My mouth is on fire. The hot salsa at Chipotle is a bit on the warm side today. *sips water*

I’m sitting here having lunch all by my lonesome and I’m thinking about how insane the next couple of weeks are going to be. I’m going to be leaving for a 3-day conference called Catalyst early Wednesday morning. It’s a very forward-thinking leadership conference held in Atlanta with 10 or 12 thousand people attending. We’ll see where an open heart and an empty stomach lead me while I’m there. It should be good. I’ll be driving with 3 other guys from Vineyard Westside and probably the main Pastor from Crossroads. We’ll get back from Atlanta sometime Saturday.

The following Sunday – the next day – I will be leaving early in the morning with my buddy Eric to the Little Miami Triathlon. We’ll compete and hang out there for about 5 or 6 hours and we’ll head home. I’ll be drained. I do believe I’ll be skipping dodgeball to hang out with my family that night.

The following Tuesday – two days later – I will be heading to the airport to depart for Vancouver. I’ll be spending a week with two of my close friends, Ryan and Carrie. I can’t wait to see them and join in with whatever they happen to be doing that week. I’m extremely excited about going over there. I expect all kinds of cool stuff to happen. Bring it on.

The downside to all of this is that I’m going to be away from Allison and Ava too much for comfort. I’ve never been away from them for this long. They go with me pretty much everywhere. It’s going to be rough and I’m sure it’s going to be even harder on Allison. Thankfully she has started her new job now and she’s not working insane hours anymore.

Lord, please put all the things in place to keep us all together. Be the glue God.

...So Allison quit her job a couple weeks ago. She didn't like this job at all and she worked too much. She applied for a part-time job with Great Oaks school district working with special needs students and she got the job...sweet. This is something new and exciting and we're all going to get to spend a lot more time together now.

The other side of this new venture is that we'll be making even less money...I know, I know...I've been whining about the money thing lately but hey, we've got to whine about something now and then right? (Philippians 2:14 says, "Do everything without complaining") <---oh crap!!

Ok then...no complaining allowed. Let's get creative then. Let's make this fun.

Allison and I are on day three of a 30-day spending challenge. We've decided to compete with each other and with ourselves to see who can spend the least over a 30-day period. Not only are we seeing who can spend the least...the most we can spend is $20 for the entire month!

Now don't be crazy, this doesn't include the things we need to survive: Food, Gas, Paying the Bills, etc.., but it does include all those extra items that we just don't need.

This will definitely be a major challenge for me! I like being able to grab a snack at the store or pick up something on sale at Sam's Club (goodbye my love) when I feel like it. It's also nice to snag a Monster (I'm addicted to energy drinks) when I need a little pick me up. <----Translation: I want my heart to feel like there are baby Tasmanian Devils in it. The point is, I enjoy buying stupid wasteful crap. This will be difficult for me.

Be careful hanging out with me for the next month as I will probably ask you to buy me something.

She's pretty fun to hang out with.

I've been reading a book called Holy Discontent by a Pastor named Bill Hybels. It's pretty decent. It definitely has me trying to figure out what my "holy discontent" is personally.

What is it that brings me a firestorm of frustration? I'm not sure.

I've got lots of things that frustrate me. There are so many topics out there that get me fired up, but I'm unsure of the area with which I should focus. I'm kind of the guy who tries to help make something better in whatever area needs help. I step in, I try my hand at improving it, and then I move on. Sometimes I make things better and sometimes I find out that I suck at certain things.

One thing I suck at is figuring out my holy discontent.

I came home from vacationing in Destin yesterday. The first piece of mail we opened was a pretty devastating one for us. It was from my payroll company explaining to me that I've been making "too much money" for the past 9 months or so. There was a major accounting mistake and someone has to pay for it. I guess that someone is me.

Now I make a lot less money and it's going to be really hard to adapt...that's really all I can say right now. It's going to be hard, but I guess it was time to simplify.