Top 7 = Our fridge water-line started leaking... and kept dripping...

Yeah, that title seems ominous-- and conjures images of The Money Pit or something of the sort, moreso than the house we've grown to love.

But, roll through it. Even the leak makes last week's Top 7...

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Fitness = the long, easy Sunday run

I started by Sunday with a long, slow run through the neighborhoods surrounding Caldwell Mill. I generally trot down the hill from the house, warming up as I move, and then pick a direction to run— in that moment.

On these days I don’t try to over-exert myself. Rather, I enjoy moving at whatever-my-body-feels-like.

Today, a woman about ten years my senior bumped past me on the road. I actually thought— oh, I’m going to slow. Then, after a moment, I remembered that I can always move faster… the point of the slow weekend runs is to just unwind and enjoy the moment— not to move through it and check it off the list.

That said, I have found that on the days I show up, do the work, and check it off the list (regardless of how exerting or easy the exercise is that day), I actually feel better. My mind feels sharper. My body feels stronger.

And, in the evening, I sleep better.

Sleep, by the way, leads me to my next entry about Finance…

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Finance = two (destructive) water mishaps, and we come out just fine

Wednesday night, Beth mentioned that she was having trouble sleeping. And a naturopath we’ve both been working with— without Beth even mentioning it to her— suggested she seemed like she wasn’t sleeping well.

I was the culprit.

I hadn’t been sleeping well-- and, since I was tossing and turning, it was keeping her from sleeping well.

I perfectly fine functioning on a lower amount of sleep— for a while. Eventually it DOES catch up with me, but not for a few weeks. And by then, most of the time, I’m already back in rhythm naturally.

I told her, “I’ll just sleep downstairs in the new guest room tonight. I kinda want to see what it’s like down there, anyway, so I know what guests experience when they come over…”

(With two of the kids recently graduating and moving to their own places, we’ve done some re-configuring of our house.)

As I walked in to the room I noticed a spot on the ceiling. A small one.

It had to be water.

I went upstairs to see what the issue might be.

I didn’t notice any places where water could come in from the outside (it had rained, but each place near the side of the house was dry— sheltered by the eaves and overhangs).

I looked inside.

No burst pipes under the kitchen sink— which sits directly ABOVE the bedroom downstairs…

But then I heard a small hiss.

From behind the fridge.

I pulled it from the wall, revealing small water stains on the hardwoods…

And, as I moved closer to the ground to inspect, I realized the water line to the ice maker had a pin-sized hole in it. Water had slowly been exiting that hole at such a turtle-pace that a puddle was never able to form and slither across the floor. Instead, it just slowly made it’s way THROUGH the floor…

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The next day I called the plumbers…

The plumber (same one who overbid the “need a new mainline fix scenario I wrote about a few weeks ago) replaced the fridge line. And, I had him replace the valves— which were 40+ years old— in the process…

✅


Now, we work the insurance-side, which means a few things we wanted to eventually transform will get remedied NOW.

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Also, this week…

Birmingham Water Works called. I know, you don’t typically think of them when you conjure images of “great customer service,” but hear me out…

“You used 41 consumption units of water this month, but typically only use 6 consumption units. Did you have a leak or something that caused that…?”

Whereas I would have LOVED to answer, “No. We simply installed the pool the kids have been wanting, the pool we’ve been dreaming about…” I had to tell her the truth: “We had a hose burst— outside— while we were out of town in Bryson City. No damage inside at all, but the hose ran for who-knows-how-long… but now we know. It ran for almost 7 times our monthly water usage.”

“Well, we can refund the overage if you supply a receipt that shows you’ve repaired it.”

“So I just need to replace the hose that a broke and send you a receipt and that’s all?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

Done.

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Family = Shopping

Thursday I dropped Levi and Judah at a wrestling party— bowling. Mini rode with me, so we could make a pit stop at Walmart.

“I need mascara, an eye-lash curler, and some dividers to organize some Pokemon trading cards.”

That was quite the mix. And it showed that she has one foot in childhood, as well as one foot in teenage world. She’s twelve. An official “tweener.”

And is growing fast…

I was reminded, as we drove, of two things…

First, I forgot to grab something from the store that we needed for dinner. I decided to forgo the extra ingredient and just endure without it. I’d gotten lost in the moments with Mini such that more soft-shell tortillas never crossed my mind.

After a long day and NOT wanting to stop anymore, I can now sympathize with how my parents must have felt when they acted like they might physically DIE if they had to make one more stop on the way from point A to point B.

