grillin

for those of you who know me well, you know that one of my favorite things to do is grill. well, this saturday at work, we're having some guys come out to the dealership and grill ALL DAY for us! there's nothing like food off the grill, it all tastes better when it comes off the grill. this is going to be a blast, eating good food and making good money all day...WHO COULD EVER ARGUE WITH THAT!?

fun time

we went over to our good friends, jason and cilla, house saturday night. we had a great dinner and hung out all night. we had so much fun. i actually saw ICE AGE for the first time. it was a pretty cool movie. i love those animated movies...i guess that's what they're calling them now. i still refer to them as cartoons. i think this saturday night we're going to do something fun like move into our new place. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

L7 SLVR

man, i finally got a new phone! we've had the same old crappy phone from sprint for the past 4 years. a lot of people started calling it my pager, because i could never answer it because i was always on roam. now i'm on cingular and i am absolutely loving it!!! i'm fixing to set up my itunes on the phone too. it's nice having a phone that actually works now.

Fall Weather

man, i absolutely love fall weather. it's not too cold yet and it's not too hot either. it's just right. fall and spring are my favorite two seasons. the Texarkana Golf Association is having the ORR Auto Group City Championship this weekend and the next weekend. i can't wait to get out and hang out and enjoy the weather and watch some good golf. if i'm lucky, i may get to play a little bit too!!!

Four States Fair

tonight i was at the fairgrounds for the "umpteenth" annual Four States Fair and Rodeo. i worked a booth out there from 4pm-10pm for ORR Auto Group. it's been years since i've been out there. it was kind of cool, remembering back when i was growing up going to the fair. i went walking around with my good friend dave terrell and his wife, who just found out that she is pregnant. it was really funny walking around as an adult with my friend and his wife. we were both laughing about what it was like when we were kids going to the fair. it's quite a different experience now than it use to be. kind of funny to think back on it though. being young was fun, but i sure am glad that it's over. i'm having too much fun as an adult that still acts like a kid.

9/11

i'll never forget being awakened by the telephone at 7:37am CST in arlington, TX to hear jeanette frantically telling me to turn on the television. to my surprise i saw one of the twin towers on fire, and only a few moments later watched the second plane come flying into the opposite tower. my world stood still for what seemed like hours. i remember the feelings of confusion and hurt that i felt for those people. i also remember that as the rest of the week went on, i felt an overwhelming pride and respect for myself and my fellow americans. all of the emergency workers and civilians that came together in unity showing their love and compassion for their fellow man gave me a sense of patriotism that i have never had before that point. i regret the lives that were lost on that day, but i am thankful for the patriotism and compassion that was brought to life in our fellow american brothers and sisters on that day. and for that reason...i will never forget.

Texas vs. Arkansas

friday night was the infamous Texas High vs. Arkansas High game. what made it so exciting this year is, arkansas high is ranked number 1 in the state of AR and texas high is ranked number 2 in the state of TX.

well, Texas High proved to be superior as i thought they would. they ran up the board on them and finished it out at 38-14 with Texas High as the victors once again. the highlight reel was pretty amazing. Texas High has one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, Ryan Mallet, and are very hard to stop on offense. last year they lost in the playoffs to Highland Park who went on to win state, but this year is Mallet's senior year and he's not going out without a hard run at state.

next weekend Texas High travels to Ohio to play in an elite tournament that only the top few teams in the country are invited to come and represent their state against the best teams in Ohio. if you can think of a top high school team in the nation, they will be at this event. it's going to be exciting to see how they match up against the best high school team in Cincinatti. GO TIGERS!!!

Paid Off

well, going to central mall may pay off after all. i think that i have the most leads from being out there so, that should make me some bonus cash that would equal a car deal that i would have missed out on saturday. i also ended up making 2 car deals from working today too, so GOD IS GOOD! he always does take care of me. we ended up having a real good day today at the dealership. we were the only ones in town who were open and it paid off!!!

