We've been home for a week now. We had a amazing trip. Here's some pictures to look at for now. I'll do some more specific posts later.
Picasa pics of SE Asia 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
new house
Well, we didn't get a new house, but it sure looks like one. Here's the story.
Back in May a fellow was coming door to door. I hear the door bell ring, so I answer it. He says, "hey, my name's Ted, I'm not selling anything." So I listened for a while. Turns out he works for contractor that goes around residential neighborhoods looking for houses with hail damage. They do free assessments and if they find damage, leave it up to you if you would want to make an insurance claim. I thought, free look for damage, go ahead.
After they had a look, I realized just how much hail damage was present on my roof and siding - I didn't even know and I'm in the field of remodeling (wasn't paying that close of attention). The only thing binding with this whole deal was that I pay my deductible and use their company to do the work.
At this point I could have declined them and looked into doing the work myself, but after I got to talking with Ted, I discovered that they were believers and that comforted me. They really have turned out to be great people.
So I had an adjuster come out to assess the damage. He went over the whole property with a fine tooth comb and $16,000.00 later, I decided this was a good deal. I made the claim, and I now have a new roof and siding. There were a few hiccup's here and there, but all and all a good experience.
Here's the sweet part. When Emily and I bought the house we knew that we were going to have to put some money into the roof, and siding if we wanted to make house look better. This is our third summer of ownership and we were just gearing up to drop about $4000.00 just into the roof. Ted showed up on my doorstep the week I was pricing out materials to do the work myself. As you know, I'm job searching, and that money we had saved for the roof has really helped us during this time of financial need because of unemployment.
The Lord is faithful!
Back in May a fellow was coming door to door. I hear the door bell ring, so I answer it. He says, "hey, my name's Ted, I'm not selling anything." So I listened for a while. Turns out he works for contractor that goes around residential neighborhoods looking for houses with hail damage. They do free assessments and if they find damage, leave it up to you if you would want to make an insurance claim. I thought, free look for damage, go ahead.
After they had a look, I realized just how much hail damage was present on my roof and siding - I didn't even know and I'm in the field of remodeling (wasn't paying that close of attention). The only thing binding with this whole deal was that I pay my deductible and use their company to do the work.
At this point I could have declined them and looked into doing the work myself, but after I got to talking with Ted, I discovered that they were believers and that comforted me. They really have turned out to be great people.
So I had an adjuster come out to assess the damage. He went over the whole property with a fine tooth comb and $16,000.00 later, I decided this was a good deal. I made the claim, and I now have a new roof and siding. There were a few hiccup's here and there, but all and all a good experience.
Here's the sweet part. When Emily and I bought the house we knew that we were going to have to put some money into the roof, and siding if we wanted to make house look better. This is our third summer of ownership and we were just gearing up to drop about $4000.00 just into the roof. Ted showed up on my doorstep the week I was pricing out materials to do the work myself. As you know, I'm job searching, and that money we had saved for the roof has really helped us during this time of financial need because of unemployment.
The Lord is faithful!
first things first
There are now three Carlson's in this family. This picture was take back in April. Emily is expected to have the baby on December 8th. Lord-willing the baby will come a day late so we can still participate in the Gamble Family Christmas. We have had our second ultrasound and after seeking much counsel and opinion, did not find out the child's gender. There were many reasons for this, but I think mostly Emily and I didn't have a strong preference and wanted the surprise and anticipation (nothing against parents who choose to find out). We're going to be extremely happy either way.
Have you heard of the new gender neutral pronoun? The word is "Hu" and it takes the place of "he or she." It really is tricky to refer to the baby. Emily and I have taken to either referring to the baby as "Heshee" (he/she) or "Dia," which is the gender neutral pronoun in Bahasa Indonesia. We do have names picked out (no we're not telling), but that isn't really that helpful since we don't know the gender.
At some point I'm going to start a separate blog that you can link from this blog after we have the baby so you can view pics and keep up with the new family addition.
Gamble Family web page
Gender Neutral Pronoun
a long time's past
Hello,
I realize my long absence may have caused some of you to quit checking my blog. At the same time I realize that technology is so fancy these days that you can subscribe to my blog, and IT will tell you when I've posted - pretty stinking cool!
Some reasons for my absence. As some of you may know I'm on the hunt for a job. I'm spending a lot of time on the computer, and I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to. Though it has now gotten to the point, because of the Lord's great faithfulness, that I need to post some of the amazing things that have happened to us over the past few months.
