Dairy,
Today was a very bleak day at church, our preacher got up in front of the church and made fun of people who suffer from ADD. My son, Jamie has ADD and some other neurological disorders and it hurt to hear someone who is suppose to minister to you belittle you and poke fun at your problems. He compared the Israelites to people who have ADD. The Israelites did not have ADD they had a rebellious and disobedient nature, just as all people with or without neurologically disorders have. They made a conscious decision to be that way. No one chooses to have a neurological disorder. All anyone with ADD needs is a belt applied to their backside, according to the preacher. If that was true my son would have been cured by the time he was 4. It didn’t work so we got help. It is not an easy decision to put your child on medication but it would be very foolish not to if it is available and needed.

The preacher’s words carry a lot of weight with our congregation and I hate to think that he will discourage someone who needs help from getting it. His remarks also will make those without any problems look down on those who do have them and are willing to get them treated. I don’t now or will I ever beleive that the Holy Spirit inspired or caused him to say such garbage. He would never poke fun at someone with cancer.

Well that my tirade, I’ll talk to ya later dude.

PROVERBS 15:22 WITHOUT COUNSEL PURPOSES ARE DISAPPOINTED; BUT IN THE MULTITUDE OF COUNSELLERS THEY ARE ESTABLISHED.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND I LOVE MY CHURCH AND MY PASTOR, YET I AM DISAPPOINTED TODAY!!!!!!!

Dairy,
This has been one heck of a year. I’ve done some new things and lost a lot also. I’ve given blood the maximum number of times that I could give. I’ve been on some trips to help the less fortunate and now I am the less fortunate. I lost my job which wasn’t all that bad. I had a good plan. I just don’t know if it wasn’t God’s will or if I just wasn’t man enough to go through with it. I went to truck driving school. Drove a u-haul to Texas. Got a job driving a truck and quit it because I couldn’t stand being a way from home. I worked construction for a short time. I then got my current job. Eventually it will meet our needs but right now we are struggling very hard to get by.

We get quartly bonuses, I will be eligible to get a bonus for the last 2 months of this quarter. They update how we are doing and give a rough estimate of what kind of bonus we can expect. Even if we got it today we would still be a good ways behind, as it is we probably won’t get it until February. Hopefully by the end of 2007 we can get caught up depending on overtime availability and a whole butt-load of other factors that are out of my control.

I learned a lot this year, not all of it good. I have learned that you can not count on anyone except God and even then I may not understand His timing and reason for doing things. You can’t count on a company(people are involved), you can’t count on an institution(again people are involved), it is sad to say but you can’t even count on the church, most of the time their decisions are just business decisions and nothing more(more people),there may be a few family members you can count on but not many, about the only people you can count on is yourself. I have learned that if you put any kind of confidence in people you will be disapointed. It is a dog-eat-dog world and it is every man or family for itself. Those were hard lessons to learn but it’s good to know the truth.

I have learned some good things also. If an individual or family is faithful to God, God will be with them no matter how hard times get. Even when we are unfaithful to God He is dependable and faithful to us. It has also been reinforced to me in this year that if you continue to give of your time, money and abilities that you will receive blessings far greater than any amount of money can buy. I have learned that you can be content to not have much. I have went from having the most I have ever had(in the bank) to matching the least amount of money I have ever had(in the bank)actually if you count VISA we have less than we have ever had in the bank. I have also learned that what we have in the bank or in assets does not make who we are, it is what we do for God and others that count. I have very little here on this earth so I am very glad that it is heavenly treasures that are important, but heck I ain’t even got very many of them, but the few I have are worth more than any dollar amount on earth.

Dairy, that is my year in a nutshell, it’s been hard and tough and 2007 doesn’t look much better but we will get through it also.

PSALM 141:1 LORD, I CRY UNTO THEE; MAKE HASTE UNTO ME; GIVE EAR UNTO MY VOICE, WHEN I CRY UNTO THEE.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND IT IS AN EVERYMAN FOR HIMSELF WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dairy,
I went to the physian assistant at work. I am having my annual sinus infection. We can go to her anytime for what ever ails us. That is a pretty cool benefit. She wrote me a prescription, so I went to Wal-mart to sea what it would cost, $93. I’ll weight until Jan 1 when my insurance kicks in. It’s only 2 more days. I may go to Walgreens after midnight the morning of the 1st. They are opened 24 hours even on the holidays.