Second, she’s aging up. All the kids are. These are certainly times when the “days seem long,” yet the “weeks seem short.”

Embrace them.

Pause.

Enjoy.

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Field = Launched a new website this week— for a client / friend

I’ve referenced some new biz work Beth and I are doing. Slowly, steadily, it’s become obvious that:

⭐️ we write, speak, teach courses, create content of our own

AND…

⭐️ we teach and help others do the same

For sure, it can’t be “just anybody” we help. Due to the way we “do it,” there’s got to be relational equity AND and an overlap of what we do and what they do…

I created a short webpage a few months ago— and have just let it sit. I don’t intend to market it AT ALL, other than simply mentioning it here… or letting it meander via word of mouth.

Here's the link to a simple page where you can learn more: https://www.amplifyonline.info

This week, one site (a project we've tinkered on for the past few months) went live— with a book launch on the way.

In the process of gathering info for THAT project ☝️I found myself talking to another teacher who wanted help with his content. So, we’ll see where that goes…

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Work-wise, one of my favorite tasks this week was rolling back to Oxford, to teach the 12-step “Freedom Recovery” group. This was, I believe, the 4th time up…

… and they keep getting better and better, as we lead about 200 people through the process of grace-based overcoming.

As people arrived for the meeting, I grabbed a few shots—

And— 

This weekend I worked on the content (editing and re-editing, taking another swipe at a workbook I put together about 7 years ago, the basis of the content I’ve been teaching). The book— along with the videos and audio teaching— will all be available mid-October.

When available, I’ll post here on the site…

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Faith = the Moral Injury / PTSD Bible study meeting

Thursday, Bob and I held our (almost) weekly meet-up at Panera Bread to take the “almost to the end” swipe at the soon-to-be-released Bible study on Moral Injury & PTSD.  Untangled is the working title.

Sometimes we meet and the ideas are slow. Sometimes they come fast. Such is the nature of working on creative projects.

This was one of the weeks when things seemed to flow, one of those moments when you— together— gain some clarifying language that helps tie all the words in the book together.

Here’s why the book is important:

Many veterans are tangled in their past experiences— by the things they had to do during deployment, by the things they survived (that others didn’t), and by questions that continue looming.

You can’t grab hold of your future if you’re still trapped by your past. So, this book helps warriors untangle from the past— in a positive way— and re-tangle to a new mission.

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Friends = Back to Pepper Place w/ Randy & Tammy

If you’ve followed my posts for the past few weeks— maybe even months— you realize the summer has been a time that I’ve focused mainly on work (field / because of several new projects) and family (kids out of school, lots of time around the Hilltop). That’s hasn’t left much time for friends.

And that’s OK. For a season.

But, Beth and I have missed the easy, down-time with some of our closest compadres, including Randy and Tammy. This week, we made it happen.

Saturday, late afternoon / early evening, we drove to Pepper Place and ate at Bettola, who’s recently upgraded their outdoor patio area…

It instantly gave me some inspiration of things I want to create outside of the Tiny House, as I prep to expand the deck and tie some things together (the Hilltop really is one massive, ongoing renovation project— and I’m enjoying every bit of it).

We walked over to Lumbar afterwards, then decided for dessert at Jeni’s Ice Cream.

Thankfully, I had THREE free coupons. A few weeks ago, some friends’ daughter rode through town for a concert, needed a place to stay for the night, and crashed in the Tiny House. They had visited Jeni’s where they received the coupons, promptly passing them my way— since they’re not in town.

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Fun = Ice Cream break

That wasn’t the first ice cream break of the week. Earlier, Isaac had teeth pulled and effectively (and understandably) milked the visit for a few “milkshake meals.”

Beth cooked Tuesday evening, for instance, but he couldn’t eat it. So she and I did— then took him down the road to Bruster’s where he got his meal (massive milkshake) and we grabbed dessert (trendy-flavored, over-priced ice cream 😂).

And I keep wondering why I’m carrying about 5 extra pounds?

😂

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Well, that’s the Top 7. Each night I try to sit down and jot a few notes in my planner about things I’m grateful for, events that happened that day.

Sometimes they’re large; others times they’re small.

Most of the time, for sure, I promise…

… if I didn’t 1) write it down in real time, and then 2) reflect back later in the week, I would simply forget.

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Download the Advance Planner I use— free— at www.Jenkins.tv/FreePlannerPDF