Ray & Katie.com!

2006-11-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

We've Moved!!!!

If you go to http://www.RayandKatie.com you will find our site using a new Wordpress blog. Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoy our new site & all the new features.
I also have my own "man blog" (thanks Justin for the name) at http://rayzorback.wordpress.com

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Freedom!

2006-10-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

It's amazing! I don't have to go to Red Robin and work tonight... or ever! Thank you JESUS for the Freedom that focusing on my career provides! I'm in it! Real Estate is my profession now (even though I'm still waiting of the FBI to pass my background check). Now I at least have time to devote to studying the book some more and getting ready to pass the tests. Also, I have time to really poor into my career there and give it my all! Not only that, Katie and I will have the weekends TOGETHER! That is HUGE! We just realized that we were only married 3.5 Months before we took on extra jobs in order to pay down our debt! Was it worth it? Yes!, but we really miss each other! Not only that, we feel that we have also missed valuable time with the Lord! It was tough when we had to work so late and got home so late and got to bed so late to wake up early and spend time with our Heavenly Father in the morning. I can tell you, many days, we just chose not to. That had a larger affect on our marriage than working two jobs did! That is forsure!

A few days ago I found a podcast: Love Worth Finding Ministries with Dr. Adrian Rogers who has now passed away. I listened to the message: How to Have a More Meaningful Quiet Time and it has REALLY blessed mine and Katie's life! Please click the link and have a listen! If you have iTunes or something that will automatically download a podcast: click here.

For a couple of days now, Katie and I have been following some of his recomindations and it has really blessed our lives. Acutally this morning I'm writting on the blog to help wake me up before I dig into the word.

In our community group, we are studying 1 John so Katie and I are reading in 1 John and meditating on it every morning. We also look in the Psalms & Proverbs as Dr. Rogers suggested. There are 5 Questions that he ask when reading & meditating on scripture:
1. Is there a Command to Obey?
2. Is there a Promise to Claim?
3. Is there a Sin to Avoid?
4. Is there a Lesson to Learn?
5. Is there a New Truth to Carry with me?
These 5 questions help illuminate the passage to greater understanding and use in our everyday lives.

Well, that is it for me. I need to get the day started. I have several friends who "blog" now and in the next post I will highlight my friends who are in missions blogging around the world! I'll also link to many of them over on the side.
The Blog will be changing soon!!! Don't let it bother you if things are scrambled up here and there! I'll get it under control!

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Retirement? Kinda...

2006-09-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Yall!
Well, Katie and I put it our resignation at Red Robin!! Our last day will be Sunday, October 8th! It has come to the time where Katie needs more time for School, I need more time for Real Estate & we REALLY need our weekends together! We've been missing time with one another like crazy lately! And also, with me so close to having my license, I need to be as prepared as possible and that means more study & more readiness to take on clients on my part.
This next week, I will be interviewing several different Real Estate agencies. I will most likely go with Lindsey & Associates but I want the other agencies to know that I'm out there & I want to know what they offer. Being with Lindsey has been a lot of fun & I already know many of the agents so it would be the most logical place for me to stay due to the good relationships already developed there. They also take care of MANY of your business expenses and copying expenses and advertising expenses... etc. That is a HUGE help! I've also been conducting an informal survey about who someone would call to buy or sell a home. Most of the time they say, "Lindsey." I ask why and they usually can't tell me. That means that in this market, Lindsey has the "top of the mind awareness" that would really be benificial to a new agent!! They are the largest agency with Griffin close behind them. We'll see what happens.

A week ago, Katie had some bad strep and this week I have had a few of the symptoms - a day of fever & sore throat. But now all I have is the linguring sinus pressure & sore throat. It isn't fun at all & I'm on drugs, but you can still be praying that we both continue our recovery. When I'm 90 years old, I'll be invincible to colds because of these YEARS of "antibody building" that Katie is helping me do through her Kindergarden class!

I'm off to study & then work at Red Robin - the next to last weekend!

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Busy Bees!

2006-09-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I only have a few minuets, but I wanted to send a little update. I FINISHED my real estate class & have the certificate of completion! Now, I'm just waiting on the FBI to complete my background check and then I can take the test. I'm VERY excited about FINALLY have a "career" vs a J.O.B. which is "Just Over Broke!"
We will still be working at RR for a while so that we can make more extra $ to continue to pay down debt. It has been flying by recently but will be expected to slow down as I venture into Real Estate. I will have some expenses at the onset that may or maynot be "affordable." Any thing we need, we'll have to take out of our "extra $" that we have been dumping into our debts.

Also, be in prayer for Katie. She has Strep & it is REAL bad! She has had fever, extreme pain in her throat, and is very tired.

Thanks for the prayers.

We love all yall.

- Ray & Katie
(& Sooie & Boston!)

Game Day!!!!

