Be Prepared

So the way I see it, we shouldn’t be caught with our pants down, EVER. With that in mind I propose the following Posse, just in case we need it.

Ethan: Since you have access to the bat phone that actually reaches California, you will initiate the posse. The last I checked the bat signal wasn’t bright enough to reach across four states, so you will start the phone chain by calling Armand. After calling Armand, grab some food and head to NAS Fort Worth.

Armand: As chief pilot, you will fuel the plane, log the flight plan, arrange for refueling in route (because that would be cool to see) and prepare to teach the posse how to sky dive in route. Next call Trey then go pick him up.

Trey: I ain’t jumping out of a plane sober. You are to run to Binny’s. Pick up a bottle of something hard and then a glass of wine. Every good posse starts with an appropriate gentleman like toast, but I will need more alcohol in my system prior to jumping. Next call Justin. Finally, head to the closest airfield for Armand to pick you up.

Justin: I will get to NAS Fort Worth for pick up by Armand and Trey. Along the way I will grab the extra underwear I will need once I jump out of the plane as well as the Google maps satellite picture of California and Scotts house. I will meet Ethan at NAS.

Finally: Armand will do his in flight “How to Sky Dive in One Easy Lesson” and fly the plane at the same time. Our respective wives will huddle and pray for our sanity. We will jump when the red light goes green (that is how it works in the movies). Armand will land the plane, avoid being arrested by the MPs for breaking some pretty serious rules and head over to Scotts house.

We will arm ourselves with imaginary swords and take to the streets of California looking for Scott. He is near a Target somewhere, I promise.

There now you can’t say we aren’t PREPARED.

Speaking of a Posse search party, anyone heard from the President?

Is California Still Alive?

Has anyone talked to Scott in the past month? He hasn't blogged in a long time. I called him over the weekend, with no answer. I am starting to get worried. Do we need to send out a search party? Lets assemble a posse, just in case...

Race for the Cure

by Justin

Let me start by saying this: “I am in no way trying to be hurtful with my commentary on this subject.” Let’s get that over with.

If you read Holly’s previous post, and I hope you did, you know that she walked the 5k Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday. I opted to sleep in on one of the precious few Saturdays we are at home. I also had a silent reason to stay at home as well.

I hate big name fundraisers. I know the the Jerry Lewis MD telethon has raised ‘awareness’ and millions if not billions for research. I am sure the Susan G. Komen foundation has done amazing things, but I can’t get over the meer cost of running these outfits. Don’t think that I stop there. I refuse to participate in ‘Friends of Scouting’ activities as well. Why support the council or national council with money when very little of it, in my opinion, does more than go towards raising more money?

While I disagree with the ‘Wal-Mart’ approach to fundraising I will say that I can see how an event like ‘Race for the Cure’ is healing and helping. Holly came home with amazing stories of survivors, family and friends and those with no direct associations and the emotional healing of seeing 18,000+ people gather to support the cause. She talked of people wearing shirts with ‘In Memory of my Wife or Mom or Sister’ on the back. She was pulled to tears as her work friend talked of losing her Mom and now her Aunt being diagnosed. It was great to hear and see the effect of these stories from the outing.

While I still disagree with the conglomerate concept, I have a much deeper appreciation of the overall effect of the event.

Blessings

By Holly

I haven’t posted in a while because I haven’t felt like I really had anything of importance to share, but it’s a blog, so I can write anything, right? So here are some random happenings in my world these days.

I went on a Ladies Retreat with our church last weekend to Lake Texoma. The topic was Thankful for the Thorns, which is misleading, but it was an amazing experience. Our speaker is a DTS (Dallas Theological Seminary) professor in the Women’s Ministry department, Joye Baker. She shared so much from her own life and how those hard times were necessary for God’s sovereign plan in her life. She made it clear that we don’t have to be thankful for the bad stuff, but to be thankful that God is with us through the bad stuff and that He has a perfect plan for each of us. What made this so powerful is that I was with my friend Abbey M, who is pregnant with her second child who has a cleft lip and palate. She’s of course having difficulty with this on so many levels. But we came away from the weekend with a renewed sense of hope and thankfulness. What a blessing!

Tomorrow I am doing the 5K Race for the Cure Walk in Dallas with a friend from work, whose mom died of breast cancer 2 years ago and whose aunt is going through chemo now. We’re excited to be doing something, but also a little emotional too. Pray for us as we do that together.

