It was two months ago today that I posted this saying on my wall on facebook as I had made the decision to resign from my full-time job the next day. I had come back to the states five years earlier to run my business and be close to my family and had gotten sidetracked with full-time jobs, benefits and nice salaries. I had taken a long hard look into what I really wanted and realized the flexibility that comes from teaching online was what I wanted. Two months on and I am so thankful that I made this decision. My family are also very happy with the decision because I am happy. Today, I also taught my 100th hour with Verbling and am also doing a couple hours a week with some other companies (one in Spain and one in Japan). My goal is to get some consistent hours teaching so that I can pursue some other projects that I have been putting off for a couple of years. One is to finish updating the LANCELOT course and see about getting it accredited again and another is to start working with other language schools and setting up live online programs for them. I just need to find the time to be able to concentrate on both projects. I'm excited. Anyway, it has been two months and I'm still smiling! YAY!

I love these four people very much. This picture was taken back in the spring of 2011 a couple of months before the twins turned two and their older sister turned three. They are now five and six. Big sister just started kindergarten and the twins are starting to mature in great ways. At this very moment, one of them is quite bored and is getting into trouble every few minutes, but that is part of the course of being five years old. I look forward to seeing all three of them grow up and what marvelous people they are going to become. Baby girl loves dancing and singing and our hope is to get her involved in music theatre somehow. She is currently learning ballet and tap. Twin one is really into technology and is great at video games whereas twin two is a very natural athlete. Right now, they are both playing soccer and played t-ball last spring. This coming spring, twin one is planning to play t-ball and twin two is doing spring soccer. My hope is that we can get all three of the kiddos into basketball this winter.

When I saw this picture on facebook, I knew I had to share it on my blog (that I'm not sure anyone reads anymore) just so that people know my heart. I'm like my dad--I'm simple in that I don't consciously get riled up about much. I know what I know and I know what I know to be true. And one thing I know to be true, with no doubts whatsoever, is there is a God and His word can heal and can brings things right into this dark world. He is I am! He is my all in all! It may not seem apparent to people who don't know me well, but this is truly what I believe in my core. Jesus, name above all names, light of my life and the center of it all. It IS ALL ABOUT HIM! When we forget that as we go through our lives, we have the prompting of the Holy Spirit to remind us what we really know and what we really believe.

This is one of my plans when my income starts to increase. I truly believe that God blesses us to be a blessing. So many people are talking about the possible upcoming financial crisis and I keep thinking that if there truly is going to be a crisis, God is going to place me in a situation where I get to do just this, be a blessing! Will I ever have a lot of money? Maybe. Will I get the chance to be a blessing? Absolutely. You see, it has nothing to do with money, it has to do with willingness and being obedient to whatever God has called us to be. So, if I ever do start making oodles of money, I don't expect my lifestyle to change that much... maybe a little, but who knows what the future will lead.

Writer's block--what is it really? There are so many things that I want to say and so many things that I want to write and I look at my screen and my mind goes blank, especially when trying to fulfill my dream of writing materials for live online language training. Is it fear of failure and/or success that keeps me from writing the things I want to write or is it just that I am out of practice? One of the reasons, I'm making an attempt to write on both of my blogs on a daily basis is that I want to stop this block I seem to have gotten and so I'm forcing myself to write these simple little blog posts (that I rarely proofread). I remember one of the things from my 'teaching writing' classes in graduate school was to just have the students write on a daily basis and even if they don't show it to the teacher, they will begin to improve because 'practice makes perfect' after all.

I'm exhausted. I've been teaching until about 2 AM for the last week and then when I'm finished I can't settle down to go to sleep. Last night, I slept for about an hour and a half and the night before that I slept for about three hours. I don't normally have this issue. Usually, when I decide to go to sleep, I lay down and I'm out, but not the last couple of nights. It is 10:33 AM and I have until 7 PM util I teach again and my mind just won't let me sleep. I don't think I have reached REM sleep the last few nights, I need to sleep. Wish me luck!!

Alpo and I are housesitting this week and we are really enjoying the time to be together. As I write this, I'm sitting on the back deck to the little duplex with a covering over me as I hesitate to work on my computer without a covering. That comes from an experience I had in Finland at a friend's summer cottage. I was skyping with a colleague in the Philippines and all of a sudden a bird pooped on me. Since then, I have wanted a covering. Anyway, now that I'm back to my 'old' life, I can now start traveling a bit because I can take my office with me. In that, I'm hoping to be able to start housesitting more and more. So, if you are in the continental US and need a housesitter, contact me and as long as I have good internet access, I'll make a point to do it for you. Naturally, I would like to take Alpo, but understand if it wouldn't work for you.

I started teaching online in 2006 as a means to supplement my income and then I got this bright idea to start my own company. Well, to make a long story short and an interesting series of events, I have now started teaching online full time as well promoting the second company I set up. For my personal teaching, I have started working with a company called Verbling and am having the time of my life. Right now, I'm teaching their open group classes where the classes are actually streamed live on google hangouts onair. I never know from class to class who will come. I can have as many as nine students at a time and they are from a variety of different countries, which makes it fun because we can compare the culture and customs while talking about various topics. As I already said, I'm having the time of my life. I'm so happy that I went back into live online language training. All of my classes are added onto my google+ page and you can also follow my Verbling happenings on Facebook.

I am quitting soda. My absolute favorite soda is Pepsi Max although anything with carbonation works, but I am so addicted I'm spending all my pennies on soda and not saving for the future. Eating and drinking anything in moderation is okay, but always having to have a soda 24/7 is starting to get dangerous for my health. I've also started reading about the dangers of soda pop and caffeine in general when it isn't drank in moderation. So, I have decided my 'new' addiction will be something similiar to Sobe Life Water, but the jury is still out--I might just drink ice water. Wish me luck!

Growing up I wasn't really allowed to watch a lot of science fiction. I'm not all that sure why, but it wasn't a big deal. So when I was in my early twenties, a roommate introduced me to Star Trek TNG and I was hooked. I now systematically watch all the series save the original at least once a year thanks to a Netflix subscription. Anyway, I've started reflecting as to why I like Star Trek--I've never cared for Star Wars, but know way too much about the Star Trek franchise and I've come to realize it it because they are living the ideal where one doesn't have to worry about money (unless one is a Ferengi) or where they will live. The society is already self-actualized and they are looking to make their galaxy a better place. My very favorite show is Voyager and I think it is because they have a strong female captain that I can relate with. In my opinion the best story line is Deep Space Nine followed very closely by Enterprise. The Next Generation and the Original series hooks us to the story although neither of these shows really have a story line like the shows following them. Anyway, I'm sorry Mom, I'm a Trekkie, although I haven't yet gone to the trade shows, I have frequented the websites. Anyway, I'm hooked!