2006-08-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Almost! Our first game of the year is a home game, September 2nd at 7:45 P.M. (on ESPN) and I can't wait! We are after revenge. After the horrible loss last year against USC with their best team and our worst, we are back and better than ever! Some would say we have a great chance this year and I'm not one to argue! We scored the top QB in the country through recruiting last year and he is a freshman this year. It looks like Robert Johnson will be our starting QB, but he knows that Mitch Mustain is waiting on the side lines to take over at the first sign of trouble. Last year, Johnson was in 7 games and averaged 112 yards per game. That isn't near enough this year. He is going to have to really show up. From interviews that I have heard, the team is supporting this decision to start Johnson rather than last years Casey Dick (who is injured some what). The team is ready to play and ready to win and they believe that Johnson will take them there. It will be interesting to see how Nutt chooses to play these too guys. Both are primarily passers but Mustain has some speed as he runs a 4.7 - 40. Just fast enough to be elusive, but we wont see any "Matt Jones" break-a-ways this year. It will be exciting with Monk receiving along with all the depth in the back field! There is nothing like Football season to rescue you from the heat of summer!

Here are some Razorback Links:
Fall '07 Schedule
Hog News
Roster & Bios
Coaches
Hog Wired.com
Houston Nutt.com

Bless those Hogs!
- Ray Zorback

Trip Pictures!

2006-08-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

Below are just a few of our favorite photos from our trips to TN & TX. Just click on the small photo to see the large one.

Those dark pictures are of the Gaylord Opryland Resort. That was an AMAZING stop on our trip! We spent 2 hours in there just touring the place and got there just in time to see a water show. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the water shot over 5 stories into the air! There is also a RIVER and an huge GARDEN IN the hotel! It was awesome! We had a great time there.
The other pictures are wedding pictures from our TN trip. We actually caught up with the newly weds on the interstate and that is where the last 2 photos were taken. I wasn't speeding... to bad!

See yall!

TX & TN!

2006-08-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weekends Katie and I have been Traveling! First to Texas where my brother graduated with his Masters from UTD (a smart school) and now to Tennessee where Katie is in a wedding! The picture is of me and Katie lounging around the pool with my neice (on just 2 noodles). We had a blast getting to see the city and visiting with our family.

I'll post of pictures of this weekend in a few days, but I just wanted all to know that we are doing great & having a wonderful time traveling at the end of this summer! It has been great to have a little down time with Katie before she gets tracking at school.

Keep us in your prayers as we travel home & don't forget to sign up for some automatic updates so that you will get an easy email when we post a new message.

-The Ellen's

Email Updates for our Blog! & Red Robin Stuff

2006-07-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey yall! One of the things that drive me crazy about blogs is that if you want to check and see if there is a new post, you have to go to that site. If you keep up with HUNDREDS of blogs (like I do with the news blogs & such) it gets pretty tedidious to know when the irregular blogs have been updated (such as this one). I went on a search and found a GREAT program to fix this for everyone who reads our blog! It is called "FeedBlitz." Below is a from for you to fill in your email address and then click "Send Me Email Updates!" You can unsubscribe at any time though any of the email's. This will only send you an email when we update our site and included in that email will be our most recent post! This is MUCH better than having to check the site each time, although, you will miss out on updated songs and new features that maybe "website" only, so still come back and see us every now and then!!!!!

The form:

Thanks for signing up! We will be posting more updates soon!

Katie and I will be working tonight at Red Robin. It is our first Friday Night to work because we changed our availability from Friday's off to Monday's off. I'm pretty excited to see just how busy we get!! It gets fun when it gets busy & time FLIES!

Yesterday we went to a CDT celebration. We all had matching T-shirts, a HUGE flag, A rap, A pledge & were READY to take on the other store's CDT's.... we were the only ones ready. No one else had a song, flag, T-shirts, pledge, etc... We had heard that there were going to be organized games and store vs store contest.... none of that happened. It was like a twilight zone. But we still had a good time playing volley ball and lounging around in the sun. Then our store visited Cherokee Casino! It was mine & Katie's first time in a Casino & it was fun. I don't really understand the addictive nature of the machines. It just didn't look fun to us. We didn't even play a nickle! But I did play black jack with a good friend from our store. He had been plenty of times before and was showing me the ropes. We took $20 to lose & we were successful in losing it!!! HA! It will be fun when we finially get to go see my aunt & uncle in Vegas. Now, I'm not totally in the dark on how to lose my money so I will fit right in with everyone else!

PS A while back I figured that our average would be about $250 to $300 extra dollars per week working at Red Robin. Well, we are actually averaging way over that. In retro spect, we average about $250 on the weekend and around $250 on the week nights so it is actually about $500 per week on average! We're lov'n it! We have been getting great sections lately & we have been blessed with closing shifts & gracious tables! Praise the Lord for helping us to get out of debt!

Thanks for checking back.
Keep us in your prayers!

Bye for now,
Ray

Visitors!!

