Another difficult week.

Lately that seems to be the norm.

Of course we have some deadlines looming, all of which require money. And as usual, there is never enough. I find myself trying to get down the road one more month, and hopefully money will be more abundant.

I am so tired of worrying.

I have watched an "Extreme Makeover" weekly segment this morning. Very, very moving.

A single parent family, a father and his five boys. It is quite remarkable to see the bond between the family members. They lived in a rental, sleeping on the floors in a space intended for fewer and smaller people. The father had started a group called Single Fathers of Camden to support single father families. In a neighborhood filled with drugs and gangs, this single father has raised his sons to be a positive influence in their community.

I don't know the selection criteria this show uses. I would think they are covered up with requests. In this particular instance there was a foundation called Open Promise (I think) that donated the land for construction of the new family home.

I would think the selection process would be difficult and painful.

The show has a saying "Changing America one family at a time".

I did get tickled when they were interviewing one of the five teenage boys. The family had been sent on vacation to Spain for the week long project. He said maybe they should send all of America over there to see all those old buildings and architecture.

This episode was high impact.

It makes me think a lot of Rian and how his small group of young men from his school has grown.

You never know what you can change by being a positive influence.

As the health care issue swirls around us, I remain convinced we need it. Luckily, we have coverage. Albeit very expensive coverage. It has almost doubled in three years from what we use to pay.

I caught part of a segment yesterday that made a very profound statement. Lack of coverage and lack of money breeds poor health.

Earlier this year, my drivers and I put an engine in the little S-10 pickup. This is an engine I purchased through Chris' parts store which as a chain has a distribution agreement with the world's largest engine re-builder.

From the completion of the engine installation the new engine left a lot to be desired. It has consumed oil, and performance was not quite what I remembered it to be. I had deliberately waited to charge the air conditioning system, figuring that would just be an expense I could avoid, since I do not have a freon recovery system. The engine has warranty, three years and 75,000 miles. I have called the California office and visited with them and they had a technician from near Dallas contact me. This man started off as nice enough, though as we have visited he has become more and more abrasive. The engine has recently developed a "weak" miss. It is on its third set of spark plugs in less than four thousand miles. The last time I talked with this technician, he told me to keep the plugs for him to reference and he wanted to know what training I have had to do the engine swap. He seemed to think the problem is an installation problem. Luckily I am thick skinned.

Wednesday morning I carried the little truck to a friend of mine whose family has operated a repair shop for forty plus years. He made some diagnostic testing and called me to report. He said he felt there was a piston issue with the number one cylinder. In his opinion, these people owe me another engine. This may be an uphill battle.

To further complicate things, I have made a deal to sell this little truck. And we are fixing to get into a time of year that time is a valuable commodity. I need to make this happen before gin season and before the little truck goes to its new home.

And finally, my scratch off game card streak continues to live. I had picked up one game card this week and finally scratched it. Not huge again, but enough to get another game card and pocket a little cash! In my book any good news is welcome regardless of size.

Krl has been battling one of our regular vendors. They are saying that rates are going down for some of the hauling we have done for the last nine months. Our biggest problem is the owner of this company speaks no English. The gentleman we deal with is only an employee. He tells us his boss feels that with fuel prices being down, the freight rate should go down. I don't know why they are deciding this now that fuel is at its highest since last fall. It has not been lucrative, in fact for the most part it has been trading money.

I am so in hopes of placing at least one more and possibly two more trucks at various cotton gins through West Texas. That is better cash flow and less headache than what we are currently doing.

And our quotes have been coming in for the insurances that renew in a few days. The little wild man is turning out to be a problem to buy coverage for. It is available, but rated up. I have four companies working on it. I talked with my buddy and asked him if he has ever had a driver that insurance didn't want or wanted to rate up. He told me it was more common than I might think and offered me some advice. He told me if his drivers want to keep driving and are rated up, they pay the additional premium.

I can already hear the little wild man wailing!

This has been a hard week for Rian. He has had the entire building by himself since Monday. His boss and the other assistant principal have been in Austin for mandatory TEA meetings. This is a result of their campus being deemed unacceptable during last years testing. To make the week tougher, Rian has been feeling sub par health-wise. On Tuesday another teacher plus a staff member had to join Jimmy and Gail in Austin for the meetings, so that was four out of the team down there. I am sure Rian will be tempted to hug all their necks when they arrive at school Friday morning!

In a rare occurrence Rian called the church Wednesday and told them he just couldn't be there Wednesday night. They told him they would rather him stay at home and try to get to feeling better before Friday because they are supposed to leave today for the elders/minister retreat this weekend.

Well, have a day!

FATHER, I seem to be really struggling. My heart is heavy, and I am becoming discouraged. Once again I find myself needing YOUR reassurance that everything will be alright and is unfolding as YOU intend. Forgive me for ever doubting YOU!