Does this seem right?

Does this make sense to anyone!!!?? The following quote is from the woman I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with;
"Always try to do things in chronological, alphabetical or numerical order; it's less confusing that way" the Great Gouda. That quote pretty much is me in a nutshell. – Erika –
My “filing system” the bed of my truck.
Love ya kids
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Christmas Cheeseball... not the good kind either...

So apparently I am a big cheese ball. Thanks to jonny I can no longer survive a Christmas season without watching “It’s a wonderful life” at least three times, along with many other Christmas classics including “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” (the original of course, that new crap is just that) “A Christmas Carol”, the original and the Muppets version, and also “Scroodged” (which should fall into the travesty column with the new Grinch movie, but Bill Murray just never ceased to amuse me for some odd reason) .
So A couple nights ago we popped it in (It’s a Wonderful Life) and it was everything I knew it would be! Unfortunately those old classics also strip me of every semblance of self-control, and personal pride, so I wear my emotional rollercoaster on my face like some teenage girl watching the latest super lame chick-flick. This of course made Erika very amused and me very embarrassed but what can I do? I am who I am. This also makes me supper excited for my other favorite cheese-ball Christmas delights, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, especially the going and getting it part I have a weird addiction to the smell of a fresh cut pine tree, in the wild it is best but when they lop off the trunk in some parking lot it is almost as good, Christmas carols everywhere you go even the super cheesy retail store versions, though nothing beats good ol’ Louis Armstrong. But My favorite part is the Dolsky Christmas, cards, laughing (not just laughing but becoming giddy with laughter with Sarah and Dave while our parents and in-laws look at us like we are retarded and wonder what they got themselves into) Cards, food, more laughing more food more cards some more food, reading, Christmas stockings that are stuffed beyond any sort of recognizable stocking shape, more food, more cards, and more laughing. The Crappy part is the Erika will be away in Mexico so we will not be able to share it with her, but next year she is in for a definite treat. I’m also pretty stoked about hanging with her family for Christmas. It’s a nightmare trying to juggle both families so that we get quality time with both but I think we will manage and will just double up on all the fun.
The weird part this year is that since we have such a small church just about everyone is going to be away. So not only do we not have a church to decorate and have a candle-light service in, but no parishioners to do it with. The few of us who are left will probably join with the Lutheran church in Sexsmith, so here is to new traditions as well. Its going to be just as great I’m sure, even if its in a different way.
Anyway kids love ya lots.
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Ministerial

So ministerial. Good times! It’s always interesting when you get a bunch of pastors in one room, especially when they are all form different denominations and backgrounds. Everybody is just so busy and you need to mention just how busy you are at least four times in any given conversation. Plus when you are used to your words having a particular weight in any given meeting or function you tend to have a certain mater of fact way of speaking. But mainly its fun because in a good group everyone starts putting their guard down and suddenly there is this sudden burst of sociability. Its like everyone can relate to what the other person is talking about and the comradery is really fun. Just don’t expect them to agree on the best way to have a community communion service at Easter time.

Worst ever!!!

So two things first I am the worst Pastor ever! This guy that I apparently went to school with just came into my office aka. Esquires and we had a good long chat but for the life of me I could not remember who he was his name how I know him or anything (that’s not the bad part that happens tome all the time and I just got used to it I guess). Anyway he swore a lot which is not all that odd for Grande Prairie then he found out I was a pastor. The swearing didn’t slow down any he just apologized every time he did it which was kinda annoying obviously you’re not actually sorry if you keep doing it and either way I’m not really offended so just give it up. Then he started making excuses for why he did not go to church again not really that necessary for my peace of mind anyway we talked about his life and such turns out he is a very hurting young man and very angry at God. But then I just kinda tuned out I was suddenly very concerned with what I was going to be preaching on this Sunday and for a good five minutes was just totally missing form the conversation when I “came too” he was visibly upset and just kinda asked “does that make me a bad person?”. Great! I have no idea! I don’t even know what he just said! So I did the best I could “No dude! Obviously your upset about this so it shows you’re at least conscious of what’s going on. You want my advise? Talk to God about it. He already knows what’s going on anyway so you don’t have to worry about pretending, just be honest and lay it out there. At the very least you will know someone is listening.”
Then I told him to read psalm 22. I really hope that was the Holy Spirit talking through me and not just me talking out my butt. But we’ll see.

