Family visit

Oh, this is still here.

Dad, Mom, Josh, Kerissa and neice Tori stopped in Indianapolis for about 16 hours last Thursday night-Friday morning, as they made their way back from Josh's college graduation in Florida. They got to see my place, and we had a cookout at Amanda's place. I invited a few of my friends to come, also.

It was fun. Nice to see them here.

End of writing.

Blog is waning.

I don't care.

Florida Trip

(Visit facebook for pictures.) Amanda and I visited Josh in Florida. It was a good trip. We left Thursday after she got off work and got back after midnight Sunday. We watched Josh's football game on Friday night, which they lost, but they bounced back and won the third place game on Saturday.

Many on campus believe Josh to be the fastest person on campus. He won the track and field day 100 yard dash. Obviously, not every athlete on campus ran in the race, but he accomplished something by that. He rolled his ankle early in the third place game and missed the rest of the game, unfortunately.

It was great to see the campus again; it reminded me of the fun I had while a student there. I saw a few teachers and a few people I graduated with. We went to the beach and ate a few times on campus. We also took Josh out to eat at Landry's, a seafood restaurant. I got to hear unbiblical teaching from one of the school officials two times. Wow, I forgot how legalistic and one-track minded that place was. At least they aren't nearly as strict on the rules as the used to be.

This morning/afternoon, I spent 3 hours getting verses together for a Biblical Life Guide that I'm working on for my Bible study. I hope to eventually publish this thing. It's a day-by-day list of themed verses, that you try to apply to your life. 7 themes for the 7 days of the week. Themes include Love, Fruit, Prayer, etc. It was a fulfilling task. I hope it can be used for some good.

What a crazy NCAA Tournament!!! Good upsets, good overtime games, good endings and buzzer-beaters. And a local team, Butler, with a kid from Freeport who plays on it, is in the Final Four. Amanda graduated from Butler. She's thinking of buying Final Four tickets! Fun times.

Bye for now. I must go enjoy the wonderful weather outside.

Not much to say

I'm not into blogging, I guess.

I want to visit Josh in Florida in the next couple of months, while he is still a student. I'd say the chances are 50-50.

I need to fix a rim for my car. I about lost my car in a pothole, and it dented the rim badly enough to affect my car's steering. So I've put the donut on until I get the rim fixed.

Siding is keeping me busy this month, which is pretty awesome. And the week of sunny days was nice. Now for some rain. But I'll take that, too.

My girlfriend is great. I am good. God is best.

Don't feel like updating much. Bye.

!!!! 2010 !!!!

Hello. It's a new year. 2010. Wow.

So, my computer is still broken, but even if it worked I wouldn't be blogging as much as I did last summer. But here's a blog. And in response to my last blog, wow, I guess I waited more than a month to write. But I still don't have my own computer. We ended up winning the flag football championship with my new team. It was the first time almost all of them had ever played in a league. We beat my old teammate and buddy in the championship game. We started the season badly, but played as good as possible in the playoffs. It was great fun!

Amanda and I are doing great; tonight we are going to a Pacers game with a few friends. On Friday, we are going out to eat with some friends or relatives of her that are coming into town, then the two of us are going to a hockey game here in town. The Indianapolis Ice won their league championship last year, and Amanda and I got to watch three of their games, two for free. Tonight's Pacers game is free, and Friday's Ice game is free. We both really like free things.

Life is good here in the new place, with Kelly (a guy) and Andrew and soon to be a third roommate, David. David and I roomed together before; it will be neat to have a fourth guy in here, plus it will make rent go down in a few months. Kelly, who owns the house, has a deaf cat. The cat is pretty cool as far as cats go. His name: Leroy.

I'm going to switch sunday school classes very soon. I don't feel like I fit in with the 20-somethings class, most of which are a 2 to 5 years younger and at a different place in their lives than I'm at. Number one, they look for every opportunity to hang out (much like I once did), and many seem hungry to meet that special someone. I'm no longer in need of meeting a girl. :) Even then, I feel I don't relate well to the newer people in the group. The group was great for me when I first moved here, as I made many friends and had great Christian fellowship. Now, I feel like I need to be around more mature (older) Christians, people who can mentor me more and who I can look up to.

Amanda has come to church with me more in recent months, but we don't always attend church together. She attends the weekly Bible study that I co-lead on Wednesdays, though.

Amanda and I survived the Christmas travels. We left Wednesday after work, the day before Christmas Eve. We celebrated that night with her Woenkhaus grandparents, her dad, step-mom and 3 siblings, and her dad's bro's family (two boys). Afterward we went to her mom's, where we were to spend that night and Christmas Eve night.

