Happy July!

Isn't it hard to believe that it is already the month of July? Where does the time go? I feel like it was just yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas, now we are half way through the year. I'm certain that we will blink, and it will be time to start school in August and then buy gifts again for Christmas. Let the cycle repeat! Which reminds me...

One of the books I'm reading is on the Apostle Paul written by Chuck Swindoll. I've always thought it would be fun to get to know all of the apostles a little better - so I've been trying to make time to do it. In the book, Swindoll mentions that it is important to 'not allow a lot of activity to dull your sensitivity.' The context in the book is specifically for those involved in ministry, and making sure being too busy in that ministry does not impeed your ability to hear God speak - but it can certainly be used in a more broad context. Anything in our lives can do this - spending time with family, working, getting things done on the house,vacation planning, etc. His simple advice is 'Be sure you're carving out regular time to be with the Lord, keeping an open mind, meditating on His Word, remaining devoted to prayer, and taking sufficient time to relax. Only then can you hear and discern His still, small voice...'

So clearly time will slow down for no man. Also, I would venture a guess that even if we do take Swindoll's advice and carve out time to focus on the Lord - time will still feel like its going fast. However, how great will it be when we think back at the last six months and instead of saying 'Where did that time go? I wish I would have...' we can take comfort knowing that we were in sync with God's will for our life over the last six months - and we can look forward to what he has in store for the next six.

Anyway...Christy and I have a little less than four weeks before we head to Wheaton. We are in the home stretch for the house (all home inspection addendum items are fixed on the house, we are getting the Virginia required termite inspection today, we have about 60 packed boxes in the dining room, etc) and are getting excited for the move. If you talk to Elizabeth, she'll probably tell you that she is looking forward to seeing Nana and Papa, but AFTER Costa Rica. So she clearly understands that changes are coming - the order is a little wrong though :) I personally think she would be most excited if she knew there were long hallways that she can ride her tricycle down at the condo unit in Wheaton. She is a terror on that thing; Sammy has the tire marks on his hands and legs to prove it.

Okay...my quick investing tip for the day. I personally love to invest in commodities or companies that have fundamental shortages in the long-term horizon (you need to be willing to live with large swings in price before that time so it is important to sit tight). I think a great example of this is oil which maybe I'll touch on another time. However, today we're talking about fiber optics...and I think this article does a good job of showing that. There was alot of fiber layed before the Internet boom - so when the demand starting increasing because of things like surfing online and emails - there was still a glut of supply and some of the companies suffered. However, now that larger bandwidth items are transmitting across the net there is a huge demand increase. The article mentions google and HDTV streams for phones, but I think there are tons more examples available. Online video gaming, streaming movies to consumers computers like Netflix has started, streaming TV shows like the IPOD allows you to do, technology like slingbox, etc. We are in the earlier adopter stage for some of these things and I'd venture a guess that demand will continue to go up exponentially. So, fiber optics is probably still a safe bet - however - I'm not so sure I'd invest in one particular company because you never know who will be the last company standing. Rather some index fund that tracks a broader set of stocks and technology would be a great idea.

Anyway, its time to get ready for work. Until next time...