Prayer from the County

Dear God help me find balance - Balance between strength and patience

Give me wisdom to know when to turn a deaf ear to those that offend me and mine – and when to draw a line in the sand

And should that time come when fight makes more sense than flight – may your strength flow through me and allow me to be victorious over those that I must do battle with.

I'M SUCH A WHINY BABY

This email I received put things in perspective for me.  I have a lot of nerve complaining about my job when there are men like this doing jobs like this:

It is also on the wall of the editor of the Omaha Herald paper. How many other paper would have the guts to put this picture and story on the front page  AWESOME!!!  Read below the picture before making judgment on 'The Finger' gesture and you'll understand.... THIS NEEDS TO KEEP GOING.    Leading the fight is U S Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt, known as 'Iron Mike' or just 'Gunny'.  He is on his third tour in Iraq .  He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour.   Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US Marines. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. 'You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,' he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term 'the longest walk', stepping gingerly into a 5 foot deep and 8 foot wide crater.  The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from  it.  He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground.  'I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,' he says.  'That's when I knew I was screwed.'  Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt. Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back.  At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet  'A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded,' he recalls.  'As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me..' I was just ticked off they were able to do it.  Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down.'   His fellow Marines cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt.  None could believe his legs were still there 'My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down,' says Sgt Burghardt.  'I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to  cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down.  Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.'  As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in.  'I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.'  He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute.  ‘I flipped them one’.  It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week.'   Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home.  But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.    Are you proud enough to send this on?       YOU BETCHA I AM!!!

Help Fight Leukemia and other Blood Cancers

Hey everybody, Help out our friend Erica. In addition to helping out E. (who is a totally cool person) it would mean a lot to me since my dad recently died of Leukemia. Thanks!!!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/il/chicago11/ezander

Don’t let the door hit ya…

A few weeks back we had a series of sermons at church entitled “Breaking up with Insecurity”.  During service a couple of videos were shown of church members writing “Dear John” letters to insecurity as if it were a boyfriend or girlfriend.

I figured I could steal (even though - thou shall not steal) this concept for fulfilling this blog topic:

Dear Insecurity,

After many, many years together I think it is time for us to part ways.

I’ve come to realize that there is a fine line that separates love from addiction and obsession.

We have been together for as far back as I can remember.  There have been a couple of breakups when I romanced self confidence but after each date, there you were waiting for me on my front porch like a jealous stalker.

I confused your need to control me with love.  Now I know better – you never loved me.  I was just a toy for you to play with.  I was an easy target for you to lord power over.

Well no more.  It is totally true the old saying that goes: whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  I’ve been through my share of trials and tribulations and I am one strong son of a gun!

So I’m leaving you – no wait.  You are leaving.  You have hurt me enough.  Get the hell out, and don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!

P-P-P-Penny and the Shrek

Some blog topics due are a pic of me now and how I’ve changed in the last year, and a pic of something that means a lot to me.

Well Sue recently took a picture of me with something that means a lot to me so let’s kill two blogs with one post.

We’ve had our little Penny for about 8 months now.  For the first month or so we just called her Baby because we couldn’t come up with a good name for her.  Well after a few trips to the Vet my wife came up with Penny, as in she’s costing us a pretty Penny.

Well Penny continues to live up to her name.  Since we’ve had her we have made two trips to the after hour Animal ER.  The first time was after she ate an unknown # of Dramamine tablets.  The second was after she ate a pack of Trident gum, which contains a substance named Xylotol which is extremely toxic to dogs.

Along with the ER trips we have also had a number of unscheduled trips to the Vet’s office for: a leg injury, listlessness, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.  For these appointments we got socked for at least a hundred bucks and usually a lot more.

I know I keep going on about the costs, but I handed over the credit card willingly and without hesitation on each of the preceding occasions.

I guess for some of these trips we overreacted but we were nervous and we thought better safe than sorry because she has enriched our lives and the joy she has given us far outweighs the costs in dollars we have spent on her.

So this brings me to the picture of me now and how I’ve changed in the last year.

This picture is somewhat disturbing to me.  I think the physical toll the night shift has taken on me is clearly shown here.  I look like an Ogre (get it Penny and the Shrek – Elton John?  No?  Well believe me its funny).

Well the end of the night shift is drawing near.  I will be quitting County soon and concentrating all my efforts on the business.  The plan is to have some sharp team members here in the Chicago-land area run things while we expand to Dallas.

It’s going to be an eventful, busy and exiting year!

Lemme add some cute pics of Penny minus the Ogre.