Sunday, May 30, 2010

Busy Week...

Well, it has been a busy week...between family, work, congregation, and life in general! :)

We celebrated Shavuot last week which was wonderful...to Praise Yah for His provision and give thanks to him. Eddie gave a new teaching on the Menha (sp?) offering which I'm going to have to hear again before it sinks in. Sometimes with all these teachings and having your "boat" rocked frequently, you have to hear again or "do again."

Nana and Gaga are doing okay, but we can definately see they are not near as well as they were a year ago let alone 6 months ago. It's looking like we are going to be making a move to skilled care here soon (probably about August time frame). It is so hard to watch them decline like that, but I have to remember to "treasure the moment."

Work is going quite well, and I enjoy it...so that is a good combination. Right now, we are working on a major database update...getting current contact information for all the Coaches. I'm excited about what that means to us.

On Monday, I enjoyed lunch with Mark (a friend via work). It was great to catch up with him. We tried a restaurant known for it's bison burgers, and they were good! They are very lean and flavorsome. I wouldn't mind eating there again.

Friday was a busy day too...between cleaning house as a family, having a garage sale, and working...but we got a lot done, and the barn is getting more and more cleaned out. We plan to have it fully cleaned out soon and ready in plenty of time for Sukkot as we're hosting it at our home this year.

Well, off to get busy on this first day!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Who's Mr. Fico?

What’s in your FICO® score

FICO Scores are calculated from a lot of different credit data in your credit report. This data can be grouped into five categories as outlined below. The percentages in the chart reflect how important each of the categories is in determining your FICO score.

Payment history: 35%,  Amounts owed: 30%, Length of credit history: 15%, New credit: 10%, Types  of credit used: 10%

These percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups - for example, people who have not been using credit long - the importance of these categories may be somewhat different.

To read the complete article, click here.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Emergency Fund

One of the best ways to break out of the debt cycle is to have an emergency savings fund to cover unexpected expenses. This way, when your car breaks down or the refrigerator quits working, you won’t need to rely on credit cards or bank loans to cover the expense. Crown recommends saving $1000 in your emergency fund as a first step in the Crown Money Map Destination One.

However, if you are already living paycheck to paycheck, how can you find any extra money to fund this emergency savings account?

How about this article on "Ideas for Funding an Emergency Account"?


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Paper Route Fun!

I had quite the adventure tonight. Mommy and I were doing our paper route, when we came across a little black and white fellow. I'm so glad that the skunk waved his tail and then moved on. Oh, and I met a nice Highway Patrol Officer. We were out at the end point where I normally turn around on Highway 36, but there he sat...I had to turn down the road, go down about a 1/4 mile to a driveway, turn around there, and then come back. When I came back up, he and another officer were passing papers off to each other, and then the one walked back to our vehicle. He was wondering if we were lost. I just explained that we delivered the Bag, and that was fine. One of our last roads, there were 2 kitties out as we went down, so I was careful coming back up. There were the 2 off to the side, and a 3rd one in the middle of the road. That kitty cat was a bit stubborn as he didn't want to move until I flashed my lights at him. But Momma and I had a fun time tonight!

Friday, May 21, 2010

New Baby in the Pitrone Family

Praise Yah! Hannah Pitrone Cole's baby is here. Micah and Mom (Hannah) are doing fine! 6lb 2 oz. Mommy is sleeping and Micah is stretching his lungs in the nursery with Matt! Congratulations Matt and Hannah! As well as proud grandparents - Mark and Debbie Pitrone and Eric and Jackie Cole!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Update on Uncle Mark

Uncle Mark aka Mark Pitrone continues to improve. He and his family were able to visit with my family today, and I posted a picture from that visit! You will see that he is looking much better and beginning to grow his beard back. He is going to be doing therapy specifically to correct his balance and work to improve his muscle strength. Please pray for him as he does that as well as that his hearing would be fully restored. His hearing in his left ear is slowly improving, and we pray that by Yah's hand, it is 100% healed! Extensive dental work is going to be needed since he lost/greatly damaged 7 teeth. Also, remember that Mark is still not able to work and your continued financial support would be greatly appreciated. www.webdesignbyjb.com/mark
pitrone.htm Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support!


Sunday, May 16, 2010

D Day - Discharge Day!

Well, today, Nana came home to Assisted Living with Gaga from Rehab. It was a busy day as we got her discharged, drove to Carriage Court, and got everything set up there. It took much of the day. But it is so good for her to be home with Gaga. She also got her Feeding Tube removed last Monday, so she's back to eating "Mechanical Soft" Food which means that she can eat almost anything but really hard foods. I'm so glad for that!

