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Metro:
Interests: I've been married 24 years to my best friend, and we have four great kids! I love walks in the woods, friends, laughter, and songs that touch my heart. A Christian, I'm a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Desoto, TX (www.desotosdachurch.org). I hold a Bachelor's in Theology, and am working toward Teacher Certification and a Master's in Special Education.
Expertise: A former metal musician, in 1991 God called me to walk a more peaceful musical path. With His blessing, I seek to create music that reflects my faith, exhibiting a peaceable spirit. I think of it as Classically-informed, Celtic-infused Folk. My prayer is that my songs touch your heart, resulting in a response of glory given to God.
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
1/5/2004
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| In Dave's book, he points out a Proverb that is something we should all
understand. Something we need to keep in mind as we go about our lives.
Proverbs 17:18 says "It's stupid to guarantee someone else's loan,"
Contemporary English Version. In other words, "It's stupid to co-sign."
and "It's stupid to sign for someone else."
This is a lesson I have had to learn the very hard way. I have
co-signed on a few items, and actually was the only signor on someone
else's car... All of these things should never have been done. Why? If
you love someone, won't you help them?
Is it "help" to enable someone to be in a debt that they can't truly
afford? Is it "help" to help someone get something they did not need
with money they did not truly have?
What it ends up doing, as far as I can see, is this:
(1) It wrecks the co-signor's credit. (Believe me, I know...)
(2) It strains relationships. It is hard to talk with a loved one about
money that is owed or in collections. Why? Because the one is in
servant mode to the other, and that should not be.
Instead, what you should do, if you have the money, is simply make a
gift of it. However, this is not always the wise thing to do, either,
because it does not correct the reason the person needs money in the
first place.
What I suggest is that you all get Dave Ramsey's book, "The Total Money
Makeover," and give his program your prayers and attention. I know that
it will work for me, and in fact, even this soon, it already is!
I hope to expand on these thoughts about lending/co-signing and debt as
I learn more. I hope that everyone who reads this knows that I do not
say these things to hurt the ones who have "wrecked my credit." Indeed,
if I had had wisdom, I would have insisted that they use wisdom, and
make do with what they themselves could afford outright (cash). So I am
the one who wrecked my credit by lousy decisions.
Anyways, I gots to get to homework!
TTYL
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Great book! We've been looking at houses, trying to figure out a way to
move, so that (1) we can get out of the crackerbox palace that we live
in now, and (2) that we can be closer to my job in Desoto, and (3) that
we can have more room, so that we don't have to be embarrassed about
all the crap/stuff everywhere in this little house, and that Randy can
actually have his own room, and I can have a music room for my stuff.
Here's a great principle that I wish I had learned to live by long ago:
A place for everything, and everything in its place. In other words, if
you don't have room, or a "place" for that thing you are getting, don't
get it.
So anyways, I have been quite antsy to move, yet also wanting to make sure that when we do, we are ready. Financially.
So I am not going to look at houses for awhile. What's the point! Well,
maybe getting good ideas to use in our house when we finally get it.
But what I am doing/making a commitment to do, is to follow Dave
Ramsey's TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER strategies to impact our life for the
better, get out of all the debt, and stay out of debt (with possible
exception of a mortgage).
One point he makes about buying new cars is that they depreciate a
WHOLE LOT in the first year or two. That means the value goes way down,
compared to those payments you are still making. Better, he says, to
buy a good used car a few years old FOR CASH, and when/if something
goes wrong, just pay for the fix! And often times, a car that is only a
few years old will still be covered under the manufacturers warranty
for certain items.
I'm not real sure about how we are going to attack this, mainly because
of Grandma's estate distribution. When it comes, we can just attack
everything all at once, and be done. But until then, the idea is to
keep everything paid up, and work on putting extra money every month on
the smallest debt. When that one is paid off, you add that money you
were paying to the payment of the next smallest debt, and this is what
Dave calls the DEBT SNOWBALL.
I was looking at it last night, and seeing how, without the aid of the
estate distribution, we could still have all the debts paid off , even
up to my $11,600+ KIA, within 24 months! Most of it would be gone
within 1 year. So this is doable.
If we do it right, then WE will be in control of the money/situation,
rather than the creditor/lender...especially in regard to getting the
house of our dreams. If we can work this right, which means CUTTING OUT
EXTRANEOUS SPENDING (fast food, drinks at the gas station, mainly for
us) and GETTING ON A BUDGET, we should have no problem getting the
house that we want within a year, maybe less.
And yeah, its going to be hard.
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| - One Faith
Howdy!
I've started a new class this week, and wow...it's already almost half
gone! Its one of those classes where you go 4 hours a day for 10 days
(M-Th). I'll be done with this class July 26th. So far I've done well
with my classes, and expect to continue to do so.
I'm stoked...and a bit freaked out...by the fact that I report for work
August 1st!!! Officially a Resource Reading teacher, 5th and 6th grade
level. 20 years working in a warehouse, driving a forklift, and now
look at me! Coolness...
So its going to be a bit strange at first, getting used to being the
teacher, and enforcing my classroom rules, and so forth...but its not
all about that, thankfully - its about creating a classroom environment
that's fun, safe, and makes learning a pleasure.
'Nuff said...
We are hoping to move to Desoto, but maybe somewhere else close by.
Right now, we are working on getting our Credit straightened out, which
might take awhile...
But that's okay. All in God's time.
I'm sure that Paula and Randy and Melissa are looking forward to
getting out of this little crackerbox that we've been living in the
past 19 years...
Randy got through with his Summer School, taking Geometry. Sounds like he did really well. Excellent stuff! GOOD JOERB, RANDY!!!
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| - This album is awesome - if you love guitar, you'll love this!
Hallelujah!Well, the Texas Stars & Guitars Festival went well yesterday! I was awarded First Place for Songwriter. Cool. I met some really cool guys - the Whitney Astronomy Club crew, of course, but also some great guitarists - Michael Earhart, Kavin Allenson, and Karl Droll. Michael was especially inspiring. He used looping, and was a phenomenal guitarist, painting beautiful sonic soundscapes before our eyes, one layer at a time with the looper... We all had a good time - Me, Paula, Randy, Melissa & JX. The Young Ones made a fire in a grill at night, and we had roasted corn and burgers. Good stuff. Got home around 1 a.m. Cool thing too, is that a guy walks up to me late last night and started talking to me, after awhile he turns out to be a friend of one of my old guitarists, Gary Christopher. I mentioned that when we were playing, Gary was a Seventh-day Adventist, and we are, and this guy says that so is he! So really cool to meet some other Adventists at a non-SDA-related activity! So I gave him all my contact info to pass on to Gary. Texas Scottish Festival today, and we are late already! Gotta run!
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| Just a short update to say that I did some work on my GarageBand site, and y'all check it out!
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