I reckon I’ll just hang around the house and get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids and pee all day. There is a western marathon on the hallmark channel so I’ll watch westerns today. You can’t beat that.

I reckon that is all the exicement you can handle for one day Dairy so I’ll let you go now. Good bye.

JOB 33:2 BEHOLD, NOW I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH, MY TONGUE HATH SPOKEN IN MY MOUTH.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND REALLY LIKE WESTERNS.

Dairy,
Let me try this again, I jest put in 2 pair of graphs and then hit something and lost’em both. I guess if I had just writed on it would just been a graph in stead of a pair of graphs.

Anyway Dairy I’ll start over. My sister(actually she’s my sister-in-law by technicalities but in my heart she’ll always be my sister) had to have her bladder tacked, what ever that means. She had also found out that she has diabetes. They’s gonna try to treat her with pills and diet, I don’t know how else they could treat it but that’s what they gonna do. She’s gonna have to check her blood sugar level each day. I reckon she’ll have to prick her finger. When I give blood EYE don’t mind them sticking that big needle in my arm but I do whince when they prick my finger wid that wittle bitty pricker. I don’t know if’n I could change my eating habits for a disease. Of course I have changed them hear lately, I’ve been eatin real cheap. It was either that or get rid of ya Dairy. Of course your head arsn’t off the chopping block yet dude. We’ve decided to give ya about six more weeks and sea what happens. Dude Cindy works 2 jobs and when she told her boss on her second job about having to be out of work for six weeks on a count of this procedure her boss was more frustrated about her missing work than she was concerned about Cindy’s health. The bad part is this is suppose to be Cindy’s friend and she took the job to help her friend as much as she did for the money. I reckon that just goes to show it’s a dog eat dog world.

Dairy, we had a pretty good CHRISTmas. Jamie got this neat little gadget. It is a remote control hummer that wheel drive right up the wall. It’ll go right and left and back down and stay on the wall. It’s got some type of vacuum that holds it against the wall. I’m thinking of rigging a bag to it and making one of them robotic vacuum cleaners and wall dusters. That was probably the coolest thing any of us got. We mostly got clothes and money. My dad always gives money and I think he got Jamie and Kimber’s envelopes mixed up with mine and Lynn’s. He gave them $10 more than he gave us. That’s ok though we got’s enough to buy groceries for a week, so we came out pretty good.

Dairy I’m working day shift this week. We are painting equipment and talking a lot. EYE’LL be glad when the weeks over with. I like doing something a little different but it’s still work. I don’t understand people grumbling about cleaning up, it pays the same and if ya gotta be there what’s it matter what you are doing. It’s not like it’s hard or anything.

Dairy I’ll talk to ya later dude.

MATTHEW 27:50 JESUS, WHEN HE HAD CRIED AGAIN WITH A LOUD VOICE, YIELDED UP THE GHOST.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND NEXT WEEK EYE CAN SEE THE DOCTOR ABOUT THIS NASTY SINUS INFECTION I’VE HAD FOR 2 WEEKS(EYE’LL BE INSURED AGAIN).

LONELINESS
The room is packed, there is standing room only!
How can this be? I feel so lonely
People are everywhere, laughter fills the air
Yet I’m so isolated as if no one is there

Loneliness, its meaning can not be conveyed
What loneliness is not, is easier to say
Loneliness is not; being accepted for who you are
Loneliness is not; feeling content when others are far

Loneliness like a disease eats at the soul
Given its course, the heart becomes a hole
Only by The Lord can this void be healed
It is by His blood that this wound can be sealed

His is a friendship that never will stall
Just for me He gave it His all
His is a life that is perfect and true
Yet His Father gladly gave it just for you

Whenever I feel lonely I think of this verse
Then with Jesus, my Savior, I always converse
He is always there and ready to listen
Now my heart is full, there is nothing missin

VONSTEGALL

Dairy,
Today is CHRISTmas eve. It’s suppose to be the happiest time of year. But I tell ya right now I feel like crap. Unless you have ever suffered from depression Dairy you don’t know what it’s like to feel like crap for no reason. I’ve went through all the motions today, we went to church and afterwards we took some pies and a cake to a rescue mission that is serving dinner for the homeless tomorrow. Tonight we gonna have our parents over for dinner. So I’m going through the motions without having the emotions. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

PSALM 147:3 HE HEALS THE BROKENHEARTED AND BINDS UP THEIR WOUNDS.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND……………..