And on Wednesday, we went up to Holmes County for the day. We got our chicken and cow feed to begin the day. Then we also went to Heini's and tried some cheese and fudge samples. Berlin Seeds was another stop to get our seed potatoes and onion sets. And to top the day off, we went to Lehman's - the world's largest old fashioned hardware store. It was a great day! I really enjoyed getting to spend some quality family time.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Mike Clayton and Tornados

In this past week's bad storms, Hebraic Roots Teacher, Mike Clayton got a direct hit...see the updates below.
May 10 -

If you saw Seminole OK on the news you may have seen our house or at least what is left of it. We are all fine including all animals, but we took what looks like a direct hit. Not much else to say at the moment. Will give an update asap.
Sure would appreciate your prayers.
Mike

May 11 -
Thank you to all who have emailed and called. Sorry I do not have time to answer each one right now. At this time we have everything taken care of till we meet with the insurance people. Below is a link to a two part video. The video is only available in Windows. You will need to cut and paste the link into your browser. It is all I have time for. Hope to have more info tomorrow.
http://wms18.streamhoster.com/hineni7/tornado.wmv
Mike

May 12 -
A quick update from the war zone!
We are waiting for the insurance adjuster to show up. Not much we can do till then. Thank you all for your emails. It has been a bit overwhelming the response you have sent. I will be trying to record an update video by tomorrow afternoon. Until then, thanks for your prayers.
A few short answers to your questions though: Yes we are able to live in the house for now. There is structural damage, but it is safe. We do have water, stove and generator power we are eating well! Red Cross came by with sandwiches. They were ham and cheese, so the dogs are eating well also.
Not sure about anything financial as of yet. I hope to have answers to questions like this tomorrow.
Would appreciate your prayers for favor with the insurance people.
Thanks again,
Mike

May 13 -
I will have to pass on the Living Torah commentary for a couple of weeks. I have recorded an update of our situation here. It is available at the following link.
http://wms18.streamhoster.com/hineni7/051310b.wmv
You may need to cut and paste the link to your browser.
The video links are also on the home page.
Thanks again,
Mike

May 14 -
It has been a trying day. Last night I checked the weather report and it was calling for a chance of thunderstorms, but nothing real bad. I woke up about 4AM to a major storm and parts of the ceiling falling in as what would end up being about 3 inches of rain was making its way into our house. The morning was spent on the roof in the rain covering it with plastic sheeting. The worst news is that a friend was helping and in putting the last board on slid down the roof and landed on the porch. He is being taken to Tulsa hospital after they found a fractured pelvis, collapsed lung, spleen lacerations and broken ribs. His name is David and we would sure appreciate your prayers for him and his family.
I met with the adjusters today and it went well. We have been shown much favor so far. Because of the water damage from last night it looks like the house will have to be rebuilt. Not sure yet, but will know more next week. We now have to go through and inventory all the personal things that were damaged by the rain.
We are doing fine except for this whole in my heart over the injury of a good friend. We have all we need and will just have to wait till next week sometime to get a clearer direction.
Thank you all for your prayers and your support during this time. I will try to record a video the first of the week to give more info.
Shabbat Shalom,
Mike
PS More rain on the way. I would sure be thankful if it missed us!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Fun, Medical, Shabbat, and Sukkot - what a mix!

On Tuesday night, I had a great Grandma/Granddaughter fun night! Nana and I had dinner together at the rehab center and watched Roman Holiday, an old black and white movie with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. We had a good laugh too! By the time, I got home it was after 9pm. We'll have to "do again" this week.

Speaking of this coming week, it is loaded with medical things - on Monday, Nana will get her feeding tube removed (please pray for that to go smoothly...we are dealing with them not properly cleaning it at the nursing home for the last few days and hoping that didn't cause an infection as some puss and blood was seen around it by the nurse who did clean it.). Then Tuesday, a neurologist appointment for Gaga...and finally probably on Friday or into the weekend, Nana will be able to go back to Assisted Living with Gaga.

Today, we really enjoyed Bootstrap Bill's teaching on the Bride. :) He brought out some really good points. It was interesting that his last point was how Abraham received a new name as a result of his covenant/marriage with the Messiah just as we the Bride of Messiah do. I was thinking how we even mirror that in our weddings on earth...the bride changes her last name from her maiden name to her married name.

Also, my family is planing on hosting Sukkot this year at our home off the New Moon Calendar. I'm really excited about that. We live on just under 6 acres, so we have plenty of room for people to camp and fellowship. We are already beginning preparations - cleaning out the barn/garage as that will make a great general gathering place to begin with. We're also starting to see about speaking schedule and some possible guest speakers. I can't wait!!! :)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Free Crown Money Map

One of my favorite things at Crown is our Money Map. It is an awesome guide to achieving true financial freedom. How would you like to get one for free? If you have never contacted Crown before, you are eligible for one. Just visit www.crown.org/freemap.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A Favorite CD

Covenant with Israel by Kelly Ferrari is one of my mom's and my favorite CDs. It is very worshipful. It really calms your spirit. Please check it out at http://www.doorkeeperministries.com/dkpstore.html.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sukkot at our Place!

The Boutet Family (known on PalTalk as JocelinOhio and part of Beit Yacov Hebraic Congregation) will be hosting Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) at our home in Ostrander, Ohio (near Columbus, Ohio) off the New Moon Calendar. On our almost 6 acres, we have plenty of room to camp, fellowship, and feast! More details will be coming soon, but if you are interested in joining us, please let us know! We hope to see many of you here.