The other thing I am the worst blogger ever I don’t know how to make links and such so you should just go to my friend Avey’s blog ( http://agirlcalledgravey.blogspot.com/ ) and check out the video she has posted there it really is freakin’ hilarious. I burst out laughing in the middle of esquires. Scared people half to death around me.
Anyway. Love ya guys
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It should not be such a small world after all...

Its funny how our view of the word changes. Today I saw a kid walking up the hill towards my old elementary school with a bag of what I assume is candy from the local corner store. I was momentarily teleported back to the feeling I had in making the same journey countless times in my oh so innocent youth. I was on my way to get a doughnut and coffee loaded with sugar from TH’s so I can’t say my choice of breakfast is all that much more healthy after all these years, but I realized my view of my childhood home is now framed by a black and brown strip of road squeezed between mounting snow piles. I can not remember with absolute clarity how my world appeared to me in my former years, but it seems to me it used to have much wider horizons even if it occupied a much smaller square footage.
It frightens me to think that other areas of my world seem to be shrinking too, not just my immediate surroundings. I love being the Pastor of a church plant because I really do believe the future is so incredibly wide open. But even as I say that I realize I so often limit myself and my church by my own experience. Sometimes I feel somehow unable to peer over the snow banks of the paths I am so familiar with traveling.
I am going to go check out a site called creative worship. Another Pastor recommended it to me as a means to finding a new worship styles that will still feel safe to staunch old Lutherans yet still stretch them in new directions and put us on the road to renewing our sense of worship.
We’ll see how it goes. Love ya kids!
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Funny

Ok shortest blog ever you like completely random nonsesensical humor? (do you like it more or less than redundant questions?) go to www.askaninja.com . Funny stuff! (warning guys will probably find this much funnier than the ladies will).
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Adventure for today...

Adventure for the day; Pulled up to my “other” office (esquires). Saw some lumpy old dog wandering across the street and almost get run over. So i pet him a bit read his tag and call the owner who automatically knew he would be outside Subway (Subway is beside Esquires). He seemed pretty happy to just sit there smelling subway, and really who can blame him so i went in to get my caramel and coffee fix. I am sitting there working on my message and one of the girls comes up and says “sorry sir but there are no dogs allowed in here”. I guess i must have given her one of those completely blank and yet very confused stares, and what could i say? “Ok?” then she pointed at the ground just behind me and to the right, “isn’t that your dog?” well sure enough that lumpy old dog had followed me in and plunked down beside me. Which explained the funky smell that i thought was coming from the bathroom since i was sitting right beside it as there were no other spots available. Anyway she thought that was pretty funny and led him outside and gave him a couple of yesterday’s biscuits. The owners should find that pretty funny latter on tonight. But oh well not my problem i called them again there is my civic duty. They should put a better fence up.
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Life as a pastor...

Oh my goodness dave is actually passing me in blogs either that means I am a huge slacker or much less a nerd, i would like to think the latter.
My life as a pastor is both much more and much less busy than I had anticipated. being that this new church is so much tinnier the number of “official” coffee’s is much less plus i am not working with any other youth leaders or pastors so i don’t get together with those folks. But I do have a lot of bumping into people i sorta know or used to know and end up catching up then talking about where I am now and often end up talking about spiritual matters. Of course they are not talking to “Pastor Tim” they are just talking to “that Tim guy they know”. This suits me just fine I dig talking about God with people, no matter what context. I do get antsy though to really get meaty with the church plant though. i mean I love preaching on sundays and confirmation is actually fun and seems the kids are into it too. We even have a bit of a youth group going. But it seems like I have been researching Church planting forever and have all these idea’s and musings of what we could do and where God could be leading us but the actual process of discerning the next step and taking it seems so painstakingly slow. w e are just now getting into some vision planning, and we are about to start a bible study i hope to move into the realm of leadership planning and training. t just seems like we are going so slow. i know these things take time bla..bla...bla... patience!? not so much one of my stronger virtues! But oh well thats life i’m settling in and looking forward to what God is doing and what the future holds even if it does seem so far away.
Life with Erika is stupendous. We are fiddling around with renovations to get her house ready to be our love nest. That too I just want to bite into but we have to wait for the electrician and time of course. We started with marriage counseling, thats pretty cool, we’ve talked about allot of this stuff already but to have to articulate it for someone else kinda puts new perspectives on things and helps us to realize there are some things we need to dig into a bit more. And of course the wedding there is not a ton going on but there is always some little detail to mull over and such. Mostly though tis just allot of fun to hang out and go through life together. Marriage looks like it is going to be a very interesting blast.
anyway kids hope that’ll hold ya for a little bit. love ya.
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My other brother Dave..

