Am I Doomed Or Not?

Well, this all started about 5 weeks ago with a really bad case of back pain. I didn't really think much of it because I have had pain in my lower back for as long as I can remember. So, when it started, I just took it easy and laid back. It never got better, it was so bad that I couldn't stand up straight. I couldn't sit down, I couldn't stand up, the only position I could be in that felt good was laying down.

So, I went to the doctor. He wanted me to go get an MRI. A week later, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower back. Here is what the MRI doctor wrote in his findings:

"Mild central disc bulging at L3-L4 with mild impression on the thecal sac (the surrounding membrane of the spinal cord). Central disc herniation at L4-L5 causing a mild compression of the thecal sac and a mild central canal stenosis. Small central disc protrusion at L5-S1 with no mass-effect associated."

For some of the readers of this blog, this diagnosis is all too familiar. Instead of surgery, I am going to give the Disc Decompression treatment a shot. I just found out last night that I am perfect candidate for the procedure. The problem is the cost. This procedure isn't cheap. I am sure it will all work out and I am just counting my blessings that I have the opportunity to undergo this treatment.

Another blessing I have in all of this is the amount of sick time and short-term disability I have. I don't have to worry too much about money through this ordeal, all I have to focus on is getting my back in shape and back to work in the least amount of time.

The reason it took me so long to post the news is because I have been trying to figure out how to get the images of the MRI off the CD I have. I finally figured it out this morning. So here you go.

Soccer Anyone?

It's that time of year again. I know that most people in this country don't care too much for the game of Soccer. That's okay, it just means more for me. The English Premier League is in full swing, training is starting for the MLS, and now the ladies have a professional league... sweet!

I have decided to start another blog. This one is for soccer only called From The Pitch. I just started it a few weeks ago. I am just posting news and my own opinions about happenings from around the soccer world. Nothing mind blowing or ground breaking. I just want to share my passion for the beautiful game with everyone. You don't have to go and read it if you don't want. Like I said before, there aren't too many people that like the game anyway.

Also, Becky, Christy, and myself, started playing in an adult league that AYSO started here in town. It sure was fun. We had our first game last night. Christy has never played before. She did great. We are all a bit out of shape so it was a hard night. We will keep you posted and maybe post a few pictures here soon. See ya later.

Need Some Peace

I found this gentlemen named Dave Ramsey. I know that there are a lot of people out there that have heard of this guy. I have been listening to his Podcasts for some time now. I signed Christy and I up for his Financial Peace University course. It's a 13 week class at one of the churches here in town. So far it's amazing. The information we have received so far has been better than anything I have heard.

I know there are people out there that don't like Dave either. I just want to tell those people that they are crazy. You can keep your debt, I don't want it.

I recomend this information to anyone with debt. The beautiful thing about the course is that it doesn't matter how much debt you have 10 thousand or 200 thousand. The course works for everything. Giv it a look and a change you will agree too.

Mikey Update

I think it has been a long time since the last time I gave anyone an up date on the adoption process with Mikey. Sorry guys, from my uncalled for long absence and now trying to post all the catch-up stuff, I just plum forgot.

Well, as you know, it has been a very long unending road (hence the picture). Well, after some very long and drawn out court hearings we finally got his real dad to just sign over parental rights. That was the biggest obstacle we had to face. We got to see first hand how screwed up the justice system truly is in this fine state of California.

After all of that, there was a brake for all the tension, stress, and anything else that came with. There was a huge amount of weight lifted after all of that, and now it was smooth sailing. Just last month I had my final meeting Mikey’s advocate. Everything when well there too. This week, we got our final paperwork in the mail and now all we have to do is set the appointment to go in and I can adopt Mikey. So, if all goes right and hopes and prayer for Mikey to be an Adams by Christmas.

We have sat down with Mikey through all of this and now that he is a bit older, he understand what a lot of it means. He is still a bit confused, but he’s seven, that was too be expected. I still want to use Bender at school for a while, all of my friends know me by that, he says. That is fine with me; I want all of this to be as comfortable for him as possible. If that is what it takes, so be it.

I will post the date and any further news when I know.

A Look Back

I was reading through some of the old posts and noticed in I Forgot, I had mentioned I was asked to teach again at church. Well, I did take the offer. I had fun with this one too. I used some snippets from Rob Bell DVD, Everything is Spiritual, as the backbone. It seemed to go over really well.


I started working with the high school group on Wednesday nights. I lead the junior boys small group. The experience is amazing, most of these kids have phenomenal relationships with God, and are passionate about Jesus. These kids teach me something new every week. The strength they have is crazy.

