Thanks for the vote of confidence jezlukin!
I found a mechanic (friend of the family) who came out to the house and hooked his diagnostic tool into my car's computer and it was showing no codes. I figured it would not since the CEL is not on. He did however, tell me that one of the plugs is causing a cylinder to miss. He misted water onto the coil pack at the rear of the engine where the plugs hook up, and it lit up like July 4th! So, he is going to replace the plug wires (the plugs are new, practically) this weekend for a total cost, including Motorcraft plug wires of $135. I think that's fair since I was quoted $128.80 by Ford for a set of wires.
The ironic thing about your tool set suggestions is that I already have a tool box and a pretty nice set of tools going. However, I'm more of an academic and not very good at working with my hands...
Anyways, I'm going to watch him work since he is going to perform the service in my garage and maybe I'll learn a thing or two!
Thanks for the post, jezlukin...I'll let you know how things turn out.
