Quakertown Apartment

We went and looked at a one bedroom apartment in Quakertown today. It was really spacious and nice. It had multiple large closets including a walk-in closet in the bedroom. It has heat and hot water included. Another neat thing is that with the apartment comes a 4'x6' storage unit at no extra charge. It is nice, but definately a third choice apartment. I heard that that part of town is no very good and a friend told me he knew a pot smoker in that complex... exactly what we are trying to avoid.

I am expecting a call from an apartment complex in Pennsburg that is really nice sometime hopefully early next week. They also have heat and hot water included and the price of a two bedroom apartment there is less that the one bedroom in Quakertown. We would even be happy to get a one bedroom in the complex in Pennsburg and get on the waiting list for the next two bedroom. We will see. We do not want to settle for this apartment, instead we want to find someplace we really love and can be in for the next few years.

Apartment Hunting

Let the hunt begin! We are officially looking for a new apartment. I started from Rent.com and Hannah has been checking out the newspaper listings and we have a few leads. There is a really incredible church in Quakertown that we might consider attending, so we want our next apartment to be near there. There are some nice one bedroom apartments in Quakertown that are in our price range, but we really need two. Regardless, we are going to see one tomorrow.

Also, there are some REALLY REALLY REALLY nice ones in Pennsburg. They are spacious two bedroom apartments that are less than the one bedroom apartments in Quakertown! They have heat, hot water, water and gas included and high speed internet access available! I called and the said they have "limited availability" but that they would give my number to someone who knows more detailed what availability is looking like. So we should be getting a call from them sometime next week. I drove by them today and absolutely loved what I saw from the outside. They are also just blocks away from a beautiful new Super Wal-Mart and a Weis and just two blocks from 663 which leads right into Quakertown. Also they are only fifteen minutes from work!

So we will see what happens, but I hope we can find a good apartment soon. We "settled" for our last two apartments and I am really hoping we can find one this time that we really love so we can be settle down for the next few years.

The Death of Blogging

Blogging among my friends has almost entirely died... and it makes me so sad. Three years ago almost all my friends had blogs and I read them daily and knew what was happening to them and what they were learning in their lives. I felt connected to them and almost felt like I knew some of them better than when I was in school with them. But then something happened- MySpace. MySpace was the first big "social networking" site and all my friends immediately jumped on the bandwagon. But it at least had a blogging capability. Then following the MySpace craze, there came the "Facebook" craze. Facebook allows people to write "notes" but there is no real blogging capability. And as my friends got into the social networking sites, they left their blogs. So now what I know of my friends are a bunch of random one-line status updates and infrequent notes. How were they able to leave blogging so easily? I seriously doubt they all keep written journals, so how are they recording their lives? I want to leave something that my children and grandchildren and great great great grandchildren can read, not to mention my current family and friends. On my blog I can record the everyday happenings of my life, the current state of the world, what God has been showing me and what I have been learning. I know I could never consistently keep a handwritten journal, but I find it simple to keep a blog. In fact, I NEED my blog. I NEED to be able to write and let out my thoughts and emotions, even if no one else is going to read it except me. I would have to say that blogging blows my mind, it is just brilliant. I do not know what it is, but it is so easy to be totally and brutally honest when writing on my blog. I would go so far as to say that my blog is more "me" than me. When you see me, you see what I show you on the outside. You can see my skin color, my clothing selection, hear me speak of this and that; but though I try to be perfectly honest in all parts of my life, it is a game to an extent because we all want to look "good" on the outside. But when you read my blog, you see inside me. You see what makes me me. You see why I am passionate. You see why I care about what I do.

So what is my point? I guess that simply put, my blog is me. And I wish that my friends felt the same way about blogging.

AFLAC

Hannah and I are now covered under AFLAC! I hate the thought of spending more money, but this looks like something we really need. A friend recently went in for quadruple bypass surgery and had a rude awakening when he realized that Walkers has no disability compensation for employees. That got a lot of us concerned and we were told that if we wanted any disability insurance, we had to get it through AFLAC. So the AFLAC people came on Friday to present us our options, then they came today to sign us up. I signed up for three plans:

Accident - Immediate cash given if you go to the emergency room because of an accident, then cash depending on what procedures need to be done and how long in the Hospital.
Disability - Disability insurance which will reimburse 66% of your paycheck for up to 3 months because of a medical disability.
Dental - Cash back for cleanings and dental procedures.

I am glad we signed up for these, I think they will be worth the money.

Philly Trip

Hannah, Riley J, Shane, and I went to Philly yesterday! After living here many years, it was about time to go on a sightseeing trip down there, and Shane was the perfect excuse! I researched everything on the internet, had a perfect itinerary with a map and was all set to go. We were planning to go on Saturday, but Shane's flight got cancelled, leaving him stuck at his layover in Chicago. Luckily his flight was able to get in on Saturday, so we decided to do Philly on Monday.

Well, to start the day off, we went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord near Lancaster. It was incredible! I had only been there once (right before Hannah's dad died) and it was about time we went back. Shady Maple is basically a massive buffet with the most incredible variety of wonderful food you could ever dream of. I had a massive fresh walnut pancake, waffles, bacon, eggs, fruit, biscuits and gravy, coffee... it was wonderful.