I'll post as soon as I can.
I realize my long absence may have caused some of you to quit checking my blog. At the same time I realize that technology is so fancy these days that you can subscribe to my blog, and IT will tell you when I've posted - pretty stinking cool!
Some reasons for my absence. As some of you may know I'm on the hunt for a job. I'm spending a lot of time on the computer, and I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to. Though it has now gotten to the point, because of the Lord's great faithfulness, that I need to post some of the amazing things that have happened to us over the past few months.
I'll post as soon as I can.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
new table
I built a new table for my porch. It holds a special meaning in my heart because I acutually cut down the tree, and cut up the log with my chainsaw. Here's some pics. I prayed that the table would serve our family well, and so far it has.
mechanics must be millionares
Since January I had been having problems with my car. I'm somewhat handy so I tried the basics in hope that it would fix the problem. None of these things seemed to be working so I just continued to drive it. Eventually the problem was getting so bad that it was actually annoying to drive - especially while drinking coffee. I brought it to my mechanic to see if he could diagnose something. He couldn't tell what was wrong, and told me to bring it to a place where they can hook it up to a fancy computer system (by the way, he still charged me for telling me nothing. Imagine if I, as a carpenter, stared at someones broken bookshelf, then told them that I was sure there was someone out there who was able to fix it, then charged them for the revelation - wow!).
Anyways, I was hesitant to bring it to one of these shops because I know that all car problems are costly, and honestly my car isn't worth that much. Well, eventually I decided to take it to a shop where they would charge me $100 to hook it up to the miracle machine and tell me what was wrong. After the diagnosis they told me it could possible be two things, a throttle position sensor, or a leaky manifold intake gasket - Both costly repairs and they said that fixing these doesn't mean the problem will go aways (talk about reassuring). I decided to try to replace the sensor on my own. I went and bought the fifty dollar part, took five minutes to remove and install the new one, and said a prayer. When I started the car, the problem seemed to be gone. I then praised the Lord, for he is faithful.
Why am I telling you this you may be asking...
Well...I thought about how we are all sinners saved by grace. God has saved us once for all, and he is saving us daily as we are sanctified by his grace. I thought of this comparison in regard to my car situation.
We all know we have problems, some of them even annoy us and hinder our daily lives. Sometimes we even have the skills to fix these problems, we just don't know where to start. I got to thinking about my sin. I know I have sin in my life, and that it affects my performance for the sake of the kingdom. Many times it takes a good friend to point out the problem, like a sensor. Some seemingly insignificant part that you would never look to as the root of such behavior. Once this is brought to your attention, do the work of replacing it by the grace of God, and keep on driving.
I'm thankful that the Lord has put people in my life who love me and aren't afraid to tell me where I'm lacking. Thanks be to God that he equips the body of Christ with everything it needs to become more and more a fragrant aroma of Christ unto God!
Anyways, I was hesitant to bring it to one of these shops because I know that all car problems are costly, and honestly my car isn't worth that much. Well, eventually I decided to take it to a shop where they would charge me $100 to hook it up to the miracle machine and tell me what was wrong. After the diagnosis they told me it could possible be two things, a throttle position sensor, or a leaky manifold intake gasket - Both costly repairs and they said that fixing these doesn't mean the problem will go aways (talk about reassuring). I decided to try to replace the sensor on my own. I went and bought the fifty dollar part, took five minutes to remove and install the new one, and said a prayer. When I started the car, the problem seemed to be gone. I then praised the Lord, for he is faithful.
Why am I telling you this you may be asking...
Well...I thought about how we are all sinners saved by grace. God has saved us once for all, and he is saving us daily as we are sanctified by his grace. I thought of this comparison in regard to my car situation.
We all know we have problems, some of them even annoy us and hinder our daily lives. Sometimes we even have the skills to fix these problems, we just don't know where to start. I got to thinking about my sin. I know I have sin in my life, and that it affects my performance for the sake of the kingdom. Many times it takes a good friend to point out the problem, like a sensor. Some seemingly insignificant part that you would never look to as the root of such behavior. Once this is brought to your attention, do the work of replacing it by the grace of God, and keep on driving.