Justin and I have realized that the last few months have been the best yet. While we’ve been busy and overcommitted, we also have enjoyed our marriage and friendship more than we ever have before. It makes each day brighter knowing you are waking up next to your best friend and coming home to them every afternoon. I love you Justin!

Okay, so this has been a serious, mushy-gushy post, but thanks for getting through it.

Hope you all are enjoying life and appreciate all of God’s blessings around you!

POS

by Justin

Some people have an acronym for POS, which we won’t use here in my blog. Southwest Airlines, my great employer, uses the acronym POS to stand for positively outrageous service. So here is to continuing the theme of customer service on these blogs.

Not that myself or others in the company do not slip up, but I think we are way better than average. For instance just the other day it was actually raining here in Dallas. I know, I know amazing. While snowing in Chicago it was raining in Dallas. We dang near declared a statewide holiday. I was running late for a Twin Arrows meeting and decided to run through Jack in the Box for a quick lunch. I approached the speaker for the drive thru and rolled down my window. I waited for a good 15 seconds with no reply. So I started rolling up my window a little more and more to keep out most of the rain. A full two minutes later the lady comes over the speaker to get my order. While ticked, I remained calm.

When I got to the window to get my food I waited till I had all the food and decided to let the teenager manning the drive thru know that we were getting wet waiting on her. I very politely told her that while waiting for the intercom, people were getting wet. She snapped and said well we are short staffed and I am running both inside and out so deal. SO DEAL?

I was now furious and speed away. POS, POS…she might be a P….oh why waist the words.

To top it all off I didn’t get what I ordered.

Passing of a Scouter

Mr. Bill Wies passed away this morning. He was a long time supporter of Troop 37, a life long Scout and a great man. Mr. Wies died from complications with cancer. His battle had been a long one. He died with his loving and caring wife at his side. His funeral is planned for Friday near Corsicanna, Texas.

May God bless him and keep him.

A Weekend in Charlotte

by Holly

We spent this weekend (actually Friday through Monday) in Charlotte, North Carolina with some long-lost friends, or at least it feels that way. We miss you Clint and Erin! We hadn't seen them since June of last year and had some catching up to do.

Friday we got to experience Pike's and their famous milkshakes- me: Peanut Butter, Justin: Strawberry. Wonderful! That evening we were treated to true North Carolina barbecue at Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue, which is anything but! We enjoyed it, but I'm still not sure how they decided to call it barbecue. For anyone not familiar with the delicacy, it is shredded pork with a vinegar/red pepper sauce. We did actually bring a bottle of the sauce home with us for the times we really miss Erin the most- I'll even make sweet tea to go with it Erin!

We stayed up late talking and then of course had to sleep in Saturday. We got a late start and then indulged in Clint's yummy French Toast and bacon. Yes, he spoiled us! That afternoon was spent at the Renaissance Festival in the drizzly, cold weather. We had a good time, with the highlight being our photo taken in Renaissance costumes! That was followed by supper at RiRa, an Irish pub in downtown Charlotte. We had traditional meals- me: Shepherd's Pie Boxty, Justin: Bangers and Mash. (Use your imagination.) We then headed to the mall for Cold Stone ice cream and a fabulous time at the Halloween costume store.

Another night of late-night chatting followed by another morning of sleeping in. We took it easy on Sunday, as it rained most of the day and we were being lazy. Clint cooked breakfast again, and our entertainment for the afternoon was walking to the model homes in their neighborhood to look at how they were decorated. Yes, we are a cheap date. We grilled burgers and fried fries that evening and made ourselves get to bed at a reasonable time.

We had to get up at 4:30 (Texas time) to get to the airport on time and so they could get back to work on time. It was a sad goodbye, but all good things must come to an end. Thank you so much for your hospitality guys! We love you and wish we could see you more often.

Drum Roll Please

This month's star blogger of the month is...

NOBODY

That's right, no one. It is my not so private protest over a lack of blogging and commenting. If we could award it in to the same person two months in a row, which we decided we wouldn't, then Aimee would have blown us all away. Sadly we will have to try again next month.

-Justin

Random Quote

"Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you find a rock. "
- Will Rogers

I ran across this the other day and loved it. Just my random quote of the moment.

Justin