MERRY CHRISTMAS 06
From the Oregon Coombe House
Greetings Family and Friends,
The little man has gone to bed so we may begin and finish our Christmas newsletter. We just finished our walk in the light drizzle around the neighborhood watching all the Christmas lights. Our own beautiful tree welcomes our hearts to the love of a happy home. We are also filled with joy as we think about the real meaning of Christmas, Jesus’s gift of new life, His Spirit within us guiding our path, and preparing a place for us with Him for eternity
This year has been marked as a particularly joyous year but didn’t start out that way. Jan 06, Cheryl had moved out to live on her own before being wed to TJ later on that June. Yeah! We lived in the Pacific house, just the three of us for three months then received a new roommate for a few months.
April we finally sold the Pacific house. Two weeks previous, we thought maybe God was leading us to move to CA. We had asked for three things: that we would find a buyer, I would love where we lived, and we would have the funds for Scott to stay at home. Everything was answered in living in Gladstone, a smaller suburb outside of Portland. I had accepted a position as a nurse in CA, Scott had a job there and we had a condo reserved, but the Lord led us to stay in OR.
The move to Gladstone has been the best thing for us. Eighty percent of my stress evaporated in this move. The previous year was extremely tough, relationally, financially and spiritually. Scott and I saw each other maybe 15 minutes a day and we were moving in separate directions. Now we play, read, talk together everyday till 3pm. Wesley has us both each morning, and he is glowing in it. Scott and I have figured out we enjoy being together. What a relief! And we have never been so thrilled to pay rent vs. a mortgage. We live by the beautiful Clackamas River. Some have said Gladstone reminds them of, “Mayberry?” This is before my time.
Adele continues to work on the Medical Surgical Floor at Willamette Falls Hospital. It has been a rewarding experience. I will have worked there a year and six months. Just this week, I have accepted a full-time position to work in Day surgery starting Jan. 22nd. I will be working at the same hospital but changing departments. I’ll now have every weekend and holiday off. I’ll work 6am-2:30pm instead of the 3pm-11pm shift.
This will allow Scott to be more available in the evenings to run his internet business. It has been exciting to see his business pick up and start to take off. Scott said last week, “this business has allowed me to put years of study in marketing into action”. He sends a supplement letter to tell you all about it.
We are now expecting another little person to be added to our Oregon Coombe clan. Friday we listened to the heartbeat. Oh how we love that beat; Scott, Wesley and I all fit into the exam room to hear it every time. It always seems to take a while for the beat to become audible. We hear Adele’s so clearly but the little one likes to hide. We have an inkling of his/her personality already. I think she senses that there is a lot of action out there with his/her brother around and with a very keen mind makes a tail dive for safer waters deeper in the womb. I’m sure it’s a girl and Scott’s sure we have twin boys. But in just four weeks, we’ll know for sure when we have an ultrasound on Jan. 9th.
Wesley turned three this year and he had a ball at the CA Coombe’s house for his birthday! Buzz Light Year took front stage this year along with a wooden train. And cookie bottomed ice-cream cones were a hit. Wesley’s language is growing and becoming clear. He’s not interested in the least bit in toilet training, but we’re working on it.
We all wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We sincerely wish you the peace of the Spirit of Christmas!
Life is a journey to be both enjoyed and lived purposely. Yet, there is no easy carefree journey worth traveling. The worthy trip which engages the heart adds a touch of risk balanced with great beauty. One has to leave the TV room to marvel at the mountain tops. Someone will never enter into the beauty of God’s creation if they medicate their problems and fears. There will never be the joy or nurturing life-essence of a good friendship if the phone is never picked up.
I will share some of the treasures I’ve learned this year:
I’ve learned the power of a friend. I’ve had a few good men that I have welcomed into my life this year. Unfortunately, one of them I rarely see or get the chance to talk to. And yet, a friend is one who can speak into my life – tell me to engage and enter into what I am doing each moment. A friend who can tell me I am doing something wrong and I can accept it because I know he has my best interest in mind. I enjoy the time just chatting, sharing my life, over a pizza with a good buddy. I love that.
I’ve learned the joys of mentoring and being mentored. There lies a treasure trove of experiences both from accepting wisdom from people I greatly respect, to being a father and also to training and equipping men for their future. And being mentored is something that I have been missing for some time in my life.
I have begun writing for my website www.hope4glory.com. I enjoy placing articles on there which can impact other people from the experiences that I have learned or struggled through. I have had a various amount of different study agendas from health, making decisions to business tools. All of this is purposed to bring people to a higher quality of life than they may presently enjoy.
My business pursuits have enriched me spiritually and mentally. No, I have yet to make a great fortune, but I see the seeds of greatness in what I have begun.
You see, there is only one thing we desire from our own business or our efforts at a job. It not more money ... it's not more things... it's not more security... it's not more freedom... and it's not to satisfy our ego.
Quite simply, what we pursue financial gain for is to create more life. Unfortunately, these pursuits often drain our best years, our energy and the quality of life we aspire to. We often get into credit trouble trying to make up the difference reaching to our goals, and that takes us even further from the goal. Adele and I just told you briefly of the struggles and relational barriers that what we were told was success took us to the wrong road in life… a road of loss yet rich in wisdom and experience. Though I wouldn’t like to take that road again.
Few people are unaware that the Internet is going to be huge in the future. People are predicting that half the economy will be done over the Internet in the next five to six years. Economists are predicting that approximately 90% of America will be shopping online within that time period. In truth, there are going to be great reversals in fortunes from people loosing retail businesses to those who capitalize upon those future Internet sales. If there is any place to put your efforts for your personal finances, it’s by placing yourself before the masses on the Internet. I knew this many years ago, but I just didn’t know how to capitalize upon the trends.
There is a well known statistic that 82% of business’ fail in the first five years. The thing I didn’t know was that 90% of all franchises are successful. What is the distinction? There is a system put in place where ordinary people just follow an extraordinary system and it becomes a success. Hence teenagers can work a business better than most small businessmen… because they have a system.
Take that concept, what if there was an Internet business where there was an extraordinary system in place to allow ordinary people to make extraordinary incomes taking advantage of the trends taking place in the next five years. There will never be another time like we are seeing within our lifetimes. And to be honest, a job or business is harder to work than working an Internet business a few hours a week, and you will never receive the rewards an Internet business can give you: residual income and duplication.
The big picture… change your buying habits to your own store. Joe Albertson and Wal-Mart have made enough money. Buy in your own business and make a difference in a neighbor’s life. My goal is to retire Adele this June when our new child is born. To increase my income, instead of budgeting our expenses which are already maxed in debt, we get others to buy at wholesale from their own stores and receive a small percentage on the volume. Don’t think of this as 1980’s MLM, but building a subscriber list like hotmail where billionaires are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for an audience. You build the list and companies line up to pay you to get in front of them. It is marketing down to the personal level because companies realized newspapers, TV and radio ads are not financially viable strategies anymore in the new Internet age.
Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk and to act. Maxwell Maltz
love you all greatly
Scott Coombe