Christmas Eve morning we woke up early, and had breakfast there at her mom's. Amanda's sister, Amy, and her 3-year-old were also present, and we all opened up presents. Her mom likes things done a certain way, and things got a bit stressful for her that day. But it didn't dampen Christmas spirits. That night, we celebrated at her mom's mother's place with all her uncles and their families. That was enjoyable. In all, I received a warm fleece from her step-mom's mom (whom I've never met!), a coffee mug set and chocolates from her grandma, and $75 in restaurant gift certificates from her parents. :) Then on Christmas, we made our way slowly through the slippery roads up to Illinois. That night, we watched It's a Wonderful Life with Josh, Kerissa, and Mom. Amanda had never seen the movie.

Then on Saturday morning, Amanda and I exchanged our presents. She got me many useful things that I asked for (such as a shoe organizer to hang on my door), some photos to add to our photobook, a book of Sudoku, and such. I got her some collectible thimbles from Iowa and Oklahoma; she collects thimbles from every state or country she's been in. Then on Saturday, we had the Leverton Christmas, which probably everyone who reads this already knows or was there. The four oldest Leverton males (Dad, Bob, Jason, Joe) beat the four youngest (Mike, Matthew, Tom, Josh) at a game of basketball. Joe was easily the deciding factor, that and that Mike's teammates couldn't make layups. And Mike did miss a lot of three's after making his first two. Then we went out and threw the football around; it felt warm to me so I was out in my shorts, a t-shirt and stocking cap. Anyone inside questioning whether or not I could possibly be warm out there saw proof in that a little sweat had soaked through my t-shirt. So wise or unwise, that was my Christmas party apparel.

And now it's a new year. Amanda and I had a nice celebration, the first New Years I have celebrated with a girlfriend. Hmm, next Monday, I will have known Amanda for one year. We met on Sunday, Jan. 11, at Noodles and Company, as her friend Jessica brought her to a sunday school lunch to meet me.

The rest is history. And future.

I have moved!

The summer is nearing its end, and I may start blogging again.

I've spent most of the past 3 months spending two weeks home in Illinois, then a week back here in Indiana as I look for a job.

I moved this week, using a U-haul to get all my stuff in my very large room here in a house near Fishers, IN. My address is actually Indianapolis. So I can truthfully say I live in Indy now. Before the address was in Carmel. I digress.

On Tuesday, Amanda and I drove up to Gas City and spent the night at her Dad's. (Sleeping in separate rooms.) Then we left the house by 6:15 A.M. to pick up the U-Haul in Fort Wayne. We loaded it up with furniture she was getting from her grandparents, who moved into an 'assisted living' type place. Then we drove back to her house in Indy and unloaded the U-Haul. After that, I alone took the truck to my apartment and pretty much loaded everything I own into the truck myself. Then on Thursday my new roommate and I unloaded the truck at the house.

So I'm moved, and have a very electronically minded roommate, which is pretty cool. We have a computer hooked up to the television through which we watch some T.V. shows on Hulu, which is online. And we have very fast internet. And we do not have cable t.v., which is good.

He and I are going to host a new Bible study for our Sunday school class. Our current one has grown 'too much' and we are starting a new one this coming Wednesday. My roommate's name is Kelly, a guy of course. We call him 'Our' Kelly or Kelly the Guy.

I begin playing in a new flag football league tomorrow. The team lost its game last week. I was sitting in a suite watching the Colts game at Lucas Oil Stadium. I'm playing on a different team from the first two seasons I played football; I wasn't going to play in this fall league, but I was invited to play for free on this team.

I'm trying to improve my attitude on the football field; I probably led my league in scoring touchdowns last season, and sometimes let that get inside my head. So I was very prideful out there. I'm trying to work on that, and being a good sport. I occasionally argue with the refs. And last year, with one of my teammates, who happened to also be my best friend on the team. We argued, but after the games always laughed about it. We are just ultra-competitive. I'm trying to turn over a leaf in playing sports; the games don't have any eternal value. What's more important about playing is investing in the people's lives that I'm playing with. They'll remember me more for caring about what's going on in their lives than if I scored two or three touchdowns. So it's a mindset change I'm trying for.

That's about all I've got. My computer is fried; thankfully my new roommate has a laptop in addition to his desktop. And he's going to piece together a computer for me. He works as a member of the Geek Squad at Best Buy, repairing computers and such.

It may be a little bit again before I post, but not more than a month I wouldn't think. Keep posted.

Retiring from blogging for a while

Well, I don't have internet access at my apartment, and likely won't have personal access until October when I move. So, I'm going to semi-retire from updating the blog. Until then, assume I find employment elsewhere in the next two months, assume things are still fine and dandy with Amanda, and assume I don't have personal internet access.

There's not much to update. Went to a fun cookout at Tyler and Tyler's yesterday, roommates with the same name and who go to my church. They plan to host people from our sunday school group every Sunday night, at least for now! Much fun. They have a grill, cornhole, volleyball, hillbilly golf; and the people from church are great to spend time with. So, that's likely my Sunday night activity for the summer.

