Falling off the edge

I haven't really fallen off the edge of the Earth! I am still here.
Now, where to start?

Last month, Steve took Brian and his birth-brother, De'Anthony, to State wrestling. Bri lost both matches and came home. He says he had fun and wants to go again.
He then debated and debated between school track and a community baseball program. The girls convinced him to do track again. He's had several meets and has done well. He is running the 100 and 200 and has tried the long jump and high jump. He usually gets first place in the 100 and 200 and then a 2nd or 3rd in the field event. He is aiming to break some school records. I think he's within .2 seconds on the 100 meter dash!

I took Zack to karate testing the day of the 'blizzard' here in Cinci. We got about 14 inches over a couple of days. Most stores were closed, all school activities were cancelled, etc. But we went to testing anyway. AND HE GOT HIS SECOND DEGREE BLACK BELT!!! His picture was up on the school's site but it has probably been replaced with this month's testers.
Zack has also gotten back to driver training. We had to renew his temps (again) and then the school had to get permission from Columbus for him to pick up where he left off (state guidelines say he is supposed to finish within 6 months of starting but...) so I didn't have to sign him up and pay all over again. He's been doing much better this year. Maybe by the end of school I can stop being his taxi driver!
And in school, Zack has been continuing with his Digital Media Arts and took a trip to Sinclair Community College. He has done some placement testing and has been accepted to start classes. (How does that work if he's only a junior in high school?!?!?) Sinclair is supposed to be one of the better community colleges, it is who offered the digital media arts satelite program at school, and they are the ones that give scholarships for completing the digital media arts program. Zack insists that is what he wants to do and where he wants to go so I guess I better not argue too much!

As a family, we have switched churches and some of us have gotten involved in Sunday School classes again. Steve and I are attending one that is currently studying Thesselonians and Brian has gotten involved in the Middle School group (their middle school goes through 8th grade and then they move up to the high school group, no 'junior high') but I haven't been able to get Zack to attend on any regular basis. He is still quite resistant to the whole idea. He did not have a good experience at our last church and then his father passed. He is pretty much convinced that God does not exist right about now. I am hoping and praying he can work through it and get back to church soon.
Steve and I are also participating in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through this new church. We definitely need to join forces and get our finances under control! It's pretty much common sense and I have done a lot of it before but now we are working together and working on common goals. Even though we are still beginning, I feel more at ease already!

On the homefront, our water heater tried to blow it's top a couple of weekends ago. I called my brother up in MI and he walked us through diagnosing it. One of the thermostats was stuck and it was just a-cooking away! The relief valve worked so it was able to vent itself all over the floor insteading of launching itself into space.
The same day, I had turned off and opened the 'beer fridge' in the basement because it was frozen solid and hadn't been used in a while. I did not put any towels down. We had a cold puddle on one side and a hot puddle on the other side! What timing!
Last year Steve ordered a tankless water heater from his brother. It was still waiting to be installed. We had gotten a couple of starter quotes on labor from an electrician and a plumber. Ouch! They'd cost more than the unit itself!!
Tom and I played a little phone tag last week until we finally caught up with each other Wednesday night. He asked whether I knew that I was having company this weekend?!?!? He and his wife, Kim, and Dad and his wife, Susan, came down from MI and installed the tankless yesterday. We have endless hot water now! The supplies were a tad expensive (they had to run three new 40 amp circuits for this beast and that wire was over $1/foot itself! And don't forget the copper tubing!!) 1 project done.
Last night, Steve and I went to see Chonda Pierce in her Staying Alive Laughing show. The men were definitely outnumbered but Steve seemed to enjoy himself. We laughed, I cried, I'm glad I finally got to see her...

Oh well, it's a work night so I should get myself off to bed. Morning is on it's way!!