Dairy,
What up dude? Today was different. Lynn wented off wid her sister Cindy, so our family time was cut short today and tomorrow she is going off wid her again. That’s alright though cause after yesterday, uh I mean tomorrow I’ll have 4 days off. I could have had nine off but I volunteered to go in 3 days next week.

If’n I didn’t really need to work I believe I would have taken those days off. There are over 500 volunteers heading to Gulfport Miss. next week to help with the rebuilding of houses destroyed by Katrina. The North Carolina Baptist Men have been rebuilding 600 houses in the last 2 years, so far they have completed 390 that leaves 210. I wish I could have hooked up with someone in this area and went with them. I guess I can weight until February and go to Grifton.

This night we had our company wide dinner for our shift. I meeted the president of the company. We had turkey and dressing and beans and slaw and pie and drinks and some crap that had pineapple and cheese in it. I’d never had guessed that was pineapple it looked like potatoes. I talkeded to one of the office girls who has a nephew who was in our church play sunday and she said that has been the best thing she has done this holiday season. I was right glad to hear that.

They also had a sound system set up so if anyone wanted to play music or sing they could. There is this dude who is always singing at work. He sings at church regularly and the guys talked him into singing. He got up there and sang a gospel song. I had never heard it but it talked about going through hard times and how we needed to trust Jesus. As long as we had that relationship with Him we will be alright. I really needed to hear that song right now. I talked to him later and he said that he got up there intending to sing something else but when he opened his mouth to sing(acapulco) he swithched to that song. Just hearing some of them guys talk I think a lot of us needed to hear that song, christians as well as the lost. You never know when and where God will send comfort and encouragement, often it comes from an unexpected source and not from where you would typically expect it.

We wheel eat again tomorrow and I have heard we will get to leave about an hour and half early. I think I’ll stay if they let me.

I need to think of something fun to do while I’m off the next few days after tomorrow. Personnaly I like Morrow Mountain all it would cost is gas. I guess we could go to Cane Creek, it’s even closer even if there isn’t that many trails to hike and we’ve done all those several times. We’ll sea dude.

I reckon I’ll sign off now dude, see ya later.

PSALM 34:18 THE LORD IS NEAR TO THOSE WHO HAVE A BROKEN HEART, AND SAVES SUCH AS HAVE A CONTRITE SPIRIT.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND I HAVE RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT “MAKE THIS ENTRY PRIVATE, VISIBLE ONLY TO YOU” BUTTON, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

Dairy,
Hey dude I only worked 8 hours today. Physically that’s great, financially it sucks. I hate having to depend on overtime. There wasn’t anything to do today so I comed home. Maybe tomorrow. I also hate living paycheck to paycheck, well that’s stretching it a bit, we are sorting spending next weeks check this week. It’s been a long time cents we’ve been this far behind.

Dairy, this week we wheel have 2 dinners at work and on the clock. One is company wide. The other is a department thing. Each shift and department does their own little thing. Each group has to pay for itself. 3 rd shift is having pizza and wings and had to pay $10 each. We are having pizza and wings and arsn’t paying nothing. Turns out 3 or 4 have decided that they want to pay for everyone else. I didn’t know no one like that at the tire plant. That’s cool with me since I wasn’t gonna eat if’n we was gonna pay $10. Now I can fill’er up.

Dairy in less than a week, after all the hype and build up, it will all be over. CHRISTmas will have come and gone. You know outside of celebrating Jesus birth I like getting a paid day off of work. Actually 2 and then 2 more the next week. Hey in two weeks I will have 2 vacation days and a floating holiday at my disposal. Crap that’s also when I’ll start paying for my insurance. I hate it when I burst my own bubble.