Oh don’t you just hate it when this happens. So I’m sitting here thinking about Sarah’s wedding while I am supposed to be finishing the message for tomorrow and it dawns on me I now have an other brother dave. Perhaps a few of you are too cool to have watched Bob Newheart, but in this show there was a guy who used to say “Hi my name is Larry this is my brother Daryl and my other brother Daryl.” Well I missed my perfect opportunity to say “Hi my name is Tim this my brother Dave and this is my other brother Dave” Ok lame i suppose, but the old folks would have got a kick out of it and really those are the laughs you need to aim for at such functions.
Anyway Sarah and Dave’s wedding was quite spectacular, all warm and fuzzy and generally allot of fun. Not that i was expecting a whole lot different. I was just thinking it may be a little more formal you know. Anyway so now i guess the pressure is on for us to have a fun wedding too. I’m sure we are up to the task. Yesterday we booked the hall, Five-Mile Hall to be exact. not quite as fancy as some of the hotels we looked at but with some decorations it think it will be allot more us, and hopefully a little more homey feeling. I already started looking up some sweet wedding tunes nothing like a little billy idol. anyway I should get back to work now but any suggestions let them fly. peace kids
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To school again...

Do you ever get nostalgic for those old days? Ok, so that’s a retarded question. Everyone gets nostalgic from time to time. This week with all the kiddies going back to school, I had a throwback to that feeling I used to get walking to school in the crisp pre autumn air. It was weird, with the smell of the dew and the leaves just starting to change I had that feeling down deep in the gut that used to remind me I was off for another year of the unknown, but soon to be taught. It is kinda a mix of disappointment in a summer gone, a little nervousness to see classmates and find out where you lie in the pecking order, I guess excitement would be in there too just because it is a start of something new.
I even remembered the smell of the high school the first day of classes. It was always odd, I had my locker somewhere between the cafeteria and the shop wing so it was a mix of engine oil, sawdust, pancakes, and hash-browns, not to mention the musk of a thousand or more high school students.
I never really liked school I mean I survived and I had some good times in there in between. But for the most part I just remember not really knowing where I belonged. I was known for being a Christian but was too Lutheran to hang out with the “Bible bashers” (Good folk just a little too hyper for my tastes). I played football for a year but was never really hard core. One of the big regrets of those years was quitting, but when your heart is not in it what can you do? I was too unsure of myself to be in the cool crowd (though I realize that may sound like an oxymoron to some), And I was not dorky enough to be an outcast. I had friends but they had their own groups where they belonged. I would just kinda float.
German and English class were places I could be myself, though they were my best and worst class by a margin of sixty percent or so. I just loved to debate, In German we would talk bout just about everything with just a smidgen of German in there as well. Which probably explains the lower of my marks. In English we expressed as many thoughts but actually got grades for doing it effectively in a language I could understand so that helped. My favorite time though was hanging out in the library during spare ten to fifteen of us seniors would take over the middle island of desks and “study” it was an odd mix if just about every social group there was in the high school from the artsy-fartsy, the pot head, the jock, she who belonged to those prone to being more scantily clad, the musician, and everything in-between plus me. No one really belonged so everyone was welcome, I felt right at home.
Anyway I was just thinking of those days again. Lest we forget you know… (and yes I do think it is just as important to remember what kids go through on a day to day basis, as it is to remember those who have fallen in war. If we are not concerned about the quality of life, spiritual, and emotional well being of the future generations, why did those great men and women have to die to preserve this way of life in the first place?)
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So yeah all this talk about the macs being so much easier to post pictures with and such not so much but here are a few more.
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So guess what? Tim is getting married!!! Astounding I know!! i asked Erika to marry me on Tuesday and she actually said yes. I was and am quite happy. I planned a nice little picnic down at O’ Brian park, fried up some shrimp, put together a salad got some drinks had it all setting on ice. I called Erika just as she was getting off work and asked if she had eaten yet. She said “yes”... Nuts! (apparently she was starving so she ate supper early). We went down to O’ Brian anyway. She kept on asking me if I was alright, like I was acting weird or something seeing as how I was about to ask the most important question in my life. Anyway I smoothly dodged the prodding by implying she was the one acting weird, what can I say I’m a charmer. Anyway so we walked down to to the river I ate our supper with Erika sitting beside me on driftwood on the beach. Anyway she was starting to get weirded out by my acting weird so we walked a little further down the river sat on a log dangling our feet in the water and i popped the question. Suddenly it all made sense the questions about rings, her dad taking off to town to have coffee with “someone”, the shrimp dinner (she loves shrimp I’m not so hot on it), me apparently acting weird. So March 3rd anyone? I would love to say we are just having a nice little wedding but each of her parents have like twenty siblings symptoms of being mennonite I guess. So looks like small is a little out of the question. Anyway it’s nice to have Sarah’s wedding to focus on right now so we can kinda put stuff on the back burner and let it simmer for a bit. Anyway that’s my news. Love you all. peace
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Consider me Mac-ified

