Well folks, this is it. These are the last classes I will take for this degree. And then I think I am going to take a break from school for awhile. I have taken small breaks here and there, but for the most part I have been in school since I was 5. Which means at 32 years old, I have been in school about 27 years.

I've spent 13 years in primary and secondary schools. I started my college career at FSU but finished at UCF while visiting 3 other colleges along the way. After 8 short years (yikes!), I got my B.A. in Political Science/Pre-Law. I then set my course to Fort Worth for a stint at seminary. I've spent 4 years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned my Master of Arts in Christian Education. Now I've spent the past 1.5 year getting my MBA at Liberty University.

This semester I will be taking Non-Profit Management and Leading Organizational Change in session B, then I will take the capstone course in session D called Policy and Strategy in Global Competition. Then I am done.

But wait, there's more!

If school was not enough, Shantell and I are still very active in our Apartment Life gig. We typically host 4-5 community events per month for a total of 70+ hours combined.

I will also be starting a new Sunday morning Bible Study class where I will co-teach every other week. Also I will teach a class on prayer on Wednesday nights.

And we will be "maintaining" two residences. Since the house did not sell, we are moving some stuff back in the house. Our house insurance company was going to drop us if we continued to have it vacant.

We may come home to Orlando for Christmas. As it stands now, we will probably have to drive to save money - but that is still uncertain.

So ... if you thought we were busy before ... good grief ... you ain't seen nothin' yet. (Yes I sound like I have college degrees).

After six months of letting our house sit on market, we have decided to pull it off and keep it. A number of factors led us to this decision. Cheif among these reasons is the very slow real estate market. Also when we are done with Apartment Life we will need somewhere to live. With mortgages being somewhat more difficult to get these days, we figured sticking with what we have is a good idea. So someday we will move back in.

I also have another update. I have been dieting since Monday, April 21, 2008. Its about 2+ months later and I am down 33 lbs. I have lost an average of about 0.5 lb a day or 3.5 lbs per week. I hope to lose another 67 lbs. I'll give another update in August!

It has been a long, long time since I have updated the old blog. So it is time to dust off the keyboard and give you guys a peer into the current happenings of the Benore household.

First, I am starting my last summer class tomorrow. I have registered for my last semester at Liberty University. So ... the countdown begins. So far I have been able to maintain a solid 3.5 GPA. And let me tell you: finance, accounting, economics, are not among my favorite classes. Truth be told I really enjoy classes like Organizational Behavior, Executive Leadership and Management, and Servant Leadership. I even had a technology class - but for some in technology - it was nothing new.

The Apartment gig is going terrifically. Can't blog about details, but still love it.

Our house is still for sale. The market is kind of slow, but it is among the strongest in the nation. So we have high hopes for a summer sale.

This fall we are starting a new class at church. Our old Sunday school class is "planting" a new class geared toward the younger couples without kiddos. I taught once a month in the old class, but will teach every other week in the new class.

Shantell has accepted a job at a small private Christian school called ACI. More details as they come later.

Our budget right now is extremely tight, with the economy in a slump, us paying for a house we do not live in, and Shantell's lack of income for the past few months. We are getting the bills paid, but I am not sure we will be doing any traveling home this year. I have 3 days of vacation to use, but I can't imagine gas prices or airline tickets will be cheap enough to fly out. If we do make it home it will be for a very short period - but don't hold your breath.

That's the latest for now. Must get up for work tomorrow. Goodnight!

I have added a new link to our blog called "Our Photo Gallery". This will take you to our Picasa Web Photo Album. I am not posting the link here, because the link is on the blog menu.

For those who do not know, Picasa is a software program that allows you to manage digital photos, organize them, touch them up, and even upload them to the web. Picasa is free and is owned by Google. I use it because it is very easy to use and put pictures up fast. We have lots of pictures up there, so enjoy them all. If you do not have an easy way to manage your photos or if you want to put your photos out on the web to share with others ... try Picasa.

It has been awhile since I posted anything, but wanted to say Happy New Year! 2007 was a whirlwind, with Kevin graduating and starting a second master's degree and both Kevin and Shantell taking positions as event planners at a downtown apartment through Apartment Life. Kevin has finished 18 out of 45 hours of his MBA. That means he is 40% done! He did get one "B", so his GPA is only a mere 3.83 (probably the best career GPA he has ever had).

We have had some requests for pictures of the new digs ... so as soon as we clean up the place, will post a few. That's it for now. Happy New Year!

It is official. We are moving from our spacious two-story house, to a wonderful apartment on the Trinity River (550 mile long river that flows entirely within the state of Texas). The apartment complex is a four story building built around a four story parking garage. You get a particular unit through an interior hallway (and elevators). It reminds me of a hotel type layout.

We are about 5 blocks from the historic court house, on the northern most part of downtown (northeast), but everything is soooo close.

And why are we moving? It is an opportunity to become a CARES team for Apartment Life. CARES is a resident retention program that assists management in building community and serves residents.

So ... here is some more information for you to browse!

Lincoln Trinity Bluff (our new apartment)
Downtown (a map with our apartment)

Now this is just cool information:
Uptown Fort Worth (our future neighborhood)
Trinity Bluff (our specfic neighborhood)

Google Map!

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