That’s all the crap I have four ya now dude, take care.

EPHESIANS 1:3 BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO HAS BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND I AM GLAD THAT MY CONFIDENT EXPECTATION IS IN GOD AND NOT MEN.

Dairy,
Whoo, it’s been two busy days. Yesterday I worked and then we took off for Hollywild to see the animals and lights. It was ok but not as good as usual. We left later than we ever have. I got home from work at five thirty and got a shower and was gone at 20 til 6. We got within a mile of the gate about 8 and then took another hour and 20 minutes to get in. Usually we get there soon after they open the gates. We went into the deer forest and shore enough there were hundreds of dear. But after being fed for 3 hours they wouldn’t eat for us so we just lookeded at them. We got out to late to go to Cracker Barrel so we’ll do it later. We got home about 1a.m.

I got to bed about 2 a.m. Couldn’t go to sleep until after 6 and got up at 8:15. We had sunday school, preaching, and then the youth sorted CHRISTmas cards for our church family. We put a mail box every year and everyone can bring their cards for people of the church and then we sort them and put them in bags for people to pick up tonight. We sorted 3,362 cards. First we sort them alphabetically and then by families in that letter.

We got home from that and I had to go to a funeral, then back to church for to watch the CHRISTmas play, then snacks after ward and now a conversation wid you Dairy. Now I’m gonna relax and read for a bittle lit and then go to bed. It’s been so nice talking to you Dairy, goodbye for now.

PROVERBS 19:15 SLOTHFULNESS CASTETH INTO A DEEP SLEEP, AND AN IDLE SOUL SHALL SUFFER HUNGER.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND I HAVE NOT BEEN IDLE, AT LEAST NOT TODAY.

Yeah!!! Dairy,
I only have to work 6 hours saturday sews we is own for the birthday festivities. I feel better about it cents EYE is gonna get 60 hours this week.

DAiry, I’m gonna work over the next 2 nights sew the dude who runs my machine can cover for someone else who will bee own vacation. I wersn’t shore if’n I was gonna be able to get much overtime sense EYE can only run the won machine but the dude who runs it on 3rd shift can do most of the jobs in our area so they let him do that a lot and I’ll get to run my job. Plus when my job is slack EYE’m helping other guys and am learning those jobs a little at a time, so my worth is going up.

DAiry I lied to ya about gettin them leaves up. EYE’ve spent about 45 minutes on them, but Lynn and the kids have almost got the front yard done. I really have been looking forward to getting out there and helping(tic) but alas they have robbed me of the pleasure. Oh whale that’s life.

Hey Dairy, I told about goodyear trying to recruit us to scab, they are gonna pay $1500 a week and give a signing bonus. I’m tempted to call them and sea what the signing bonus are, just out of curiosity. I hope the guys at goodyear get what they want or at least that they don’t lose anything.

DAiry, I gotted my saturday work schedule for the next quarter, now me and another dude is gonna plan a trip to Grifton. I can’t decide if’n I want to just ask the few people who I know wants to go or if I should post a letter inviting everyone. I think I may can have as many as 9 who I no are interested in going if I don’t post it, yet I hate to rob anyone of the blessing of knot going by knot giving them the opportunity. Who knows someone who has never been may go and get such a blessing that they go over and over again. By not giving them the opportunity I could rob them and anyone they may witness or minister to of blessings. I might better talk to the preacher. If I do it own my own I may be responsible for any cost that comes about. If we get more people than the church van can hold it’ll up the cost, but so far we haven’t had that many poeple interested at one time outside of the youth mission trip. But I’m gonna pessimistic and think we’ll have more this time around.

Dairy, time for bed, see ya tomorrow dude.

DEUTERONOMY 31:6 BE STRONG AND OF GOOD COURAGE, DO NOT FEAR NOR BE AFRAID OF THEM, FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD, HE IS THE ONE WHO GOES WITH YOU. HE WILL NOT LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.

I AM VONSTEGALL AND I DO NOT HATE MY JOB, MAN THAT’S NICE TO SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!