The next thing

As of Friday John has 'officially' passed the academy. YIPEE! Now he just has to pass the exam to become certified on Wednesday the 27th. On Monday and Tuesday this next week he has to report to the academy to study from 8-4. Some of the other guys he has been in class with for the last 2 weeks will also be there so they are going to use this time to quiz each other. After the exam, John will then have to go through another qualifying certification with Lee county. He will have to qualify shooting and some other areas before being able to work in the jail. I guess you do not get your test results from the exam back right away so after Wednesday, until they find out he has passed he will be qualifying in those other areas. He is doing rather well on the practice exams so please pray for his nerves not to get the better of him! We are also praying about replacing his small car and are shopping around and praying so if you could pray for God to direct our paths that would be awesome!

John had to go to the Doctor this week for an infection in his right index finger. Of course this is on his writing hand so after he was qualifying with shooting last week it really began to bug him. I am thinking it may have happened initially when we first moved in because he kept jamming/smushing his fingers like crazy. By Wednesday this week, it was throbbing and quite swollen and since Satan REALLY doesn't want us to experience our first Wednesday night at our new church, we had to get him to the urget care. They said it wasn't severe enough to lance it just yet and sent him home with some pain killers & antibiotics. By today, the swelling still wasn't going down abd it had begun turning white, so he went in and got it drained. Hopefully, God will allow it to heal fast enough so that when it comes time for him to qualify (shooting) it will be strong enough to do so? I think John is just glad that it isn't a bite or something more severe! He was getting taunted by the instructors at the academy "Welcome to Florida, something bit you!"

Some have asked if we are experiencing any of the flooding that is going on down here and PRAISE GOD we are not! There is a lot of standing water in the gullies, drainage ditches, undeveloped land and other lower lying areas, but they are pretty far from where we are at. Thereare some big puddles in parking lots around town but I guess this is pretty normal for Florida in the rainy season.

We checked on renters insurance since we had not had time before Fay, to get that taken care of. I was amazed at how much of an expense this was, Just to cover our property and NOT even the house it was $1100 per year. The lady said I guessed really high on our personal property value but it would still be pretty spendy. I remember paying $30 a month for renters insurance in Tri-cities and I am not certain, but I think we only pay $60 per month for homeopwners. We do not live in a high risk location though, but still this was rather surprising to me. I can't imagine what homeowners insurance rates goes for around here but I guess if you are going to live in a hurricane zone there is a high price to pay. All homeowners/renters insurance is covered by the state of Florida's own company. Sounds kind of unusual to me since this means you can't really shop around for the best rate, but I can only assume that private comapanies have pulled out since it is pretty high risk! In order to get our car plates switched we have to get Florida car insurance as well so this too is on my to do list.

With all the new things that are more expensive down here one thing that we do get a break on is gas. I know it is going down all around the nation right now but BEFORE we started seeing decreases we were paying $3.65. Now we pay around $3.55. Sales tax is only 6% but the cost of food is a bit more! I have my spreadsheet put together to do some price comparisons but I have a feeling that the outcome will be that I will have to increase my food budget by at least $100-$200 until I get used to the area and figure out how normal families on a budget make ends meet.

Ever since we got here our dog has been fascinated with the lizards and frogs that are everywhere. Last night she finally caught and ate one (we didn't know this till after talking with John's daughter Sarah today). I guess these lizards and frogs have a toxin in their skin that is poisonous to other creatures and can make dogs act liek they are kinda drunk. After she ate it she became nauseated, vomited and became very lathargic. I had to carry her from outside to her bed as she wouldn't/couldn't walk to come inside. After about an hour & a half of being very lathargic and scaring me into thinking she was dying...... I asked her if she had to go outside and she jumped to her feet and was anxious to chase more lizards. UGH! Maybe she will learn? Until then we are trying to break her of this interest!

I guess that Florida is in a drought........ I am not sure if this has been lifted now that there are so many places that are flooding, but you hear Floridians talk about it and it is quite a real thing. This absolutely boggles my mind coming from a location where drought was a pretty visual/realistic thing. A place where you rarely get real rain fall & have to dig for many more than just a couple feet to hit water. I remeber when Peg and Dan moved into their new home before they had put in their yard...... the boys were getting idle so Peggy sent them out to dig a hole in the front yard. Since they were pretty bored they dug quite the hole. I think when it was all said & done, their hole was about 8 feet deep........ If my kids did that here they would drown in their new pool!

Drought is unusual concept to accept here when standing water is fairly normal in undeveloped/untouched land. If you dig down just a foot deep you may make yourself a quaint little pond, and a location where it rains A LOT on a daily basis....... This is just not a drought to me? Kinda crazy! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Love to all!