2006-07-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

We are really excited to have Sooie's sister visiting this week! She may be with us for a while while Jason goes on a mission trip to Nepal, so we are keeping her this week to try it out and make sure her and Sooie play well together. They are having a BLAST! They played hard all day Sunday & Monday and today they seem very... subdued! Very tired! They will play for about five minutes and then they just lay down. Sooie has met her match (as far as energy goes). We were surprised to see that Boston is actually bigger than Sooie! We thought Sooie was big, but Boston is Big! Sooie looks more "stream lined" now! She still acts like the dominant one but when they are chasing each other and Boston runs into her, she is surprised by her size too!

A few weeks ago we also had a visitor... Mindy Blagg (formerly Marshall) came and visited for a morning while she was in NWA. Mindy, as promised there is the picture: click on it to see the larger one and save it.
She recently got married to John David of pilotdrift who are well on their way to stardom.

Be sure to sign up for the new email update feature over there on the right side. We update about once a week & you will get an email letting you know so you don't have to check back blindly! The next post will be describing this service in a little bit more detail.

Bye for now,
-The Ellens

6 Months (and one day)

2006-07-22T10:52:00.002-07:00

6 Months
Yesterday was our 6 month aniversery! We had a blast! We painted pottery at Different Strokes and then ate out at Brioso Brazil. It was absolutely amazing! Over 15 different meats delivered to your table on a sword! Of course, we tried them all! Our favorites being the House Top Sirloin & the Ribbeye. It will have to be a long while before we go again. I can't really look at meat today! We were so stuffed that we had to go on a short walk BEFORE we got IN to the car!!! That is stuffed! Jason said we would be like a full tick, and he wasn't kidding!
I'll post a few pictures of the pottery that we painted when it come in. They said it would be about 2 weeks before it was fired.

(and one day)
Today we decided to sleep in and head to the Farmers Market with Sooie. What a trip! She was nuts at first, but when she realized that not every person was there to play with her, she calmed down quite a bit and was very nice to have out there. Slowly but surely we will get her used to being around people who are not there for her and I think she will begin to understand the process. She just wants to play with everyone SO BAD! It was a lot of fun.

Well, we will be heading to our "red job" at 2. (The one we use to get us out of the red)

We'll see you soon!

Gone Fish'n

2006-07-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Monsters! ALL OF THEM! We went fishing yesterday at a small public stock pond and had a BLAST! Each of us cought one, and they were so large that we had to toss t hem back because we couldn't eat that much! You know how it is! So, we had to settle for the Catfish Hole. It was WONDERFUL! I think we will be coming here again. 2 is already 2 more than we ever caught at Lake Fayetteville. Beaver Lake is also a great place to go fish, but it is so large that you have to have a boat to do any good. We are proud of our 2 and our aim is to become experts at this little place before we move on to larger waters. That means many trips & tossing everything we can. Our bate of choice this time: Night Crawlers. Needless to say, I'm so proud of K atie who bated her OWN HOOK!

That is major! She just can't stand crick ets, but we'll work on it. Crickets are a much cleaner bate. Much less slime when poked. I did through a little purple worm with a bubble gum tale and got a whole lot of nothing. I tried a spinner bate and got one bite, but nothing the rest of the time. Next time, we are going to try and get around to the other side of the pond near the landing strip so that we can fish off of that little point that NO ONE is ever at. I guess the sight of planes coming straight for you is a little to much to handle!
Dad, these last photos are for you! Good luck in your flight class! This air strip is about 3 minutes from our house, so fly up and see us as soon as you can! There was a guy that was getting some hours in while we were fishing and he flew by and landed about 6 or 7 times! Here is something to shoot for! Just stay out of the pond until you are fishing! Talk about no room for mistakes!

We had to run away REAL fast after that second shot! ;) Not realy Mom, don't worry! We were in Katie's car, so we just sped off!

Thanks for checking in on us! It is back to work today and on into next week! Keep us in your prayers as we pay off more debt & grab our financial freedom!!

Bye for now,
The Ellens

Happy 4th!

2006-07-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

So a few days ago was the Fourth of July and our nations Birthday! I hope everyone had a wonderful time! We visited Katie's family in LR and then we went to "Pops on the River". We weren't sure where to sit at first and when the first firework blasted off, it SURE got our attention! They were about 200 yards from us on the Mainstreet bridge and the pops where right above us! It was great!

Today was a good day too! We did much of nothing and then decided to go to the lake with Sooie! She was hilarious! She was so excited to be at the lake! We plan on doing this again very soon. It was wonderful just to swim around and enjoy the nice, easy summer. Enjoy the pix! Tomorrow I will add some more after our fishing trip in the morning! Wish us luck!

Vacation!!!

2006-07-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

YES! The time has come! Katie and I both have a week off and we are going to do absolutely nothing!! (nothing work related anyway!)
I can't wait!!
First we are headed to LR (where I am now) and we are going to see the awesome LR fireworks and show the family wedding pictures!
Then, it is just us at home! It has been a long time since we just had un interrupted time with each other and incredible amounts of time to invest in our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with each other! I hope we have a few lazy days at the park, walking the dog, day dreaming, journaling, praying, playing, fishing, taking Sooie to the lake, & treating ourselves to our own retreat.
See yall soon!
Happy Independence Day!!