Lets Get Started... Again

For anyone that followed my blog at the beginning of the year, I'm sorry for the long hiatus. Things have been outragiously busy in the Adams' household these past few months. I received an email from Grandma Mo last week, asking why I hadn't posted anything. So, I am going to try and keep up again through the crazy life. Grandma, I told you I would get going again, I kept my promise.

Well, like I said, busy, busy, busy. Lots to talk about. Lets see... payraise at work, bought Christy a new car, Becky and Cody's baby boy, Becky and Cody bought a house, Mikey is in second grade and had to get glasses, Bradley is 18 months and started daycare at the church, very busy church life, and we are moving into mom and dads rental.

See, I told you. Anyway, I only have time to post this message right now, but I will get into more detail on all of that stuff in the next few days... I promise. For now, sorry I took so long, I won't let it happen again, and there are lots and lots of pictures to come.

P.S. Shauna & Shaun, congrats on the baby girl, God bless you both, we love you.

Finally

For some strange reason, blogger would not upload the videos I would create in iMove.  However, I did discover that iMove can upload your videos straight to U Tube.  I didn't really like the idea until I noticed that you can check a box before the upload that lets you keep your videos private.  So, you wont be able to view any of the videos I create through U Tube, only on my blog.

Frustration

I would like to apologize to everyone for the low amount of posts.  I have been trying to post a couple of videos of Bradley and Mikey.  For some reason I they won't go through when I try to upload them.  I will keep trying.

Over the last few months, I have been doing a lot of studying on web design.  I started a company a few weeks back.  I am majoring in Marketing, so I thought I would start a marketing company.  I am offering Web Design, Company Stationary, Logo Design, and Business Cards.  I am working on three web pages now.  I have under construction pages up for all three now.  I am working on  Cody's company web page, Corpse Skateboards, and two of my own, S4C Ministries, and GreyStreet Marketing.  You can take a look at all three by clicking on the links.  Let me know what you think. 

YESSSS!!!!!!!

I received great news yesterday from the Doctor.  Everything looks really good, the bone is healing and progressing very well.  I have been cleared for physical activities but still can not pick up anything too heavy.  I don't have to see the Doctor again until June 3rd.  Six weeks between visits.  That has to show for something.  Also, I got all of the range of motion back in my shoulder.  Doc said since I was able to do that, I am not going to need any physical therapy either.  I am still on schedule to be able to return to work by June 16th.  It's all on the up and up.

A Bit of Payer

I just wanted to give a bit of an up date before this week starts.  The reason being is that this week is going to be one of the busiest weeks I have had since I broke my collar bone.

Today, Monday, was a nice day.  There wasn't a lot going on, mostly just hanging out with Bradley.  Unfortunately, he was a bit cranky because I still am not aloud to pick him up.  So he stayed in his pack-and-play for most of the day.  I have been picking him up a bit, mainly because I could not take the guilt anymore of Christy having to do everything.  Mom and Dad were out of town this past weekend so I had Bradley here.

Tuesday isn't going to be too bad either.  I do have my doctors appointment to see how well I am healing.  During the last visit, he said that I was to start working on my range of motion.  However the bone was still broken.  Let me just say, my shoulder hurt like crazy for six weeks.  So I am hoping that he says that I can start physical therapy.  I did get a great deal of my range back.  The sooner I get physical therapy, the sooner I can get back to work.

Wednesday is a crazy day.  We have an appointment to take Mikey to a children's advocate for the parental rights and adoption trial.  Then Christy has a dentist appointment at 4:00.  I have to be at church at 5:00 because I am teaching the junior high youth group. (more on this later)  After that, I have soccer practice because the high school group is taking two teams down to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego for a big district tournament.

Thursday isn't too bad.  I do have meetings at church with the Pastor and Youth Pastor.  We also have to take Mikey to a meeting with his Lawyer that afternoon.

Friday is going to be a day of nothing.  Well, at least an attempt at nothing.

All in all, I know, it isn't the busiest week on the planet.  But it is a crazy one for someone who hasn't been able to do much of anything for the past two and half months.

A New Toy

Well, I finally got what I have wanted to a long time.  I just bought a new computer.  I was going to buy a PC, but I hate Vista.  The three or four times I used the program I had nothing but trouble.  So I looked into a MacBook Pro.  It was going to cost me 2700.00 for the one that I wanted.  So I thought I would look into the iMac.  

Here is what I bought.  I found the 20 inch iMac with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB memory and a 320 Gb hard drive.  I got it for 1699.00.  I got twice the computer in the iMac than I would have got from the Macbook Pro, for a lot let cash.  This thing is sweet.

I mainly bought the computer because I have had a lot of school work lately and have been using my older Gateway.  Problem is, Christy wants to use it.  So I bought this bad boy to help control the computer traffic.  Here are some pictures of my new toy.

 

A Lot Going On

Here is a little story about what has been going on this past month.