Then we headed off to Philadelphia! It was supposed to be about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but of course we hit traffic on 76 and it ended up taking longer.

Our first stop was the art museum. We ran up the famous steps as Rocky did and threw up our hands! Shane was yelling at the top of his lungs, "Adrien! Adrien!" Hannah got a video.

After the Art Museum, we drove down to the historic district and parked near the Constitution Center. We decided to do anything that was free, so rather than paying and going inside all the buildings, we just looked at the outsides. We first went to the Christ Church cemetary where Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush are buried. Following that we went to the Betsy Ross house where our first official flag was made. Then we went to Christ Church, which was the church of most of the founding fathers. It is also the longest continually-running church in the country. They still have weekly services there. I especially enjoy there because we often install rental organs there, so I have been there often. We get to bring the organ in through the "King's Door" which was made for King George to use, but he never came over and therefore never got to use it. I believe George Washington was the only American President to ever enter through it.

Following Christ Church, we got lost and Riley got fussy. So we stopped across from the "First Bank" of the United States and Hannah fed Riley. Then we went and saw Independence Hall and ended our tour with the Liberty Bell. I never realized it was so small... it always looks bigger in pictures.

After that we headed back to the car and set off to find "Pat's King of Steaks" the original and best cheesesteaks in Philly. I did not have directions so I found it on the internet on my phone and went to Google maps and was able to find our way to it. The cheesesteaks were great! It was a perfect end for our Philly trip. Over the course of our day we were everywhere from northwestern Philly to central eastern Philly to far south Philly... I think we all got a very good taste of it.

It was a great day :-).

My Prayer

Come, Lord Jesus! Come!

Regent Scholarship Essay!

I just finished my Regent Scholarship essay! They wanted students to write an essay explaining how they are going to change the world and the winner will receive a full scholarship for four years of school including books! I wrote the original draft and my wonderful mother (who is a professional writer) edited it for me and it took a few more drafts but I just finished it! We will see if by God's grace I win. But regardless, I am proud of my essay.


“How I Will Change the World”
By Ryan Burgett

I was getting nervous. My sixth-grade teacher was going from desk to desk asking each of my classmates what they wanted to be when they grew up. Soon she would be at me! And I didn’t have an answer.

I listened as the other students told her how they wanted to be things like movie stars and sports players. I couldn’t believe it. The last thing I wanted my life to revolve around was a ball and a hoop! But what did I want to do?

Then the answer came to me.

When the teacher stepped up to my desk, I summoned all my 12-year-old courage and told her the truth, “I don’t know exactly what I want to be when I grow up, but what I do know is that I want to make a difference.”

That was how I felt back in sixth grade, and that is how I still feel today - I want to make a difference. But how?

Once again, I knew the answer.

Who is the most significant person to have ever walked the planet? Who made the biggest difference of any one human being? Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I believe the best way I can make a difference, and ultimately change my world, is to model and communicate the life and work of Jesus to my family and to the people around me, regardless of the job I hold.

But that is a tall order. How do you narrow that down to put it into practice? I decided to read the book of Mark to find out. This book focuses on Jesus’ humanity and how He lived his life practically. I knew it could give me valuable insight.

As I read, I made a list of the qualities that most defined who Jesus was. According to Mark, His life was characterized by: Prayer - He rose up very early in the morning to pray; Humility - He never took personal credit for His miracles; Empathy - He deeply felt the pain of those around Him; Patience - He always calmly explained truths to his confused disciples; Faith - He trusted in God His Father to do the miracles; Teaching - He taught in the Synagogues and everywhere else He went; Wisdom – He truly understood what He felt, saw and experienced; Power - He worked incredible miracles that had never been seen before; Authority - He embraced the authority given to Him by the Father; and Mission – He was always trying to bring people to Himself and to the free gift of salvation.

If any man wants to change the world, these are the qualities that need to define his character. They need to define my character and I am actively taking steps in that direction. But how does changing me, change my world?

It’s called the ripple affect. And the entry point needs to be my family.

I am happily married with a five-month-old daughter. She is hopefully the first of many. But with children comes the responsibility to raise them “in the way they should go.” This involves more than just teaching them the alphabet or how to tie their shoes. It requires clearly communicating through both my life and my words the message I most want to give my children - the truth of the Gospel, so that they can trust in Jesus and live as He lived.

Then, like a pebble dropped in a pond, I will be raising up a family to carry on the communication of these values both during my life and after. And as the circle widens, it will change, affect and make a difference not only in my world, but in their world and the world to come. That is how I can amplify my voice.

Changing the world is a monumental task and communication is essential to all of it. I do not want to be unprepared! Learning to better communicate will give me the skills to clearly and articulately present my message to my family and ultimately, the world.

Can one man make a difference? Yes. Can one man with his family make an even bigger difference? Absolutely. Jesus said to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” I hope to spend the rest of my life with my family by my side communicating the wonderful message of Jesus and living His life to the world. That, I believe, will make the biggest possible difference in this world.