Awesome E-mail!

2006-06-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

I never knew how much I appreciated a clean, put together home... until Katie left! I miss you, honey!

Well, I have about 10 minutes before I need to get ready for Red Robin tonight. I just wanted to leave you with an idea and an image. Thanks Tim for the Email. I hope everyone enjoys the image! Just think of what people are thinking when this guys passes them! I think I would be looking behind me for any strays!

Feel free to send this post or this picture to your friends!! Let me know if you try it out!

The Bachelor

2006-06-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Katie is at her teacher's confrence ALL WEEK and me and Sooie are "Bach'n it"! Wahoo! I'm just glad that she isn't gone over the weekend, because it is when I have nothing to do that I REALLY miss her! Hopefully this work week will keep me so busy that days will FLY by!
What "extra time" that I do find, I will be getting the rest of our stuff ready for the big YARD SALE this weekend! Call us for some details if you are interested!
Any other extra time will be used in furthering my "nerd status" learning more web site languages & dinking around on my computer!

Check for some "style" updates!

- The Bachelor (kinda)

Continued Success & Praising the Lord!

2006-06-17T21:36:00.000-07:00

Katie and I just got home from working a mid shift at Red Robin where we started at 1 in the afternoon and we were phased out about 9 or 9:30. This was a tremendours belssing because for about 2 hours durring the mid shift, we are the only ones on the floor!
The Lord blessed us with many tables and many generous people! (Of course there were "those other folks" too, but they were few and far between! ;) )
JUST TODAY: we made $225 in tips!! That is about tripple what we usually take home on a double day!
We also received our pay check of $114 combined and Katie received her Bonus check today of $820! So today, we "found" $1,159!!!
It was definately not easy! It was hard work & long hours, but the Lord is good and blessed our efforts FAR beyond what we had anticipated! We even prayed on the way there that we would see the Lord's hand in our work and he would be evident to others through us!

It was a great shift today & Katie and I both had a wonderful time this morning in our new "library" / "sitting room" just visiting with each other, and the Lord.

What a blessed day! WE'RE (going to be) DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!

Praising the Lord,
The Ellens

Here Comes Santa Clause!

2006-06-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, Christmas is in December again this year, but this time, Katie and I are prepared! WAHOO! We just opened our Christmas club account and filled it up with our Christmas budget! So, our Christmas gifts are all paid for! How 'bout that! We paid off our first debt this month, bought car insurance for 6 months, & paid CA$H for our wedding pictures! We are ON THE WAY!
We have also been working hard on coming up with an easy way to budget. I'm a computer guy, so XL is awesome for me and I love it. She is a paper girl so notepads are her thing. So, we are using a note pad! ;) The thing is, no matter how great and nerdy we make the budget, if it doesn't work for both parties, then it winds up not working at all! When she shows me the notepad, I see an xl sheet with a cool "hand written" font! So, that is working for us.
Katie has been doing an absolute incredible job of tracking our expenses and accounting for EVERY dollar! This is such a blessing because now we are starting to have more realistic pictures of what it cost to live life as we need to. Every spare dollar is going to pay off our debt and I think we have decided to stay with Red Robin as long as they give us some better shifts and sections in the future.

Continue to pray for us. As you well know, finance is the number 1 "issue" for us, but that is because we are normal and just getting used to this "paying" for everything. Since we have enrolled in FPU We are becoming abnormal in that we are paying OUT - not IN! We will be done with the "payments" thing soon, so PLEASE KNOW - if we don't come and visit you, or don't go out to eat with you, or don't invite you over to cook out on our dollar, or don't want to pay for the gas that it cost to see your home - PLEASE KNOW that WE LIKE YOU. We are GETTING OUT OF DEBT!

Check out that sweet Java Script over on the right (that is the language used to make the picture change when you put your cursor on the links). I'm still learning, but this one was a little more difficult to write!

We love yall. Thanks for your prayers.

Fixed... Again

2006-06-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I think we finially have the car situation under control! It broke down about a day after we got it back and we had to take it back to the Firestone who origionally worked on it. Luckily we were still under warranty from the last time that they fixed this & the whole job was free! So now, we are a 2 car family again & life is slowly returning to normal.

At Red Robin, we havne't been making what we "used" to make. Our manager has hired on TONS of new folks so even though our hours haven't changed, the number of tables we get in a shift has been almost cut in half! This is really making us look & evaluate our time. Where can we profit most in the shortest time spent? It is a tough question to answer, because we know that there is great potential at Red Robin (for a short time) however, we feel our potential there has been cut by the massive number of new hires!

In the real estate business, I'm becoming very familure with all the processes involved in marketing a home and helping buyers select a home that suits their needs! It has been LOADS of fun for me to help agents in the marketing of homes in Northwest Arkasnsas durring one of the busiest times of the year! I'm learning a so much in "practical" knowledge. Now, I just need to finish this stink'n program so that I can take the test. Advice: if you ever want to be a real estate agent, go to the 3 week class rather than taking the computer/online class. It is more trouble than it is worth! That is for sure!
I'm ready to be an agent! The time has definately come!