It all started the morning of February 5th.  I got up at 5:00 in the morning, drove to my buddy Gary's house, picked him up at about 5:30.  Started a 2 and half hour drive out of town to a place known as Mountain High.  We're on our way to a day of snowboarding fun.  We arrived at 8:30, just as the lifts were opening.  We suited up, bought our lift tickets, and headed to the lift.  We had a small discussion on where to start.  I had not been on a board in about 6 years and for Gary it had been longer.  We made the choice to start on a green slope instead of heading to the summit.  A smart idea if you ask me.  Well, it is now 9:00, we are snapped in, standing at the top of the slope.  9:01, we're off.  9:02, I'm done.

I had been heading down the slope, I carved in to go around a guy and started to carve out.  I ride goofy foot, so when I am carving out, it is on my back side.  Anyway, as I am doing this, my tail edge hits a patch of hard pack and gives on me.  I caught it just in time, but then it went again.  This time, I lost it.  I went down on my back side and jammed my left hand into the snow.  As I did this my collar bone broke.  The picture you see at the top left is my x ray.  After my x rays, the doctor said that I shattered my collar bone.  It broke in four places, two were main breaks and one was the split of the little piece in between the two mains. 

Needless to say, they couldn't just set it and let it heal.  I ended up having surgery to fix it.  Now I have a large piece of titanium with screws holding everything together until it heals.  The surgery went off without a hitch.  It took about 50 stitches to close 

me up.

After the surgery.

Incision.

A closer look, pretty isn't it.

Sucks To Be Sick

The better part of 96 hours. That is how long the fever I had lasted. And wouldn't you know it, on the way to the pay the doc a visit, it broke. I don't ever get sick like that. I am the guy that gets those little 24 hour colds and maybe a runny nose. I am doing better but recovery seems to be taking a little longer that I would it to. I started my Biology class week. So far so good. I have to make up a little work this weekend from being sick, but I think I will manage. Bradley and Mickey are doing great and Christy is cruising along at work. So, until next time.

Sorry Guys

I know, I am a slacker. It sure has been a while. I posted three new videos, that should help give you your Bradley fix. He is sure growing up fast. Can you believe it, eight months old in just three more days. Mickey is going to be seven years old on the 14th this month.

I start Biology today. Yes, Biology and no I am not too happy about it. I don't like Biology, not in the least. I figured I would get it out of the way in the beginning. We will see how I do. I am hopping for the best.

I was asked to coach the church soccer team for a few tournaments coming up the first part of the year. I said yes, of course. You would be expecting a different answer from me, I don't think so. Because the last time I used my soccer cleats they gave me a huge blood blister on my foot, I opted to buy a new pair. These things are cool. Adidas Predators they call them. The most comfortable soccer cleat I have ever put on my foot.

Six Months Going On Seven

I know I havn't posted in a few weeks. I can't say things have been crazy on my end because it hasn't been. Everything seems to be going really well right now. I ended up with a B in my New Testament class and I am working on my Old Testament class now. Christy is still working. She has had a bit of a run in with one of the girls she works with. She finally quit so Christy should have an easier time at the Pre-school.

I registered for next semesters classes this week. I start out with Biology and finish the semester with Algebra. I was going to take a total of four classes next semester but I am not good at biology or algebra so I think I should just focus on one class at a time.

Happy Halloween

I just thought I would get one more post in before the new month.

Happy Halloween everyone. Hey, aren't those pumpkins cool? I thought so, that's why I posted the picture.

Anyway, I will have a post of Mickeys basketball game up shortly, I still need to find a good song to go with basketball and do a bit of editing. I will also be posting some pictures of Mickey and Bradley in their Halloween costumes later this week. Christy and I are going to take the boys to the Harvest Festival at the church tonight. They do a really neat Trunk or Treat thing for the kids, a BBQ and live music too. Sounds like fun.

Also, I finished my first class at Grand Canyon University Online last Sunday. As I sit now, I have a B+, but the professor still has not posted the final grade with week eights assignment yet. I am hoping I can pull an A out of somewhere dark, dusty, and damp. For the final paper, I had to write a two thousand word essay on the movie, Passion of the Christ. The length of the paper was not too hard because, the professor had seven questions for us to answer and each question has at least one more question added to the original. Sounds hard? Well, it was. It took me all day. I went to church that morning, went home and started the paper, didn't get to go to Mickeys basketball game or the small group Christy and I go to.

On Monday, I started my new class, Old Testament History. We will see how this one goes. The good thing is, I am off of those six work days a week. Now I may have a bit more time to study and get my homework done. We will see. Anyway, just wanted to post an update.

Work, Work, Work

Well, it hasn't slowed down around the house yet. Sometimes I feel like time is like the clocks in the picture. It's all going so fast that even the clocks are getting tired.