Well consider me cool what can I say? I got my brand new mac laptop on thursday and it is glorious. Of course i am still learning how to use it but oh well such is life. i am really excited to see what this baby can do and for the price the church paid for it it had better be able to a whole lot. Last few days I have been downloading music and pod-casts like crazy i need more ears for all this stuff. plus the photo stuff is awesome i have not even begun to see how this sucker will make blogging easier It’s supposed to but we will see. I started out writing my message for this week on here but fortunately remembered before i got too far that I did not a have a printer hooked up and as i am usually making last minute adjustments on saturday night that may not work out so well. been playing with the presentation software too looks like I will have to figure out how to work powerpoint into my message presentations too could be pretty sweet. anyway good times mann good times. plus it feels so good to be free from the shackles of dial-up and be flying free in the world of wireless high speed. Anyway kids thought you should know. love ya! peace
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A spade is a spade...

So this week I am talking about sin in the message. I know sin in a Lutheran church? Don’t I mean grace? No I mean sin. Not really sure how this is going to pan out. But whatever, we’ll see where God takes it. The problem is when you get ready for something like this you wind up taking a couple steps back and examining your own life and all that it contains. I would say taking a good long hard look but really it only takes a glancing sweep to realize there is not a whole lot there to be proud of. The last thing I want to do is sound like a hypocrite. I know my life is messed up, I know no one is perfect that is why Jesus came in the first place. I also know that if you ignore sin, or try to manage it by categorizing this sin as worse than that sin, and this sin a barley a misdemeanor you either become incredibly legalistic, or go to the other extreme. As my Grandma would put it; so open-minded that everything falls out. So it’s important to call a spade a spade and get on with our lives, and yet not get too hung up on this that it drives a wedge between us and those arround us, though to some extent that is unavoidable. Hmmm looks like I got some more thinking and praying to do on this one.
Anyway I know how some people (who are my sister) get annoyed with theological discourse on the blogosphear, but this is my life what can I say, well this and hanging out with Erika, at night at least. Who would have thought having your girlfriend in the same city as you could be so great!? We went to the two towers movie last night kinda intense kinda crazy. We felt a little bad because we seemed like the only ones not crying by the end of it but. Oh well at least we’re on the same page. Anyway guys love you lots. Peace
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Giddly like a little school girl!!