Katie is at home all day, sitting on her duff, watching Oprah. JUST JOKING!!!! I don't even think she likes Oprah! She will be working on some school stuff like the Outdoor Classroom Grant & other things.
Mainly, she is doing a wonderful job taking care of the home, Sooie, & me! We are actually in the process of combining our craft room & office so that we can have a quiet sitting room at the end of our house. I help out some yesterday, but she will be doing the bulk of it while I am working. It is a really neat preview of what it will be like when she doesn't have to work anymore!

We are also getting ready for our big Yard Sale coming up on the 24th! If you have any items to donate, please give us a call or email us @ RaynKatie@gmail.com. This is our BECOMING DEBT FREE Yard Sale with Justin & Rachel!! Hopefully we will see you there!

Keep us in your prayers! ~Yard Sales, Katie's Car, Ray's Jobs vs Ray's Education, Katie's Time Off, Red Robin (stay or go?)

Thanks yall! See you soon! (at the Yard Sale!!!!)

Quick Update

2006-06-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. We got the car back yesterday! It was a $91 temporary fix & it looks like it is the same problem that Firestone tried to fix last year. The goodnews is that it SHOULD be under warranty & a free fix. The bad news is, this means several more days with just one car when we decided to get it in the shop.
I'm back in the gym after having one car last week & being sick last week. Check out the Pump You Up Blog for the updates and workout reviews!
I've gotten super busy at work which is a good thing, but it is also becoming so busy that I am running out of hours in the day! Pray that my schedule would loosen up just a little so that I could enjoy some downtime with Katie and so that I can finish my real estate class!

I'm going to post some interesting websites when I get a chance today (probably around lunch).

Have a GREAT day!

- The Ellens

Not complaining! Just informing!

2006-06-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Just letting everyone know that Murphy visited yet again! On the way home from the shop with Katie's car, it overheated and began to stall out. She pulled over and called our Mechanic. It looks as though our Fayetteville Firestone put a temporary fix or something on it last September. Be praying that the problem is the same so that the warranty will cover the rework! $1,700 buck-a-roo's!

Pray Pray!

Still pursuing our debt freeness & working hard to get there,

Ray & Katie

Murphy's Law

2006-06-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

Dave Ramsey speaks of "Murphy's Law" taking place as soon as you make a new commitment to better your situation (financially, spiritually, physically or whatever). This Murphy has a father who prowls like a lion looking to devour us a.k.a. The Devil! We have experienced the attacks of Murphy & his dad with every big change that we make in our marriage!
In the begining, I lost my job right before our wedding leading to potential problems making ends meat: however, the Lord provided through family and friends and we were fine!
Now, Justin and I renewed our commitment to our Temples (the Body). We desired to build them with discipline and consistancy! However, Katie's car broke & had to be repaired (the Lord provided these funds) and then 2 days later, I got sick (again). We are no stranger to sickness! We have only had about 1 month in our 5 months of marriage that one or both of us has not been sick!
However, God is good and He has almost completely healed me! I only had to miss 2 days of work and was feeling a lot better today!

Keep us in your prayers! Things have been a little topsy turvy, but now that Katie is out of school, I'm looking forward to some peace & time with her!

Love yall!

-The Ellen's

Change

2006-05-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

We changed our music! It's a violin intro to one of Katie's cds and also one of the most beautiful things we have ever heard!

Katie's schedule is changing like crazy! Tuesday is the last day that her kids go to school and June 1st is her last day!! Wahoo! Her plans are to take about a month off before baby sitting. This will give her some MUCH NEEDED downtime! This is also when we will be starting to ready the Grant fro Bayyari's Outdoor classroom! We will post more info when it is ready.

We will post more soon.

Just working... & Working out...

2006-05-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Just working
So, it's common for someone to ask, "What's going on?" Most of the time we can say, "Not much. Just work'n hard!"
It sounds weird, but I love being able to say it! It reminds me that we ARE getting out of DEBT! There is no "special formula", no "easy way out" - we are working hard and paying it off. Imagine that! We are really enjoying the opportunity at Red Robin. I have really gotten the hang of serving and Katie is awesome & back to her old "server self." It's been fun!

Working Out
Many of you read the post about Katie & I considering the Body for Life program. I still think that it is a GREAT program and worth the investment if you are thinking about something similar. However, it does cost $$. Much of the program revolves around EAS products that can now be found at Wal-Mart, but it is still fairly expenseive.
Instead
We have decided to work out hard and adjust our portion size. Novel idea, I know. I will be maxing the protein intake (through shakes & bars), minimizing the carbs, & using my old "one body part per day - 5 days a week" program that I saw awesome results from before we got married. If you want to keep up with my progress & learn as I learn (all while having lots of laughs as I make fun of myself), check PumpYouUp.blogspot.com I think you will find it well worth your trip. Justin Long - a great friend from our community group - will be working out with me daily & we'll be posting all sorts of funny stories, stats, and great information.