I'm thankful that the Lord has put people in my life who love me and aren't afraid to tell me where I'm lacking. Thanks be to God that he equips the body of Christ with everything it needs to become more and more a fragrant aroma of Christ unto God!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
follow up
Just to follow up on our computer purchase, I love it! The Lord has answered our prayers that it would serve our family well. I'm especially like the iSight which is a built in camera that allows you to communicate via Skype or other video communication systems. My wife is in Korea currently visiting a friend with her sister and the computer has been a great way for us to talk with one another. It's free, and there's a live video feed so we can actually see each other in real time with hardly any lag time.
For you encouragement I have have a story about how the Lord provided for my needs. For months now I've been wanting a cell phone/PDA. I had been planning to buy a new phone in April, and thus had been saving up some money for the rather large purchase. Mid March my friends and I were at a gathering and I was mentioning how I was going to be purchasing a phone. My friend Kris offered me an extremely nice phone for free! How awesome is that! Two weeks before I was going to drop some money on a phone, the Lord provided a phone that exceeded my expectations. "And my God will do exceedingly, abundantly, more than all we ask or imagine." Then, to make the story even more amazing. One week after I got the phone, I accidentally dropped it and I noticed that the LCD has a small red blotch on it resulting from the fall. I was bummed about this, so I asked the Lord to remove the spot. I don't know how this works apart from asolute sovereignty, but the spot is gone, as if the spot had never been there. I actually watched it slowly disappear. The Lord is Lord over all.
Mac page
For you encouragement I have have a story about how the Lord provided for my needs. For months now I've been wanting a cell phone/PDA. I had been planning to buy a new phone in April, and thus had been saving up some money for the rather large purchase. Mid March my friends and I were at a gathering and I was mentioning how I was going to be purchasing a phone. My friend Kris offered me an extremely nice phone for free! How awesome is that! Two weeks before I was going to drop some money on a phone, the Lord provided a phone that exceeded my expectations. "And my God will do exceedingly, abundantly, more than all we ask or imagine." Then, to make the story even more amazing. One week after I got the phone, I accidentally dropped it and I noticed that the LCD has a small red blotch on it resulting from the fall. I was bummed about this, so I asked the Lord to remove the spot. I don't know how this works apart from asolute sovereignty, but the spot is gone, as if the spot had never been there. I actually watched it slowly disappear. The Lord is Lord over all.
Mac page
phil and em can't not see well now
Emily and I both had eye doctor appointments last week and we will be receiving our new glasses in the upcoming days. You all will be happy to know our eyes are healthy, except they don't see well. Some of you might be saying, "Emily doesn't wear glasses!" Well, you should have put two and two together a long time ago when we started dating. You should all be excited for the new look of Em and Phil. Also, Emily found some frames in Korea that are pretty hip. She's going to get lenses put in them. I'm actually really excited to see these new glasses.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
oyster cracker forge a chowder partnership
I read this on the back of an oyster cracker box. It brought my oyster cracker experience to new heights.
"There's nothing quite like a generous bowl of creamy, rich New England clam chowder, and to truly appreciate the experience, oyster crackers must be on hand. Of course, the oyster cracker integration style is critical to the overall success of the meal. Some sprinkle the tiny crackers on top, a hint of salt, and a hearty garnish. Some prefer the time honored Alternating Bites Method whereby a spoonful of chowder is "chased" by a tiny cracker. This ensures a crisp cracker as well as a steady ratio of cracker to chowder.
Whatever your personal style (we encourage you to experiment), oyster crackers make great soup partners. Being avid oyster cracker fans, we set out to find the best-tasting oyster cracker combined with the best texture. If you're familiar with the hunt for a good oyster cracker, you know that some can be flat-ish with a dense, bland, and not flaky consistency. After searching high and low, we found what we think is a pearl of an oyster cracker..."
Thank you Trader Joe's!
"There's nothing quite like a generous bowl of creamy, rich New England clam chowder, and to truly appreciate the experience, oyster crackers must be on hand. Of course, the oyster cracker integration style is critical to the overall success of the meal. Some sprinkle the tiny crackers on top, a hint of salt, and a hearty garnish. Some prefer the time honored Alternating Bites Method whereby a spoonful of chowder is "chased" by a tiny cracker. This ensures a crisp cracker as well as a steady ratio of cracker to chowder.
Whatever your personal style (we encourage you to experiment), oyster crackers make great soup partners. Being avid oyster cracker fans, we set out to find the best-tasting oyster cracker combined with the best texture. If you're familiar with the hunt for a good oyster cracker, you know that some can be flat-ish with a dense, bland, and not flaky consistency. After searching high and low, we found what we think is a pearl of an oyster cracker..."
Thank you Trader Joe's!
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