My place of employment will most likely be laying some people off soon. So in a pre-emptive move, I'm very actively looking for work elsewhere. I have a job fair I plan to go to in two weeks, and I have a couple prospects in construction, one of them a road construction job. I'm also going to try to imitate mom's used books business online to earn some extra $$$. Competition? Or a second branch? :)

I like my job, but I've known it's not a long-term solution to my financial needs. I've been trying to think career lately, and may get a master's degree to make my resume more complete. So a small list of prayer requests would include my job status and finances, my health (am a little banged up physically), my relationship with Amanda, wisdom in life choices and wisdom in leading my Bible study.

Oh, exciting news! I get two opportunities this summer to teach my sunday school class; we are going through the fruits of the spirit, and on July 5th I will be teaching on patience; I also nabbed gentleness in early August. I'm excited to teach on patience, already working on a few ideas there.

I will be home in mid-July, with Amanda. Until then, read Rachel's blog for something to do online. Or you can call me or e-mail me. But I won't be blogging very often for the next few months, maybe a random post here or there. Enjoy summer. Love God. Be good.

Managing Life

Hello. I probably won't be sleeping tonight. I'll be clocking into work in 2 hours. I got almost 13 hours of sleep last night; I felt refreshed. I just finished watching a movie I borrowed from the library a week ago; it was good. My roommate used the last of the ice and put the tray back in the freezer with just one piece left. That's not good. So I have a bag of frozen green beans resting on my ankle, which is swollen and black from rolling it twice playing basketball Sunday night. Someday I may learn that all these sports catch up to you.

I'll try to give a complete update since my last post. I suppose I'll write mostly about the last 4 days. It was nice just working 1.5 days last week; I had a long day of work Thursday, and on Friday ran a hot route and worked only 5.5 hours. I liked the short day on what I like to call a 'getaway' day. It essentially gave me an extra half day on my already longer than normal 3-day weekend. Plus, 8 hours of holiday pay for Memorial Day more than made up for the short day on Friday. So I had an easy week heading into the weekend.

After work on Friday, I finished a few errands/tasks. Then I took a 2-hour nap. Then I accompanied Amanda and 2 others to a high school graduation; following the graduation, Amanda and I joined a group for dinner at a Mongolian Barbecue. The place was amazing; you choose what kind of meat you want (chicken, steak, lamb, duck, etc.) and what kind of spices you want, and you give your ingredients to the chefs and they cook it in front of you. It's all-you-can eat, which is a phrase I am very fond of. And it was a free meal, which is also a great thing.

I slept in a bit on Saturday, and wasted my morning and early afternoon. Then I picked up Amanda and we went to my old roommate's wedding. (The guy who owned the house I lived in when I first moved here.) We had a blast at the wedding, did some dancing together, sang along to some of the music selections.

Then on Sunday, I went to my own church for the first time in 4 weeks. I was in Fort Wayne meeting some girl's parents one week, I was bad and slept through my alarm the next week, and last week I was up in Michigan. So it was nice to be back with my church folks. Amanda and I joined the Schneiders for mini-golf, or putt-putt, mid Sunday afternoon. It was their first time meeting her. Then I played in two flag football games, both of which were one score losses, something I'm getting very used to this football season. And Sunday night, I decided to go play basketball despite being tired, because I had invited a friend from church to play and wanted him to at least know one person there.

So I got to basketball late. But I got in a game right away, and I made my first two 3-pointers. But I landed awkwardly on the second, twisting my ankle. I was gimpy for a bit but ran it off. Then late in the night, I landed horribly on the same ankle, and knew I'd sprained it or done something to it right away. So they helped me off the court and got ice for me. I've been taking good care of it since. Work might be impossible tomorrow, but I'm going to give it a try.

Happy story. So, Friday night when Amanda and I got back to her place after the graduation and dinner, she realized she couldn't find her camera. We quickly looked a few places and couldn't find it. Then on Saturday she couldn't find it, and called Mongolian Barbecue hoping she somehow left it there. She thought maybe it had fallen out of her purse while we were there. Then today, while I was still in bed sleeping, she tried calling me and sent me a few texts on my phone. She had called the restaurant again, talked to a manager this time, and discovered they indeed had her camera. So, she regained pictures from all the graduations she had attended the last few weeks, pictures of her and the individual girls she works with. So, she was quite tickled about getting her camera back.

So, that was my weekend. Tonight, I joined Amanda for a gathering with her house church; we went to a 'potluck' of sorts. So, another free meal. I rarely turn those down. I got to play some 'hillbilly golf' and I am undefeated in the game. But as for ankle injuries, I'm 0-for-1 this weekend. Ouch.

Pray for me when you read this, that I can make it through work the next couple of days. I would appreciate it.