Praise the Lord for us! Things are going GREAT!

A Day Off

2006-05-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

I have today off! From Red Robin and the Real Estate gig! We have been working hard lately and it is becoming second nature to serve others at Red Robin. It is finally fun, believe it or not! So far it looks like we will be averaging an extra $250 - $300 a week, which goes straight to our debt! That means that we will pay off about $3,600 - $4,800 of our debt this summer! That is so exciting!
We are finally strictly emplimenting the envelope system this month so that will also help to keep us PAY OFF DEBT instead of buy more toys!

I'll post more a little bit later. If you haven't been to our community group's web site lately, check it out! Justin put an awesome sound clip on it from Dave Ramsey's Radio Show.

POSTPONED!

2006-05-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Our certification was postponed... by us! We've been so busy lately we forgot that we need some time for ourselves. Since we were suposed to be certified Friday night, we were able to graciously back out of Sunday nights certification attempt. We needed the time for ourselves or we would be going CRAZY this week!

Today, everything goes as normal, but Katie has Kindergarten graduation this evening and I will be working at Red Robin (trying to finish up this "traiing" thing)

See you soon!

Flying By...

2006-05-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

This week was a crazy one! Katie and I worked our "Day Jobs" from 8-4 and then our "night jobs" from 5 - 9. Talk about working your life away! As you know, we were in training for our "red job" this week. I call it our red job because the reason why we have this job is because we are in the red! What better place than Red Robin!
The week flew by. Sunday Night is our certification (where we graduate from Trainee to Server). Friday night I probably learned the most and it was one of the funnest nights! I "followed" Paul - a great server & fun guy. We had a fairly large section and stayed busy most of the night. As it turns out, we had one of the best $ales numbers ever! We did over $1,000 in one section - I'm not sure if that has ever been done. He let me do most of the talking and I even got to do a couple of tables on my own which really boosted my confidence. I just have to learn the menu now and I'll be good to go! (Menu = food and ALL ingredients, & drinks with ALL ingredients!)
I was a little worried after our bad serving experience Tuesday & confusing/dramatic Wednesday Night, but Friday put everything in perspective and reminded me that it is just taking care of another person. No big deal. I can do that.

I hope you like the new feature we added to the blog: Background Music! The song is by Jack Johnson. It is entitled "Belle" and is on the In Between Dreams album. Enjoy! I'll be changing the tune every now and then.

Look for a post Sunday Night or Monday Morning about how the certification went. We have a LOT of book work to memorize between now and then! We may need another week.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! We have loved seeing God's hand shaping us in our "everyday lives."

Training... Where did it go?

2006-05-10T03:10:00.000-07:00

Katie and I started work at Red Robin Monday and the first day was like any other... sit down, read about the company, the mission, the values, the things to remember, some food stuff here & beverage stuff there. The only difference is that it was a bit abbreviated. No biggy.
YESTERDAY, it was EXTREMELY abbreviated & then we followed servers all night!!!! If you ask me, that is a bit soon. I had NO idea what was going on! (I've never waited tables!) I told Katie it was like I walked into a tornado and tried to grab on to things. Quite honestly, it was not a fun night at all. It was hard and unexpected. The Red Robin training is definitely not up to par with my expectations! Katie worked at a Red Robin last summer... I can understand why they would hasten her training, but I think the company forgot that I AM COMPLETELY NEW.
This morning, I'm very tired, my legs hurt, my feet hurt & I have so much work to do that I've already started. Tonight at 9 p.m. I will finish. That is a 16 hour day. I didn't know there were that many hours in a day... for work.

However, I PRAISE THE LORD for this opportunity that we have to get out of debt & to work hard. This isn't gong to be easy & no one said it would be! If I want to make huge strides financially, this is where it starts! Once I learn the STUFF, serving customers will be a pleasure that comes naturally! I've just got to learn the stuff! The Lord has been SOOOO gracious to provide for Katie and I in this first 3 months of our marriage! Every month, HE has made up the slack and provided additional income for us so that we can pay our bills and survive! This month, He has provided us with work... work so that we can not only survive, but fight back & start getting ahead.

Keep us in your prayers today as we serve our Heavenly Father in a new way... Food Service.
Please pray for:
Katie's lower back, an extra hour so Ray can take a nap, Retention of Red Robin "training" info, Katie's kindergarteners, & Ray's "day job" at the real estate agency.
Praise the Lord for:
How He has drawn Katie and me closer to each other and closer to Him through these tough times, provisions He made for us to help us out of debt... early in Life! Rest that He will give us, & increasing our oportunities to witness by putting us in a new environment.

This post was written super fast and was not checked for erros. I apologize in advance!

Three Creeks Weekend!

2006-05-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we traveled down to meet Mom, Dad, Alan, & my niece Allison in Three Creeks!
It is only a 6 hour trip!!! WHOA!
However, it was well worth the journey! We spent most of the time doing absolutely nothing... and loving it! We played Dominos (Alan barely won, if it wasn't for my 186 point hand, I'm sure I would have been victorious!), we relaxed, we rocked in rocking chairs on the porch, we listened to the rain rolling off of the house, and we just let time go by with out us "doing" something about it! It was great and JUST what we needed before starting this week's hectic schedule!