I am a very happy boy! I got myself a computer yesterday. Ok well I used someone else’s credit card and the church is actually the one paying for it but whatever I am the one who gets to receive it then use it all the time. It was a little nerve racking I always freak out a little spending other peoples money especially in such large amounts. But such is life. Anyway now I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting for it to get here just seems like time is dragging by. Sure it has only been one day but it was one very long day. Actually I was looking at Office space for me and possibly the church though the rooms big enough to really do anything in or have meetings are pretty expensive not to mention not wheel chair accessible. And when one of your committee members is in a wheel chair that’s kinda important. Anyway makes me excited thinking about having my own office again, not having to share with the photocopier and office supplies.
Got a meeting tonight with the organizing committee. It should be pretty good when you are just starting out nothing is a given so this meeting could either be really short or insanely long. Pray for us if you get the chance could be some big decisions made tonight. Or else we may just chicken out and leave them for another night but whatever. I’m confident God will make happen what needs to happen.
Peace kids.
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So working from home has some advantages, for one the commute is short. Also soon as the cobwebs are out you can get right to work, even in the middle of breakfast. If you sleep in a bit no one really notices. You don’t have to worry about Tim Hortons, or thermo-mugs, or anything like that, just put a big ol’ pot on and your good for the day. There are some negatives too though. Like the biggest one; you never really know when you are "done work", there is not a lot of separation between work and the rest of your life. As a Pastor this gets bad enough but when you have no office to leave pressing cares they don’t just follow you home they follow you around at home. Ah! But such is life. Actually this past week and a half has been great the future just seems so wide open like a big blank slate it is great. Living with Mom and Dad has been very cool. I am still very much looking forward to having my own place but I really appreciate having a place to crash in the mean time. Anyway that’s my life; not very exciting I know, but oh well. Love you guys. Peace.
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Pardon?????

Wow! It’s a world of blogger slackers out there today! But hey who am I to talk? So Erika lives with two other girls and is thinking about a third. This could be danger. It already is danger. I mean they are super great girls and all they just all tend to be a little on the loud side. I know most of you who have met Erika would not guess this but she is kinda a loud person from time to time (I Know I can bee too so I am not judging), Her roomies are just as loud if not louder so this makes for a deafening house some days. The funny thing is that both the other girls boyfriends are both very quiet people. I am not a quiet person I know but in that situation I defiantly am. Anyway that’s my story for today. No point, but whatever. Love you guys.
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Biker Bible Bearer.

So today I ran into a guy who looked like he could make a living off of biting heads off rattle snakes and smashing beer bottles over peoples heads. He was dressed like the toughest biker I have ever seen wearing a clerical collar and had tattoos up and down his arms that seemed rather inappropriate for display in church or another place that was not a downtown biker bar for that matter. But you read right, he was wearing a clerical collar. Turns out he is in fact a reformed biker and is now a pastor in a downtown church in Toronto he is in GP visiting his niece and nephew. You just never know whom you will get to know in the check out stand at Home Depot. Someday I will be that cool of an uncle. Though perhaps avoiding flaming sculls and scantily clad women permanently gracing my limbs. Which leads me to another quick update. A couple things I forgot to mention on the last one (I kinda figured it was already a doosy so I cut myself off) I am going to be an Uncle!! Probably not news to most of you who read this blog but whatever. Jen is looking so cute with the little baby growing inside her. And the baby is just incredible to see on the ultrasound how pumped am I!!! (Ok I know that sounds selfish but this is my blog so back off. Check out Dave and Jenn’s blogs if you want to hear about their excitement) Also I’m note sure if I had mentioned this before or not but I am also very pumped that Dave Kruger will soon be a permanent addition to our family. Good times good times! Even if this does mean I have to wear purple. Anyway kids Take it easy. Love Ya
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I'm Back Baby!!!!