Last week our landlord had a new roof put on the house. That was three days of noise. I started my six days a week on Monday. I found out that I will be on this schedule until the beginning of November.

Somewhere in this new work schedule, I have to find some time to get all of my readings and homework done on time. The way it's set up with the online courses, I have a discussion question that I have to answer on Thursday, and another one on Saturday. Then I have a paper I have to write that is due by Sunday night. That's it, every week for eight weeks and then the class is over. Also, don't forget the two or three chapters in my textbook and the the readings in my Bible I have to finish before I can start to do the work each week. I know, it doesn't sound all that bad, really not much work involved... on my normal work schedule. I have three days off every week to get the work done. Now, I don't have that and it is going to be this way until the end of the class.

If someone has any idea how I can get two more hours out of those sad looking clocks in the picture, please let me know. I think I need it.

One of those weeks

Well, it was one of those weeks. You know what I am talking about, the week that nothing seems to go right. The one where everything seems just fifteen degrees off. Yeah, we had one of those weeks. It started on Saturday night. I felt great, Christy and I had decided to go to the Saturday night service at church. The church had a guy speaking that was the MC for Promise Keepers in Fresno last month. I wanted to go here him speak so, Mikey was off with his grandparents and we dropped Bradley off the the infant care at the church.

We went to the sanctuary to listen to the speaker, Rick Rigsby. He spoke for a little over an hour. He is amazing, I hope that if anyone has a chance to see him speak they take it.

Then, Sunday comes around. I am changing the oil in the cars when I hear from Christy that Mickey has the Chicken Pocks. I finish with the cars and a little while to the evening, Mickey has an accident involving his potty seat. I am not going to go into detail here, but let me say that it involved a trip to the ER. Everything turns out okay there, but Tuesday has yet to rear its head. Tuesday and Wednesday, all in all, turns out to be okay. The only real problems I had on those two days was trying to take care of both kids, watch Mickeys band aid, and try to get my home work done. Thursday, I had to go to work, but I came home because I felt sick. Sure enough, head cold hits that nigh, but not before Mickey as to go back into the ER to get his bandage fixed up.

I am glad to report that today has been a good day. I feel better, chores are done, Mickey is doing better and I have been able to work on homework. Now the only thing I am facing is the fact that I am going back on six days a week at work until my boss finds someone to hire in the new position opposite me. Well, wish us all luck in the coming weeks.

The Past Week

A few thing to talk about from this past week. Christy and I took Mickey to see Transformers last Monday. I only have one word to say, impressive. The movie was great, I was very impressed. They did a great job using existing structures and buildings (like the Hoover Dam) to tell the story. If you have not yet seen it, I recommend you do.

Christy and I also went to see the new Harry Potter. Although it was good, I feel the Transformers movie was much better. One of the reasons is because the book had some much information that you could not possibly put everything into a two hour movie. Because of this reason, if you read the book, the movie jumped forward many times. The story jumped through to the middle of the book in just the first half hour. aside from that, the movie was great. A lot more fighting with the spells and wands, and much darker than the last four. I do recommend this movie as well.

One last thing. My birthday was on the 17th. It was good. I went out for a round of Golf with the music pastor at church. I have to say, for a man that said he has only played a few times, he did really well. After the round, I went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Then yesterday, we went over to my mom and dads and had dinner. My birthday was nice and relaxing. Just how I like to have it.

A New Direction

I have been trying to come up with something to write. I have decided to hit the main points for this inaugural post. If you are in my family, you know that I had a blog spot already. I wanted to start over, go in a new direction. If you are new to my blog, then I guess you don't have to worry about that.

To start with, just a small refresher to get up to speed. My beautiful wife Christina brought a baby boy in to the world on May 10, 2007. Bradley is amazing, and a stud if I do say so myself. Our oldest, Mickey, is on his summer brake. He doesn't have as long of a brake as other kids because of the year-round schedule. He still hasn't caught on yet. Christy started her new job at Starbucks a few weeks ago. From what I can tell, she is really enjoying her time there. She does still have the before work jitters but, comes home exited (most likely from the high levels of coffee consumption). Everything is back to normal at work. Well, as far as my insane schedule is concerned. We came off our annual shutdown and I fell right back into my four tens.

Now that history is done, I can head to the future. Not much planned right now. My birthday is in less than a month and Christy will still be older than me. (Sorry babe, but it was right there, I had to) Christy has her birthday in August. Also, we are coming up on our one year anniversary. We are going to Paso Robles and Pismo Beach for that August weekend. Christy has never been wine tasting so I thought it would be fun for her. Besides, wine is lovely and Paso wine is awesome!

So, all in all, life is running as smooth as life runs... like a pothole filled dirt road after a Colorado Winter.