We start today! This week is training week at Red Robin for Katie and me! Come and visit us NEXT week, when I know what I'm doing... somewhat.

I'll post more later and add some links and pictures to this one, but keep us in your prayers & we'll see you soon!

2nd & 3rd Jobs!?!?!

2006-04-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming in just 4 SHORT weeks! Katie and I have a tremendous opportunity to WORK, WORK, WORK to pay off some serious debt! (As suggested by Dave Ramsey in our FPU class!) So we decided to take the opportunity to do just that. I had a job offer to work as a paper boy (hince the graphic) for the Ark. Demazet. I had to turn down the offer however because it just took too much time away from Katie and I especially since I would be tossing the papers from 2:30 - 5:30 A.M.!!!! OUCH!! Not only that, if any of you have played the video game, you KNOW just how hard it is to satisfy the customers on your routs and not to mention the obsticals: kids on big wheels, guys with jack hammers, old ladies who would run out and yell at you. The list is endless. Who would want to go through all of that at 2:30 A.M.!?!?

I had been praying about that offer for a couple of days and tonight at dinner, Katie and I talked about this summer and what she was going to do. She worked last year at Red Robin waiting tables. There is a brand new Red Robin up here in Rogers and she happened to know the manager. We decided to swing by and she asked if he was hiring and he looked at her and said, "You're hired." (A testimate to how great a woman I married!!) He looked at me and said, "Now you, we'll have to get together and talk." We laughed & later he explained it was just because he didn't know who I was. So tomorrow at 4:30 we will be meeting up with the manager to work out all of the details and formally apply. If all goes well, I'll be working 3 jobs this summer & Katie will be working 2 and collect pay from 3!! The gloy of summer time and teachers!

Ray's Jobs:
Real Estate Assistant to: Jana-Wrenay Heck & Janice Harris - Real Estate Agents - Lindsey & Associates
Real Estate Assistant to: Jim Gabel & Melanie Gabel - Real Estate Agents - Lindsey & Associates
Red Robin (maybe!)
I'm also available for hire on a case by case basis for Visual Tours.

Katie's Jobs
Teaching (off for summer)
Baby Sitting (maybe)
Red Robin - Waitress

So, if you want to get together with me and Katie sometime this summer, be sure to plan it and let us know a head of time! It is no offence, we are getting out of debt!!!!

Body for Life

2006-04-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

So tonight Katie and I decided to drop by Barnes & Noble to see what we wouldn't pay for a book (their online deals are MUCH better), Body for Life by Bill Phillips. But we were sold on the book. I'm sure we will be ordering it shortly from Amazon where they have new and used books for much cheaper than the $25 bucks retail that we would have to put up. The book has some really phenominal stories about folks who have done this 12 week program and who have been totally transformed! Some of our favorites are there on the right! Dad, the bottom one is for you! If that guy can do it, ANYONE can! He looks like a 25 year old body with old man head! Click on any of these pictures to read about their story on Body for Life.com. There is also a Success Journal which does a GREAT job with forms and helping you to track your progress while adding success stories of other folks EVERY DAY! When/If Katie and take on the Body for Life Challenge, I belive we will create a seperate blog just for that news so we don't clog this one up with B4L stuff day and night!

Here are a couple of quick links for those interested in more info

The Body for Life Challenge
Entry Kit
Challenge Round Dates
Challenge Rules

The Books
Body for Life
Body for Life for Women
Body for Life Success Journal

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday.... SOOIE!

2006-04-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

That's right!!! Today is Sooie Belle Unlimited's Birthday!!! She is 1 year old! WOW! Talk about time flying by! When we got Sooie we read several books: Before & After Getting You Puppy by Dr. Ian Dunbar, Water Dog by Richard Wolters and several others! I STRONGLY suggest Dr. Ian Dunbar's book & Water Dog above all others! Sooie has become a great pet to have around and very well behaved (most of the time). She still gets SUPER HYPER like any other young lab, but that is just a lab for you! There is nothing wrong with "butt tucking" and running all over the place for a while!

Here is a picture of her receiving her Birthday Bone! WAHOO!
She loved every second of it! It only took about 30 minutes for her to completely devour this bone for "Large Dogs" - next year, we are going with the Mammoth Bone!!

Tricks she knows:
Basics:
Sit, Down, Wait (or Stay), Off, Take, Come, Up, Speak, SHHH (or Hush), STOP!
Other fun stuff:
"Take" then Katie will call her with "COME" and then say "Off" dropping the object into her hand- we use this series of commands to do funny things like pass the remote controller or send a pen into another room and so on. It is probably one of the neatest to me!
"Go to your room." - she'll go to the laundry room
"Go to bed"
Kennel
Hi Five
NEWSPAPER! - one of Sooie's favorites! She goes out and gets the paper, brings it STRAIGHT back and waits on her favorite bacon treat!
"Get in the car"
Stuff she is working on:
Drop it
Take (random objects that aren't treats - take and hold them until we tell her "off")
"Call those Hogs!"

