Its been so long

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay in updates. Casey and I have been a little slacking lately. We have been getting caught up in work, school, and each other a bit too much lately. The stress of being away from friends and family, and the stress of managing our money,(what little we have), and the stress of trying to figure out what the future will hold has been getting to us. We aren't letting that overcome us though. We are pushing through and striving to win this race. We are looking forward to coming back to Florida in just a short time. 11 weeks left!!! WoooHoooo! Can't wait to be back in the sunshine where we belong. I, (Charles), am hoping to start a job at a prestigious Lexus dealership in Orange Park which is just outside of Jacksonville. Casey and I are moving into her parents house once we are done here so that we can get our feet under us. This was just the only solution, but it seems to be the best. We will be able to save a lot of money and be able to start looking for a house to buy/rent. I'm also looking to maybe hook up with a local race team to start learning more about my favorite area. I'm going to be doing work on a friend of mine's car. He's handing me the keys, and a decent check with the vision of turning it into a rally car. Going to be a lot of fun. Pics will be uploaded, I promise. Then there is the Z. Poor Zenith. She has been left sitting outside for so long that she is starting to look like a junkyard dog. No worries though. The plans for her are great and many. 1000HP anyone? Casey decided to finally get back to painting this year. She came up with some awesome ideas and pulled a few of them off. This Christmas I think that she might have outdone herself though. She made it her quest to make every member of her immediate family cry this year. She exceeded her goal (except for her brother of course). She painted her father a painting of a picture of his father. Sorry if thats confusing. She painted her mother a light house, and she painted her brother a green scene. He lives in Spokane, WA now and sees very little green during the winter. They were all very happy with what we did for them for christmas. I pulled some artistic strings as well and drew cars for several people and pinstriped a bottle for my older sister who is into the whole pin-up girl, hot rod style of things.

Got another unexpected surprise this Christmas too. My younger sister, who just got married without anyone's knowledge, to a guy nobody has even met, who already has a kid that she is in a custody battle over, is now pregnant once again. So yay I guess.

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I have no issue with the fact that she's pregnant. Please believe me when I say that. I love my little sister dearly and wish only the best for her. But I hate seeing people that I am personally close to making stupid decisions that I can't fix. Its not just her, there are other people in my life making equally stupid decisions that I can't stand behind or fix. I'll support her in whatever she does. But I can't endorse it. If that makes sense. Yeah, they're married, yeah they're consenting adults, but they are barely making it on his pay as a member of the military. She is one of the smartest indivuals I know when it comes to book smarts, she could have been so great, and now instead of pursuing an end to her college education, she is making children. I know college isn't for everyone, but it was for her.
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My other little sister is trying to get involved with an older guy. She's 15 and he's 22. Anything wrong with that? Anybody? Tell ME Please?? My mother seems to have no issue with him coming over and hanging out as long as she's there. He helps around the house, he influences my sister to do what she should be doing without influence in the first place. But......... According to my mom, he's a little off.

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OFF? OFF?!!! What do you mean by off??? Off mentally? Off physically? Does his family have a past of psychosomatic behavior? Is he a child molester? Evidently, cuz he didn't run when my little sister told him that she was 15. Something wrong there. Okay, not something, EVERYTHING! Then my mom tried to relate their relationship to mine and Casey's. Unh Unh. No maam. Our relationship is fine because we are both consenting adults.Underline that last word there. ADULTS. We made the decision to be with each other. This is another one of those decisions that I can't fix and that I can't come in the way of, and I can't stop. I love them to death, but I don't want to hear that my little sister has been found in a few pieces in the back of this guy's car.
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Sorry for the blatant emotion that I am putting into this blog. I have only Casey and my older sister to relate this to. They both feel the same way, so they are easy to agree with.


Other happenings in our life, we stopped NOT trying to get pregnant. No more birth control--fail--, no more rubberized feeling stealers (Condoms), no more nothing. We are excited to start the next leg of our adventure together. Anybody got any great ideas for the name of our next dog? We are considering maybe a boxer, or maybe a bichon/terrier mix? Could be fun. We still have Evie and she is a lot of fun. She's pretty much my dog now. Our little cat Sachi is completely out of her mind. She has no idea what 5:30 in the morning means to Casey. I'm up already, but the cat seems to want to play with casey. Its so funny. She learned how to meow while we were gone and now can't seem to stop. Caterwauling is now her new favorite past time. She plays with these little strings a lot. They come from one of Casey's favorite rugs. She has learned to pull them out whenever she wants a new one. When she is done with them, she puts them into her water bowl and refuses to drink until we empty it out. Kinda annoying. But she is fun to have around.

On to school/work things. Casey got the full time position that she was hankerin for. It came with a little bit better pay, better insurance, and some other awesome stuff. She got offered a really awesome position within the branch that she is in, but because we are leaving in a few months, she can't take it. They really like her up here. I have been doing exceedingly well at school. I got inducted into the NTHS this summer. The National Technical Honor Society(NTHS) is a pretty prestigious achievement. It took me carrying a 95%or higher for the total of 5 class segments, less than 4 attendance infractions, and a teacher recommendation. I got all of those and busted my butt to get them. This means that I am among the best and brightest at the school. Only 12 out of 400 students were awarded this. Pretty cool. I get to wear some awesome ropes around my neck and a sweet sash as well when I graduate. I also just got awarded an outstanding student award for the last class that I was in. Thats pretty cool as well.

Well that wraps it up for us right now. We want to wish all of those reading this a Happy New Year, and we want you to know that we love and miss you all.

From Casey: Charles is so funny!! I love that he can vent here too and not just to me. We had a couple of scares the past few months with Charles' funding. First they said that we didn't have enough left in our loans to pay for the last 3 month course. They were able to take the remainder from our rent and living check that we get each month. About a month later they said that we got denied for our rent and living check because someone put our PA address as our permanent address and that they wont furnish the check to people who live within 60 miles of the school. Wait, NO, your permanent address is in Florida! After a week of not knowing whether we would be home in December or March we finally heard that the rent and living check had come through! Praise the LOrd!! I woke up that weekend (we were finding out on Monday) singing a song that says: "Because of Who You are I give You glory. Because of who You are I give You priase. Because of Who You are I will lift my hands and sing, I will worship You because of Who You are. Jehovah Jireh, You're my Provider. Jehovah Nissi, Lord you reign in victory. Jehovah Shaalom, You are my Prince of Peace. And I worship You because of Who You are." We had overwhelming peace then that everything was going to be okay... that the Lord knew our situation and that whatever happened was what was best. He gave me a scripture too that said something like Praise the Lord! He is great and abundant in strength. His understanding is infinite. I think this time here in PA has been really good for us... learning to trust the Lord more and more each day! And learning to trust each other... that's really important too!

Christmas with family was amazing! I think after being gone so long you start to really appreciate what is important to you. I'm so excited to be home again in March!

Okay, that's all from me... Happy new year! :0)