Well, I can’t believe it is already Thanksgiving.  That means Christmas is right around the corner.  I want to thank you for checking out TrippAtkins.com this year and I want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.  This is one of my favorite times of the year (not because of the food, because I would prefer a pepperoni pizza) but because of the time I get to spend at home with family.

I have so much to be Thankful for this year: a happy, healthy two-year-old son, a beautiful wife, we are both employed and even through a lay-off have not been significantly impacted by the poor U.S. economy, we helped family members start businesses this year, and we have a loving, serving church family. We faced some trials in 2009, but God was faithful and brought us through them.

2010 is shaping up to be a great year, but right now we are so thankful for what came our way in 2009.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
- 1 Thessolonians 5: 18

Of course, the one day that we get snow I am scheduled to be in court for three different hearings.  I am spending most of my time checking my iPhone or the local news station to see if the court has been closed because everything else in town is closed.  And just my luck, the court says they are going to be open on a three hour delay.  That means one of my hearings is cancelled, but the two afternoon hearings are on.

I get on to my wife and friends about working all the time.  I strive to have balance.  I want to be a great daddy to my son and be there with him, especially during cool times like this when we get an extra day away from the office.  But I can’t just skip a hearing.  So we play for a little while in the snow and then I go in to shower and suit up for my hearings.  I had a little work to do at the office in preparation for the hearings so I had to leave a little early.  Once I arrived at my office I had received several voice mails from the Court stating that all of the hearings had been cancelled for the day.  Now, I was a little relieved because my mind was at home with my wife and son, but at the same time I was at the office, alone, with some quiet time where I could really get some quality work done.  With the intention of staying just a “little while” I spent nearly four hours there working.  I’m sure it was all extremely important and time sensititve (insert sarcasm).

I felt pretty convicted as I thought about it later that afternoon.  I give Steph a hard time about working crazy hours as a CPA, but when I have the chance to take off and get home I chose work.  While I “talk” the “talk” about family being one of my high priorities, when it came time to walk the walk, I failed.

Are there areas in your life you are failing at that you claim are “important” to you?  Don’t waste another minute.  Do an inventory of your life and your values and make sure everything is lined up or get a plan to get them lined up ASAP.

You can check out some of our other snow day pictures here.

Anyway, Merry Christmas.

No matter where you are in life, right now we all have something (and most of us have many things) we should be thankful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

There have been some awesome speakers and challenging messages and the worship with Dan Carroll has been outstanding. Each night there is a drama/skit, but the drama the first night is always awesome. Check out this video of “Everything.

CRBC Student Drama “Everything” from Tripp Atkins on Vimeo.

Tonight is the last night of the Revolution so if you are a junior high or high school student in the Greenville area, come check it out. Visit www.crbcsc.org for directions to Cross Roads.

Most recently, I have been dealing with an IRS revenue officer for one of my clients.  Every time I talk to her, it seems like I get a different personality.  I thought we had settled this case several months ago and she came back and told me my clients were going to have to pay these extraordinary amounts of money each month!  It was like we never had any discussion before.  I was so mad and let her know it.  Finally, I just told her to issue her decision so I could appeal it and talk to someone else.  Basically, I was tired of talking to her.

So, as my appeal requests have been working their way through the system, she and I have been playing phone tag for a few weeks over some information that I previously sent her.  I have not been looking forward to actually connecting with her.  Actually, I have really been dreading it.

We finally caught up with each other today.  And I think we settled the case.  Of course, I thought that a few months ago too.  Any way, the conversation that I have been dreading for some time was not nearly as bad as I was expecting.  Actually, it turned out better than I expected because we got a great result for the client.

As I look back of my law practice, my school days, and just the rest of my life I find that this happens all too often.  I get myself all worked up because I think I don’t want to do something or that it is going to be just awful.  And nine times out of ten, it just isn’t that bad.  I just have to get over my fears – I’m holding myself back.  It’s definitely hard though, to give up the stressful feelings that you get about all of the situations in life.  But usually things are not nearly as bad as we expect they are going to be.

Last summer when things were so crazy around here, it was my goal to leave the office every day with a clean desk.  That way I knew that I had gotten some work done at the office and gotten things done.  But there really isn’t any way to measure what I got done.  I didn’t build anything.  I didn’t ship anything.  I just pushed papers.  I wrote letters.  I signed forms.  Over and over.

I guess there is some meaning in this madness…somewhere.

I guess, my posts will get started with this series tomorrow.