Central Mall

well, it's 9:30am and i'm sitting up here at central mall waiting for the mall to open up. ORR Auto Group has a booth at the mall and i have to work it today. everyone has to work it a full day but, me being the "green pea" i got stuck with having to work it on a saturday which happens to be our busiest day at the store. it was either this, or work it on sunday and not have a day off. so, naturally i chose to have my sunday off since i'm going to be one of the few choosing to work on labor day. i pray that my working on labor day will make up for my missing being on the floor today. i really do hope that some people hurry up and get here so i don't die of boredom before the end of the day.

first sale

yesterday was the last day of the month and my 5th day on the floor and i got my first sale...first 2 sales actually. this is definitely a very fun job. it's very exciting and the group that we have working together is very tight knit. it's a lot of fun. it's like i'm working with 6 older brothers and a grumpy old grandpa that keeps us all laughing. even when we're not selling, we're having a blast sitting around picking on each other. september will be my first full month to be on the floor. i can't wait to see how my numbers turn out. this month is going to be very exciting!!!

frisbee golf

i went and played frisbee golf today with my father-in-law and my brother-in-law. there are some sports that i am really good at and some that i am really bad at. if you can call frisbee golf a sport, then i would say that is one that i am REALLY bad at. who would have ever thought that throwing a frisbee 300 yards and making it in a basket in 3 shots could be hard? it's dang near impossible for me!!! we had a lot of fun, but i was definitely reminded why i never played any positions in sports in which i had to throw anything.

training

i've been in training since monday and it has been ALOT of learning. it's really been a lot of fun and i feel that i've been doing very well. the people in my class are a lot of fun and the trainer, Gary Westmoreland, is an AMAZING teacher! it's been a lot of fun learning all of the stuff that goes into helping someone buy a car and seeing the steps play out one by one. i hit the sales floor saturday and I AM SO EXCITED!!!

lazy sunday

okay, i already know that some of you may judge me after reading this next sentence but, who cares. i slept until about 12:30pm today and it felt WONDERFUL! we have been running so much since we got moved and i really haven't had one day that i have slept in until today. heck, i wouldn't have had today to sleep in if my buddies hadn't canceled our round of golf on me last night. anyways, i think i ended up sleeping for about 12hrs or so. it was the kind of sleep that was totally unforced. i didn't wake up and make myself go back to bed. i just slept pretty much straight through. the rest of the day, i just kind of hung out with jeanette and watched tiger woods dominate the PGA Championship and then we went to look at some houses. all in all, i got a whole lot of nothing accomplished today and it felt great!

learning the business

today i went up to the dealership to hang out and kind of see how things run. i got to spend the day up in the booth with the owner and the sales manager to kind of see how the whole process of a car sale works. it was very interesting.

i have to say, i know that car salesmen and dealers get a pretty bad wrap from people who don't do the business honestly. i've been in the car business once before and the people were very crooked and very shady, therefore i did not stay but about a week to find it all out and i was gone from that place. that was many moons ago. working for the ORR Auto Group, i can already tell is going to be totally different from what ANYONE has ever expected from a car dealership. don't get me wrong, these people are in business to make money just like anyone else but there is nothing shady about what goes on at the dealership that i work at.

the first thing i heard out of the sales manager's mouth today as we were talking was, "don't ever tell a lie, always be upfront about everything with everyone." i was immediately impressed with his character and the way that both he and the owner run this dealership. all day long, they gave some of the best customer service that i have seen and were very upfront on every sale. i can already tell that i am going to like working for this company.

crazy week

wow, this has been a crazy week for us. we have had a ton of stuff going on since we got here late sunday night. it's nuts how much stuff you have to do when you move. change bank accounts, insurance, etc. we're finally starting to get somewhat settled in though. my boss invited me to come hang out with him tomorrow and kind of see how things work behind the scenes in the car business. i'm real excited to be starting this new job. i start my training next monday and will hit the sales floor the week after that. i can't wait!