I’m back baby!!! I’m big, bold, beautiful, bald, and blogging! I’m Back!!! Ok not so much on the bald thing but whatever. Boy Oh Boy does this feel good!! One more way to subject myself to this world!
Ok so quick re-cap for all those Tim fans out there. Our hero has been out of communiqué for just a little while and this is what has happened; He got himself a Girlfriend (Ok This is kinda old news, but there are still some of us out there reeling form this concept) A wonderful young Mennonite girl, fun, a little crazy, loves God, amazingly beautiful, what more could a guy ask for? Ok then he goes on down to Kamloops for a weekend and comes back with a call to be a pastor in a new church plant in good ol’ GP!! Ok kinda crazy! pretty excited, insanely nervous but hey such is life. If God calls he will provide the means so… Here I stand, I can do no other. Then Mr. Tim goes off to another country for a couple weeks. Mexico was outlandishly amazing!!! We took a little mission trip on down to Juarez Mexico right across the border from El Paso TX. WOW man what an experience I must admit I did not expect much more than a big headache. After all it was four flights and a four hour van drive right through the middle of the desert with twelve youth... Well "youth" most of them should have been able to plan their own mission trip and here I am taking them on a trip pretty much designed for high school students not collage and career students, even if they were very young C&C students.
Anyway God threw me right back on my kiester. Did he ever move in a powerful way. The first three days of the trip were training and God spoke so powerfully to each and every person! like lives were transformed! I have seen my share of big high weekends where people get all moved by God, feel on cloud nine then come on home and pack it away in the closet till the next time to act super spiritual comes along, but in the mean time life continues as normal. Oh no there was none of that! Ok maybe a little of that but much more than that was the way that God really shook up some lives. The outreach for the next week was evidence of that. People who would normally hardly talk about their faith were kneeling with people and praying with them to accept Jesus. There were testimonies after testimony how God spoke to them and not like "Jesus Spoke to me and showed me how pretty a daisy is", but really spoke into their lives. People were saved Man that was Huge!!!!
Anyway even the age thing was no big deal there was a lot less nose wiping sort of deal and a lot more encouragement and allowing them to step up to the plate and beyond allowing them to become the leaders and help each other it was really cool!
Anyway so yeah Mexico was great!
Then I was back in Canada and took some holidays for a week, saw some friends did some camping hung out at home a little. Then it was back in Ponoka for one more week of sad good-byes and setting up the garage sale, also known as the gong show sale. We bought ourselves a brand new tarp for the huge tent that we use for this event, the other one was pretty full of holes and leaked a lot. The new one worked fantastic it held all the water off the tables that was until all the water that collected on the tarp (as there wer no holes to let it out) after one huge shower crushed the inch and a half piping that made up the frame work and the whole thing came crashing down on all our wonderful merchandise. Apparently God did bless our holy tent and sent us it for a purpose. Anyway so our three days of work were not wasted we shed off the tent people just starts showing up way before the advertised time for the sale to start and we sold off a lot of junk the next day we made another make-shift tent and all was well.
Yesterday was the big day. A few more tearful good-byes at the church. I am going to miss Ponoka like crazy. Before going there I had all but lost faith in the church. I knew there were still good people but figured the church in the west at least had turned into some sort of clubhouse mentality that was really of no use to God or to me. So I was going to go work with the Youth pray that God would use me to show them a bigger world and a more meaningful faith, but I was going to stay away from as much "churchiness" as possible. And he did use me mostly in ways I was oblivious too which was probably why it worked so well. But He sure used them to show me his church is alive and well, And that you really can tell his people by their love. Love for others (even foolish young youth pastors who have almost no organizational skills, but their learning), and most importantly Love for Jesus. If not for Trinity In Ponoka I really don’t think I would have continued on in ministry. But that’s all God’s plan so Who am I to speculate on that.
So Yeah that after noon we packed up the truck. Ok I really am the luckiest guy ion the world. Not only did Erika come on down with a truck to pack all my stuff in but while I was running around moving tarps and collapsed tents she packed up my apartment almost single-handedly. Then cleaned it too and you do not need to know me well to figure out my cleaning habits are not exactly hospital standard. I mean I did vacuum and wipe down the counters from time to time but the place was pretty gross by the time she got to the back corners and such. Anyway what a wonderful girl.
So Now I am back In GP living with the Parents till I can find a place for myself. GP either the rent is more than I make in a year or there is a waiting list just as long. This town is nuts!! But I have faith something will come up. Anyway I guess I should go for now I know this was a doosy and good for you who were able to stick it out to the bitter end I should be able to keep up to more regular updates so hopefully the average will not be this crazy. Love you guys, have fun in all things.
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Bye For Now....

Hey guys unfortunately I will no longer have Internet access on a daily basis so it looks like I will be signing off for the time being at least, not that you will be missing much as I have been a huge blog slacker but whatever. I miss you all lots. I will still be checking my e-mail almost every day though so keep it touch that way (it’s a long story). Take it easy kids. Love ya
Tim<><