Cloudy Birthday!

2006-04-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Did you look up yesterday? If you did you either saw spectacular views or got very wet! I LOVE storms! After I renewed my drivers license, I walked out of the revenue office in Springdale and saw this incredible sky! I couldn't resist taking MULTIPLE pictures! What a blessing! It really makes me realize how small I am to see these deep storms rolling in, whether we like it or not! (Luckily our lettuce & tomatoes are planted so we like it!)
These pictures don't quite do the actual sky justice! Most of the time we get storms rolling through and the sky is very low on top of us. These clouds were still VERY gray, but VERY high in the sky! As a matter of fact, some storms came in UNDER these clouds shortly after this picture! Amazing!

PS: I was born 24 years ago @ 10:15 p.m. of April 28th

Arkansas vs Texas!!!

2006-04-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

VS

I was driving home this afternoon and happened to be listing to 1030am. Chuck Barrett brought up an issue that he briefly mentioned in the morning news: Arkansas could be playing against Texas again... starting in 2008 in Austin, 09 in Fayetteville and then returning to Dallas from then on!!! What a BLAST!

Keep your ear to the ground for some upcoming announcements! Here are some articles to keep you busy!

Bob Holt: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Razorback Sports Network: AP

Let me know if you findout any more information!

I'm off to bed!

Back in the "Saddle"

2006-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Before Katie and I got married, we joined World Gym and worked out REGULARLY! Now, we have been married for just over 3 months and sick for 2 and a half months! This week, both of us are completely healthy! PRAISE GOD! Our plan is to start off with a bang and do some "two-a-days." (Weight training in the morning and cardio/abs at night). We will focus a little on diet, but this week, we just want to get back in the swing of things!

Keep us accountable when you see us! Ask us about the morning and if for some reason we didn't make it to the gym, ask if we will make it up that night!! Both of us LOVE to be heatlhy and active, so it is a huge answer to prayer that we are able to return to sculpting our clay again!

We are looking into a couple of different programs. We are open to suggestions if you have any:

Body for Life Buy the Book
The Abs Diet Buy the Book

Oneday, we will publish the "before" pictures, but for now, we are going to go ahead and wait on those "after" pictures to arrive!

See you at the Gym!

Everybody's a Blogger!

2006-04-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of our friends have just become recent bloggers!! How 'bout that!?!

Check out their sites:
Justin & Rachel
Paul & Jana-Wrenay

Also, our community group (the Financial Peace University Class that I talked about in the last post) has also logged on to the blogs!!
Our site is: Right Here! so check that one out too!

Enjoy the surfing!

Financial FREEDOM!

2006-04-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Right after Katie and I got marriend (Jan. 21st, 2006) we joined a community group of young married couples through our church. We knew a few of these couples and thought the group was a "nice fit" for us in this season of life! They all had been in a traditional Bible study environment and were just starting a bit of a different journey! The journey to Financial Peace!
I had heard of "this guy" on the radio and even ran out and got one of his books, but I was missing a lot of the back ground. This semester, we started in FPU or Financial Peace University. I first heard of this from a radio show. All these people were calling up and screeming to the tops of their lungs, "I'm Debt FREE!!!" to the back ground of Brave Heart screeming FREEEEEDOOOM!! This was really stiring for me since I was sitting on a considerable amount of debt!
This program has done incredible things in our lives and now in our 3rd month of actually being on a budget, we are making significant progress to eliminating EVERY BIT of our debt! This stuff really keeps us from living how we feel the Lord calling us to live! If you are at all interested in ths, check out a couple of the links below for some refrences and staring places! I highly recommend the journey!

Financial Peace Links
Dave Ramsey.com
FPU
7 Baby Steps
Dave Says Column
Financial Reality Check

We really have enjoied our time in this community group & FPU class! Enjoy the info... We will keep you posted on our progress!

Bye for now,
Ray & Katie

April Showers

2006-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

What a way to start the month! My slight illness of last month turned out to be quite the ordeal. From a viral infection, to viral conjunctivitus, to sinus infection, to ear infection, to allergic breakout!!! Talk about under the weather! Katie is finially well and I am quickly on the mend. If we keep drinking that orange juice & staying healthy, we are praying for our first physically healthy month of marriage!! We are getting the "in sickness & in health" part down, that is for sure!

Keep us in your prayers!

Welcome to our site!

2006-03-25T16:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting our site! We will be posting more soon, but for a real quick update: Katie's spring break was last week and went spent the first of it in Little Rock nursing her sinus infection and the second half of it in Rogers nursing my viral infection! YUCK! But we do praise the Lord that we didn't have to take off a week of work to get better! Sooie is doing great & is becoming VERY obediant which is a joy for both of us to see. Keep us in your prayers. We are healing slowly, but surely!

Bye for now,
Ray & Katie