as a credible source, or using an author to tell a story that cannot name any of his sources or we would "never see him again." It was a good laugh.

Finally, we watch the History Channel's program "How Bruce Lee Changed the World" and there was no making fun. We sat in awe for two hours not really saying much.

Maybe a lot of people wouldn't see this as "good bonding time," but I enjoyed it. Someday I will make fun of things with my son, but not Bruce Lee, no one makes fun of Bruce Lee.

The Green Bastard Crapped Out!

I haven't driven the GB in over a month, and Cal asked if he could use the truck so I cleared it out, and put all my tools in GB, and took it to the gym this morning.

I never got to the gym.

It got to a tow truck.

I hate that car.

If Satan was a car, and he wanted to ruin your life, and strike you when you were most vulnerable, he would be a '96 Dodge Neon. 

I feel like for the last couple weeks there has been an ever-present battle of good things happening to me, and bad things happening. Except all of the good things are of spiritual growth, and all of the bad things are of the earth, mostly financial. It would be really nice to get out of this hole, and back into my comfort zone, but the best learning and growth always happens without distractions. I feel like I've learned a lot in the last couple months, but I still have this craving. Like a fire starving for fuel. I've always had it. I've always had this internal fire, and I've thrown a lot of things in it trying to build it up, and keep it going. The things and stuff I have thrown at this fire are sticks and twigs compared to what could be fed to it. I'm really getting into this now, I think I need a new paragraph for dramatic effect...

It starts with a match-stick. It is the parent's role to bring kindling to the flame, love on it, and eventually a log is set on fire, after that you are free to control your fire. I've brought many things to my fire, some more logs mostly. I got my TV log, my Internet log, my Nintendo log, my brand new furniture log, my laptop log. Generally a lot of expensive things that I've thought are very important. Over and over I've lied to myself thinking these logs would make my life more enjoyable, make my fire fuller, brighter. All the while keeping in contact with the one who started the fire, the all-knowing authority on fire building, God. The conversation would go like this.

"Hey, God I think that this brand new flat panel TV will keep my fire burning big and strong. What do you think?"

and God says, "Well you could do that, or you could..."

"Okay thanks God! Man am I a natural at fire-building or what?"

"Sure thing Mike, I'll be here when you have more questions."

So then what happens? Ha ha well let me tell you.

One day Mike says to God, "Hey God, I know I'm really awesome at fire building and all, but it seems like my fire is limited in size and I really want a HUGE fire."

"Well Mike, herein lies the problem, your fire is so big now that I really can't do much with it. So here's what we're going to do, we're going to let your fire burn down. We're going to let it get so small that we will be able to move it using a single log, and I'm going to put it in that there forest."

"Oh..."

I just have this great feeling that even though everything sucks right now, there is still hope, because I've entrusted my fire to the One who created fire.

Git 'R Done!

Haley Here.

I guess I should give my input on this thing.. Hogey cant think he can just run the show! :o) 

My hours are getting cut at work... which I guess is ok. Good thing I just got my certificate! I need to get on the ball about job hunting, I just really dont want to settle but I feel that in these bad economic times I just might, atleast I have a positive future to look forward too.

I can pretty much always get a job, which is a nice thing to think about.

Sooo... bottom line. 

I cant WAIT to get married.

Only 53 MORE DAYS!!!!! CRRRRAZZZY!!

I cant believe it, Michel and I are so excited!

This road hasnt been easy tho.. Its harder then one might think, maybe not tho. Im sure you know. Not a day goes by that I think that this isnt right tho, this is it. This is our time, this is going to be our day.. the day that Ive spent 9mos. planning! All to celebrate Michael and I spending the rest of our lives together... whoa. 

I CANT WAIIIITTTT!!!

::EDIT::

sooo.... Michael just called me and Combs Cleaners in TR is giving them a ton of problems... errggg. Michael took adam(one of his groomsmen) and I guess "the guy that measures for tuxes" isnt there today.. How hard is it to measure somebody!? Pray they get that worked out.. cause we cant take adam down again. 

ps. adam doesnt have a car. hence us carting him around to get fitted for his tux!

HALEY IS CNA-IFIED!!!

Haley is now a Certified Nursing Assistant! YAY HER! 

Walking on Water (First blog entry!)

Today my alarm failed to go off, so at 6:17 I woke up and decided to go to the post-workout Bible study. I got to the gym just in time for a 15 minute bike ride and about 5 minutes of stretching, so needless to say I didn't get much of a physical workout. One of the things we talked about was the story of Peter's attempt to walk on water.

I never really thought much of the story other than the life lesson of having faith in Jesus, and how Peter doubted.  There's a whole lot more to it than that though. Peter didn't fall because he lost faith in the Lord. Peter always had faith, he saw Jesus, or rather he saw a figure, spoke to it, heard His voice, and realized it was Him. After that he realized Jesus was walking on top of water. Not only water, but a storm, and was unaffected by it. So Peter knew that it was possible through the power of the Lord to walk on water. The reason he fell was because he became distracted. He lost focus of what was really important and was frightened by the storm (Matthew 14:30) I mean let's be honest wouldn't you? Rumor has it that the other eleven were too afraid to even leave the boat. I can imagine them sitting there hugging their teddy bears and rocking in the fetal position. They were probably thinking "Here we are in the middle of a storm, our boat is going to sink, we're going to drown, and to make things worse here comes a ghost!" I mean I'm sure some of them were so scared they didn't even know Peter left the boat. So is Peter really the one that we should point fingers at when Jesus said "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31 (and change) NASB) What do you think Jesus said to the others?

This was an awesome lesson for me today. One I've been trying to work on lately too, so it was a great confirmation. We as Christ followers need to leave our Boat (our comfort zone), and go out into the Water (the world). Once in a while forces will appose us, but we need to stay focused and ignore the Storm (Lucifer, etc.), and stay focused on Walking on Water (what's really important).

One of the couples in the Core Group that Haley and I go to lives out at Miracle Camp and on Sunday they talked about how people look up to them because they live a Christ centered life and devote themselves to God. They explained how they felt a lot of times like they are taking the easy way out by surrounding themselves by other Christ followers who share common goals and they never have to feel uncomfortable.

I have another friend who works at Bair Lake Bible Camp, and one of the things they teach out there is that if you feel comfortable, you aren't learning anything.

So to anyone that is reading this I challenge you to go out and make yourself uncomfortable.

In the words of Daniel Radcliffe (I know, right?),  "There's never enough time to do nothing."

Haley has her test today at 2 p.m., please pray for her.

HELLO....IS THIS THING ON?!?!?

We made a blog. Yay us!