we're here

well, we got in last night and got the truck unloaded and all ended up eating dominoe's pizza and hanging out until about 1:30am. thanks to everyone who helped us move and to all the wonderful people at the journey church that threw us an amazing baby shower before we left yesterday. we were very blessed. well, i gotta run, my awesome mother-in-law is making chicken enchilada casserole and daddy is hungry!

moving tomorrow

well, i'm sitting up at my office eating a sonic reese's peanut butter cup blast and checking my email. we have pretty much finished packing and cleaning everything except for what we're going to need in the morning. this is a very torn moment in my life. i am partly sad to be leaving this little town and all of the wonderful friendships that i have made here, but i am also excited about the future that God has for us. we have a baby boy, Carson Matthew, on the way and a very bright future ahead of us. i can't say how excited i am about getting to be a daddy. i've not even gotten to see him or hold him in my arms, but at the same time, just knowing that he is on the way is one of the most fulfilling feelings that i have ever had. so, although i am sad about moving out of this era of my life, i am totally fulfilled in knowing that i am doing exactly what i am supposed to be doing as i enter a new era. as it has been said before, our best days truly are ahead...

turn the page

for those of you who live in a cave somewhere, jeanette and i are moving back home to texarkana this weekend. this is one of the hardest decisions that we have ever had to make. we are TOTALLY in love with this church and our youth group. we have the most amazing group of teenagers that ANYONE could ever ask for.

as you all know, jeanette and i have been blessed with a miracle baby after trying for 6 years. we have always known that whenever we were able to have a baby that jeanette would stay home to take care of it. this is something that we have planned from day one and were willing to make whatever sacrifice that we had to make to see this happen. unfortunately, you can't get rich doing youth ministry. heck, you can barely afford to feed a family of squirrels doing youth ministry.

in light of this situation, God has opened a door, like he always does, and we will be moving back to texarkana to start a new chapter in our lives. once again, this is one of the hardest decisions that we have ever had to make because we love our church and our youth group so much. we just have to trust that God is always in control and that he directs our paths. i just thank Him for the inventions of MySpace, Instant Messaging and BLOGing that will help us to keep in touch with all of the close friends that we have made through out this Journey in our life. for those of you in sallisaw, we love you very much and will miss seeing you all of the time. please keep in touch with us and know that we will NEVER let go of you in our hearts, minds, and prayers. we love you dearly.
Your Friend,
Matt

Carson Matthew

we went to the doctor today to get a diagnosis of a screening test that jeanette had done last week for the baby. they were checking to see if the baby had down sendrome and some other stuff. after confirming that everything was okay, the nurse kept looking around at stuff. i was thinking, "what is she doing?" we are only in week 16 right now, so we're not SUPPOSED to find out the sex of the baby for another 4 WEEKS! she finally gets the position that she wants and then she just sits there for what seems like forever. the whole time i'm still trying to figure out why she's still playing around when she's supposed to be finished. she finally says, "move that foot baby" and shortly after that, it did. she took 2 quick pictures and said, "well, i'm not telling you 100% or not, BUT that's a BOY!!!" we were totally freaked out! we didn't think we were going to get to find out for another month and BAM! this lady has been doing this for over 20 years and the doctor said that she's NEVER been wrong. that's a pretty good percentage if you ask me. it's a shame she couldn't be a weather person. so, for those of you wanting to know what we're going to name him just look above. this is one of the happiest days of my life.

praise you in the storm

i don't know if you've heard the song "praise you in the storm" by casting crowns or not, but this has become my life song over the past few months. i don't know what God holds for our future, but i do know that i will not stop praising him regardless of what happens. He is my strength, my hope, my deliverer, and my security. He is the one in whom i place my trust and my future. if you've not heard this song, i encourage you to listen to it and let it minister to you. God knows that i have over the past few months.